Decreased Cytokine Plasma Levels and Changes in T-Cell Activation Are Associated With Hemodynamic Improvement and Clinical Outcomes After Percutaneous Mitral Commissurotomy in Patients With Rheumatic Mitral Stenosis.

Mitral stenosis (MS) is a consequence of rheumatic heart disease that leads to heart failure requiring mechanical intervention. Percutaneous mitral commissurotomy (PMC) is the treatment of choice for the intervention, and currently there are no soluble markers associated with hemodynamic improvement after PMC. This study aims to determine the changes in cytokine/chemokine plasma levels, as well as T cell activation after PMC, and to investigate their association with immediate hemodynamic improvement and clinical outcomes. Plasma samples from eighteen patients with well-defined MS who underwent PMC and 12 healthy controls were analyzed using BioPlex immunoassay. We observed that 16 out of the 27 (60%) molecules assessed were altered in patients' plasma pre-PMC as compared to control group. Of those, IL-1ß, IL-12, IL-6, IL-4, PDGF, and CCL11 showed significant decrease after PMC. Stratifying the patients according to adverse outcome after a 28-month median follow up, we detected a significant reduction of IL-1ß, IL-12, IL-6, IL-4, IFN-γ, CXCL-10, VEGF, FGF and PDGF post-PMC in patients without events, but not in those who presented adverse events during the follow-up. Patients with adverse outcomes had lower IL-10 pre-PMC, as compared to the ones without adverse events. In addition, the frequency of CD8+ activated memory cells was increased after PMC, while the frequency of CD4+ activated memory cells did not change. Our results show an association between the decrease of specific cytokines and changes in T cell activation with hemodynamic improvement post-PMC, as well as with long-term outcomes, suggesting their possible use as soluble markers for hemodynamic recovery after MS intervention.

Early polymerase chain reaction detection of Chagas disease reactivation in heart transplant patients.

BACKGROUND: Heart transplantation is a valuable therapeutic option for Chagas disease patients with severe cardiomyopathy. During patient follow-up, the differential diagnosis between cardiac transplant rejection and Chagas disease infection reactivation remains a challenging task, which hinders rapid implementation of the appropriate treatment. Herein we investigate whether polymerase chain reaction (PCR) strategies could facilitate early detection of Trypanosoma cruzi (T cruzi) in transplanted endomyocardial biopsies (EMBs). METHODS: In this study we analyzed 500 EMB specimens obtained from 58 chagasic cardiac transplant patients, using PCR approaches targeted to nuclear (rDNA 24Sα) and kinetoplastid (kDNA) markers, and compared the efficiency of these approaches with that of other tests routinely used. RESULTS: T cruzi DNA was detected in 112 EMB specimens derived from 39 patients (67.2%). The first positive result occurred at a median 1.0 month post-transplant. Conventional histopathologic, blood smear and hemoculture analyses showed lower sensitivity and higher median time to the first positive result. Patient follow-up revealed that 31 of 39 PCR-positive cases presented clinical reactivation of Chagas disease at different time-points after transplantation. PCR techniques showed considerable sensitivity (0.82) and specificity (0.60), with area under the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves of 0.708 (p = 0.001). Moreover, PCR techniques anticipated the clinical signs of Chagas disease reactivation by up to 36 months, with a median time of 6 months and an average of 9.1 months. CONCLUSIONS: We found a good association between the PCR diagnosis and the clinical signs of the disease, indicating that the PCR approaches used herein are suitable for early diagnosis of Chagas disease reactivation, with high potential to assist physicians in treatment decisions. For this purpose, an algorithm is proposed for surveillance based on the molecular tests.

A importância da criação de rede de cuidado para o tratamento do IAM com supra de ST e a experiência da Unidade Coronariana do Hospital das Clínicas / UFMG / The importance of creating a health care network to treat myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation and the experience of the Coronary Unit of UFMG University Hospital

O infarto com supradesnivelamento do segmento ST (IAMCSST) é uma importante causa de morbimortalidade no Brasil. O tratamento ideal para o IAMCSST depende principalmente do diagnóstico precoce e da rápida seleção de estratégia de reperfusão apropriada. A angioplastia coronária percutânea (ICP) primária é a estratégia de escolha em hospitais com serviço de hemodinâmica. Em hospitais sem esse serviço, duas estratégias de reperfusão são possíveis: transferência para ICP primária ou terapia com trombolíticos. A ICP primária apresenta melhores resultados, com redução de eventos cardiovasculares, entretanto, essa vantagem pode ser perdida, dependendo do tempo de atraso para transferência. A criação de rede de cuidado para pacientes com IAMCSST é um desafio para nosso município e pretende possibilitar o acesso à terapia de reperfusão em tempo adequado, levando em consideração as condições clínicas do paciente e do sistema de saúde em que ele é atendido.

Myocardial infarction with ST segment elevation is one of the major causes of morbimortality in Brazil. The ideal treatment for the disease depends mostly on early diagnosis and choice of adequate reperfusion strategy. Primary percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PCI) is a strategywidely adopted in hospitals that provide cardiac services, whereas hospitals without such services usually adopt either transfer for PCI or therapy with thrombolytic drugs. Primary PCI usually provides better results, reducing cardiovascular events, but this may not be effective in the event of significant transference delay. The creation of a health care network for patients with the disease is a challenge in our Municipality that can provide access to reperfusion therapy as soon as possible considering both patients? clinical conditions and health insurance.