José Romero

Asociación del síndrome tako-tsubo con la arteria coronaria descendente anterior con extensa distribución por el segmento diafragmático

Introduccion y objetivos. El sindrome de disfuncion ventricular transitoria tako-tsubo ha sido descrito en Japon y se han publicado casos aislados en Occidente. Mostramos una de las primeras series descritas fuera de Japon y presentamos nueva informacion sobre su anatomia coronaria. Pacientes y metodo. Entre enero de 1998 y abril de 2003 identificamos a 11 pacientes con sospecha de infarto agudo de miocardio, arterias coronarias normales y disfuncion ventricular transitoria tipo tako-tsubo. Estudiamos la anatomia coronaria de estos 11 pacientes, asi como de 44 controles ajustados por edad y sexo: 22 con coronarias normales y 22 con infarto agudo de miocardio en relacion con oclusion en la arteria coronaria descendente anterior. Resultados. Al igual que en los pacientes japoneses, el sindrome tako-tsubo en pacientes caucasicos generalmente ocurre en mujeres en la septima u octava decadas de la vida y con frecuencia se precede de estres emocional o fisico. La arteria coronaria descendente anterior de nuestros pacientes con sindrome tako-tsubo tiene mayor longitud y un segmento diafragmatico (recurrente) mas largo que la de los controles. Para compararlos disenamos un indice de recurrencia ([segmento recurrente de descendente anterior/longitud total de la descendente anterior] x 100). En los pacientes con sindrome tako-tsubo, este indice fue del 22,3 ± 1,5%, en controles normales fue del 10,9 ± 6,7% (p < 0,001) y en los pacientes de control con infarto del 11,3 ± 7,7% (p < 0,001). Los pacientes de control con infarto presentaban una ventriculografia identica a la de los enfermos con sindrome tako-tsubo cuando su indice de recurrencia era alto (= 16%). Conclusiones. Todos nuestros pacientes con sindrome tako-tsubo presentan una descendente anterior con un gran segmento recurrente. La morfologia identica de la ventriculografia de los pacientes con sindrome tako-tsubo y los controles con infarto con un elevado indice de recurrencia de la descendente anterior puede deberse a una etiopatogenia comun.

Amiodarone and “primary” prevention of sudden death: critical review of a decade of clinical trials

Several trials have evaluated the role of amiodarone in decreasing mortality in patients at high risk of developing sudden death. Current evidence does not support the prophylactic use of amiodarone in myocardial infarction (MI) survivors with a depressed left ventricular function and/or frequent or complex ventricular ectopy. Some postinfarction trials (e.g., the Spanish Study of Sudden Death [SSSD]) found mortality rates in controls much lower than the expected figures. Other postinfarction trials--the European Amiodarone Myocardial Infarction Arrhythmia Trial (EMIAT) and the Canadian Amiodarone Myocardial Infarction Arrhythmia Trial (CAMIAT)--despite observing a 2-year mortality rate of about 15% as expected, could not demonstrate a significant reduction in mortality. Amiodarone decreases the risk of sudden death in postinfarction patients by about 35%. In patients with a history of heart failure and left ventricular dysfunction, evidence is not sufficiently strong to use amiodarone for prevention of sudden death. The 2 major trials on such patients, Group for the Study of Survival in Heart Failure in Argentina (Grupo de Estudio de la Sobrevida en la Insuficiencia Cardiaca en Argentina or GESICA) and the Survival Trial of Antiarrhythmic Therapy in Congestive Heart Failure (STAT-CHF), arrived at conflicting results. Meta-analyses have been performed to overcome the small sample size of these trials, with the aim of assessing the benefit of amiodarone on total mortality. Differences among the recruited populations make it difficult to extract clinically applicable conclusions from these overviews. Even accepting that amiodarone might decrease total mortality by 10%, it is difficult to identify the patients for whom such a beneficial effect applies. A practical consequence of amiodarone trials is that this drug can be used rather safely in patients with left ventricular dysfunction of any etiology as, in contrast to some class I agents, it does not increase mortality. Therefore, amiodarone is the drug of choice when antiarrhythmic drug treatment is indicated in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Fluoroscopic Cardiac Anatomy for Catheter Ablation of Tachycardia

