Interatrial pressure gradients during simulated obstructive sleep apnea: a catheter-based study.

Objectives: We set to measure the interatrial pressure gradient during simulated obstructive sleep apnea (OSA).

Background: OSA occurs when a sleeping patient attempts to inhale against an obstructed airway. How this event affects the interatrial pressure gradient has not been defined.

Cardiac device complications in the cognitively impaired.

Background: Patients with preexisting mild cognitive impairment or dementia may be at increased risk for developing cardiac device complications due to an impaired ability to follow postimplant care instructions. We sought to determine whether rates of infection, lead dislodgement, or appropriate or inappropriate implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) shocks are increased in this population.

Methods: Medical charts of 561 patients with mild cognitive impairment or dementia who underwent pacemaker (PM) or ICD implantation between January 2002 and October 2009 at Mayo Clinic were identified.

Novel functional risk factors for the prediction of cardiovascular events in vulnerable patients following acute coronary syndrome.

Over the years there has been considerable improvement in the clinical outcomes of patients treated for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Despite a significant reduction in acute mortality, a large percentage of patients post ACS continue to experience adverse cardiovascular (CV) events, with high long-term mortality rates and overall suboptimal medical management. Long-term risk prediction tools rely on traditional CV risk factors and are developed and validated in specific populations.

Meeting the needs of Somali patients at the end of life.

Given the large number of Somali refugees living in Minnesota, it is likely that Minnesota physicians will encounter Somali patients, some of whom will have serious illnesses. Although our knowledge of Somali expectations about health care is growing, little has been written about the Somali people's views of treatment for life-threatening illnesses or their ideas about end-of-life care. After encountering a Somali man with advanced cancer in our practice, we attempted to learn about the Somali view of death and dying and the kind of treatment Somali patients might want during their final days.

Percutaneous closure of congenital coronary artery fistulae: results and angiographic follow-up.

Objectives: This study sought to assess clinical and angiographic outcomes in a series of 29 patients who underwent transcatheter closure of coronary artery fistulae (CAF).

Background: Transcatheter closure of CAF has become an alternative to surgical closure, but the reported experience is relatively limited.

Methods: Medical records of all patients with CAF who underwent transcatheter closure at the Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minnesota, between 1997 and 2010, were reviewed.

Sympathetic hyperinnervation and inflammatory cell NGF synthesis following myocardial infarction in rats.

Sympathetic hyperinnervation occurs in human ventricular tissue after myocardial infarction and may contribute to arrhythmias. Aberrant sympathetic sprouting is associated with elevated nerve growth factor (NGF) in many contexts, including ventricular hyperinnervation. However, it is unclear whether cardiomyocytes or other cell types are responsible for increased NGF synthesis.