Provision of revision knee arthroplasty services across Scotland: A national audit.

BACKGROUND: There is increasing evidence that both low surgeon and centre case volumes are associated with poorer outcomes following Revision Knee Arthroplasty (rTKA). Given the unique challenges faced in Scotland relating to funding and geography, understanding details on the complexity of cases is required to guide development of future rTKA services. METHODS: Utilising the Scottish Collaborative Orthopaedic Trainee Research Network (SCOTnet) a retrospective review of all Scottish 2019 rTKA cases was undertaken. Regional leads co-ordinated local data collection using individual case note review. The number of cases performed by regions, hospitals and individual surgeons were identified. Patient demographics and case complexity (Revision Knee Complexity Classification [RKCC]) were also collected. Results were compared against current standards. RESULTS: 17 units performed rTKA, delivered by 77 surgeons. A total of 506 cases were included. The mean age was 69 years (46% male). Revision for infection accounted for 147/506 (29%) cases. Extensor compromise was present in 35/506 (7%) and 11/506 (2%) required soft tissue reconstruction. According to the RKCC - 214/503 (43%) were classified as R1 (Less complex cases), 228/503 (45%) R2 (complex cases), and 61/503 (12%) R3 (most complex / salvage cases). 5/17 (29%) units met current national guidelines for case volume/year, with only 11/77 (14%) surgeons meeting recommended individual case volumes. 37/77 (48%) surgeons performed ≤ 2 cases per year. CONCLUSIONS: Most individual centre volumes could be increased by re-organising services or locations providing rTKA within a region. This should provide better access to Multidisciplinary Team (MDT) involvement. We recorded a significant number of very low volume surgeons (≤2 year) that is contradictory to current evidence-based practice.

Acute exercise induces GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of normal human subjects and subjects with type 2 diabetes.

Total GLUT4 content in skeletal muscle from individuals with type 2 diabetes is normal; however, recent studies have demonstrated that translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane is decreased in response to insulin stimulation. It is not known whether physical exercise stimulates GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes. Five subjects (two men, three women) with type 2 diabetes and five normal control subjects (5 men), as determined by a standard 75-g oral glucose tolerance test, were recruited to determine whether an acute bout of cycle exercise activates the translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane in skeletal muscle. Each subject had two open biopsies of vastus lateralis muscle; one at rest and one 3-6 weeks later from the opposite leg after 45-60 min of cycle exercise at 60-70% of VO2max. Skeletal muscle plasma membranes were prepared by subcellular fractionation, and GLUT4 content was determined by Western blotting. Plasma membrane GLUT4 increased in each subject in response to exercise. The mean increase in plasma membrane GLUT4 for the subjects with type 2 diabetes was 74 +/-20% above resting values, and for the normal subjects the increase was 71+/-18% above resting values. Although plasma membrane GLUT4 content was approximately 32% lower at rest and after exercise in the muscle of the subjects with type 2 diabetes, the differences were not statistically significant. We conclude that in contrast to the previously reported defect in insulin-stimulated GLUT4 translocation in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes, a single bout of exercise results in the translocation of GLUT4 to the plasma membrane in skeletal muscle of individuals with type 2 diabetes. These data provide the first direct evidence that GLUT4 translocation is an important cellular mechanism through which exercise enhances skeletal muscle glucose uptake in individuals with type 2 diabetes.

Streptokinase for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction: a brief review of randomized trials.

This is a review of the important randomized trials of intracoronary and intravenous streptokinase therapy for treatment of acute myocardial infarction. Trials carried out before 1980 failed to recognize the relations between early coronary reperfusion and myocardial salvage and therefore have not been included in this review. Seven studies on intracoronary streptokinase have been reviewed. The two largest of these studies, the Western Washington trial and the Netherlands trial, show a similar reduction in early mortality. Two other small studies demonstrated a trend toward a reduction in mortality with streptokinase therapy and the other three did not. One small and two large intravenous streptokinase trials are reviewed. Of these, the large GISSI trial in Italy demonstrated a 23% reduction in mortality in patients treated within 3 hours from the onset of symptoms and the Intracoronary Streptokinase in Acute Myocardial Infarction (ISAM) trial showed a similar trend toward reduced mortality. The small Western Washington trial showed an even greater trend toward reduced mortality but this benefit was limited to patients with anterior myocardial infarction who received early therapy. It is concluded that intracoronary and intravenous streptokinase therapy, when initiated within the first 6 hours of acute myocardial infarction, reduces mortality. The therapy is most beneficial for those patients with anterior myocardial infarction and those who can receive therapy within the first 2 to 3 hours from the onset of symptoms.

