[Intramyocardial dissecting haematoma: an unusual form of cardiac rupture]. / Hematoma disecante intramiocárdico: una forma poco frecuente de rotura cardíaca.

The intramyocardial dissecting haematoma is an unusual rupture of the left ventricular wall, complicating acute myocardial infarction. The mechanism is an hemorrhagic dissection among the spiral myocardial fibres creating a neocavitation limited by the myocardium. It appears in 9% of left ventricular wall ruptures, complicating acute myocardial infarction. Diagnosis is often difficult and in most of the cases it is post-mortem. We present the case report of a 69 year old patient who suffered a posterolateral acute myocardial infarction treated with primary PTCA/Stent plus AAS, clopidogrel, unfractioned heparin bolus and GP IIb- IIIa inhibitors. In the following few hours he suffered this unusual form of cardiac rupture that took him into cardiogenic shock and finally led to his death. The pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of this lethal complication of acute myocardial infarction (90% mortality in the medically treated group) which is only effectively treated by surgery are also reviewed.

Direct coronary stenting versus stenting with balloon pre-dilation: immediate and follow-up results of a multicentre, prospective, randomized study. The DISCO trial. DIrect Stenting of COronary Arteries.

AIMS: To assess the safety of direct coronary stenting, its influence on costs, duration of the procedure, radiation exposure, clinical outcome and angiographic restenosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We randomized 416 patients (446 lesions) to direct stent implant or stent implant following balloon pre-dilation. Patients >75 years old, heavily calcified lesions, bifurcations, total occlusions, left main lesions and very tortuous vessels were excluded. Direct stenting was successful in 217/224 lesions (96.8%). No single loss or embolization of the stent occurred. All stents in the group with pre-dilation were effectively deployed. The immediate post-procedure angiographic results were similar with both techniques. Fluoroscopy and procedural time were significantly lower in direct stenting (6.4+/-0.3 and 21+/-0.9 min) than in pre-dilated stenting (9.1+/-0.4 and 27.5+/-1.1 min) (P>0.001). Major adverse cardiac events during hospitalization were one in direct and four in pre-dilated stenting (P=0.05) but there were no significant differences at follow-ups at 1, 6 and 12 months between the two groups. Angiographic reevaluation at 6 months was performed in 94% of the cases. Restenosis rate was 16.5% in direct stenting and 14.3% in pre-dilated stenting (P=ns). CONCLUSIONS: Direct stenting is as safe as pre-dilated stenting in selected coronary lesions. Acute angiographic results are similar but procedural costs, duration of the procedure and radiation exposure are lower in direct stenting. Overall success rate, mid-term clinical outcome and restenosis are similar with both techniques.

[Tropical endomyocardial fibrosis or Davies disease. A case report]. / Fibrosis endomiocárdica tropical o enfermedad de Davies. A propósito de un caso.

Endomyocardial fibrosis is a restrictive endomyocardial myocardiopathy of unclear etiology, it is an endemic disease in tropical and subtropical countries. The patients are usually young and the disease has an insidious onset and poor prognosis. Surgery may lead to clinical improvement and prolong life expectancy, although it is only a palliative treatment and does not stop disease progression. We present a case of endomyocardial fibrosis from Equatorial Guinea with severe clinical involvement and clear improvement following surgery. The current etiopathogenic hypothesis, the results obtained and the management of these cases, which are infrequent in Spain, are discussed. We also comment upon the differences with the historically related Loeffler syndrome according to one of the etiopathogenic hypotheses.

[Wiktor coronary stent for elective placement with an antiaggregation regimen. WINE study. WINE Group Study]. / Stent coronario Wiktor por indicación electiva con régimen de antiagregación. Estudio WINE. Grupo de Estudio WINE.

