Intracoronary arterial retrograde thrombolysis with percutaneous coronary intervention: a novel use of thrombolytic to treat acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Background: Clearance of coronary arterial thrombosis is necessary in patients with acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing urgent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). There is currently no highly-recommended method of thrombus removal during interventional procedures. We describe a new method for opening culprit vessels to treat STEMI: intracoronary arterial retrograde thrombolysis (ICART) with PCI.

[An analysis of factors affecting the prognosis of patients with cardiac amyloidosis].

Objective: To analyze the clinical characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and outcome of patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA).

Methods: Clinical data from 18 patients diagnosed as CA by endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) from 1995 to 2005 were retrospectively analyzed.

Results: Among the 18 patients with CA, all patients had reduced diastolic dysfunction; 12 had mitral valve early diastolic blood flow peak velocity/late diastolic blood flow peak velocity (E/A) > 2.