Assessment of the impact of heart failure on household economic well-being: a protocol.

Background: Heart failure (HF), which is an emerging public health issue, adversely affects the strained health system in India. The adverse impact of HF on the economic well-being has been narrated in various anecdotal reports from India, with affected individuals and their dependents pushed into the vicious cycle of poverty. There is limited research quantifying how HF impacts the economic well-being of households from low- and middle-income countries. Methods: We describe the methods of a detailed economic impact assessment of HF at the household level in India. The study will be initiated across 20 hospitals in India, which are part of the National heart Failure Registry (NHFR). The selected centres represent different regions in India, stratified based on the prevailing stages of epidemiological transition levels (ETLs). We will collect data from 1800 patients with acute decompensated HF and within 6-15 months follow-up from the time of initial admission. The data that we intend to collect will consist of a) household healthcare expenditure including out-of-pocket expenditure, b) financing mechanisms used by households and (c) the impoverishing effects of health expenditures including distress financing and catastrophic health expenditure. Trained staff at each centre will collect data by using a validated and structured interview schedule. The study will have 80% power to detect an 8% difference in the proportion of households experiencing catastrophic health expenditures between two ETL groups.  After considering a non-response rate of 5%, the target sample size is approximately 600 patients from each group and the total sample size is 1800 patients. Potential Impact: Our study will provide information on catastrophic health spending, distress financing and household expenditure in heart failure patients. Our findings will help policy makers in understanding the micro-economic impact of HF in India and aid in allocation of appropriate resources for prevention and control of HF.

Aortic velocity propagation: A novel echocardiographic method in predicting atherosclerotic coronary artery disease burden.

BACKGROUND: The major burden of cardiovascular disease mortality around the globe is due to atherosclerosis and its complications. Hence its early detection and management with easily accessible and noninvasive methods are valuable. Aortic velocity propagation (AVP) through color M-mode of the proximal descending aorta determines aortic stiffness, reflecting atherosclerosis. The aim of this study was to find the utility of AVP in predicting coronary artery disease (CAD) burden assessed through SYNTAX (SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and cardiac surgery) score and compared with carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), which is an established surrogate marker of atherosclerosis. METHODS: In this cross-sectional comparative study, we measured AVP by color M-mode and CIMT by using Philips QLAB-IMT software in 100 patients, who underwent conventional coronary angiogram (CAG) between May 2013 and November 2014. Coronary artery disease is considered significant if >50% diameter stenosis is present in any epicardial coronary artery and insignificant if otherwise. RESULTS: Initially, to know the normal range we measured AVP and CIMT in 50 patients without any major risk factors for CAD but CAG was not done. Aortic velocity propagation ranged from 46 cm/s to 76 cm/s (mean = 58.62 ± 6.46 cm/s), CIMT ranged from 0.50 mm to 0.64 mm (mean = 0.55 ± 0.03 mm). Among 100 patients who underwent CAG we found 69% had significant CAD, 13% had insignificant CAD, and 18% had normal coronaries. Those with significant CAD had significantly lower AVP (41.65 ± 4.94 cm/s) [F (2,97) = 44.05, p < 0.0001] and significantly higher CIMT (0.86 ± 0.11 mm) [F (2,97) =35.78, p < 0.0001]. AVP had significant strong negative correlation with CIMT (r = -0.836, p < 0.0001, n = 100) and SYNTAX score (r = -0.803, p < 0.0001, n = 69), while CIMT was positively correlated with SYNTAX score significantly (r = 0.828, p < 0.0001, n = 69). CONCLUSIONS: AVP and CIMT can predict CAD burden in a robust way. AVP may emerge as an exquisite bedside tool to predict atherosclerotic burden and guide in implementing preventive therapy for cardiovascular disease.

Percutaneous Closure of an Iatrogenic Aorta to Right Ventricle Fistula Acquired Following Intracardiac Repair.

