Low-Dose Oral Contraceptives and Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection With Heavy Clot Burden in a Nonpregnant Woman.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an infrequent cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) caused by a nontraumatic tear in the coronary artery wall. The true incidence is thought to be underestimated owing to its diagnostic difficulty as coronary angiography is insensitive in assessing the arterial wall structure, thereby warranting additional diagnostic modalities such as intravascular ultrasound. We report a case of a young woman who had been taking oral contraceptives, and presented with acute non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction due to SCAD with superimposed thrombosis.

Superior safety of direct oral anticoagulants compared to Warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation and underlying cancer: a national veterans affairs database study.

Background: Studies evaluating safety of warfarin and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for prevention of stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) are lacking.

Methods & Results: All patients ( = 196,521) receiving care at veteran's affairs with active cancer and AF from 2010-2015 were included. One-year mortality was significantly higher in unadjusted analysis with warfarin (44.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio predicts heart failure readmissions and outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Objective: Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has prognostic value in acute coronary syndromes. We investigated its utility for predicting heart failure (HF) admissions and major adverse cardiac outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Methods: Data on clinical, laboratory, procedural, HF admissions, and major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) (all-cause mortality, recurrence of myocardial infarction requiring intervention, stroke) for 298 consecutive patients who underwent TAVR between 2012 and 2016 in our tertiary center were collected.

Recurrent right ventricular cardiac myxoma in a patient with Carney complex: a case report.

Introduction: Carney complex is a multiple neoplasia syndrome involving cardiac, endocrine, neural and cutaneous tumors with a variety of pigmented skin lesions. It has an autosomal dominant mode of inheritance. Approximately 7% of cardiac myxomas are related to the Carney complex.

Predictors of 30-day readmission in patients hospitalized with decompensated heart failure.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is the leading cause of hospitalizations and readmissions in the United States. Approximately one-third of patients admitted for HF are readmitted within 3 months; however, there are few markers that can identify those at highest risk for readmission. The purpose of this study was to identify clinical and laboratory markers associated with hospital readmission in decompensated HF.