Comparison of 15-year survival for men and women after initial medical or surgical treatment for coronary artery disease: a CASS registry study. Coronary Artery Surgery Study.

OBJECTIVES: This study compared the rates of coronary artery bypass graft surgery and 15-year survival for men and women after initial medical or surgical management. BACKGROUND: There has been concern that women with coronary artery disease are managed differently than men and that men and women have a different prognosis. The Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) registry is a large data base of well characterized patients with long-term follow-up. METHODS: Patients underwent cardiac catheterization at 1 of 15 hospitals during 1974 to 1979. Bypass surgery rates were based on 12,452 men and 2,366 women. Survival results were based on 6,018 men and 1,095 women with operable coronary artery disease and initial medical management and 6,922 men and 1,291 women initially managed surgically. RESULTS: At 15 years, bypass surgery rates were 75% for men and 72% for women (p = 0.91). The rates remained similar after adjustment for clinical and angiographic variables. The 15-year survival rate was 50% for men and 49% for women with initial medical treatment (p = 0.53) and 52% for men and 48% for women (p = 0.004) with initial surgical treatment, a difference similar to that for operative mortality (men 2.5%, women 5.3%, p < 0.0001). Survival was improved by bypass surgery in most subgroups, with largest relative risks for high risk patients. Relative risks were similar for men and women. CONCLUSIONS: The rate of bypass surgery did not differ between men and women. There were few differences in the survival of men and women. In general, both men and women with initial surgical treatment survived longer, although benefits were clinically and statistically significant only in those at high risk. The benefit was similar in both men and women.

Cost-effectiveness of prescription recommendations for cholesterol-lowering drugs: a survey of a representative sample of American cardiologists.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine the cost-effectiveness of the recommendations of cardiologists for the pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia. BACKGROUND: Despite the publication of guidelines such as the report of the National Cholesterol Education Program Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults, little is known about the national prescribing practices of physicians and how they compare with the recommendations of cost-effectiveness analyses. METHODS: Under the auspices of the Cardiovascular Norms Committee of the American College of Cardiology, a nationally representative sample of cardiologists was surveyed, and their recommendations for the pharmacologic treatment of hypercholesterolemia were assessed to determine cost-effectiveness. RESULTS: The 346 responding cardiologists were reasonably representative of the membership of the American College of Cardiology. For the 12 hypothetical patients, the cardiologists recommended pharmacologic treatment more commonly in cases in which previously published studies estimated the treatment to be more cost-effective, although there was a tendency to recommend such treatment for primary prevention even when it was estimated to cost well over $100,000/year of life saved. CONCLUSIONS: These findings suggest that the cardiologists' pharmacologic recommendations for lowering lipids are correlated with published cost-effectiveness analyses. However, substantial variation in their recommendations remains, with somewhat less aggressive treatment for secondary prevention and more aggressive treatment for primary prevention than would be recommended on the basis of cost-effectiveness analyses.

Ventricular function and infarct size: the Western Washington Intravenous Streptokinase in Myocardial Infarction Trial.

