Balloon Shaft Fracture: A Nightmare Scenario in the Setting of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

These images illustrate an attempt to pull back the balloon of an implanted proximal stent swiftly (before it was completely deflated) just following unplanned disengagement of the guiding catheter from the right coronary ostium. This maneuver resulted in abrupt balloon shaft fracture (outside the guiding catheter), leading to a freely swinging shaft appearance in the descending aorta. Unfortunately, several attempts to retrieve the swinging fragment of the shaft failed. Moreover, intracoronary snare technique in an effort to grasp the distal portion of the shaft also failed. Finally, the shaft fragment was surgically removed along with a bypass graft operation for the severely stenotic circumflex artery.

Systemic Immune-Inflammation Index: A Novel Predictor of Coronary Thrombus Burden in Patients with Non-ST Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background and Objectives: Excessive coronary thrombus burden is known to cause an increase in mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) in NSTE-ACS (non-ST acute coronary syndrome) patients. We investigated the association between the systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) and coronary thrombus burden in patients with non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) who underwent coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Materials and Methods: A total of 389 patients with the diagnosis of NSTEMI participated in our study. Coronary thrombus burden was classified in the TIMI (thrombolysis in myocardial infarction) thrombus grade scale and patients were divided into two groups: a TIMI thrombus grade 0-1 group (n = 209, 157 males) and a TIMI thrombus grade 2-6 group (n = 180, 118 males). Demographics, angiographic lesion images, coronary thrombus burden, clinical risk factors, laboratory parameters, and SII score were compared between the two groups. Results: The high thrombus burden patient group had a higher neutrophil count, WBC count, platelet count, and systemic immune-inflammation index (SII) (p < 0.001). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed that at a cutoff of 1103, the value of SII manifested 74.4% sensitivity and 74.6% specificity for detecting a high coronary thrombus burden. Conclusions: Our study showed that the SII levels at hospital admission were independently associated with high coronary thrombus with NSTEMI.

The significance of routine laboratory parameters in patients with sudden sensorineural hearing loss.

There are several factors (viral infections, metabolic and ototoxic disorders etc.) accused for the development of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. Some prognostic factors (late onset of treatment etc.) had been evaluated in the literature. There is no sufficient data on the effect of routine laboratory parameters on the development and/or prognosis of sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The aim of this study is to investigate the effects of routine blood chemistry and hematological parameters on the development and prognosis of disease in patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss. One hundred and forty-seven patients with the diagnosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss followed up during the periods of 2000-2010 years were included in this study. One hundred and three septoplasty patients with no otologic complaints were enrolled as control group. Following the clinical and demographic evaluations, patients with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and control groups, and patients treated successfully and patients with poor outcome were compared with each other. Data were analyzed by T test. All hematological and biochemical parameters were compared. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, total and direct bilirubin, fasting blood glucose level and aspartate aminotransferase were significantly different between idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss and control groups. There was no significantly different parameter between patients treated successfully and patients with poor outcome. Hemoglobin, hematocrit, white blood cell count, total and direct bilirubin, fasting blood glucose level and AST all can be risk factors for SHL, or they can be the result of undetermined pathology, because these parameters have no effect on the prognosis. Other routine parameters seem to have no effect on the development and/or prognosis of idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss.