Effects of the cold pressor test on the left ventricular function of patients with coronary artery disease.

We used the cold pressor test as provocative of myocardial ischemia in 23 subjects evaluated for chest pain on effort. Seven of them (group N) had normal coronary arteries, and 16 (group CAD) had critical stenoses along the main branches of the left coronary artery. In both groups exposure to cold induced increase in arterial pressure and double product. Left ventricular end-diastolic pressure increased +60% from baseline (P less than 0.001). Angiocardiographic parameters, unchanged in group N, showed an impairment of left ventricular function in group CAD. End-diastolic volume increased +11% (P less than 0.01), ejection fraction decreased -8% (P less than 0.0025), with a significant reduction in segmental wall motion in the area of the diseased artery (P less than 0.001). The mean Vcf was slightly and not significantly reduced, while early-systolic and end-diastolic stress and the constant of stiffness consistently increased in both groups. The appearance or extension of ventricular wall contraction abnormalities in group CAD, in the absence of demonstrable coronary spasm and in the presence of a remarkable increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and stress, was interpreted as due to ischemia secondary to increased extravascular resistances to coronary flow. The cold pressor test is proposed as a useful tool for the diagnosis and evaluation of patients with ischemic heart disease.

Isolated noncompaction of the myocardium: an exceedingly rare cardiomyopathy. A case report.

Isolated noncompaction of the left ventricular myocardium is a rare cardiac disorder due to an arrest in myocardial morphogenesis. It is characterized by prominent and excessive trabeculation in a ventricular wall segment, with deep intertrabecular spaces perfused from the ventricular cavity. Echocardiographic findings are important clues for the diagnosis. Clinical symptoms include signs of left ventricular systolic dysfunction even to the point of heart failure, ventricular arrhythmias, and embolic events. We describe an adult case in whom the only clinical symptoms were life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Transthoracic echocardiography did not contribute to the diagnosis, which was made thanks to left ventricular contrast angiography. Electrophysiological testing induced a fast monomorphic sustained ventricular tachycardia, with hemodynamic impairment, that was refractory to pharmacological treatment, and for this reason a permanent cardioverter-defibrillator was implanted. A subsequently performed transesophageal echocardiographic examination showed a localized, regional increase in left ventricular wall thickness and degree of trabeculation. The causes and electrophysiological mechanisms of arrhythmias in noncompaction are still unknown: grossly irregular branching and connecting of myocardial fascicles in the noncompacted segments, isometric contraction with increased wall stress, and localized coronary perfusion impairment can all induce disorganized or delayed activation and increase the potential for arrhythmias. This is the first reported case of noncompaction in which an implantable defibrillator was used to control life-threatening arrhythmias.

[Paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia in infants as a clinical manifestation of dilated cardiomyopathy]. / La tachicardia parossistica sopraventricolare nel lattante come esordio clinico di cardiomiopatia dilatante.

Two cases are described of infants in whom paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia was the first clinical manifestation of an underlaying dilatating cardiomyopathy. To stop the tachycardia in such cases drugs without inotropic negative effect are recommended.

[Idiopathic cardiomyopathies in children: a description of two rare cases (author's transl)]. / Cardiomiopatie idiopatiche in bambini. Descrizione di due casi insoliti

Two cases of idiopathic cardiomyopathy in children are described. Although classifiable respectively as of the non-obstructive or dilating type (in case 1) and of the restrictive type (in case 2), some peculiar clinical and angiocardiographic aspects could be found which differentiated them from the typical forms. In case 1 multiple semilunar dilatations were present at the posterobasal level of the left ventricle. In case 2 the restriction of the ventricular chamber with markedly reduced compliance affected only the left ventricle, with marked dilatation of the left atrium and right side cavities. As occurs in the field of idiopathic cardiomyopathies, intermediate forms of anatomical variations can be found with clinical and angiographic atypical features.

[Computer-guided cardiological examination and data management with a microcomputer]. / Visita cardiologica guidata e gestione dei dati mediante microcomputer.

A computer program is presented apt to be run on a personal computer. The program allows a computer-guided cardiological examination of standard quality, permits a rapid recall of patients data and makes it possible to obtain statistical analyses.

[The exercise test with atropine]. / Il test da sforzo con atropina.

BACKGROUND: Exercise testing remains the most accessible and widely used technique for the detection of coronary artery disease (CAD) and for the assessment of its severity. Clinical usefulness of the simple exercise test is limited by poor sensitivity and imperfect specificity. Many patients referred for diagnostic stress testing cannot achieve an adequate increase in heart rate due to lack of motivation, poor physical condition, or medications. Atropine increases the heart rate and therefore myocardial oxygen consumption, and might improve the diagnostic accuracy of exercise testing, either reducing the number of non-diagnostic examinations, or increasing the positivity of the test in patients with non severe coronary disease. METHODS: One-hundred-seventy-two consecutive patients (144 males and 28 females, age 58 +/- 8 years) with suspected coronary artery disease underwent exercise testing and coronary angiography. Exercise testing was considered positive in the presence of ST segment depression > or = 0.10 mV horizontal or downsloping, > or = 0.15 mV upsloping, or in the presence of ST elevation without Q waves. The test was considered negative in the absence of significant ST depression or elevation if the exercise heart rate was > 85% of age-predicted maximum, non-diagnostic if the heart rate was < 85%. In 148 patients (86%) coronary angiography showed CAD (> 70% luminal reduction in at least one major vessel), in 24 patients (14%) non significant CAD or angiographically normal coronary arteries (NoCAD). Exercise testing was positive in 134 patients (78%: 85% in CAD, 33% in NoCAD), negative in 13 patients (8%: 3% in CAD, 38% in NoCAD), non-diagnostic in 25 patients (14%; 12% in CAD, 29% in NoCAD). The sensitivity was 85%, specificity was 38%, and diagnostic accuracy 78%. In the 25 patients with non-diagnostic test (18 CAD, 7 NoCAD) the exercise was repeated 30-90 minutes later, immediately after i.v. injection of 1-2 mg of atropine, and was stopped at the same workload of the index test. RESULTS: The atropine-exercise test was well tolerated and accomplished in all cases. The maximal heart rate (139 +/- 11 vs 121 +/- 11) and the double product (25,308 +/- 4082 vs 22,166 +/- 3569) were significantly greater after atropine. The increase of the maximal heart rate improved the detection of the electrocardiographic signs of exercise-induced myocardial ischemia only in CAD patients. In the 18 CAD patients the atropine-exercise test was positive in 8, negative in 5, non-diagnostic in 5. In the 7 NoCAD patients the atropine-exercise test was positive in 1, negative in 6. The test remained non-diagnostic only in 3% of patients. The sensitivity of the test with atropine was 91%, specificity was 63%, and diagnostic accuracy 87%. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of atropine to exercise testing, which causes further chronotropic stress to the myocardium, is well tolerated and safe, and improves the diagnostic accuracy of the test for the detection of coronary artery disease in patients who cannot achieve an adequate exercise heart rate. The combination with atropine increases the utility and the cost-effectiveness of exercise testing.

[Acute myocardial ischemia: ECG or echocardiography? Considerations on a clinical case]. / Ischemia miocardica acuta: ECG o ECO? Considerazioni su un caso clinico.