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: The main problems associated with coronary stent implantation are subacute thrombosis and vascular and hemorrhagic complications due to the intensive anticoagulant regime. We studied the complications and the six-month restenosis rate after the elective implantation of a Wiktor stent in patients treated only with antiplatelet drugs. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The WINE study is an open, observational, multicenter study that included 368 patients (380 lesions) from 11 Spanish hospitals. All patients were treated with aspirin (125-325 mg/day) and ticlopidine (250 mg/12 h for 4 weeks). After hospitalization, a clinical control and clinical and angiographic controls were performed at one and six months respectively. RESULTS: 27 patients were excluded after the procedure because of failed delivery of the stent (5 cases), suboptimal angiographic result (15 cases) or lack of adherence to the antithrombotic regime (7 cases). Among the 341 patients with an adequate result most lesions (76.2%) were type B, including 39.1% type B2 and 8.5% type C. Subacute stent occlusion occurred in two patients (0.6%). Seven patients (2.1%) had vascular complications related to the arterial puncture. No major hemorrhagic complications needing transfusion were found. At six months 64 patients (19.8%) showed angiographic restenosis. CONCLUSIONS: When the angiographic result after Wiktor stent placement is adequate, the therapy with aspirin and ticlopidine is associated with a very low stent thrombosis rate as well as with a low rate of vascular complications and 6 month angiographic restenosis.

[Retrospective analysis of a large number of patients over 70 years old, subject to percutaneous coronary angioplasty or to surgery]. / Análisis retrospectivo de una cohorte de pacientes mayores de 70 años sometidos a angioplastia coronaria percutánea o a cirugía.

INTRODUCTION: The number of patients of advanced age with symptomatic coronary illness that need surgical or percutaneous revascularisation is increasing. The aim of the present paper is to gain knowledge of the evolution of patients over 70 years of age subjected to myocardial revascularisation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: We compare two groups of patients, in a non-aleatory manner, subjected to angioplasty (N=65) and to surgery (N=75). The average age was 74.12 +/- 3.5 (70-85) and 71.97 +/- 1.9 (70-79) years respectively. The number of unhealthy vessels was greater in the surgical group (1.84 +/- 0.8 vs 2.65 +/- 0.8). RESULTS: The number revascularised vessels is greater and revascularisation more complete in the surgical group (1.14 +/- 0.4 vs 2.59 +/- 0.9) and (76% vs 49%). There is no difference in mortality in both groups. The functional degree during the evolution is worse for the angioplasty group and besides more antianginous medicines are used in treatment (1.92 +/- 1.2 vs 1.26 +/- 0.8) and they are subjected more frequently to a new revascularisation. CONCLUSIONS: Both the sick rate and the mortality of the procedure was similar in both groups. Both procedures are valid therapeutic alternatives and are acceptably safe with these patients. Surgery is more complete and is carried out on a group of patients with greater coronary distress. There are no differences in life expectancy amongst the patients treated with either of the techniques. During the follow-up period the functional degree of the surgical group is better and there are more patients treated with monotherapy.

Supraventricular arrhythmia as the cause of sudden death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Electrophysiological studies with simultaneous echocardiographic control and invasive measurement of intravascular pressures were carried out in a 13-year-old boy with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who was hospitalized after an episode of aborted sudden death. Ventricular stimulation did not induce ventricular tachycardia, but atrial stimulation induced atrial fibrillation, atrial flutter and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia. Atrial stimulation (S1) at 200 beats.min-1 (10-15 s) also induced significant repolarization abnormalities in the 5-10 post-stimulation beats. Akinesia of the ventricular septum and posterior wall without opening of the mitral valve was documented by echocardiography. A complete anterior systolic motion, not observed under basal conditions, was detected in the first post-stimulation beat. Atrial stimulation at rates over 120 beats.min-1 caused a drop in systolic blood pressure, a rise in pulmonary artery pressure, and a decrease in cardiac output. Despite therapy with propranolol and amiodarone, the patient died suddenly.

Atrial fibrillation in patients with an accessory pathway: importance of the conduction properties of the accessory pathway.

