Coronary flow reserve/diastolic function relationship in angina-suffering patients with normal coronary angiography.

Aims: Coronary blood flow and diastolic function are well known to interfere with each other through mechanical and metabolic mechanisms. We aimed to assess the relationship between coronary flow reserve (CFR) and diastolic dysfunction in patients suffering from angina but with normal coronary angiography.

Methods: In 16 patients with chest pain and angiographically normal coronary arteries, CFR was measured using transthoracic echo-Doppler by inducing hyperemia through dipyridamole infusion.

[An unusual case of postinfarction ventricular septal rupture in a patient with angiographically normal coronary arteries].

Ventricular septal defect is a rare but potentially fatal complication of acute myocardial infarction. It usually occurs during the first episode of myocardial infarction, most often in patients with single vessel coronary artery disease and total occlusion of the culprit vessel, in the absence of an adequate collateral circulation. However, this complication is observed in patients with myocardial infarction with normal coronary arteries and its pathogenesis may be attributed to different mechanisms such as inflammation, hypercoagulable state or coronary vasospasm.

Asenapine increases nitric oxide release and protects porcine coronary artery endothelial cells against peroxidation.

Changes in endothelial function and peroxidation could play a significant role in the pathophysiology of cardiovascular disease in psychiatric patients. In particular, endothelial nitric oxide (NO) could either exert a beneficial or detrimental effect depending on the involvement of NO synthase (NOS) subtype. Therefore, we planned to examine the effects of asenapine on NO release and protection against oxidative stress in porcine coronary endothelial cells (CEC).