We present a clinical case and a review of the literature on the usefulness of two-dimensional echocardiography for the diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia in patients presenting with chest pain but without diagnostic electrocardiographic changes. The case refers to a patient admitted a few hours after an episode of prolonged chest pain without diagnostic electrocardiographic changes, but with a severe wall motion abnormality assessed by two-dimensional echocardiogram. The electrocardiogram obtained 24 hours after admission showed giant negative T waves in the anterior chest leads when the patient was asymptomatic and the echocardiogram showed disappearance of wall motion abnormalities. Coronary angiography demonstrated a thrombotic occlusion of the left anterior descending coronary artery, that was treated by transluminal angioplasty. The considerations refer to the following points: 1) a substantial portion of patients with chest pain examined in the emergency room has initially a normal or non-diagnostic electrocardiogram; 2) in these patients two-dimensional echocardiography provides a highly sensitive and specific noninvasive tool for the establishment of the correct diagnosis of acute myocardial ischemia when a severe wall motion abnormality is shown; 3) if successive amelioration of regional myocardial dysfunction is assessed, this was probably due to stunned myocardium; 4) it is probably not correct to consider T wave inversion as the electrocardiographic equivalent of myocardial stunning, as the two phenomena are not chronologically correlated.

Digital stress-echocardiography using a public domain program for the Macintosh personal computer.

Left ventricular wall motion abnormalities secondary to stress-induced myocardial ischemia can be detected with difficulty by mentally comparing echocardiographic images sequentially recorded on videotape. Digital stress-echocardiography, a combination of ultrasound imaging and digital archiving technologies, at least partially can overcome this problem: the technique is based on reviewing images at rest and after stress (exercise or pharmacological) side by side in dual- or quad-screen digital format, in a synchronized cine-loop, as if obtained simultaneously. This technique however is presently not widely used, due to the high cost of most commercially available systems. We have developed a digital stress-echo system, which is easy to use and relatively inexpensive, running on a Macintosh II personal computer with 8-bit graphics. The 2-D echocardiographic images recorded on videotape are digitized offline using a video digitizing board. The image can be displayed and analyzed using the public domain NIH image software developed by Wayne Rasband, without loss in image quality and resolution, particularly if using Super-VHS videotape. We have made a macro procedure for the montage in a quad-screen format of four digital recorded echocardiographic cardiac cycles of six frames that takes only a little more time than commercially available systems. In conclusion, the use of a personal computer and low-cost software may help to make digital stress-echo techniques more widely feasible in the clinical setting and increase the diagnostic power of the ultrasound technique in the evaluation of patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease.

Diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis made by ultrastructural examination of endomyocardial biopsy. A case report.

A case of cardiac amyloidosis is described in which clinical and scintigraphic findings were those of ischemic heart disease. Electrocardiogram disclosed low voltages in the peripheral leads and a pattern of anterior pseudo-myocardial infarction. 2D-echocardiography showed thickened cardiac walls and a "granular sparkling" appearance of the septum. The curve of the left ventricular diastolic pressure suggested impaired ventricular relaxation without a true dip-plateau morphology. Stains for amyloid of rectal biopsy specimens were negative. Histological study of left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy indicated the presence of basophilic material among the myocytes; at ultrastructural examination this infiltrating substance resulted to be amyloid. This case stresses the effectiveness of ultrastructural investigation of left ventricular endomyocardial biopsy in the diagnosis of infiltrative and/or metabolic cardiac disorders.

Echocardiographic diagnosis of congenital left ventricular - right atrial communication.

2 patients, aged 8 mth and 48 yr, referred for a clinical diagnosis of ventricular septal defect, were studied by ultrasound. In both a fluttering and an anterior bowing of the systolic segment of the tricuspid valve was found, consistent with a left ventricular--right atrial communication. Diagnosis was confirmed by angiography and open-heart surgery, showing in 1 patient a supravalvular defect, and an infravalvular one in the other. The postoperative echocardiograms of the tricuspid valve were normal. Ultrasound appears to be a safe and simple method in detecting this rare cardiac abnormality.

[Coronary aneurysm. Report of a case of inflammatory etiology and review of the literature (author's transl)]. / Aneurisma coronarico. Presentazione di un caso ad eziologia infiammatoria e revisione della letteratura.

