Japanese heart journal最新文献

Unsatisfactory results obtained with medical therapy and dual-chamber pacing for prevention of recurrent neurocardiogenic syncope necessitated the development of new treatment modalities. Tilt-training, a novel treatment for recurrent neurocardiogenic syncope based on exercise sessions with prolonged upright posture (either on a tilt-table or standing on foot against a wall), was shown to be effective in preventing the recurrence of neurocardiogenic syncope. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the long-term beneficial effects of a transient tilt training program lasting 2 months. Thirty-two patients with recurrent neurocardiogenic syncope (mean number of syncope episodes in the last 6 months was 3.4 +/- 2.3) constituted the study group. All of the patients were tilt test positive. The patients were taught a tilt training program with 2 phases (in-hospital training with repeated tilt procedures until 3 consecutive negative results were obtained and home exercises with standing against a wall) and home exercises lasted a maximum of 2 months. After this training program, the patients received no treatment and were followed for the recurrence of syncope. At the end of the follow-up period (376 +/- 45 days), 81% of the patients were free of recurrent syncope. This study revealed that similar successful results can also be obtained with a transient tilt training program as a first line treatment strategy. Less interference with the daily activities of the patients is the major advantage of this strategy. The ease of performance and high effectiveness rate will most likely result in more frequent utilization of this treatment modality.

We experienced two rare cases of mismatch between the results of FFR and myocardial perfusion SPECT for identification of myocardial ischemia after myocardial infarction. If a FFR cutoff value of 0.75 is applied as in angina patients to patients with myocardial infarction, the severity of ischemia may be underestimated.

We report the case of a 61-year-old man with a stroke secondary to cerebral embolism resulting from inadvertent malposition of a permanent transvenous pacemaker lead in the left ventricle. An electrocardiogram and chest X-ray were suggestive of a left-sided positioned lead which was confirmed by transthoracic echocardiography. Because this malposition was complicated with a cerebrovascular event, transcatheter lead extraction was planned, however, the patient chose lifelong anticoagulation therapy.

Williams-Beuren syndrome is a rare and usually sporadic genetic anomaly with an estimated frequency of 1:25,000, that also has cardiac defects due to the effect on the elastin locus of a deletion on the 7th chromosome. Identical twin boys presented with exercise-induced syncope. Echocardiographic examination revealed severe calcification at the aortic valves, mitral anterior leaflets, and mitral annuli in both cases. A basal interventricular septum was also involved in one case. Doppler evaluation demonstrated severe aortic stenosis with a peak gradient of 112 and 118 mmHg in both cases. Moderate mitral stenosis was also detected in one twin. We performed aortic mechanical valve replacement and dilated the aortic annulus with Nick's procedure and evaluated the diagnosis and therapy methods in light of the literature. As a result, we determined that these boys are the first monozygotic twins who were diagnosed during childhood.

It has been reported that abnormalities of atrial conduction are present in patients with atrial flutter (AFL). We analyzed the P wave signal-averaged ECG (PSE) in patients after cardioversion of chronic AFL by radiofrequency catheter ablation (RFCA) to determine whether abnormalities of atrial conduction exist in patients with AFL and whether they recover. We studied 11 patients undergoing ablation of persistent AFL (AFL group), 11 patients with paroxysmal AFL (PAFL group), and 14 patients without any evidence of arrhythmias (control group). The PSEs were recorded 1 day, 7 days, and 1 month after RFCA. The filtered P wave duration (FPD) was calculated from the PSE recording. The FPD correlated with interatrial conduction time (r = 0.644) and left atrial dimension (r = 0.675) in combined assessment of the AFL and PAFL groups. The FPD was longer in the AFL group 1 day (165 +/- 14 ms, P < 0.001) and 1 month (150 +/- 18 ms, P < 0.05) after RFCA than in the control group (134 +/- 10 ms). Our findings suggest that atrial conduction abnormalities detected by PSE are present in patients with persistent AFL and improve 1 month after cardioversion.

Experience gained with administration of supranormal-therapeutic doses (90 microg/kg) of recombinant activated factor VII in 7 cardiac surgery patients is presented. The patients were given recombinant activated factor VII postoperatively for intractable bleeding, 5 of them after surgical revision. Administration of recombinant activated factor VII was associated with significant reduction in blood loss (P < 0.05) and shortening of INR and aPTT in laboratory tests. None of the patients needed reoperation. Administration of recombinant activated factor VII proved highly effective in management of massive hemorrhage in cardiac surgery.

