Jean Philippe Metzger

Treatment of severe mitral regurgitation caused by ischemic papillary muscle dysfunction: Indications for coronary angioplasty

The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognosis and functional outcome of mitral regurgitation caused by ischemic papillary muscle dysfunction with respect to treatment, and to determine the role of coronary angioplasty in this context. Thirty patients with severe ischemic mitral regurgitation were followed up for 33 +/- 3 months. Thirteen patients were treated medically (group I) and 17 patients underwent surgery or angioplasty (group II). The 3-year survival was 59.5% (45.6% in group I and 70.2% in group II). Angioplasty was only used in paroxysmal mitral regurgitation caused by papillary muscle ischemia. This technique resulted in spectacular immediate results in three patients with pulmonary edema caused by mitral regurgitation during myocardial ischemia. Surgical correction of mitral regurgitation should be considered without delay if angioplasty is not feasible or if the regurgitation is permanent or severe. Widening the indications of surgery or angioplasty should result in an improvement of the prognosis of these high-risk patients.

Detection of coronary restenosis by exercise electrocardiography thallium-201 perfusion imaging and coronary angiography in asymptomatic patients after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty

Noninvasive detection of restenosis in patients remaining asymptomatic after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) remains a major clinical problem. The value of exercise electrocardiography (ECG) and exercise-redistribution thallium-201 single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) in detecting restenosis in such patients remains uncertain. Discordances between these tests and coronary angiography is a common situation. We studied 179 consecutive patients remaining asymptomatic after successful PTCA (208 vessels), who underwent 6 +/- 2 months of exercise ECG, SPECT, and coronary angiography. We sought to assess the diagnostic value of the noninvasive tests compared with coronary angiography, and identify the determinants of discordances between the tests. Restenosis (diameter stenosis >50%) was detected in 39% of patients and in 37% of vessels. The overall sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy for exercise ECG and SPECT in detecting restenosis in individual vessels were, respectively, 53% versus 63% (p = 0.06), 59% versus 77% (p = 0.0001), and 57% versus 72% (p = 0. 0001). On multivariate analysis, positive exercise ECG was associated with higher heart rate response (p = 0.02), incomplete revascularization (p = 0.004), and angiographic restenosis (p = 0. 03), whereas positive SPECT was associated with incomplete revascularization (p = 0.02), infarct-related artery PTCA (p = 0.01), and angiographic restenosis (p = 0.0001). Accuracies of the 2 tests were not significantly different in patients with incomplete revascularization or PTCA of an infarct-related vessel. Overall, SPECT is more accurate than exercise ECG in detecting asymptomatic restenosis. Nevertheless, incomplete revascularization and PTCA of an infarct-related artery could cause reversible perfusion defects regardless of restenosis, reducing the diagnostic value of SPECT in such patients.

Comparison of short- and long-term outcomes of coronary angioplasty in patients with and without diabetes mellitus and with and without hemodialysis

In-hospital and long-term outcomes after coronary angioplasty in 28 dialysis diabetic and 84 dialysis nondiabetic patients were compared with clinical outcomes after coronary angioplasty in 28 nondialysis diabetic and 84 nondialysis, nondiabetic patients matched according to clinical and angiographic characteristics. The rate of angiographic success in diabetic dialysis patients was high and similar in the 4 groups. The risk of 4-year cardiac death and nonfatal myocardial infarction was higher in dialysis diabetics than in dialysis nondiabetics (odds ratio [OR] 1.88, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01 to 2.75, p <0.05), nondialysis diabetics (OR 4.27, 95% CI 2.87 to 5.67, p <0.008), and nondialysis nondiabetics (OR 5.2, 95% CI 4.17 to 6.23, p <0.0001).

Assessment of reversible dyssynergic segments after acute myocardial infarction : Dobutamine echocardiography versus thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography

