Mid-term Clinical & Angiographic Outcomes of Primary Stenting in Acute Myocardial Infarction

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: The goal of this study was to examine the safety and feasibility of a primary (direct) stenting in acute myocardial infarction (AMI). In the treatment of AMI, Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) has documented superior reperfusion rate and improved clinical outcomes than thrombolytic therapy. However, there are several limitations of PTCA, such as recurrent ischemia in 10 to 15%, reinfarction in 3 to 5% and restenosis in 30 to 50% of patients. There are several reports that, compared with PTCA, the implantation of coronary stent has been shown to reduce angiographic restenosis and improve late clinical outcomes. But in general, stenting has been contraindicated in thrombus containing lesion due to the risk of subacute thrombosis. With advance in technique and the recognition of the importance of adequate platelet inhibition, the incidence of subacute thrombosis has fallen in patients with acute coronary syndrome and thrombus laden lesion. Methods and Results: In our study, primary stenting was performed in 42 patients of AMI. There are 6 cases (22.5%) target lesion restenosis during the follow up coronary angiography (150+/-86day) and no in-hospital death. Three cases (7.1%) of them require revascularization including two re-PCTA and a coronary artery bypass graft for the recurrent ischemic symptoms. There were no reinfarction and death after discharge. Six-months event free survival reate was 85.7%. CONCLUSION: Primary stenting is safe and feasible in the majority of patients with AMI and results in excellent mid-term outcomes compared with PTCA.

A case of Sweet's syndrome in patient with dermatomyositis

Sweet's syndrome (SS) has been reported as an association with malignant neoplasms and autoimmune diseases, e.g., Behcet's disease, Sjogren's syndrome, and rheumatoid arthritis. But dermatomyositis (DM), one of the rare autoimmune diseases, was not reported as an associated disease of SS. We describe an interesting case of SS associated with DM. Diagnosis was made by skin biopsy, and subsequent clinical resolution occurred after institution of prednisolone.

Clinical and Angiographic Outcomes: Subcutaneous Nadroparin versus Ticlopidine after Coronary Stenting

BACKGROUNG AND OBJECTIVES: It was reported that low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) was more effective than unfractionated heparin in patients with acute coronary syndrome. Recent studies have shown that the pathophysiology of restenosis in stented lesions was different from those of nonstented lesions. Treatment strategies designed to limit cellular proliferation that were ineffective in nonstented lesions may be efficacious in reducing in-stent restenosis. This study was aimed to compare the clinical and angiographic results of LMWH (nadroparin) after coronary stenting with those of conventional ticlopidine regimen. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patients were eligible for inclusion if they had angina and/or objective evidence of myocardial ischemia, and a significant (>50%) stenosis that was documented on a recent coronary angiogram. After stenting, prospective randomized comparison study was performed. Patients were randomly assigned to either nadroparin (200 IU/kg, sc, bid) or ticlopidine (250 mg bid) plus aspirin (200 mg qd) treatment groups. Repeat coronary angiography (KERN=*)was performed at 236+/-90days after stenting, and quantitative coronary angiographic analysis (QCA) was done. RESULTS: Intracoronary stent implantation was performed in eighty five lesions in eighty one patients (ticlopidine:40, nadroparin:41). There was no significant difference in any baseline clinical/angiographic variables between the two treatment groups. There were no subacute stent thrombosis, infarction and death in both groups. Six-month event-free survival was 36 (90%) in the ticlopidine group and 35 (85.4%) in the nadroparin group. Follow-up quantitative angiographic data such as late loss (1.35+/-0.70 vs 1.32+/-0.69), loss index (0.53+/-0.70 vs 0.56+/-0.23) and restenosis rate (36% vs 25.8%) were not different between ticlopidine and nadroparin groups. CONCLUSION: Effects of nadroparin were not different from those with ticlopidine therapy in the prevention of restenosis and subacute stent thorombosis after coronary stenting. Clinical outcomes between two strategies were similar. Low molecular weight heparin may be an alternative to ticlopidine in patients that ticlopidine cannot be administered because of severe adverse effects.