We investigated simultaneously the correlations between dobutamine-induced contractile reserve (CC), thallium-201 reverse redistribution (RR) and a mismatch between perfusion and metabolism (MM) to the magnitude of functional recovery. In 32 patients with coronary angioplasty early after infarction, echocardiography was performed at low-dose dobutamine stress within 1 week and at resting state at 1 month. Thallium-201/iodine-123 beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) dual-isotope single photon emission tomography was performed at 1 month. Wall motion and the uptake of each tracer were scored as 0 to 2 in the infarct-related segments, and CC, RR, and MM were evaluated in the infarct-related segments. In 71 akinetic or dyskinetic segments before reperfusion, the initial thallium-201 uptake and initial BMIPP uptake scores and the 4 hour redistribution thallium-201 uptake scores were less severe in the group with complete functional recovery (group A), followed by the group with incomplete recovery (group B) and then the group with no recovery (group C) (each P < 0.0001). CC was the greatest in group A, followed by group B, and then group C (76.2% in 16/21, 60% in 15/25, 36% in 9/25, P = 0.0212). RR and MM were greater in group B (52% in 13 and 64% in 16) than in groups A and C (19% in 4 and 8% in 2, 33.3% in 7 and 24% in 6, P = 0.0013 and P = 0.0113). The intensity of functional damage reflects perfusion and metabolism, but the delayed and incomplete functional recovery after reperfusion may be closely related to RR, MM, and CC.

A 62-year-old female with Osler's disease was admitted to our hospital because of fever and cardiac failure. The patient had undergone a mitral valve replacement (MVR) using a Carpentier-Edwards prosthetic valve 14 years earlier. A bacterial examination of arterial blood identified Streptococcus mitis. No arteriovenous malformations were detected in visceral organs. The patient underwent MVR using the same prosthetic xenograft after conservative treatment and management of repetitive epistaxis and decayed teeth. Intra- and postoperative bleeding were typical of a mitral valve reoperation. This is the first reported experience, to the best of our knowledge, of a second MVR in a patient with Osler's disease.

We examined vasospasms of the radial artery after a transradial approach was used for coronary angiography or angioplasty. In forty-eight patients (39 males and 9 females), arteriography of the radial artery was initially performed just after the transradial approach was used for coronary angiography and/or angioplasty. Then, five months later, a second arteriography of the radial artery was obtained after a transbrachial approach was used for coronary angiography. First and second arteriographies were compared to evaluate vaso-spasms of the radial artery. In the present study, more than 75% stenosis in the radial artery, 25-75% stenosis, and less than 25% stenosis were tentatively defined as severe spasms, moderate spasms, and mild spasms, respectively. In arteriographic studies on the radial artery, twenty-four patients (50%) had severe radial artery spasms, eleven patients (23%) had moderate spasms, and thirteen patients (27%) had mild spasms. The diameters of both the proximal and distal radial arteries in the severe spasm group were significantly smaller than those in the mild and moderate spasm groups (proximal site: severe group 2.39 +/- 0.70 mm versus mild group 2.98 +/- 0.46 mm, P < 0.05, and moderate group 2.96 +/- 0.77 mm, P < 0.05, distal site: severe group 2.26 +/- 0.60 mm versus mild group 2.73 +/- 0.47 mm, P < 0.05, and moderate group 2.86 +/- 0.71 mm, P < 0.05). We concluded that vasospasms of the radial artery occurred in most patients after the transradial approach. Furthermore, severe radial spasms were strongly correlated with the size of the diameter of the artery.

Though multiple risk factors are commonly observed in patients with ischemic heart disease and associated with an increased risk of developing IHD, it has not yet been proven that risk factors actually occur in combination more frequently than by chance alone. We tested the hypothesis that if some risk factors occur in combination, the actual incidences will be higher than the predicted ones which were calculated on the assumption that each risk factor occurs independently and in combination as a result of coincidence. One hundred consecutive patients were included in this study. All had significant stenosis or occlusion of a coronary artery. The ages ranged from 50 to 69 years and only males were studied. From the incidences of the well-established risk factors in IHD: hypertension, impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus, hypertriglyceridemia, obesity and hypercholesterolemia, we determined the actual incidences of combinations of risk factors and compared these with the predicted incidences, which were the probability calculated from each risk factor. Some of the combinations of 2 to 4 risk factors were found significantly more often than the predicted ones. Though not significant, the reverse was the case in the actual incidence of patients having no risk factors. Some combinations of well-known risk factors were found more often than the predicted risk factors from the probability and showed a tendency to cluster in coronary artery disease patients. Some linking factor must be involved in this type of occurrence of risk factors.