To investigate how the electrophysiologic properties of the accessory pathway affect the occurrence of atrial fibrillation in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, programmed stimulation data of 57 patients with overt pre-excitation and 33 patients with a concealed accessory pathway with documented circus movement tachycardia were reviewed. Atrial fibrillation had occurred spontaneously in 31 (54%) of the 57 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and in 1 (3%) of the 33 with a concealed accessory pathway (p less than 0.001). Sustained atrial fibrillation was induced in 23 of 31 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome and spontaneous atrial fibrillation (Group A), in 7 of 26 patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome without spontaneous atrial fibrillation (Group B) and in 5 of 33 patients with a concealed accessory pathway (Group C). The anterograde effective refractory period of the accessory pathway was shorter in Group A than in Group B (252 versus 297 ms, p less than 0.001). There were no differences among groups in PA interval, right to left atrium conduction time, cycle length of tachycardia and atrial and retrograde accessory pathway effective refractory period. Atrial fibrillation is more frequent in patients with the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome than in those with a concealed accessory pathway. Patients with overt pre-excitation and atrial fibrillation have a shorter anterograde accessory pathway refractory period. It seems therefore that the anterograde rather than the retrograde conduction properties of the accessory pathway are the critical determinants of atrial fibrillation in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Ventricular fibrillation in the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is a well-known but rare complication of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome (WPW). Clinical and electrophysiological data of 23 patients with spontaneous VF were compared with data from 100 consecutive patients with WPW without VF but with symptomatic supraventricular tachycardia. The 23 patients were collected in a multicentre retrospective study in seven European centres. VF occurred in only one patient who was receiving antiarrhythmic drugs, and was the first manifestation of the syndrome in six. No significant differences were found between those with VF and without VF in age, complaints of palpitations, syncope, and presence of structural heart disease. The retrograde effective refractory period of the accessory pathway, the atrial refractory period and the fastest atrial pacing rate with 1:1 anterograde conduction over the accessory pathway were similar in both groups. Significant differences were found for sex, permanent pre-excitation on the electrocardiogram, type of documented supraventricular tachyarrhythmias, shortest RR interval less than or equal to 220 ms during spontaneous atrial fibrillation (AF), inducibility of supraventricular tachycardias, ventricular effective refractory period less than or equal to 190 ms, mean shortest RR interval during induced AF less than or equal to 180 ms and presence of multiple accessory pathways.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Exercise-induced sustained symptomatic ventricular tachycardia: incidence, clinical, angiographic and electrophysiologic characteristics.

Among 112 patients with sustained ventricular tachycardia, 15 were found to have exercise-induced symptomatic ventricular tachycardia. This population was divided into two subgroups: group 1A included five patients with coronary artery disease and group 1B consisted of 10 patients with no structural heart disease. All patients underwent clinical examination, exercise electrocardiography, left ventriculography, coronary angiography (n = 14) and electrophysiologic study. In group 1B, right ventriculography (n = 7), M mode and two-dimensional echocardiography were also obtained. Group 1A patients were compared with a population of 27 patients with coronary artery disease and chronic sustained ventricular tachycardia not related to exercise (group 2). There were no statistically significant differences between group 1A and group 2 in terms of age, sex, incidence of prior myocardial infarction, NYHA functional class, angina pectoris, symptoms during arrhythmia, severity and extent of coronary arterial lesions, ventricular dysfunction and wall motion abnormalities. In group 1B, coronary angiography and right and left ventricular function were normal. During electrophysiologic study, ventricular tachycardia was initiated in four group 1A patients. In group 1B, ventricular tachycardia was initiated in eight patients. In four of these patients ventricular pacing had to be combined with isoproterenol administration. In group 2, ventricular tachycardia was induced in 26/27 patients. From this study we conclude that in patients with coronary artery disease the electrophysiologic substrate of exercise-related sustained ventricular tachycardia does not differ from the substrate of non-exercise-related ventricular tachycardia. Re-entry is the most likely electrophysiologic mechanism. In patients without structural heart disease, the mechanism of the arrhythmia remains speculative.

Cost-benefit analysis of medical vs surgical treatment of symptomatic patients with accessory atrioventricular pathways.

Surgical treatment of patients with an accessory atrioventricular pathway leading to symptomatic arrhythmias provides effective control. However, surgical treatment is usually considered only when medical treatment fails. To assess the cost-benefit ratio of medical vs surgical treatment 77 patients treated with antiarrhythmic drugs were compared with 50 patients treated surgically. Cost was calculated by considering current costs for drugs, surgery and pacemakers, electrophysiological investigations, outpatient clinic controls, and costs of readmissions because of tachycardia. Mean cost per treated patient and mean cost per successfully treated patient (total cost divided by the number of patient not requiring readmission during follow-up) was respectively 4242 and 6949 US dollars after 56 months for the medically treated group and 10800 and 11250 US dollars for the surgically treated group. A projection of costs demonstrated that costs of medical treatment was the same as costs of surgical treatment after 12.5 years of treatment but a higher number of medically treated patients remain symptomatic. We conclude that surgical treatment of symptomatic patients with accessory pathways has a better cost-benefit ratio than medical treatment and should be considered earlier without waiting for failure for medical treatment.

