Effectiveness of myocardial contrast echocardiography quantitative analysis during adenosine stress versus visual analysis before percutaneous therapy in acute coronary pain: a coronary artery TIMI grading comparing study.

The study aim was to compare two different stress echocardiography interpretation techniques based on the correlation with thrombosis in myocardial infarction (TIMI ) flow grading from acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients. Forty-one patients with suspected ACS were studied before diagnostic coronary angiography with myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) at rest and at stress. The correlation of visual interpretation of MCE and TIMI flow grade was significant. The quantitative analysis (myocardial perfusion parameters: A, ß, and A × ß) and TIMI flow grade were significant. MCE visual interpretation and TIMI flow grade had a high degree of agreement, on diagnosing myocardial perfusion abnormality. If one considers TIMI flow grade <3 as abnormal, MCE visual interpretation at rest had 73.1% accuracy with 58.2% sensitivity and 84.2% specificity and at stress had 80.4% accuracy with 76.6% sensitivity and 83.3% specificity. The MCE quantitative analysis has better accuracy with 100% of agreement with different level of TIMI flow grading. MCE quantitative analysis at stress has showed a direct correlation with TIMI flow grade, more significant than the visual interpretation technique. Further studies could measure the clinical relevance of this more objective approach to managing acute coronary syndrome patient before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Unilateral dysgenesis of the internal carotid artery: spectrum of imaging findings.

OBJECTIVE: Dysgenesis of the internal carotid artery (ICA) is a broad term comprising hypoplasia, aplasia and agenesis of the vessel. It is a rare anomaly, often clinically silent, that can be confidently diagnosed by means of noninvasive imaging methods. METHODS: After a review of teaching files, 7 patients with unilateral carotid dysgenesis were found, 2 with agenesis of the ICA, 3 with carotid aplasia, and 2 with hypoplasia of the vessel. Computed tomography (CT) and magnetic resonance angiography (MRA) of the brain were performed in all patients, with a complete magnetic resonance of the brain in 3 of them, a CT angiography of the brain in one, and MRA of the cervical arteries in 3. RESULTS: The fetal pattern of arterial circulation was found in 3 patients with agenesis/aplasia of the ICA and the adult pattern was found in 2 patients, being the brain circulation of normal pattern in the patients with hypoplasia of the ICA. Two patients presented signs of reduced flow to the brain hemisphere ipsilateral to the carotid dysgenesis; one of them with an old homolateral brain infarction. CONCLUSION: Far from being just an anatomic curiosity, the dysgenesis of the ICA may have serious consequences if not recognized prior to endarterectomies, carotid ligation or transsphenoidal surgery. As much as one-third of these patients will have intracranial aneurysms as well. The imaging methods, instead being mutually exclusive, are complementary in the evaluation of carotid dysgenesis.