[COVID-19 and coronary artery disease: selective and collaborative use of resources during public health crisis]. / COVID-19 e coronaropatia: uso selettivo e collaborativo delle risorse durante le crisi sanitarie.

The COVID-19 epidemic is one of the most demanding challenges for the public health organizations. The Lombardy region faced firstly this outbreak in Italy and recorded rapidly a saturation of intensive care and internal medicine beds. Consequently, this lack of technical and human resources, together with people mobility restriction to contain virus spreading, determined the interruption of elective surgical and interventional cardiovascular procedures. In addition, the emergency track of acute patients has been rewritten due to limited resources and viral co-infection (pre- or in-hospital). Herein, we describe two cases of acute coronary syndrome with severe coronary artery disease and an indication for coronary artery bypass grafting. The first patient, COVID-19 positive, was treated with transcatheter technique due to symptom instability and underwent temporary circulatory support without intubation. The second patient received an intra-aortic balloon pump and was then transferred, in accordance with government emergency provisions, to a hub hospital to undergo off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and short intensive care unit stay. These two apparently similar cases were treated differently according to the moving epidemiological and organizational conditions.

Role of implantable cardioverter defibrillators in dilated cardiomyopathy.

Idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) accounts for about 10,000 deaths per year in western countries. Of these deaths, 8% to 51% occur suddenly, with more than half of the events due to a ventricular arrhythmia. Improvement in diagnostic techniques and therapeutic strategies, together with changes in secular trends, have likely contributed to the reported trend toward improved survival in recent years. Identification of DCM patients at higher risk of sudden death is difficult. Poor left ventricular function is the strongest predictor of all-cause death, whereas a history of sustained unstable ventricular arrhythmia or cardiac arrest identifies patients at high risk of sudden death. Recent data suggest that a history of syncope, regardless of inducibility at programmed electrical stimulation, may be a risk factor of sudden death. Despite the absence of controlled studies, use of implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy for primary prevention can be considered in patients with unexplained syncope as well as subgroups of DCM patients awaiting transplantation. In patients who survive a cardiac arrest or an unstable ventricular tachycardia, use of implantable cardioverter defibrillator therapy is associated with improved survival during follow-up and should be considered as a first-line therapy.

Implantation of a single chamber pacemaker in patients with triple mechanical valve prosthesis: utilization of coronary sinus distal branches to stimulate the left ventricle.

The implantation of a permanent pacemaker and its relative leads is still a challenge in patients with mechanical tricuspid valve prosthesis. The implant is usually performed epicardially or during valve replacement to avoid any damage to the valve and/or early damages to the lead. We describe the case of a patient with a tricuspid valve prosthesis implanted with a permanent single-chamber pacemaker using an endocardial lead positioned in a distal branch of the coronary sinus to stimulate the left ventricle.