Paget-Schroetter Syndrome in a Baseball Pitcher.

Paget-Schroetter syndrome (PSS) is thrombosis of the deep veins draining the upper extremity due to anatomic abnormalities of the thoracic outlet that cause subclavian compression and subsequent thrombosis, leading to thrombus formation in the subclavian vein. Vigorous arm activity in sports is a known risk factor. Here, we report a case of Paget-Schroetter syndrome in a 31-year-old male non-professional baseball pitcher.

Effect of combination tablets containing amlodipine 10 mg and irbesartan 100 mg on blood pressure and cardiovascular risk factors in patients with hypertension.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is one of the major risk factors for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular disease and mortality. Patients who receive insufficient doses of antihypertensive agents or who are poorly adherent to multidrug treatment regimens often fail to achieve adequate blood pressure (BP) control. The aim of this study was to determine the efficacy of an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) and calcium channel blocker (CCB) combination tablet containing a regular dose of irbesartan (100 mg) and a high dose of amlodipine (10 mg) with regard to lowering BP and other risk factors for cardiovascular disease. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated data from 68 patients with essential hypertension whose treatment regimen was changed either from combination treatment with an independent ARB and a low-dose or regular-dose CCB or from a combination tablet of ARB and a low-dose or regular-dose CCB to a combination tablet containing amlodipine 10 mg and irbesartan 100 mg, because of incomplete BP control. Previous treatments did not include irbesartan as the ARB. RESULTS: The combination tablet decreased systolic and diastolic BP. In addition, it significantly decreased serum uric acid, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and increased high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels, independent of the BP-lowering effect. Treatment with the combination tablet did not affect serum triglycerides, plasma glucose, glycated hemoglobin, serum potassium or creatinine levels, or the urinary albumin excretion rate. CONCLUSION: The combination tablet containing amlodipine 10 mg and irbesartan 100 mg had a greater BP-lowering effect than an ARB and a low-dose or regular-dose CCB. In addition, the combination tablet had more favorable effects on serum uric acid, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol levels in patients with hypertension.

Acute myocardial infarction in Fukushima area of Japan.

Although acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the most serious coronary disease, the background of its onset and the mortality are not fully understood, especially in Japan. From June 1999 to May 2005, we mailed an annual questionnaire to eighteen hospitals in which emergency cardiac catheterization and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were available in the Fukushima area of Japan. A total of 1,590 patients were included. The onset time of AMI had two peaks, i.e., from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM and 9:00 PM to 10:00 PM. As for reperfusion therapy, four groups were analyzed, the non-reperfusion therapy group (Group N, n = 233), thrombolysis alone group (Group T, n = 80), PCI without thrombolysis group (Group P, n = 1106), and PCI with thrombolysis group (Group TP, n = 151). The in-hospital mortality rate was significantly reduced in Group P (8.4%) compared with that in Group N (33.0%, p < 0.01) and Group T (18.8%, p < 0.01). However, the in-hospital mortality in Group P did not differ from that in Group TP (9.9%). The in-hospital mortality was analyzed by the logistic regression analysis among age, arrival time after onset, peak creatine kinase (CK) values, coronary risk factors, reperfusion therapy, PCI, and thrombolysis. There were significant differences in age (P < 0.01), peak CK values (p < 0.01), hypertension (p < 0.05), and diabetes mellitus (p < 0.01). These results suggest that the onset of AMI may be partly related to human biorhythms, and that PCI would be effective in reducing the in-hospital mortality.

Pulmonary capillary bleeding in a patient with severe left ventricular failure after acute myocardial infarction under anti-thrombotic therapy.

A 52-year-old man who was admitted for cardiogenic shock after acute myocardial infarction developed severe left ventricular dysfunction despite reperfusion therapy with coronary stents. After the 40th hospital day, he started to have cough and pulmonary infiltrates. Antimicrobial therapies and subsequent prednisolone for bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia were ineffective. Bronchoscopic examination revealed diffuse pulmonary bleeding and exudation of hemosiderin-containing macrophages in bronchial lavage fluid. Pulmonary capillary bleeding has been reported in the terminal stage of patients with mitral stenosis in the pre-cardiac surgery era. This complication reemerges in patients with severe heart failure receiving intensive anti-coagulation therapy after implanting a sirolimus-eluting coronary stent.

Correlation between exercise electrocardiography test and coronary flow reserve in patients without organic coronary artery stenosis.