Iatrogenic aortocardiac fistulae have been described rarely following intracardiac repair. This 28 year-old-male presented to our facility with dyspnea going on 20 days after closure of ventricular septal defect (VSD) and resection of subaortic membrane. A communication was noticed between the aorta and the right ventricle (RV) upon transthoracic echocardiography. Cardiac catheterisation revealed a significant shunt and an aortogram revealed a 6 mm communication between aorta and right ventricle. Percutaneous closure of this defect was attempted under local anaesthesia through right femoral access. An alpha arteriovenous loop was formed despite repeated attempts, hence a retrograde approach for device delivery was considered. An 8 mm Amplatzer muscular VSD occluder device was deployed across the defect achieving a complete closure through an 8F delivery sheath. To the best of our knowledge this is the first report of an iatrogenic aorta to RV fistula occurring in a patient following an intracardiac repair which has been successfully treated percutaneously.

Evaluation of prolonged safety and efficacy of biodegradable polymer coated sirolimus-eluting coronary stent system: 1-year outcomes of the INDOLIMUS Registry.

BACKGROUND: The main aim is to evaluate prolonged safety and efficacy of the Indolimus (Sahajanand Medical Technologies Pvt. Ltd.) sirolimus-eluting coronary stent system. METHODS: It was a single center, non randomized, retrospective registry. Out of total 530 patients involved in the INDOLIMUS Registry, follow-up of 523 patients were obtained at 1-year The primary end-point of this was major adverse cardiac events, which is a composite of cardiac death, target lesion revascularization, target vessel revascularization, myocardial infarction and stent thrombosis, at 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: Cardiac death, target lesion revascularization and myocardial infarction at 1-year were reported in 19 (3.6%), 2 (0.4%), and 2 (0.4%) patients respectively, while stent thrombosis was reported in 1 (0.2%) patient. The resultant major adverse cardiac events at 1-year were reported to be 24 (4.5%). CONCLUSIONS: The lower incidence of MACE in uncontrolled and more complex cohorts at 1-year follow-up clearly depicts the prolonged safety and efficacy of the Indolimus sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) system.

Multiple ruptures of left sinus of Valsalva aneurysm into main pulmonary artery.

Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm is a rare congenital glitch. We report an extremely rare case of left sinus of Valsalva aneurysm compressing and rupturing into the main pulmonary artery with 2 communications. The 34-year-old man also had severe aortic regurgitation and severe tricuspid regurgitation. He underwent successful polytetrafluoroethylene patch repair and aortic valve replacement. The rarity of this case highlights the need for a precise preoperative diagnosis, the roles of transthoracic echocardiography, transesophageal echocardiography, and 3-dimensional echocardiography, and the importance of prompt surgical management.

Three-dimensional echocardiographic assessment before and after percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis.

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY: Real-time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (RT3DE) is a relatively recent imaging technique that provides excellent image quality of the mitral valve. It has been suggested that this new echocardiographic modality, which allows a precise cross-section of the mitral orifice at the tips of the leaflets with correct plane orientation, may provide a more accurate assessment of rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) than two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE), before and after percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy (PTMC). METHODS: A total of 50 patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis who underwent PTMC was evaluated prospectively. Patients in all age groups, with evidence of severe MS admitted to the authors' institution, in whom PTMC was feasible were included. RESULTS: A good valve opening was observed in 45 patients (90%). The mitral valve area (MVA) assessed before PTMC with 3DE (3D-MVA) correlated well with that assessed with 2DE (2D-MVA) (0.85 +/- 0.12 cm2 versus 0.86 +/- 0.13 cm2, p < 0.001); the mean difference between methods was small (0.01 +/- 0.11 cm2) and correlation excellent (r = 0.64, p < 0.001). After PTMC, values of 3D-MVA did not differ from, and correlated well with, values of 2D-MVA (1.79 +/- 0.20 cm2 versus 1.74 +/- 0.18 cm2, p = 0.006); the mean difference between methods was small (0.05 +/- 0.02 cm2) and correlation excellent (r = 0.76, p = 0.0001). Before PTMC, Bland-Altman analysis showed a good agreement between methods (mean difference -0.01 +/- 0.11 cm2, lower limit -0.24, upper limit 0.22). After PTMC, Bland-Altman analysis showed a good agreement between methods (mean difference -0.05 +/- 0.13 cm2, lower limit -0.3, upper limit 0.2). Evaluation of the commissural opening after PTMC, using RT3DE, showed that excellent commissural evaluation was possible in all patients. Compared with RT3DE, an underestimation of the degree of commissural fusion using 2DE was observed in 32%, with a weak agreement between methods. CONCLUSION: RT3DE provided accurate measurements of MVA, similar to 2D planimetry. RT3DE also improved the description of valvular anatomy and provided a unique assessment of the extent of commissural splitting.

