Differential effective refractory period as a useful marker of multiple accessory pathways.

Accessory pathway (AP) ablation failure may be related to multiple pathways which go unrecognized at the time of electrophysiology study. We present a patient who had two adjacent APs based on different preexcitation patterns as well as effective refractory periods (ERPs) which have not been previously described. Apart from leading to recurrent supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), multiple pathways are important to recognize as they more frequently predispose to malignant atrial arrhythmias.

Brugada Syndrome Induced by an Interscalene Block: A Case Report.

CASE: A 57-year-old woman with no noteworthy medical or surgical history underwent an interscalene block with bupivacaine in preparation for an arthroscopic rotator cuff repair. Following administration of the bupivacaine, the patient sustained a ventricular fibrillation arrest. After successful cardiopulmonary resuscitation, she was diagnosed with Brugada syndrome. An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator was placed, and the rotator cuff repair was performed 1 month later. CONCLUSION: Brugada syndrome is an abnormality of the cardiac conduction system that leads to cardiac arrhythmias. Several anesthetic agents trigger Brugada-like electrocardiographic abnormalities. To our knowledge, this is the first report of an interscalene block inducing Brugada syndrome.

Cocaine-induced coronary thrombosis: what is the optimal treatment strategy.

Arterial thrombosis and especially coronary thrombosis are known complications of cocaine abuse. We report three cases of severe life-threatening coronary arterial thrombosis manifesting as acute coronary syndromes. Thrombosis occurred predominantly in the proximal coronary tree with spontaneous distal embolization. The thrombotic occlusions were frequently not superimposed on flow-limiting atherosclerotic lesions. Treatment of these patients with thrombolytic, antithrombotic and anti-platelet therapy resulted in thrombus and symptom resolution. While stenting these vessels can be successfully executed and may be required in some cases of ST-elevation myocardial infarction, it may expose these patients to the risk of stent thrombosis, which is reported to be significantly higher than the risk of the general population.

Imaging of inflamed and vulnerable plaque in coronary arteries with 18F-FDG PET/CT in patients with suppression of myocardial uptake using a low-carbohydrate, high-fat preparation.

UNLABELLED: PET/CT imaging with (18)F-FDG has been used to detect inflammation in carotid and aortic plaque; its use in detecting coronary plaque has been limited by avid (18)F-FDG uptake by the myocardium. We investigated whether (18)F-FDG PET/CT could be used to image inflammation in coronary arteries as a potential noninvasive method to detect vulnerable plaque. METHODS: We retrospectively studied 32 patients treated for malignancy who underwent (18)F-FDG PET/CT and concomitant cardiac catheterization. As part of the recently described protocol, all patients were instructed to eat a low-carbohydrate, high-fat meal the night before and drink a vegetable oil drink the morning of the study. We reviewed the patients' baseline characteristics and their (18)F-FDG PET/CT scans for adequacy of myocardial uptake suppression and correlated the presence of angiographically apparent plaque with (18)F-FDG uptake in the major coronary arteries. Two independent observers assessed the angiographic images and (18)F-FDG PET scans. RESULTS: A total of 95% of patients had 2 or more coronary disease risk factors, and 25% had unstable symptoms; 30% of index catheterizations resulted in intervention. In 20 of 32 patients (63%), myocardial suppression was good (12) or adequate (8). Inadequate suppression was due to self-reported dietary nonadherence. Patients with good, adequate, and poor suppression had maximal myocardial standardized uptake values of 2.8 +/- 0.7, 5.0 +/- 1.3, and 17.0 +/- 9.7, respectively. We identified (18)F-FDG uptake in 15 patients in 1 or more coronary segments. A trend to significance in correlation between presence of angiographic disease and signal in the vessel was observed (P = 0.07; 80 vessels examined). A total of 7 patients with significant coronary artery disease had aortic (18)F-FDG uptake. CONCLUSION: In this retrospective study, we demonstrated the potential use of (18)F-FDG PET in imaging of inflammation in coronary arteries. The potential of (18)F-FDG PET is also being investigated in a prospective study.