The Western Washington Intravenous Streptokinase in Acute Myocardial Infarction Trial randomized 368 patients with symptoms and signs of acute myocardial infarction of less than 6 h duration to either conventional care or 1.5 million units of intravenous streptokinase. The mean time to randomization was 209 min and 52% of patients were randomized within 3 h of symptom onset. Quantitative, tomographic thallium-201 infarct size and radionuclide ejection fraction were measured at 8.2 +/- 7.5 weeks in 207 survivors who lived within a 100 mile radius of a centralized laboratory. Overall, infarct size as a percent of the left ventricle was 19 +/- 13% for control subjects and 15 +/- 13% for treatment patients (p = 0.03). For anterior infarction in patients entered within 3 h of symptom onset, infarct size was 28 +/- 13% in the control group versus 19 +/- 15% for the treatment group (p = 0.09). Left ventricular ejection fraction was 47 +/- 15% in the control versus 51 +/- 15% in the treatment group (p = 0.08). For anterior infarction of less than 3 h duration, the ejection fraction was 38 +/- 16% in the control versus 48 +/- 20% in the treatment group (p = 0.13). By statistical analysis incorporating the nonsurvivors, p values for all of these variables were less than or equal to 0.08. There was no benefit for patients with inferior infarction or for anterior infarction of greater than 3 h duration. It is concluded that intravenous streptokinase, when given within 3 h of symptom onset to patients with anterior infarction, reduces infarct size and improves ventricular function.

The acute effects of low flow oxygen and isosorbide dinitrate on left and right ventricular ejection fractions in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

The objectives of this study were to determine the effects of low flow oxygen and isosorbide dinitrate on rest and exercise biventricular ejection fractions in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and to relate these ejection fraction responses to changes in pressure and flow. Nine patients with stable, moderate to severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who had no prior history of heart failure performed supine exercise with simultaneous hemodynamic and radionuclide ventriculographic monitoring. Eight patients performed a second exercise during low flow oxygen breathing and five performed a third exercise after ingesting 10 mg oral isosorbide. Oxygen led to a decrease in exercise pulmonary artery pressure in all subjects and a decline in total pulmonary resistance in five of the seven in whom it was measured. Right ventricular ejection fraction increased 0.05 or more only in subjects who had a decrease in total pulmonary resistance. Isosorbide fed to an increase in rest and exercise right and left ventricular ejection fractions with simultaneous decreases in pulmonary artery pressure, total pulmonary resistance, blood pressure and arterial oxygen tension. These results suggest that in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease but without a history of right heart failure, the right ventricular systolic functional response to low flow oxygen and isosorbide at rest and exercise is, in part, determined by changes in total pulmonary resistance. The chronic relation between right ventricular ejection fraction and pulmonary hemodynamics in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains to be evaluated.

Congestive heart failure symptoms in patients with preserved left ventricular systolic function: analysis of the CASS registry.