Early and Mid-term Results of Coronary Stenting in the Diabetic Patient

BACKGROUNG AND OBJECTIVES: Diabetes mellitus is a significant risk factor for adverse outcome after PTCA, which is associated with an increased late mortality and target lesion revascularization (TLR) rates. The beneficial role of coronary stenting on the clinical and angiographic outcomes of diabetic patients is not clearly defined. The aim of this study was to evaluate the early and mid-term outcomes in diabetic patients undergoing elective stenting of native coronary lesions compared with those in non-diabetic patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Between July 1997 and June 1998, coronary stenting was performed on 46 lesions in 38 diabetic patients and 126 lesions in 117 non-diabetic patients. Follow-up angiography at mean day of 189+/-45 was performed in 58.7% (91 patients) and analysed by quantitative coronary angiography (QCA). RESULTS: There was a higher incidence of multi-vessel disease in diabetic patients than non-diabetic patients but not statistically significant (71.1% vs 51.3%, p=0.106). There were no differences in major procedural complications and in-hospital events (myocardial infarction, angina and death) in diabetics and non-diabetics. During the follow-up, the incidence of target lesion revascularizton (TLR) and cardiac event free survival did not differ between two groups. CONCLUSION: Coronary stenting in diabetics resulted in a low rate of immediate procedural com-plications and early major adverse cardiac event (MACE), similar to non-diabetics. There were no differences in the mid-term clinical and angiographic outcomes in diabetics and non-diabetics.

A Case of Pheochromocytoma Presented with Acute Myocardial Infarction

A 36-year-old woman was presented with extensive anterior wall myocardial infarction. We tried to perform direct coronary angiography for the purpose of primary stenting. However, coronary angiogram revealed normal coronary arteries without intracoronary thrombi. We continued further evaluations to find out the cause of normal coronary myocardial infarction. The findings of severe hypertensive retinopathy and concentric left ventricular hypertrophy suggested that she had secondary hypertension. The detailed history, laboratory and radiological findings revealed the pheochromocytoma. The tumor was successfully removed by operation.

Usefulness of Dobutamine Stress Echocardiography for Detecting Restenosis after Coronary Artery Stenting

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: A noninvasive test with a high predictive value for detecting restenosis is needed to reduce the need for unnecessary coronary angiography. Recently, dobutamine stress echocardiography(DSE) has been shown to be highly sensitive, specific and accurate for the detection of coronary artery disease. No prior study, however, has evaluated its ability to detect restenosis after intracoronary stenting. The aim of this study was to determine the feasibility of DSE for detecting restenosis after intracoronary stenting. METHODS: To determine the feasibility of DSE for detecting restenosis after intracoronary stenting, the results of follow-up coronary angiography and DSE and treadmill exercise test(TMET) were examined in 36 patients(age, 61+/-6 yeas; 22 men) at least 4 months after angiographically successful intracoronary stenting. The DSE and TMET were performed at day 1. Dobutamine was infused with starting at a dose of 10 microgram/kg/min for 3 minutes, and increasing by 10microgram/kg/min every 3 minutes to a maximum of 40microgram/kg/min. In patients not achieving 85% of their age-predicted maximal heart rate, atropine (0.25mg intravenously, repeated up to maximum of 1mg if necessary) was added while the dobutamine infusion was continued. Positive findings for restenosis were defined as new or worsened wall motion abnormality at a previously dilated vascular territories. The coronary angiography was performed at day 2. Restenosis was defined as > or =50% lumen narrowing, determined by quantitative coronary angiography. RESULTS: Restenosis was angiographically demonstrated in 14 lesions(34.1%) of 41 lesions. The sensitivity and specificity of DSE for detecting restenosis was 50%(7/14) and 96.2%(26/27), and positive predictive value was 87.5%(7/8), negative predictive value was 78.8%(26/33), respectively. When restenosis was defined as > or =60% lumen narrowing, the sensitivity and specificity of DSE for detecting restenosis was 66.7%(6/9) and 96.9%(31/32), respectively. The target lesion revascularization rate(TLR) was 17%(7/41). The sensitivity of DSE for determining TLR was 85.7% (6/7) and specificity was 97.0%(33/34). CONCLUSION: It is concluded that DSE has a moderate sensitivity and high specificity for detecting restenosis after intracoronary stenting. DSE may be a useful diagnostic modality for determining target lesion revascularization of restenotic lesion but further studies are needed.