[The significance of ventricular tachycardia morphology for prognosis and follow-up]. / Die Bedeutung der Kammertachykardie-Morphologie für Prognose und Verlauf.

To assess the prognostic value of ventricular tachycardia (VT) morphology we studied data from 56 patients (pts) with old myocardial infarctions and documented sustained monomorphic VT. There were 22/56 pts (39%) with a left bundle branch block (LBBB) pattern of the spontaneous VT and 34/56 pts (61%) with a right bundle branch block (RBBB) VT. During a mean follow-up of 34 +/- 11 months, 12 pts died from cardiac causes, four of them suddenly. Total mortality was higher in pts with RBBB-VT (9/34, 26%) than in those with LBBB-VT (3/22, 14%) (p = 0.21), despite a significantly shorter VT cycle length in pts with LBBB-VT (306 +/- 56 ms) than in those with RBBB-VT (344 +/- 76 ms) (p less than 0.05). All pts who died suddenly had a RBBB-VT. During programmed stimulation, VT with the same morphology as the spontaneous VT was induced more frequently in pts with LBBB-VT (off drugs: 7/14, 50%; on drugs: 10/16, 63%) than in pts with RBBB-VT (off drugs: 7/20, 35%, on drugs: 8/28, 29%) (p = ns). In contrast, VT with different or multiple morphologies were induced more frequently in pts with RBBB-VT (off drugs: 13/20, 65%; on drugs: 20/28, 71%) than in pts with LBBB-VT (off drugs: 7/14, 50%; on drugs: 6/16, 38%) (p less than 0.05). Our data show that there is a higher risk of cardiac and sudden death in pts with RBBB-VT than in those with LBBB-VT after myocardial infarction, despite a shorter cycle length of the spontaneous VT in patients with LBBB-VT.

[Prognosis and follow-up of patients with ventricular tachycardias or ventricular fibrillation without coronary heart disease]. / Prognose und Verlauf von Patienten mit Kammertachykardien oder Kammerflimmern ohne koronare Herzkrankheit.

We studied the follow-up of 49 patients (pts), mean age 34 +/- 9 years, without coronary artery disease who had sustained (duration greater than 30 s) monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (smvt) (n = 42) or ventricular fibrillation (vf) (n = 7). There were 9/49 pts (18%) with smvt who had right ventricular dysplasia (RVD) and 32/49 pts (65%) without structural heart disease ("idiopathic" ventricular arrhythmia) (26/32 pts with smvt and 6/32 pts with vf). There were 6/49 pts (12%) with congestive (COCM) and 2/49 pts (4%) with hypertrophic (HOCM) cardiomyopathy. Mean follow-up was 49 +/- 13 months. During the follow-up 1/9 pts (11%) with RVD died postoperatively from heart failure, 1/26 pts (4%) with idiopathic smvt from cancer and 2/6 pts (33%) with COCM from heart failure. There were no deaths in pts with idiopathic vf. Recurrent smvt occurred in 5/9 pts (56%) with RVD, in 10/26 pts (39%) with idiopathic smvt, in 2/6 pts (33%) with idiopathic vf, in 3/6 pts (50%) with COCM and in 1/2 pts (50%) with HOCM. Our data show that pts with smvt or vf without coronary artery disease have a good prognosis. However, there is a high incidence of recurrent ventricular arrhythmia in these patients.

Value of induction of pleomorphic ventricular tachycardia during programmed stimulation.

