Sahin Kaplan

A new quantitative analysis system for the evaluation of coronary bifurcation lesions: Comparison with current conventional methods

Objective conventional quantitative angiographic systems are designed to automatically follow the contours of straight vascular segments and not of bifurcations. Recently a new analysis method was specifically developed for bifurcation lesions, able to automatically divide the lesion into three separate segments. In this study, we aimed to assess whether the smaller interaction required by the analyst could reduce the analysis time and inter and intra observer variability when compared with a conventional analysis.

Immediate procedural and long-term clinical outcomes following drug-eluting stent implantation to ostial saphenous vein graft lesions

Background: Ostial saphenous vein graft (OSVG) lesions were excluded from all the clinical trials demonstrating significantly lower restenosis rates with drug-eluting stents (DES) compared to bare metal stents (BMS). This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of DES in OSVG lesions by assessing angiographic and 12-month clinical outcomes. Methods: 70 consecutive patients (70 OSVG lesions) underwent coronary stent implantation between May 2003 and April 2006: 37 lesions received DES and 33 lesions BMS. Endpoints were all cause and cardiovascular mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), target lesion revascularization (TLR), target vessel revascularization (TVR), examined separately and as a combined end-point (major adverse cardiac events, MACE). Results: Procedural (94.6% for DES and 87.9% for BMS) and angiographic (100% for DES and 100% for BMS) success did not differ between the two groups. The only in-hospital events were non-Q wave MI (DES 8.1% versus BMS 12.1%, P=0.69). At 30-day follow-up, there were no other events. Overall, at 1-year follow-up, the BMS group had a higher TLR (30.3% versus 5.4%, P=0.015), TVR (33.3% versus 10.8%, P=0.045) and MACE rate (36.4% versus 10.8%, P=0.024) compared to the DES group. Conclusions: Drug-eluting stent implantation to OSVG lesions achieves better clinical results than BMS but is still associated with a relatively high incidence (10.8%) of revascularization at 1-year follow-up.

Assessment of left ventricular diastolic function and the Tei index by tissue Doppler imaging in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Background  The aim of this study was to assess left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function and myocardial performance (the Tei index) by tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT).

An indeterminate occlusion duration predicts procedural failure in the recanalization of coronary chronic total occlusions.

To identify the impact of occlusion duration (OD) and, in particular, an indeterminate occlusion duration (IOD) on immediate angiographic success and long‐term clinical outcomes in patients undergoing chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Comparison of bare-metal and sirolimus- or paclitaxel-eluting stents for aorto-ostial coronary disease.

Objectives: Aorto-ostial lesions (AOL) are technically challenging, given their greater propensity to be calcific and associated with elastic recoil compared to non-ostial lesions. This study set out to assess angiographic and clinical outcomes in patients with AOL treated using either paclitaxel-eluting stents (PES) or sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) compared to bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation. Methods: We retrospectively identified 175 consecutive patients with 175 AOL involving the left main, right coronary artery or bypass graft. PES, SES and BMS were implanted in 69, 50 and 56 patients, respectively. Results: Angiographic and procedural success was 100 and 97.1% for PES, 100 and 94% for SES, and 100 and 94.6% for BMS, respectively (p not significant). At 12 months, the rates of target lesion (8.7% for PES, 4.0% for SES) and target vessel revascularization (3.0% for PES, 8.0% for SES) were significantly lower in the drug-eluting stent group compared to BMS (32.1 and 35.7%, respectively). There was no difference in the rate of death/MI in the BMS versus drug-eluting stent groups (5.4 vs. 2.4%, p = 0.32). Conclusions: In the treatment of AOL, drug-eluting stents reduce the need for repeat revascularization at 12 month follow-up compared to BMS, with no difference in mortality or MI rate.

Assessment of left ventricular systolic and diastolic function by Doppler tissue imaging in patients with preinfarction angina

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was assessment of left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function by pulsed wave Doppler tissue imaging (DTI) in patients with or without preinfarction angina in acute myocardial infarction. METHODS We prospectively evaluated 31 consecutive patients (4 women, 27 men; age 58 +/- 10 years) with a first acute myocardial infarction. LV systolic and diastolic function was assessed by classic methods and DTI on the third day during acute myocardial infarction. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to the presence (group 1; n = 10) or absence (group 2; n = 21) of preinfarction angina. Mitral inflow velocities and early diastolic mitral annular velocity (Em), late diastolic mitral annular velocity (Am), peak systolic mitral annular velocity, Em/Am, the ratio of early diastolic mitral inflow velocity (E) to Em, and myocardial performance index were calculated by DTI. RESULTS Group 1 had significantly higher Em and Em/Am than group 2 (11.3 +/- 3.34 cm/s vs 7.4 +/- 2.07 cm/s, P <.0001; 1.01 +/- 0.38 cm/s vs 0.6 +/- 0.2 cm/s, P =.001, respectively). The E/Em ratio and myocardial performance index were significantly lower in group 1 than in group 2 (5.1 +/- 2.92 vs 8.10 +/- 3.15, P=.018; 0.49 +/- 0.15 vs 0.65 +/- 0.24, P =.042, respectively). Wall-motion score index was lower in those with preinfarction angina than in those without (1.6 +/- 0.36 vs 1.9 +/- 0.39; P =.04, respectively). Peak systolic mitral annular velocity and Am were not statistically different between groups (9.4 +/- 1.84 vs 8.3 +/- 2.03, P =.172; 11.7 +/- 3.07 vs 12.1 +/- 3.34, P =.72, respectively). There were no significant differences between the 2 groups regarding transmitral E velocity, atrial contraction mitral inflow velocity (A), E/A ratio, isovolumetric relaxation time, and deceleration time of the mitral E wave (P =.91, P =.08, P =.58, P =.81, and P =.71, respectively). CONCLUSION LV diastolic function was better in patients with preinfarction angina than in patients without. This condition could not be detected by conventional mitral inflow Doppler velocities, but could be detected by DTI. This preliminary evidence shows that DTI is better than conventional mitral Doppler indices in the assessment of a favorable LV diastolic function in patients with preinfarction angina.