Only a moderate degree of concordance has been reported between stress-redistribution-reinjection thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and dobutamine echocardiography for the identification of myocardial viability after acute myocardial infarction. SPECT with rest-reinjection performed 4 hours after exercise testing and digitized two-dimensional (2-D) ultrasound reconstruction of the left ventricle at baseline and after low-dose dobutamine (5 to 10 microg/kg/min) infusion were compared in 50 patients > or = 8 days (12 +/- 7 days) after acute myocardial infarction. Five patients were excluded because of technically inadequate echocardiograms. Both SPECT and dobutamine echocardiography were assessed in a 16-segment model and interpreted in the remaining 45 patients. Digitized 2-D reconstruction of the left ventricle in each wall motion was scored from 1 (normal) to 4 (dyskinesia). Myocardial viability was identified on ultrasound wall-motion improvement of one or more grades from baseline to echocardiography performed > or = 30 days (60 +/- 41 days) after systematic revascularization procedure of the infarct-related artery. Reversible defect under thallium-201 SPECT and wall-motion improvement under dobutamine echocardiography were concordant in 163 (69 percent) of the 235 baseline dyssynergic segments and in 30 (67 percent) patients. Myocardial viability was identified after angioplasty (n=37) or surgery (n=8) in 29 patients and 109 segments. Positive and negative predictive values per patient in the diagnosis of myocardial viability were 86 percent and 57 percent, respectively, for stress thallium-201 SPECT with reinjection, and 100 percent and 62 percent for dobutamine echocardiography. Positive and negative predictive values per segment were 80 percent and 69 percent for the isotopic method and 91 percent and 70 percent for dobutamine echocardiography. We conclude that dobutamine echocardiography and stress thallium-201 SPECT with reinjection have similar accuracies to identify myocardial viability after acute myocardial infarction, with excellent positive but relatively low negative predictive values.

Cardiac events after low osmolar ionic or isosmolar nonionic contrast media utilization in the current era of coronary angioplasty.

Our study aimed to compare the isosmolar nonionic dimer iodixanol and the low osmolar ionic agent ioxaglate in the current era of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), using clopidogrel, enoxaparine, direct stenting, and drug eluting stent.

Multislice computed tomography to rule out coronary allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant patients

BACKGROUND This study assessed if invasive coronary angiogram (CA) could be replaced by multislice (64- or 256-row) computed tomography (MSCT) to systematically rule out coronary allograft vasculopathy in heart transplant patients. METHODS Electrocardiogram-gated contrast-enhanced MSCT (64-row for the first 25 patients and 256-row for the others) was compared with CA. MSCT parameters, adapted to the patients weight, included 120 kV, 800 mAs, 0.625-mm slice thickness, and 0.42/0.27-second rotation time. The primary end point was the negative predictive value (NPV) of MSCT for the detection of significant (>50%) coronary stenosis. Secondary end points were the comparison of X-ray (mSv) and iodine contrast agent (ml) exposures. RESULTS The study prospectively included 102 patients (mean age, 53±14 years). Transplantation occurred 6±5 years before inclusion. At CA, 41.8% had stenosis ≤50% and 8% had stenosis>50%. Among the 1,308 angiographic coronary segments ≥1.5 mm, 1,250 (95.6%) were evaluable by MSCT. The NPV of MSCT was 96.6% by patient analysis and 99.7% by segment analysis. The positive predictive value (PPV) was 45.5%. The total volume of contrast agent was 139±43 vs 91±12 vs 56±19 ml (p<0.05) with 64-row MSCT, 256-row MSCT, and CA, respectively. The effective radiation dose was higher using retrospective gating (17.8±5.5 mSv, p<0.05), but similar with prospective gating (6.2±1.9 mSv, p = 0.571) compared with CA (6.0±3.5 mSv). CONCLUSION Newer generations of MSCT (64- or 256-row) have a good NPV and may represent an alternative to invasive CA to rule out significant (>50%) coronary vasculopathy in heart transplant patients, despite a low PPV.

Coronary vasodilator reserve: a clue to the explanation of 201Tl redistribution patterns early after successful primary stenting for acute myocardial infarction

OBJECTIVES We sought to assess the mechanism and significance of different (201)Tl redistribution patterns after successful primary stenting following acute myocardial infarction (AMI). BACKGROUND The mechanism of (201)Tl reverse redistribution and the impact of different redistribution patterns on the recovery of contractility after successful reperfusion therapy for AMI remain unclear. METHODS We studied 41 consecutive patients with successful primary stenting for a first AMI. Patients underwent predischarge and six-month follow-up dipyridamole stress-reinjection single photon emission tomography (SPECT), coronary and left ventricular angiography. Intracoronary Doppler assessment of coronary flow reserve (CFR) was performed before discharge. RESULTS Four patient groups were identified according to predischarge SPECT: patients with I: nonreversible defects (n = 8), II: redistribution (n = 7), III: reverse redistribution (n = 21), IV: no defect (n = 5). At follow-up contractility recovery increased in a stepwise fashion from groups I to IV (19 +/- 41%, 40 +/- 53%, 70 +/- 28%, 78 +/- 33%, p = 0.01). Compared with patients with redistribution, those with reverse redistribution had lower infarct-related artery (IRA) CFR (2.2 +/- 0.5 vs. 2.8 +/- 0.9, p = 0.03) but higher contractility recovery. CONCLUSIONS Variable (201)Tl redistribution patterns, early after successful stenting for AMI, may predict different degrees of late contractility recovery. The lower IRA CFR and the higher contractility recovery in areas with reverse redistribution suggest more severe microvascular dysfunction and less severe myocardial injury in such areas compared with those with redistribution.