Magnetic resonance angiography vs. angiography in tetralogy of Fallot.

AIM: : To determine whether gadolinium-enhanced three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography can provide a noninvasive alternative to diagnostic catheterization for evaluation of pulmonary artery anatomy in tetralogy of Fallot. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Thirty-five consecutive patients with tetralogy of Fallot, who attended the cardiology outpatient department between January 2008 and December 2009, were included in the study. There were 21 males and 14 females, with a mean age of 9 ± 4.15 years (range, 3-21 years). Thirty-two patients had tetralogy of Fallot with varying severities of valvular and infundibular stenosis. Three patients had tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia. All patients underwent both cardiac catheterization with X-ray angiography and 3-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography within one month. RESULTS: Measurements of right and left pulmonary arteries and aortopulmonary collaterals were equal by both methods. There was a good correlation between magnetic resonance angiography and catheterization measurements of branch pulmonary arteries. CONCLUSION: Gadolinium-enhanced three-dimensional magnetic resonance angiography can be used as a reliable noninvasive alternative to X-ray cineangiography for delineation of pulmonary arterial anatomy in sick infants and young children, obviating the need for catheterization.

Assessment of endothelial function by brachial artery flow mediated dilatation in microvascular disease.

BACKGROUND: Cardiac syndrome X is an important therapeutic and diagnostic challenge to physician. Study of Csx patients may help to understand the pathophysiology of coronary microcirculation and to gain an insight on the management of these group patients. METHODS: We measured the flow mediated dilation of the brachial artery both endothelium dependent and independent vasodilatation by high resolution ultrasound in 30 cardiac syndrome X patients and matched with 30 healthy control subjects. RESULTS: Significantly decreased flow mediated dilatation was observed in patients when compared to control (9.42±7.20 vs 21.11±9.16 p<0.01) but no significant difference was observed between groups in response to nitroglycerin (25.39±6.82 vs 28.87±8.69). Receiver operator characteristic analysis showed that value of <11.11 had sensitivity of 80%, specificity 86.67%, positive predictive value 76.66%, negative predictive value 83.33%. In total, 46% of subjects had endothelial dysfunction and of them, CSX subjects had higher prevalence (76% vs 16% p<0.01) than control subjects. Higher mean values of body mass index, systolic blood pressure and diastolic blood pressure was observed in subjects with FMD<11.11 than >11.11(p<0.01). In logistic regression analysis, FMD was significantly associated with systolic blood pressure (Odds ratio 1.122 95% CI 1.053-1.196 p<0.01) and body mass index (Odds 1.248 95%CI 0.995-1.56 p<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The study suggests impairment of endothelial function in cardiac syndrome X patients. Increased Systolic blood pressure and body mass index may increase the risk of impairment of endothelial function in this group of patients.

Coronary artery bypass in patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction.

We retrospectively reviewed the case records of 82 patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction < 30%) who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting between March 1993 and February 2000. They were aged 28 to 76 years (mean, 60 years), and 66 of them were male. Significant comorbid factors included hypertension (93%), diabetes mellitus (85%), and hypercholesterolemia (49%). The number of grafts used ranged from 1 to 3. The majority of the patients (91%) belonged to the Canadian Cardiovascular Society angina class III. Coronary angiography revealed single-vessel (in 16% of the patients), double-vessel (52%), and triple-vessel disease (32%), and left main stem disease (18%). Seven patients (9%) died within 48 hours after surgery. The mean duration of hospital stay was 7 +/- 2 days. The 75 patients who survived were followed up for 3 months to 7 years. At the 1-year follow-up, 61 of the 68 patients (90%) who were alive moved up from angina class III to class I. Our observations suggest that coronary bypass carries an acceptable mortality risk and may offer a better quality of life in patients with poor ventricular function.