Red blood cell and platelet microparticles in myocardial infarction patients treated with primary angioplasty.

Background: Red blood cell and platelet microparticles (RBCm and PLTm, respectively) have drawn research attention as to their potential prothrombotic and vasoconstrictive effects in experimental settings. However, the relevance of circulating microparticles in clinical settings is largely undetermined.

Methods: Circulating microparticles were quantified with a flow cytometric method in blood samples from consecutive STEMI patients after primary PCI.

Radial artery flow-mediated dilation predicts arterial spasm during transradial coronary interventions.

Background: Transradial coronary catheterization has emerged over the last years as a favorable catheterization practice, based on evidence that it is associated with less vascular complications and shorter hospital stays. However, access site crossover appears to be more frequent when the initial route is the transradial one, one of the main reasons being arterial spasm. We hypothesized that radial flow-mediated dilation (FMD) measurements could be used as a preprocedural method to assess the likelihood of arterial spasm.