Stress cardiomyopathy: clinical and ventriculographic characteristics in 107 North American subjects.

Background: Stress cardiomyopathy (SCM) is a newly described reversible cardiomyopathy of largely unclear etiology. We studied SCM in a large cohort to gain further insights.

Methods: We retrospectively identified 114 cases of SCM from among 12,150 consecutive North American patients diagnosed as Troponin-positive acute coronary syndrome, from January 2000 through December 2007, at two 24-h coronary angioplasty-capable centers.

Rural interhospital transfer of ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients for percutaneous coronary revascularization: the Stat Heart Program.

Background: In Europe, interhospital transfer of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) from non-PCI-capable (STEMI-referral) to PCI-capable (STEMI-accepting) facilities has been shown to be a superior reperfusion strategy compared with on-site fibrinolysis. The feasibility of such programs in the United States remains poorly defined.

Methods And Results: We describe an observational cohort of 230 consecutive presumed STEMI patients who underwent interhospital transfer between January 2005 and March 2007 among 6 STEMI-referral and 2 STEMI-accepting hospitals in rural central Illinois.