OBJECTIVES: The exercise electrocardiography (ECG) test is frequently positive in patients without organic coronary artery stenosis. Although the reason for this false positive ST depression is not fully understood, one possibility may be related to coronary microvascular abnormality. The present study investigated the relationship between the exercise ECG test and coronary flow reserve (CFR) in patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries, but with positive ECG ST depression. METHODS: This study included 67 patients, 32 with chest pain syndrome, and 35 with vasospasm. The exercise ECG test was performed without drug administration in all patients, and the CFR was determined after diagnostic cardiac catheterization. RESULTS: Although a significant correlation was recognized between ST depression and CFR in patients with chest pain syndrome (p < 0.05), there was no correlation in patients with epicardial coronary vasospasm. CONCLUSIONS: In patients with chest pain syndrome, ST depression detected by the exercise ECG test may suggest coronary microvascular dysfunction. However, in patients with coronary vasospasm, ST depression may occur without decreased CFR, suggesting that coronary spasm or other mechanism (s) relating to ST changes are present during the exercise ECG test, and careful interpretation is needed.

Effects of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors or an angiotensin receptor blocker in combination with aspirin and cilostazol on in-stent restenosis.

It remains to be determined whether adding an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor (ACEI) or an angiotensin II receptor blocker (ARB) to antiplatelet therapy has a therapeutic benefit on in-stent restenosis. After successful coronary stenting, 165 patients (167 lesions) were randomly assigned to a basal (aspirin 162 mg + cilostazol 200 mg/day), ACEI (basal treatment + quinapril 10 mg or perindopril 4 mg/day), or ARB (basal treatment + losartan 50 mg/day) treatment group. Quantitative coronary angiography was performed before, immediately following, and 6 months after stenting. Follow-up coronary angiography was completed in 126 patients (128 lesions). Restenosis rates tended to be higher (12, 26, and 12% for the basal, ACEI, and ARB groups, respectively), and target lesion revascularization rates were higher in the ACEI group than in the other groups (9, 23,* and 5%, respectively, *P < 0.05 versus basal group). Moreover, late lumen loss was higher in the ACEI group than in the basal group (0.60 +/- 0.55, 0.98 +/- 0.61* and 0.73 +/- 0.64 mm in the basal, ACEI, and ARB groups, respectively). The combinations of an ACEI or ARB with aspirin and cilostazol are ineffective for the prevention of in-stent restenosis, and an ACEI may even promote intimal proliferation after stent implantation.

Increased reactive oxygen species and anti-oxidative response in mitochondrial cardiomyopathy.

A 60-year-old woman was admitted for treatment of congestive heart failure. She had been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus when she was 23 years old, and she began to go deaf when she was 34 years old. She showed symptoms of heart failure at age 51 and was diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. Echocardiography showed progressive diffuse hypokinetic motion of the left ventricle and the left ventricular hypertrophy had gradually regressed. A mitochondrial transition mutation, A3243G, was detected in her peripheral leukocytes (9%) and in those of her 27-year-old son, who also has diabetes and deafness. Electron microscopy of an endomyocardial biopsy specimen showed proliferation and swelling of the mitochondria, and significant generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS), as well as marked induction of heme oxygenase-1, which is an adaptive enzyme to oxidative damage, were also observed in the myocardial tissue. These observations were more prominent than in other patients with heart failure of different etiology, which suggests that the increased ROS generation and anti-oxidative response were involved in the development of the mitochondrial cardiomyopathy.

Low serum ferritin levels as a clue to colonic cancer detection in two patients with coronary artery disease: a case report.

We diagnosed colonic cancer using low serum ferritin levels as a clue in two patients with cardiac or cardiopulmonary disease. In the course of the follow-up, the serum ferritin levels decreased to less than 18 ng/mL without significant appearance of iron-deficiency anemia. One patient showed positive immunological fecal occult blood test results whereas the other not. Both patients rejected further colonoscopy because of their concern for stress in relation to their cardiac or cardiopulmonary diseases, but instead agreed to positron emission computed tomography (PET) using a F-18 deoxyglucose at their own expense. In both patients, PET documented abnormal tracer accumulation in the colon. From the results of PET imaging, they eventually agreed to colonoscopy. A colonic adenocarcinoma was detected at the site of the positive PET finding in each patient. Both patients underwent curative resection of the cancer. The detection of the levels of serum ferritin may be available for the screening colonic cancer in patients declining colonoscopic examination.