Factor V Leiden and its relation to left ventricular thrombus in acute myocardial infarction.

Objective — The genetic defect of coagulation factor V, known as factor V Leiden, produces a resistance to degradation by activated protein C (APC) and increases the risk of venous thrombosis. However, the role of factor V Leiden in the formation of left ventricular (LV) thrombus has not been studied.We investigated whether factor V Leiden is a risk factor for LV thrombus in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods and results — We have analyzed clinical, echocardiographic and biochemical data in 135 consecutive patients (aged 58 ± 13 years; 31 women) with first anterior AMI. Two-dimensional echocardiographic examination was performed on days I, 3, 7, 15 and 30; LV thrombus was detected in 33 (24.4%) of 135 patients with AMI. The study also included 95 control subjects. Healthy age and sex-matched subjects without a personal or family history of ischaemic heart disease, stroke or thromboembolic disease served as a control group. Blood samples from the patients and controls were analyzed for the factor V Leiden mutation by DNA analysis, using the polymerase chain reaction. In addition, concentrations of fibrinogen, von Willebrand factor (vWF), tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-I (PAI-1) and D-dimer were measured in 135 patients. There was no significant difference in the prevalence of factor V Leiden between patients and control subjects. The prevalence of the factor V mutation was 9% (3/33) in patients with thrombus, and 7.7% (8/103) in patients without thrombus. The prevalence of factor V Leiden was 7.3% (7/95) in control subjects. No significant differences in plasma fibrinogen (480 ± 195 vs. 444 ± 179 mg/dl, p = 0.6), D-dimer (471 ± 256 vs. 497 ± 293 ng/dl, p = 0.7), vWF (112 ± 18 vs. 103 ± 15%, p = 0.5), PAI-I (26.7 ± 9.8 vs. 28.1 ± 10.2 ng/dl, p = 0.6), and t-PA (19.8 ± 8.7 vs. 17.2 ± 9.1 ng/dl, p = 0.7), levels are found in patients with LV thrombus when compared with those without LV thrombus. Multivariate analyses showed that peak creatine kinase level (p = 0.002) and LV wall motion score index (p = 0.003) were independent predictors of LV thrombus formation. Conclusion — Factor V Leiden mutation is not a risk factor for LV thrombus formation in patients with AMI. (Acta Cardiol 2001; 56(1 ): 1-6)

Impairment in flow-mediated vasodilatation of the brachial artery in acromegaly.

Objective: The aim of this study was to assess flow-mediated dilatation (FMD) of the brachial artery in patients with acromegaly. Subjects and Methods: We prospectively evaluated 25 patients with acromegaly (14 females, 11 males; aged 42 ± 12 years; growth hormone (GH) levels 34 ± 14 ng/ml) and 27 control subjects (15 females, 12 males; aged 45 ± 8 years; GH levels 3 ± 1.5 ng/ml). The patients and controls were matched for age, gender, body mass index, cigarette smoking, blood pressure, lipid levels, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and its duration. Endothelial function, measured as FMD of the brachial artery using ultrasound, was calculated in the 2 groups. The endothelial function was evaluated by assessing 1-min postischemic FMD of the brachial artery. Results: The FMD was lower in patients with acromegaly (9.97 ± 3.5%) than in controls (16.1 ± 3.4%), and the difference was statistically significant (p = 0.0001). Conclusion: Endothelial dysfunction may develop in the preclinical phase of atherosclerosis in patients with acromegaly. Endothelium-dependent FMD may be impaired in acromegalic patients, and measurement of endothelial function may identify high-risk individuals earlier.

Unconventional treatment of aorto-ostial instent restenosis with marked protrusion into the aorta.

We report a case of restenosis following ostial stenting of the right coronary artery, with protrusion of the stent into the aorta. Despite multiple attempts, no wire could be advanced coaxially inside the stent. The solution was to pass a wire through the struts of the protruding stent and crush it using progressively larger balloons and, finally, a drug-eluting stent was expanded to high pressure. The highlight of this case report is the final intravascular ultrasound image, revealing the profound deformation of the previous stent to restore a large ostial lumen and regain vessel access.

Serum myeloperoxidase level is associated with heart-type fatty acid-binding protein but not troponin T in patients with chronic heart failure.

Objective: Our aim was to investigate the possible relationship between myeloperoxidase (MPO) and myocardial damage markers such as heart-type fatty acid-binding protein (H-FABP) and troponin T (TnT) in patients with chronic heart failure (HF). Materials and Methods: Forty-two consecutive patients (age range: 27-80 years) with chronic HF were enrolled in the study. Serum H-FABP, TnT and MPO levels were measured. Routine biochemical and clinical parameters were recorded. Echocardiographic examinations were performed on all patients. A linear regression analysis was performed to determine the correlates of serum H-FABP. Results: The MPO, H-FABP and TnT levels were 255 ± 227, 60.6 ± 48.5 and 0.07 ± 0.15 ng/ml, respectively. In multiple linear regression analysis, age (β = -0.36, p = 0.006), creatinine level (β = 0.3, p = 0.024) and serum MPO level (β = 0.41, p = 0.009) were significant determinants of H-FABP levels. Bivariate predictors were not significantly associated with TnT levels in linear regression analyses. Conclusions: The MPO was significantly associated with serum H-FABP levels but not with TnT.