The clinical characteristics and long-term survival of 284 patients from the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS) registry data base who had moderate to severe congestive heart failure symptoms and a left ventricular ejection fraction greater than or equal to 0.45 were studied. A control group consisting of registry patients with an ejection fraction greater than or equal to 0.45 who did not have heart failure was used for comparison. Patients who had heart failure were older and more likely to be female and to have a higher incidence of hypertension, diabetes and chronic lung disease than registry patients who did not have heart failure. As a group, patients with heart failure had more severe angina and were more likely to have had a prior myocardial infarction than were registry patients without heart failure. At 6 year follow-up, 82% of patients in the heart failure group survived compared with 91% of patients in the control group (p less than 0.0001). Multivariate analysis using the Cox proportional hazards model identified the following independent predictors of mortality: regional ventricular systolic dysfunction, number of diseased coronary arteries, advanced age, hypertension, lung disease, diabetes, increased left ventricular end-diastolic pressure and heart failure symptoms. Among patients with heart failure, the 6-year survival rate of those who had three-vessel coronary artery disease was 68% compared with 92% for the group without coronary artery disease. However, the 6-year survival rate for patients with heart failure who underwent surgical revascularization of diseased coronary arteries was not significantly improved compared with that of patients treated medically.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Long-term survival in 618 patients from the Western Washington Streptokinase in Myocardial Infarction trials.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether streptokinase treatment improves long-term survival in patients with acute myocardial infarction. BACKGROUND: Thrombolytic treatment for acute myocardial infarction reduces early mortality and improves the 1-year survival rate, but the long-term (3 to 8 years) survival benefits of treatment and the relation between survival and baseline clinical characteristics, infarct size and ventricular function have not been established. METHODS: We assessed survival status at a minimum of 3 and a mean of 4.9 +/- 2.3 years in 618 patients randomized between 1981 and 1986 to receive conventional treatment (n = 293) or thrombolysis with streptokinase (n = 325) in the Western Washington Intracoronary (n = 250) and Intravenous (n = 368) Streptokinase in Myocardial Infarction trials. The relation between long-term survival and thrombolytic treatment, admission baseline clinical characteristics and late radionuclide tomographic thallium-201 infarct size and ejection fraction was assessed in a subset of patients. RESULTS: Survival at 6 weeks was 94% in patients who received streptokinase versus 88% in the control group (p = 0.01). However, survival at 3 years was 84% in the streptokinase group and 82% in the control group and for the total period of follow-up, there was no significant survival benefit (p = 0.16). Analysis by infarct location showed a higher survival rate at 3 years for patients treated with anterior infarction (76% vs. 67% for the control group), but no overall survival benefit (p = 0.14). Survival at 3 years for patients with an inferior infarction was 89% in the streptokinase group and 91% in the control group (p = 0.62). By stepwise Cox regression analysis, admission clinical variables associated with decreased long-term survival were anterior infarction, advanced age, history of prior infarction and the presence of pulmonary edema or hypotension. Although streptokinase therapy was associated with improved survival, it was not an independent determinant of survival (p = 0.069). Ejection fraction and thallium-201 infarct size measured approximately 8 weeks after enrollment had a strong association with long-term survival. Univariate analysis in a subgroup of 289 patients with complete data selected infarct size, ejection fraction, age and history of prior infarction as predictors of survival. In the multivariate model, only ejection fraction (p < 0.0001), age (p = 0.008) and prior myocardial infarction (p = 0.02) remained strong predictors. CONCLUSIONS: In these early trials of thrombolytic therapy for acute myocardial infarction, streptokinase improved early survival, but there was little long-term survival benefit. This failure to show an improvement in the 3- to 8-year survival rate may also reflect the need to study a larger group of patients or to initiate treatment earlier after symptom onset.

Accuracy of computer-interpreted electrocardiography in selecting patients for thrombolytic therapy. MITI Project Investigators.

A prehospital computer-interpreted electrocardiogram (ECG) was obtained in 1,189 patients with chest pain of suspected cardiac origin during an ongoing trial of prehospital thrombolytic therapy in acute myocardial infarction. Electrocardiograms were performed by paramedics 1.5 +/- 1.2 h after the onset of symptoms. Of 391 patients with evidence of acute myocardial infarction, 202 (52%) were identified as having ST segment elevation (acute injury) by the computer-interpreted ECG compared with 259 (66%) by an electrocardiographer (p less than 0.001). Of 798 patients with chest pain but no infarction, 785 (98%) were appropriately excluded by computer compared with 757 (95%) by an electrocardiographer (p less than 0.001). The positive predictive value of the computer- and physician-interpreted ECG was, respectively, 94% and 86% and the negative predictive value was 81% and 85%. Prehospital screening of possible candidates for thrombolytic therapy with the aid of a computerized ECG is feasible, highly specific and with further enhancement can speed the care of all patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Four-year follow-up of patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy. A report from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry.

OBJECTIVES: This study reports the long-term outcome of patients undergoing percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy who were enrolled in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI) Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry. BACKGROUND: The NHLBI established the multicenter Balloon Valvuloplasty Registry in November 1987 to assess both short- and long-term safety and efficiency of percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy. METHODS: Between November 1987 and October 1989, 736 patients > or = 18 years old underwent percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy at 23 registry sites in North America. The maximal follow-up period was 5.2 years. RESULTS: The actuarial survival rate was 93 +/- 1% (mean +/- SD), 90 +/- 1.2%, 87 +/- 1.4% and 84 +/- 1.6% at 1, 2, 3 and 4 years, respectively. Eighty percent of the patients were alive and free of mitral surgery or repeat balloon mitral commissurotomy at 1 year. The event-free survival rate was 80 +/- 1.5% at 1 year, 71 +/- 1.7% at 2 years, 66 +/- 1.8% at 3 years and 60 +/- 2.0% at 4 years. Important univariable predictors of actuarial mortality at 4 years included age > 70 years (51% survival), New York Heart Association functional class IV (41% survival) and baseline echocardiographic score > 12 (24% survival). Multivariable predictors of mortality included functional class IV, higher echocardiographic score and higher postprocedural pulmonary artery systolic and left ventricular end-diastolic pressures (p < 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: Percutaneous balloon mitral commissurotomy has a favorable effect on the hemodynamic variables of mitral stenosis, and long-term follow-up data suggest that it is a viable alternative with respect to surgical commissurotomy in selected patients.

