Correlation between the Finnish Diabetes risk Score and the severity of coronary artery disease.

Background/aim: The FINish Diabetes RIsk SCore (FINDRISC) which includes age, body mass index (BMI), waist circumference, physical (in) activity, diet, arterial hypertension, history of high glucose levels, and family history of diabetes, is of a great significance in identifying patients with impaired glucose tolerance and a 10-year risk assessment of developing type 2 diabetes in adults. Due to the fact that the FINDRISC score includes parameters which are risk factors for coronary artery disease (CAD), our aim was to determine a correlation between this score, and some of its parameters respectively, with the severity of angiographically verified CAD in patients with stable angina in two ways: according to the Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score and the number of diseased coronary arteries.

Methods: The study included 70 patients with stable angina consecutively admitted to the Clinic of Cardiology, Military Medical Academy, Belgrade.

Forearm approach for percutaneous coronary procedures.

This article gives contemporary review on the forearm approach for percutaneous diagnostic and interventional coronary procedures. Advantages and disadvantages as well as practical issues and current controversies regarding both radial and ulnar artery approach are discussed throughout the paper. Having in mind advantages of forearm approach in terms of safety and comfort over the traditional femoral approach, as well as the rapid development of invasive technology in the past years, it will probably become the default vascular approach for all percutaneous coronary procedures in the near future.

The additive diagnostic role of coronary flow reserve in noninvasive evaluation of coronary stenosis on left descending artery previously detected by multislice computed tomography.

Purpose: Multislice computed coronary angiography (MSCT) provides valuable morphological information about coronary artery disease, but precise quantification of coronary stenosis remains difficult. Transthoracic color Doppler echocardiography (TDE) gives a new insight into the functional significance of coronary luminal narrowing. We have tried to assess the additive value of coronary flow reserve (CFR) determined by TDE over MSCT in prediction of a significant stenosis on the left anterior descending artery (LAD) using the invasive coronary angiography (ICA) as a reference method.

Successful implantation of a permanent pacemaker through a persistent left superior vena cava by using a right subclavian approach.

Introduction: Persistent left superior vena cava, a rare congenital abnormality, can complicate placement of pacemaker leads through the subclavian vein. A left-sided approach is usually preferable in such cases.

Case Report: We reported a case in which we began a single-chamber pacemaker implantation procedure via a right subclavian approach (because of scarring beneath the left clavicle) and then discovered intraoperatively that the patient had a persistent left superior vena cava.

[Medical treatments in aortic stenosis: role of statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors].

CALCIFIC AROTIC STENOSIS AND ATHEROSCLEROSIS: Aortic stenosis is the most frequent valvular heart disease in western world and its incidence continues to rise. Aortic sclerosis is the first characteristic lesion of the cusps, which is today considered a process similar to atherosclerosis. The progression of the disease is an active process leading to forming of bone matrix and heavily calcified stiff cusps by inflammatory cells and osteopontin.