Coronary CTA assessment of coronary anomalies.

Coronary anomalies occur in <1% of the general population and can range from a benign incidental finding to the cause of sudden cardiac death. The coronary anomalies are classified here according to the traditional grouping into those of origin and course, intrinsic arterial anatomy, and termination. Classic coronary anomalies of origin and course include those in which a coronary artery originates from the contralateral aortic sinus or the pulmonary artery with anomalous course. Single coronary artery anomalies, in which single coronary artery branches to supply the entire coronary tree, are also included in this category. Anomalies of intrinsic arterial anatomy are a broad class that includes myocardial bridges, coronary ectasia and aneurysms, subendocardial coursing arteries, and coronary artery duplication. Coronary anomalies of termination are those in which a coronary artery terminates in a fistulous connection to a great vessel or cardiac chamber. In the case of those anomalies associated with a risk of sudden cardiac death, the relevant imaging features on CT angiography (CTA) associated with poorer prognosis are reviewed. Recent guidelines and appropriateness criteria favor the use of coronary CTA for the evaluation of coronary anomalies. Although invasive angiography has historically been used to diagnose coronary anomalies, multidetector CT imaging techniques have now become an accurate noninvasive alternative. Cardiac CTA provides excellent spatial and temporal resolution, allowing accurate anatomical assessment of these anomalies.

Neurologic and cardiac benefits of therapeutic hypothermia.

Numerous studies have shown the favorable effects of lowering the core temperature of the body in various conditions such as acute myocardial infarction, acute cerebrovascular disease, acute lung injury, and acute spinal cord injury. Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) works at different molecular and cellular levels. TH improves oxygen supply to ischemic areas and increases blood flow by decreasing vasoconstriction, as well as oxygen consumption, glucose utilization, lactate concentration, intracranial pressure, heart rate, cardiac output, and plasma insulin levels. TH has been shown to improve neurologic outcome in acute cerebrovascular accidents. Furthermore, recent studies revealed that TH is a useful method of neuroprotection against ischemic neuronal injury after cardiac arrest. TH in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest is becoming a standard practice nationwide. Further studies need to be performed to develop a better understanding of the benefits and detrimental effects of TH, to identify the most efficacious TH strategy, and the candidates most likely to derive benefit from the procedure. Although many animal studies have demonstrated benefit, larger human clinical trials are recommended to investigate the beneficial effect of TH on reducing myocardial infarction size and coronary reperfusion injuries.

Refractory progression of coronary aneurysms, a case of delayed onset Kawasaki disease as depicted by cardiac computed tomography angiography.

BACKGROUND: Kawasaki disease (KD) is an immune-mediated vasculitis of unknown etiology with self-limited clinical course that was first described in 1967 by Dr. Tomisaku Kawasaki. It is a disease of early childhood and rare past late adulthood but one that can have detrimental consequences when there is a delay in diagnosis and treatment. Cardiovascular complications causing increased morbidity and mortality may include coronary artery aneurysms, myocardial infarction, heart failure, arrhythmias, and peripheral artery occlusion. CASE PRESENTATION: Here, we present an atypical case of delayed onset KD in a young teenager. DS had visited three different emergency departments during the course of 2 weeks for unrelenting fevers. Despite multiple treatment protocols including immunoglobulin, steroids, and tumor necrosis factor-alpha antagonists, he continued to have progression of cardiovascular complications. While echocardiographic findings were suspicious for cardiac complications, a cardiac computed tomography (CT) angiography was able to clearly distinguish giant coronary aneurysms. CONCLUSION: Without prompt therapy, fever and manifestations of acute inflammation can last for several weeks to months with increased risk toward complications. The incidence of coronary artery aneurysms has been noted to be 25% in untreated patients with a mortality rate of up to 2%. Using low-dose protocols along with high spatial and temporal resolution of cardiac CT angiography may provide a useful and complimentary imaging modality in accurate diagnosis and follow-up of patients with KD.

Hemodynamic support with TandemHeart in tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy - a case report.

Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy is characterized by chest pain, electrocardiographic abnormalities mimicking acute myocardial infarction, akinesis or dyskinesis of apical or mid left ventricular segments, and the absence of obstructive coronary artery disease. Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy is usually a potentially reversible form of cardiac dysfunction. A careful literature search revealed no previous report of a patient requiring mechanical circulatory support in tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy. We report a patient with tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy, ventricular fibrillation, and hemodynamic instability requiring a left ventricular assist device (TandemHeart(™)) followed by improvement of left ventricular ejection fraction to 45%.

Vascular complications after percutaneous coronary intervention following hemostasis with the Mynx vascular closure device versus the AngioSeal vascular closure device.

UNLABELLED: We investigated the prevalence of vascular complications after PCI following hemostasis in 190 patients (67% men and 33% women, mean age 64 years) treated with the AngioSeal vascular closure device (St. Jude Medical, Austin, Texas) versus 238 patients (67% men and 33% women, mean age 64 years) treated with the Mynx vascular closure device (AccessClosure, Mountain View, California). RESULTS: Death, myocardial infarction or stroke occurred in none of the 190 patients (0%) treated with the AngioSeal versus none of 238 patients (0%) treated with the Mynx. Major vascular complications occurred in 4 of 190 patients (2.1%) treated with the AngioSeal versus 5 of 238 patients (2.1%) treated with the Mynx (p not significant). Major vascular complications in patients treated with the AngioSeal included removal of a malfunctioning device (1.1%), hemorrhage requiring intervention (0.5%) and hemorrhage with a loss of > 3g Hgb (0.5%). The major vascular complications in patients treated with the Mynx included retroperitoneal bleeding requiring surgical intervention (0.8%), pseudoaneurysm with surgical repair (0.8%) and hemorrhage with a loss of > 3g Hgb (0.4%). These complications were not significantly different between the two vascular closure devices (p = 0.77). Minor complications included hematoma > 5 cm (0.5%, n = 1) within the AngioSeal group, as well as procedure failure requiring > 30 minutes of manual compression after device deployment, which occurred in 7 out of 190 patients (3.7%) treated with the AngioSeal versus 22 of 238 patients with the Mynx (9.2%) (p = 0.033). CONCLUSIONS: Major vascular complications after PCI following hemostasis with vascular closure devices occurred in 2.1% of 190 patients treated with the AngioSeal vascular closure device versus 2.1% of 238 patients treated with the Mynx vascular closure device (p not significant). The Mynx vascular closure device appears to have a higher rate of device failure.