Utility of the prehospital electrocardiogram in diagnosing acute coronary syndromes: the Myocardial Infarction Triage and Intervention (MITI) Project.

OBJECTIVES: We sought to determine whether the prehospital electrocardiogram (ECG) improves the diagnosis of an acute coronary syndrome. BACKGROUND: The ECG is the most widely used screening test for evaluating patients with chest pain. METHODS: Prehospital and in-hospital ECGs were obtained in 3,027 consecutive patients with symptoms of suspected acute myocardial infarction, 362 of whom were randomized to prehospital versus hospital thrombolysis and 2,665 of whom did not participate in the randomized trial. Prehospital and hospital records were abstracted for clinical characteristics and diagnostic outcome. RESULTS: ST segment and T and Q wave abnormalities suggestive of myocardial ischemia or infarction were more common on both the prehospital and hospital ECGs of patients with as compared with those without acute coronary syndromes (p < or = 0.00001). Those with prehospital thrombolysis were more likely to show resolution of ST segment elevation by the time of hospital admission (14% vs. 5% in patients treated in the hospital, p = 0.004). In patients not considered for prehospital thrombolysis, both persistent and transient ST segment and T or Q wave abnormalities discriminated those with from those without acute coronary ischemia or infarction. Compared with ST segment elevation on a single ECG, added consideration of dynamic changes in ST segment elevation between serial ECGs improved the sensitivity for an acute coronary syndrome from 34% to 46% and reduced specificity from 96% to 93% (both p < 0.00004). Overall, compared with abnormalities observed on a single ECG, consideration of serial evolution in ST segment, T or Q wave or left bundle branch block (LBBB) abnormalities between the prehospital and initial hospital ECG improved the diagnostic sensitivity for an acute coronary syndrome from 80% to 87%, with a fall in specificity from 60% to 50% (both p < 0.000006). CONCLUSIONS: ECG abnormalities are an early manifestation of acute coronary syndromes and can be identified by the prehospital ECG. Compared with a single ECG, the additional effect of evolving ST segment, T or Q waves or LBBB between serially obtained prehospital and hospital ECGs enhanced the diagnosis of acute coronary syndromes, but with a fall in specificity.

Late effects of intracoronary streptokinase on regional wall motion, ventricular aneurysm and left ventricular thrombus in myocardial infarction: results from the Western Washington Randomized Trial.

To determine whether intracoronary streptokinase improves late regional wall motion or reduces left ventricular aneurysm or thrombus formation in patients with acute myocardial infarction, two-dimensional echocardiography was performed at 8 +/- 3 weeks after infarction in 83 patients randomized to streptokinase (n = 45) or standard therapy (n = 38) in the Western Washington Intracoronary Streptokinase Trial. Among the patients treated with streptokinase, the average time to treatment was 4.7 +/- 2.5 hours after the onset of chest pain, and 67% had successful reperfusion. Regional wall motion was assessed in nine left ventricular segments on a scale of 1 to 4 (normal, hypokinetic, akinetic and dyskinetic). Left ventricular thrombus formation was interpreted as positive, equivocal or negative. All patients received anticoagulant therapy in the hospital and 52 received such therapy after hospital discharge. The mean (+/- SD) global (1.5 +/- 0.4 in both groups) and regional wall motion scores in the streptokinase-treated and control groups were not significantly different. The prevalence of aneurysm was 16% in both groups. Left ventricular thrombus was identified in only five patients (positive identification in four, and equivocal in one), all in the streptokinase-treated group (p = NS). There were also no differences between streptokinase and control treatment in any of the echocardiographic variables in subgroups of patients with anterior infarction, inferior infarction, no prior infarction or reperfusion with streptokinase. It is concluded that intracoronary streptokinase given relatively late in the course of acute myocardial infarction does not result in improved global or regional wall motion or a reduction in left ventricular thrombus or aneurysm formation in survivors studied 2 months after myocardial infarction.