Talking Effect and White Coat Phenomenon in Hypertensive Patients

Both white coat effect (the tendency of blood pressure to rise during a medical visit) and talking effect were analyzed in 42 patients with essential hypertension. Blood pressure was measured during the clinic visit and over the subsequent 24-hour ambulatory period, with the physician performing 49 +/- 4 measurements for each patient. Three silent periods and two talking periods (stress and relaxation) were randomly allocated in a crossover design and studied, using analysis of variance. During the initial 11-minute silent period, systolic/diastolic blood pressures increased by 6 mm Hg/5 mm Hg. During the subsequent talking periods, these variations were significantly greater: +22 mm Hg/+17 mm Hg. Measures of systolic/diastolic blood pressure were higher during stressful talking than during relaxed talking. The talking and its emotional contents seemed to explain 70% of the white coat phenomenon. To minimize the white coat phenomenon in the clinic, physicians, nurses, and clinicians are advised to measure blood pressure during an initial period of silence.

Long-term follow-up of patients with sirolimus-eluting stents for treatment of bare-metal in-stent restenosis

BACKGROUND Limited data is available on the long-term outcome after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation for in-stent restenosis. METHODS In 3 centers, consecutive patients (n=100) with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for in-stent restenosis (n=110) were treated with SES: 28 lesions were focal, 40 diffuse, 17 proliferative, and 15 totally occluded (reference vessel diameter: 3.0+/-0.2 mm, lesion length: 13.8+/-5.7 mm). RESULTS SES implantation was successful in all patients. The mean follow-up was 50+/-12 months. The main univariate predictive factor of definite (4%) or probable (4%) SES thrombosis was revascularization without SES in a non-target site during the initial procedure (p<0.01). Repeated target lesion revascularization (TLR) was performed in 8 patients (8%) at 1 year, in 10 patients (10%) at 4 years. A cardiac event related to the SES occurred in 14 patients (14%) at one year, 17 patients (17%) at 4 years, and were associated with unstable angina (p<0.05), multivessel disease (p<0.02) and revascularization without SES in another site of the target vessel during the initial procedure (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS SESs are effective at 4 years in the treatment of high risk patients with complex in-stent restenosis, with a low risk of TLR but a high risk of stent thrombosis. Most of cardiac events related to the target vessel occur during the first year, and are associated to a revascularization without SES in another site during the first procedure.

Prevention of renal function worsening after coronary angioplasty: The role of acetylcysteine

Recent studies have suggested that oral administration of acetylcysteine could prevent the reduction in renal function induced by radiographic contrast agents in patients with chronic renal failure. Our prospective, controlled, open-label study included 100 consecutive patients with baseline serum creatinine > 1.5 mg/dl and intravenous hydratation who underwent coronary angiography. Baseline and peak post-procedure serum creatinine levels during the following 46 hours were compared in 50 patients with acetylcysteine (600 mg bid, before and after administration of the contrast agent) and 50 patients without acetylcysteine. The baseline clinical characteristics, creatinine levels (Z.l+/-1.2 YS 1 .a+/-0.4 mgldl) and constrast volume (171+/-72 vs 162+/-63 ml) of the 2 groups were similar. The mean changes in creatinine after 24 and 46 hours were -O.l+/-0.2 and O+/0.3 mgldl in the acetylcysteine group vs O+/-0.2 and 0~1-0.4 mgidl in the control group (NS). A contrast-agent-induced renal dysfunctioq, defined as 25% increase in creatinine levels, occurred in 2 patients of the acetylcysteine group and 2 patients of the control group. Conclusions : A contrast-agent-induced renal dysfunction is rare in patients with intravenous hydratation and low volumes of contrast-agent. Our study does not confirm the prophylactic effect of acetylcysteine in the prevention of contrast-agent-induced reduction in renal function after coronary angiography.