Post-cardiac injury syndrome after a concealed accessory pathway ablation.

The incidence of pericardial effusion for supraventricular tachycardias is less than 1%, and its combination with pleural effusion is rare. We present a case of severe pericardial and pleural effusion after a left-sided concealed accessory pathway ablation. The 480 cc of pericardial fluid was drained with the pericardial drainage system due to cardiac tamponade with hemodynamic compromise. The chest X-ray and thorax computed tomography showed moderate left-sided pleural effusion after pericardiocentesis. We considered the inflammatory response as the pathophysiology of the situation; we started ibuprofen 800 mg t.i.d. and colchicine 0.5 mg o.d. At a 3-week follow-up, her X-ray revealed the resolution of pleural effusion, and the echocardiography showed no pericardial effusion. .

Can plasma TWEAK levels predict coronary slow flow in patients with chronic kidney disease?

BACKGROUND: The tumor necrosis factor-like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) is one of the inflammatory mediators contributing to the atherosclerotic process. TWEAK has been studied in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), and it has demonstrated that its level declines as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) decreases. Most studies have found that the decreased TWEAK levels were seen in atherosclerosis and associated with plaque calcification. The objective of this prospective study was to clarify any relationship between coronary slow-flow (CSF) and TWEAK levels in patients with CKD under conservative treatment. METHODS: This prospective study included 93 consecutive patients with CKD (mean creatinine level was 1.8±0.4 mg/dL) undergoing invasive coronary angiography (ICA) for any reason except for acute coronary syndromes from May 2019 to March 2020. A total of 93 patients were divided into two groups concerning having CSF (n=35) or no-CSF (n=58). RESULTS: Patients with CSF had higher TWEAK levels than those without CSF (695.2± 225.2 vs. 465.8±157.6, p<0.001). As the number of coronary arteries with slow flow increased, TWEAK levels increased statistically significantly (r:0.635/ p<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that TWEAK levels of 516 pg/mL could predict CSF in patients with CKD. CONCLUSIONS: Our study has shown that plasma TWEAK levels were an independent predictor for CSF in patients with CKD. In addition, our study has found that elevated TWEAK levels may not reflect the healthy arteries as it was hypothesized in the past.

The association of blood urea nitrogen levels with mortality in acute pulmonary embolism.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of BUN levels with in-hospital and long-term adverse clinical outcomes in acute pulmonary embolism (APE) patients treated with tissue-plasminogen activator (t-PA). METHODS: This retrospective study included 252 consecutive confirmed APE patients treated with t-PA. An admission BUN of 34.5 mg/dL was identified through an ROC analysis as an optimal cutoff value to predict the in-hospital mortality with 85% sensitivity and 91% specificity (AUC: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.84-0.96; P<.001). RESULTS: Our study showed that an increase in BUN levels was independently associated with a high risk of in-hospital all-cause mortality, low admission systolic blood pressure, use of inotropic drugs, and cardiogenic shock. In-hospital mortality rates were 51.1% in higher BUN group, and 1.9% in lower BUN group (P<.001). CONCLUSION: In this study, elevated admission BUN level was found to be a predictor of all-cause in-hospital mortality. BUN testing is commonly part of the basic metabolic panel; and it can be used to detect high-risk patients with APE, and it bears little risk, is inexpensive, and easy to perform.

Can we use plasma hyperosmolality as a predictor of mortality for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction?

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of plasma osmolality with all-cause mortality in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with a primary percutaneous coronary intervention. METHODS: This study included 3748 patients (mean age 58.3±11.8 years, men 81%) with STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention. The following formula was used to measure the plasma osmolality at admission: osmolality=1.86×sodium (mmol/l)+glucose (mg/dl)/18+BUN (mg/dl)/2.8+9. RESULTS: The patients were followed up for a mean period of 22±10 months. Patients with higher plasma osmolality had 3.7 times higher in-hospital (95% confidence interval: 2.7-5.1) and 3.2 times higher long-term (95% confidence interval: 2.5-4.1) all-cause mortality rates than patients with lower plasma osmolality. CONCLUSION: Plasma osmolality was found to be a predictor of both in-hospital and long-term all-cause mortality. Hence, plasma osmolality can be used to detect high-risk patients in STEMI.

The association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major cardiac events in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients treated with tirofiban.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the association of the coronary thrombus burden with all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients treated with 'in-cath lab' (downstream) high-dose bolus tirofiban. METHODS: This study included 2452 patients with STEMI treated with a primary percutaneous coronary intervention. All glycoprotein IIb/IIIa receptor inhibitor (GPI) (tirofiban) infusions were started in the catheterization laboratory according to the coronary thrombus burden; tirofiban was not administered to patients who did not have coronary thrombus burden. All patients with small, moderate, or large thrombus burden received tirofiban therapy. The primary study endpoint was the incidence of all-cause mortality. The secondary study endpoints were major bleeding and MACE, which included all-cause death, nonfatal acute coronary syndrome, and target lesion revascularization. RESULTS: The patients were followed up for a mean period of 28.3±10.4 months. The groups showed similar in-hospital and long-term event rates (MACE, major bleeding, and all-cause mortality). The 3-year Kaplan-Meier overall survivals for no thrombus, small thrombus, moderate thrombus, and large thrombus were 91.9, 92.6, 92.3, and 89.5%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Despite the fact that the large coronary thrombus was found to be a predictor of MACE and mortality in many previous studies, we found that the large thrombus was not associated with MACE or in-hospital mortality or long-term mortality. This can be an effect of downstream GPI therapy. We suggest the use of downstream GPI therapy for STEMI patients with large coronary thrombus without an increased risk of bleeding.

Can the T-peak to T-end interval be a predictor of mortality in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction?

BACKGROUND: The interval between the peak and the end of the T wave (Tp-e interval) on 12-lead ECG is a measure of transmural dispersion of repolarization and may be related to malignant ventricular arrhythmias. The objective of this study was to investigate whether the Tp-e interval predicts in-hospital and long-term mortality in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing a primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI). METHODS: This study included 488 consecutive patients with STEMI treated with pPCI. Electrocardiograms were obtained after pPCI and the Tp-e interval was measured in leads without ST-segment elevation. RESULTS: There were 46 (9.4%) deaths in the population, with a mean follow-up time of 21.1±10.2 months. The Tp-e interval was associated with not only in-hospital ventricular tachycardia/fibrillation, target vessel revascularization, and death but also long-term target vessel revascularization and death. Furthermore, the Tp-e interval measured using the tail method was found to be a significant predictor of long-term mortality in multivariable Cox analyses [odds ratio 1.018, 95% confidence interval (1.004-1.033)]. Findings were similar in the Tp-e interval and the heart rate-corrected Tp-e interval (cTp-e). CONCLUSION: Tp-e and cTp-e measured using the tail method were found to be predictors of both in-hospital and long-term mortality.