FARRÉ, J., et al.: Fluoroscopic Cardiac Anatomy for Catheter Ablation of Tachycardia. The understanding of cardiac anatomy is crucial for the interventional arrhythmologist. In spite of the introduction of several nonfluroscopic navigational tools, some of them capable of reconstructing a computer‐based surrogate of the endocardial surface of the heart cavities, simple fluoroscopy with or without the aid of angiographic techniques is still the most widely used method to guide mapping and ablation procedures. In some instances, fluoroscopic and angiographic methods have no possible replacement to unravel certain arrhythmologically useful anatomic landmarks. New interpretations of cardiac architecture show the need to challenge some traditional anatomic views, like the concept of septums within the heart. The fluoroscopic anatomy also needs to be reconsidered in the light of the new attitudinally oriented nomenclature. This article presents an overview of the fluoroscopic anatomy of the heart. When pertinent, some anatomical concepts are discussed in more detail like the triangle of Koch, the pyramidal space, and the interatrial groove. In the sections on the atria and on the ventricles, the authors focus on the anatomic information that is relevant for mapping and ablation from a fluoroscopic viewpoint, providing some hints on how best to depict the morphological features from the stance of the interventional arrhythmologist. The Visible Human Slice and Surface Server using data sets from the Visible Human Male and Female Project, has been used to facilitate the understanding of the fluoroscopic anatomy.

Current Role and Future Perspectives for Radiofrequency Catheter Ablation of Postmyocardial Infarction Ventricular Tachycardia

The most common substrate for ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a postmyocardial infarction (MI) scar. Radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) in post-MI VT faces clinical, electrophysiologic, anatomic, and methodologic difficulties not found in many other human tachycardias. The pathophysiologic understanding of post-MI VT is incomplete; this influences the process of selecting RFCA target sites, which is time consuming, demands catheter stability, and has low sensitivity and predictive value for VT interruption by RF current. Improving and simplifying the methodology of RFCA in post-MI VT is badly needed. We review the pathophysiology of post-MI VT from the data reported on endocardial, epicardial, and intramural ventricular mapping obtained either intraoperatively or in a Langendorff perfused set-up in hearts from transplanted patients. From these studies we conclude that (1) some post-MI VT cases are not amenable to RFCA (reentry around the scar, VT having a subepicardial or deep intramural substrate, or a wide, extensive, subendocardial intrascar area of slow conduction); and (2) searching for the endocardial exit is advantageous for selecting the RFCA targets. We also comment on a new self-reference mapping catheter that allows the recording of high gain, noise-free, unfiltered and filtered unipolar signals as well as unipolar pacing. Among the unresolved issues in these patients is the meaning of fast nonclinical VT induced after successful RFCA of the clinical VT, which may explain why a substantial number of these patients still receive an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator.

Tako-Tsubo Transient Left Ventricular Apical Ballooning Is Associated With a Left Anterior Descendig Coronary Artery With a Long Course Along the Apical Diaphragmatic Surface of the Left Ventricle

Introduction and objectives Tako-tsubo-like transient left ventricular apical ballooning has been described in Japan, but few cases have been reported in Western countries. We report one of the first series outside Japan, which provides new information on the coronary anatomy of this disorder. Patients and Methods From January 1998 to February 2003 we observed 11 patients with a clinical suspicion of acute myocardial infarction, normal coronary arteries, and transient tako-tsubo-like systolic left ventricular apical ballooning. We compared the coronary artery anatomy in these 11 patients with that in 44 controls matched for age and sex: 22 with normal coronary arteries and 22 with acute myocardial infarction related with an obstructive thrombus in the left anterior descending coronary artery. Results As in Japanese patients, tako-tsubo syndrome in Caucasian patients frequently occurs in women in their seventh or eighth decades of life, and is usually preceded by emotional or physical stress. The left anterior descending in our patients with tako-tsubo syndrome was longer overall, and its recurrent diaphragmatic segment was longer, than in controls. To compare these groups we designed a measure termed recurrent segment index (left anterior descending recurrent segment length/total left anterior descending length x 100). In tako-tsubo syndrome this index was 22.3 (1.5)%, vs 10.9 (6.7)% in normal controls (P Conclusions All our patients with tako-tsubo syndrome had a left anterior descending with a long recurrent segment. The identical ventriculographic findings in patients with tako-tsubo syndrome and those with acute myocardial infarction with a long recurrent segment may be due to a common etiology.

A tmQCD mixed-action approach to flavour physics

We discuss a mixed-action approach in which sea quarks are regularised using non-perturbatively O(a ) improved Wilson fermions, while a fully-twisted tmQCD action is used for valence quarks. In this setup, automatic O(a ) improvement is preserved for valence observables, apart from small residual O(a ) effects from the sea. A strategy for matching sea and valence is set up, and carried out for N f = 2 + 1 CLS ensembles with open boundary conditions at several simulation points. The scaling of basic light-quark observables such as the pseudoscalar meson decay constant is studied, as well as the isospin splitting of pseudoscalar meson masses.