The morphology of the first documented, the recurrent and the induced ventricular tachycardia were studied in 41 patients with an old myocardial infarction and documented sustained ventricular tachycardia. During a mean follow-up of 29 +/- 11 months recurrent ventricular tachycardia was present in 24 of 41 patients with the same morphology as the first ventricular tachycardia in nine (37.5%) and a different morphology in 15 patients (62.5%). Ventricular tachycardia with the same morphology as the spontaneous ventricular tachycardia were induced without significant differences between patients with recurrent events and those without. However, multiple morphologies of ventricular tachycardia (pleomorphism) were induced more frequently in patients with subsequent recurrence of ventricular tachycardia (off drugs: 9 of 13, 69%, on drugs: 14 of 23, 61%) than in patients without (off drugs: 4 of 10, 40%, on drugs: 2 of 11, 18%) (P less than 0.05). Pleomorphism of ventricular tachycardia induced during programmed stimulation identifies patients at a higher risk of subsequent recurrent events. Recurrent ventricular tachycardia has a different morphology than the first one in two thirds of patients.

[Ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation following myocardial infarct: determinants of prognosis and disease course]. / Kammertachykardien und Kammerflimmern nach Myokardinfarkt: Determinanten für Prognose und Verlauf.

To assess the risk of sudden death 79 patients (pts) with sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (SMVT) and 37 patients with ventricular fibrillation (VF) after myocardial infarction (MI) were studied by coronary angiography, ambulatory monitoring, and programmed electrical stimulation. Mean follow-up was 28 +/- 12 months. Total mortality was significantly higher in pts with VF (13/37, 35%) than in pts with SMVT (15/79, 19%) (p less than 0.05), whereas there were no significant differences in the incidence of sudden death between pts with VF (6/37, 16%) and those with SMVT (5/79, 6%) (p = 0.09). Patients with VF had more frequent anterior and multiple MI's (33/37, 89%) than pts with SMVT (42/79, 53%) (p less than 0.05) and more often presented their arrhythmia earlier (within 2 months) after MI (23/37, 62%) than SMVT pts (28/79, 36%) (p less than 0.05). In addition, there were significant differences in mean left-ventricular ejection fraction between pts with VF (30 +/- 8%) and those with SMVT (35 +/- 12%) (p less than 0.05). Our data show that pts with VF after myocardial infarction have more severe left ventricular dysfunction and more extensive coronary disease and a somewhat higher risk of sudden death than pts with SMVT.

Prognosis of patients with ventricular tachycardia and ventricular fibrillation: role of the underlying etiology.

The prognosis of 149 patients with ventricular tachycardia (n = 108) or ventricular fibrillation (n = 41) was analyzed to assess the importance of the underlying etiology of the arrhythmia. Seventy-three patients (Group I) had a previous myocardial infarction and documented late sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia. Thirty-five (Group II) also had a previous myocardial infarction but had late ventricular fibrillation. There were 41 patients (Group III) without coronary artery disease: 9 patients with right ventricular dysplasia, 26 with idiopathic sustained ventricular tachycardia and 6 with idiopathic ventricular fibrillation. The mean follow-up period for all patients was 22 to 57 months. The total mortality rate in Group I (16%) and Group II (34%) and the arrhythmic mortality rate in Group I (5%) and Group II (11%) were significantly higher than the rates in Group III. In the latter group the total mortality rate was 4% for those with idiopathic ventricular tachycardia and 11% for those with right ventricular dysplasia, and there were no deaths due to arrhythmia (p less than 0.05). Left ventricular ejection fraction was significantly lower and left ventricular end-diastolic pressure was significantly higher in Group I and Group II than in Group III. There were nonfatal recurrences of ventricular tachycardia in 33 to 56% of patients, and the number of these episodes did not differ significantly in those with and without coronary artery disease.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Cardiac echinococcosis and systemic embolism. Report of a case.

We report the case of a 13-year-old boy who, previously in a healthy condition, was admitted to hospital with an acute ischemia of the lower half of the trunk following a slight traumatism. During the surgical operation it was noticed that the embolized material corresponded to hydatid vesicles. The patient died as a result of irreversible anaphylactic shock after the operation. The autopsy revealed the presence of a hydatid cyst in the posterior wall of the left atrium which had ruptured into the atrial cavity. The immediate exeresis of the cardiac cyst is suggested, when it is noticed that the embolized material is made up of hydatid vesicles located in the left cavities of the heart.

Brucella endocarditis on double valvular prosthesis.

The case is reported of a 48-year-old man suffering from Brucella endocarditis on a double prosthesis. The successful medical and surgical treatment is described. So far as the authors know, this is the first report of Brucella endocarditis from a heart valve prosthesis.