Relation of global and regional left ventricular function to tomographic thallium-201 myocardial perfusion in patients with prior myocardial infarction.

To determine the relation between regional myocardial perfusion and regional wall motion in humans, tomographic thallium-201 imaging and two-dimensional echocardiography at rest were performed on the same day in 83 patients 4 to 12 weeks after myocardial infarction. Myocardial perfusion and wall motion were assessed independently in five left ventricular regions (total 415 regions). Regional myocardial perfusion was quantitated as a percent of the region infarcted (range 0 to 100%) using a previously validated method. Wall motion was graded on a four point scale as 1 = normal (n = 266 regions), 2 = hypokinesia (n = 64), 3 = akinesia (n = 70), 4 = dyskinesia (n = 13) or not evaluable (n = 2). Regional wall motion correlated directly with the severity of the perfusion deficit (r = 0.68, p less than 0.0001). Among normally contracting regions, the mean perfusion defect score was only 2 +/- 4. Increasingly severe wall motion abnormalities were associated with larger perfusion defect scores (hypokinesia = 6 +/- 5, akinesia = 11 +/- 7 and dyskinesia = 18 +/- 5, all p less than 0.01 versus normal. Among regions with normal wall motion, only 3% had a perfusion defect score greater than or equal to 10. Conversely, among 68 regions with a large (greater than or equal to 10) perfusion defect, only 13% had normal motion whereas 87% had abnormal wall motion. The relation between perfusion and wall motion noted for the entire cohort was also present in subgroups of patients with anterior or inferior infarction. In patients with prior myocardial infarction, the severity of the tomographic thallium perfusion defect correlates directly with echocardiographically defined wall motion abnormalities, both globally and regionally.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of age on use of thrombolytic therapy and mortality in acute myocardial infarction. The MITI Project Group.

The findings in 3,256 consecutive patients hospitalized for acute myocardial infarction were tabulated to assess the history, treatments and outcome in the elderly; 1,848 patients (56%) were greater than 65 years of age, including 28% who were aged greater than or equal to 75 years. The incidence of prior angina, hypertension and heart failure (only 3% of patients less than 55 years of age had a history of heart failure compared with 24% greater than or equal to 75 years old) was found to increase with age. Twenty-nine percent of patients less than 75 years of age were treated with a systemic thrombolytic drug compared with only 5% of patients older than 75 years. Mortality rates increased strikingly with advanced age (less than 2% in patients less than or equal to 55, 4.6% in those 55 to 64, 12.3% in those 65 to 74 and 17.8% in those greater than or equal to 75 years). Both the incidence of complicating illness and a nondiagnostic electrocardiogram (ECG) increased with age. In a multivariate analysis of outcome in older patients (greater than or equal to 65 years), adverse events were related to both prior history of heart failure (odds ratio 3.9) and increasing age (odds ratio 1.4 per each decade of age). Outcome was not improved by treatment with thrombolytic drugs, but these agents were prescribed to only 12% of patients greater than 65 years of age, thereby reducing the power for detecting such an effect.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Effect of niacin, warfarin, and antioxidant therapy on coagulation parameters in patients with peripheral arterial disease in the Arterial Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT).