The case is presented of a 31 year old man with anteroseptal myocardial infarction, whose chest X-ray showed an anomalous protrusion along the left cardiac border. After 6 months, the increase in size of such protrusion lead to left ventriculographic and coronariographic examination: the presence of a large nonfistulous bisaccular coronary aneurysm was documented along the anterior descending branch of the left coronary artery. Cardiac surgery consisted in resection of the coronary aneurysm and of the left ventricular post-infarction area, and was followed by good surgical and angiocardiographic result. Histological examination showed the wall of the coronary aneurysm to be composed of collagenous bands in the absence of elastic components, with hemosiderin and fibrino-hematic deposits and scattered granulocytic infiltrates. An infective etiology is hypothesized for the coronary parietal lesion, leading to a coronary pseudo-aneurysm an subsequent myocardial infarction.

[Echocardiographic evaluation of the results of mitral commissurotomy]. / Valutazione ecocardiografica dei risultati della commissurotomia mitralica.

The AA. relate the results of an echocardiographic study carried out on some patients with mitral stenosis associated or not with mitral regurgitation or with other valvular disease. Ten patients who had to undergo to surgical commissurotomy, were studied before and in the early post-operative period. The M-mode echocardiography appeared to be always available to diagnose the mitral stenosis, but not to quantify it. On the other side the two dimensional echocardiography is proven to be a useful method in the quantitative study of the mitral area and particularly when it is applied in the evaluation of the surgical results of comparing the pre and post-operative examinations. The data obtained were analysed with statistical method.

[Echocardiographic patterns in discrete subvalvular aortic stenosis (author's transl)]. / Reperti ecocardiografici nella stenosi aortica sottovalvolare a diaframma.

Ten patients with angiocardiographic and hemodynamic evidence of discrete subvalvular aortic stenosis were examined by M-mode-echocardiography. Different echocardiographic patterns were identified: the most frequent appeared an abnormal systolic movement of aortic valve leaflets, less frequently a discrete linear echo was observed in the outflow tract of the left ventricle; in one case the echocardiogram showed no abnormality of the left ventricular outflow tract or aortic valve morphology. In half of the cases the left ventricular outflow tract was narrowed. No correlation was found between echocardiographic measurements and severity of the subaortic lesion, as expressed by peak systolic pressure difference between the left ventricle and the aorta. It is concluded that M-mode-echocardiography: - may furnish helpful criteria in the diagnosis of discrete subaortic stenosis, but the absence of such criteria does not allow to exclude the existence of the malformation; - is not quantitatively useful in the assessment of subaortic stenosis.

[Coronary angioplasty in postinfarct angina]. / L'angioplastica coronarica nell'angina postinfartuale.

BACKGROUND: The recurrence of transient myocardial ischemia is a frequent event in the course of acute myocardial infarction. Postinfarction angina develops more frequently after a non-Q wave infarction, and after effective thrombolysis; when uncontrolled by standard medical treatment, it is associated with an increased incidence of unfavorable cardiac events. Therapeutic strategies involve aggressive medical therapy, frequent use of early angiography, and mechanical coronary revascularization with bypass surgery or transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). PATIENTS: We retrospectively examined 68 consecutive patients treated with PTCA for postinfarction angina. Of the whole, 36 (53%) had sustained a non-Q wave infarction; 29 (43%) had been treated with thrombolysis in the acute phase. Ischemia was in the infarction zone in 94% of cases; mean EF was 61.5 +/- 12%, and in 18 cases EF was < 55%. RESULTS: In 7 cases two arteries were dilated. There were no deaths related to the procedure. The overall success rate was 91.2%. Major complications occurred in 2 cases (1 acute occlusion with reinfarction, 1 major dissection requiring emergency surgery). The results are analyzed according to the time interval between index infarction and PTCA. In 28 cases (Group A) PTCA was performed within 30 days due to medically refractory symptomatology; in 40 cases (Group B) PTCA was postponed to beyond 30 days from infarction. In Group A involvement of the left anterior descending coronary artery was more frequent (75% of cases vs 40%; p = 0.009). The success rate in Group A was slightly lower than for Group B (85.7% vs 95%); the incidence of complications was higher (7.1% vs 0%), although not statistically different. At 6 month follow-up a restenosis was found in 10 cases (16% of successful PTCAs, 21% of angiographic controls). CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that for patients with postinfarction angina, selected for a suitable coronary anatomy, PTCA is an effective therapeutic option, with a high success rate, low immediate morbidity, and good mid-term results. The risk of intraprocedural complications appears only slightly higher for patients with unstable symptoms, who undergo PTCA earlier after infarction.

