Meteorological and chronobiological factors and the occurrence of acute aortic dissection.

Although a number of studies have demonstrated seasonal variations in acute cardiovascular events, the association between winter and low temperatures and the incidence rate of acute aortic dissection has not been fully elucidated. In this study, we investigated the association between meteorological and chronobiological factors and the occurrence of acute aortic dissection classified by the Stanford type, sex and age. We retrospectively collected 131 patients who had been admitted consecutively to our institution with acute aortic dissection, including 58 type A patients and 73 type B patients, from January 2013 to December 2017. The meteorological data were downloaded from the homepage of the Japan Meteorological Agency. The daily incidence of aortic dissection was higher in winter (10.2%) than in fall (5.3%) (P = 0.04), and a significant winter peak was also observed in the sub-groups of males and type B, while there were no significant differences in the proportions of type A, female, and ≤ 70- and > 70-year-old patients. The maximum, mean and minimum temperatures on the days with aortic dissection were significantly lower than on the days without aortic dissection. Divided into four seasons, lower temperatures were found only in spring. The most significant and greatest difference was observed between the maximum temperature on the day of aortic dissection and that at 2 days earlier. The multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that the difference in the maximum temperature between the day of and 2 days before the incident (odds ratio 0.91; 95% confidence interval 0.87-0.96; P < 0.01) as well as the maximum temperature (odds ratio 0.97; 95% confidence interval 0.95-0.99; P = 0.02) were significantly associated with the incidence of aortic dissection. Cold weather and a sudden decrease in temperature might trigger aortic dissection, although the influence might differ among sub-groups.

Good neointimal coverage of a crushed stent segment protruding into the main vessel by follow-up optical coherence tomography in a patient with a diagonal branch lesion.

There is currently no consensus regarding the optimum treatment strategy for an isolated side branch lesion. The usefulness of a side branch stenting technique with a balloon crushing the segment protruding into the main vessel has been reported; however, there remain concerns about malapposition of crushed stent struts and a consequent risk of stent thrombosis. We herein report a case with a diagonal branch lesion that was successfully treated with this technique. Follow-up optical coherence tomography clearly revealed that the protruding stent struts in the main vessel were crushed and covered almost completely. Our findings may support the feasibility of this treatment in the mid-term period. .

Retrograde balloon crossing to overcome antegrade delivery failure for a heavily calcified chronic total occlusion.

We herein report a case of percutaneous coronary intervention to a heavily calcified chronic total occlusion in the left anterior descending artery. Although we successfully performed retrograde wire crossing and wire externalization, we were unable to deliver small-sized balloon catheters in the lesion antegradely, even with strong back-up of wire externalization because of the heavy calcium mass. However, a balloon catheter was easily crossed retrogradely, and the lesion was successfully treated. Thus, retrograde balloon crossing might be a way to overcome device delivery failure in calcified lesions. .