BACKGROUND: Patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) have high rates of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality, including that caused by associated coronary heart disease and cerebrovascular disease. Previous studies have shown that coagulation parameters are altered in PAD and that altered coagulation may play a critical role in the susceptibility to cardiovascular complications in PAD. It is therefore important to assess the effect of secondary prevention measures on coagulation in patients with PAD. The Arterial Disease Multiple Intervention Trial (ADMIT), a multicenter, randomized, placebo-controlled trial, was conducted to determine the feasibility of a combined lipid-modifying, antioxidant, and antithrombotic treatment regimen in patients with PAD. The objective of this study was to assess the effect of the ADMIT interventions on coagulation. METHODS: ADMIT participants were randomly assigned to low-dose warfarin, niacin, and antioxidant vitamin cocktail or corresponding placebos in a 2 x 2 x 2 factorial design. Specialized coagulation studies were performed in a subset of 80 ADMIT participants at baseline and after 12 months of treatment. RESULTS: Low-dose warfarin (1 to 4 mg/d) resulted in a significant decrease in factor VIIc (P <.001) and in plasma F1.2 (P =.001). Unexpectedly, niacin treatment also resulted in significant decrease in both fibrinogen (48 mg/dL; P <.001) and F1.2 (P =.04). von Willebrand factor increased after antioxidant vitamin treatment (P =.04). CONCLUSIONS: A regimen of low-dose warfarin effectively modifies coagulation in patients with PAD. Niacin also favorably modifies fibrinogen and plasma F1.2. Niacin, in addition to its lipid effects, modifies abnormal coagulation factors that accompany PAD.

The radionuclide ejection fraction: a comparison of three radionuclide techniques with contrast angiography.

Left-ventricular ejection fraction (EF) can be measured by several radionuclide methods. The EFs determined by three such methods (first-transit time-activity, equilibrium blood-pool time-activity, and equilibrium blood-pool area-length) were compared in 30 patients with EFs measured by area-length analysis of x-ray contrast angiograms. Both time-activity methods (first-transit and blood-pool) yielded EFs that correlated well with x-ray contrast EFs (r=0.86 and 0.84, respectively). Area-length analysis of blood-pool images yielded EFs that agreed less well with x-ray contrast EFs (r=0.73 in the RAO view, 0.70 in the LAO view). We conclude that first-transit and blood-pool techniques are equally accurate methods for determining EF when the time-activity method of analysis is employed.

Potential use of thrombolytic therapy before hospitalization.

Three trials of thrombolytic therapy in myocardial infarction (MI) up to 12 hours after symptom onset were conducted to measure the mean time from onset of chest pain to hospital arrival, and mean time to therapy. The trials, using intracoronary streptokinase, intravenous streptokinase and tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA), indicated a progressive shortening of time between symptom onset and hospital arrival. The Seattle Myocardial Infarction, Triage and Intervention (MITI) trial is evaluating the safety and efficacy of thrombolytic therapy initiated by paramedics in the prehospital setting. Phase I of the trial indicates that one-half of the patients would receive prehospital therapy in the field within the first hour of symptoms, substantially sooner than what can be achieved in the hospital. Phase II of MITI, in a nonrandomized trial, will compare the use of intravenous t-PA in the field with t-PA administered in the emergency department.

Acute myocardial infarction treated with intracoronary streptokinase: a report of the Society for Cardiac Angiography.

The Society for Cardiac Angiography maintains a registry of intracoronary streptokinase therapy (IC-SK) in patients with acute myocardial infarction. Between July 1981 and August 1984, 1,029 patients were entered into the registry. The baseline and clinical characteristics of patients were determined, the early results of therapy were evaluated, and baseline characteristics of those in whom reperfusion was achieved were compared with those in whom it was not. Multivariate discriminant analysis was used to identify the predictors of reperfusion and hospital mortality. The overall rate of reperfusion was 71.2%. Reperfusion was positively associated with hypotension, absence of cardiogenic shock and early treatment. The hospital mortality rate for all patients was 8.2% and was higher for women and the elderly. The hospital mortality was significantly lower among patients in whom reperfusion was achieved compared with those in whom it was not (5.5% vs 14.7%, p less than 0.0001) and for several high-risk subgroups. Thus, coronary artery reperfusion induced by IC-SK significantly reduces hospital mortality in high-risk patients with acute myocardial infarction. High-risk patients in whom reperfusion fails with IC-SK therapy should be considered for early coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery.

Refractory ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation in a patient with the prolapsing mitral leaflet syndrome: successful control with overdrive pacing.

A 56 year old man with the prolapsing mitral leaflet syndrome presented with syncope and recurrent ventricular tachycardia and fibrillation. Treatment with antiarrhythmic agents (lidocaine, procainamide and propranolol) was unsuccessful. Overdrive pacing, in combination with propranolol, successfully suppressed the arrhythmias, and the patient remains well after 15 months of follow-up.