[Interatrial defect functionally cancelled by a left atrial myxoma within the framework of embolizing mitral stenosis and insufficiency]. / Difetto interatriale funzionalmente cancellato da un mixoma atriale sinistro con quadro di steno-insufficienza mitralica embolizzante.

The case is presented by a 54 year-old woman, studied because of a clinical diagnosis of mitral valve disease, in which echocardiographic and angiocardiographic examination afforded the diagnosis of left atrial tumor. The surgical finding was of a large myxoma implanted on the atrial septum and prolapsing into the mitral opening and engaging with a branch into an atrial septal defect of the cavalis superior type. Some considerations are made on the times of possible origin and growth of the tumor; the complete absence of the increased pulmonary flow in the presence of a large interatrial communication suggested an early beginning of the tumor that, obstructing the defect, might have hindered the hemodynamic derangement.

[M.-mode and two-dimensional echocardiographic diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle (author's transl)]. / Diagnosi ecocardiografica mono e bidimensionale di un caso di pseudoaneurisma del ventricolo sinistro.

The echocardiographic features of a case of postinfarction pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle are described. M-mode echocardiography displayed an echo-free space behind the posterior left ventricular wall and two-dimensional echocardiography defined the saccular contour of the pseudoaneurysm and its probable communication with the ventricular cavity. A second echocardiographic examination--a week later--revealed a marked enlargement of the pseudoaneurysm and a characteristic fast backward early systolic motion of the ventricular wall interposed between left ventricular cavity and the saccular aneurysm; this motion is interpreted as a passive displacement of the ruptured wall during ventricular systole, and allows a differential diagnosis with similar echocardiographic M-mode aspects, due to pericardial effusion, pleural effusion or pericardial cysts. Echocardiography findings were confirmed by angiocardiography and the surgery. Echocardiography seems to be a safe method for early non-invasive diagnosis of left ventricular pseudoaneurysm.

[The diagnosis of prosthesis pathology in biological and mechanical valves. I. Clinical and echocardiographic evaluation]. / Diagnostica della patologia protesica di valvole meccaniche e biologiche. I. Valutazione clinica ed ecocardiografica.

We retrospectively evaluated the clinical and echocardiographic findings of 50 patients with documented malfunctioning of cardiac prosthetic valves. The prostheses, mechanical or biological, were in 24 cases in a mitral and in 26 cases in an aortic position. Prosthetic dysfunction was due to thrombosis, fibro-calcific degeneration, fibrous cloth, bacterial infection, dehiscence, mismatch. The clinical features were represented by cardiac insufficiency of different degrees, up to global congestive failure unresponsive to medical treatment, by sudden low-output syndrome, arrhythmias, angina. The changes in auscultatory findings have appeared important clues to prosthetic malfunction, but we stress the necessity of an instrumental documentation of the type and grade of dysfunction. Echocardiography has represented an essential tool for a rapid and accurate noninvasive diagnosis of prosthetic pathology. The echocardiographic examination, except 2 false negatives, has consistently provided informations useful for therapeutic decisions. In 7 cases in critical clinical conditions (refractory heart failure or shock) the echocardiographic examination has afforded the exact documentation and identification of prosthetic pathology, allowing by itself a surgical decision.