Efficacy of rheolytic thrombectomy in early versus late myocardial infarction.

Background: Rheolytic thrombectomy has been used successfully to treat acutely occluded lower-limb vessels, dialysis grafts, intrahepatic portosystemic shunts, and diseased native coronary vessels and saphenous vein grafts. Few studies, however, have examined the efficacy of rheolytic thrombectomy in the acute myocardial infarction (AMI) setting. We sought to determine the efficacy of the AngioJet Rheolytic thrombectomy catheter (Possis Medical, Minneapolis, MN, USA) in patients presenting with AMI either before or after 12 hours of onset of symptoms.

A novel radiation protection drape reduces radiation exposure during fluoroscopy guided electrophysiology procedures.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate a novel disposable lead-free radiation protection drape for decreasing radiation scatter during electrophysiology procedures.

Background: In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in the number of electrophysiology (EP) procedures exposing patients, operators and laboratory staff to higher radiation doses.

Methods: The RADPAD was positioned slightly lateral to the incision site for pectoral device implants and superior to the femoral vein during electrophysiology studies.