[Acute coronary syndrome after insect bites: a systematic review of available literature].

Background: Kounis syndrome is a hypersensitivity coronary disorder induced by exposure to several triggers; the most common are antibiotics, followed by insect bites.

Methods: We reviewed the literature and identified 66 patients who experienced acute coronary syndrome after insect bites.

Results: The median age was 51 years, and 19.

[Stent loss and successful retrieval with the loop snare technique].

A 79-year-old woman was admitted to our coronary care unit for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. Urgent left transradial coronary angiography showed mid-distal high-grade stenosis of the left circumflex coronary artery. During percutaneous coronary intervention, stent dislodgement from the balloon catheter occurred.

Indexed maximal left atrial volume predicts response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Aims: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has shown morbidity and mortality benefits in patients with advanced congestive heart failure (HF). Since about one-third of the patients did not appear to respond to CRT, it would seem reasonable to try to identify patients more accurately before implantation. Left atrial (LA) dimension has been proposed as a powerful outcome predictor in patients with heart disease.

Time course of effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy in chronic heart failure: benefits in patients with preserved exercise capacity.

Objectives: To assess in patients with chronic heart failure the effect of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) over 12 months' follow-up the time course of the changes in functional and neurohormonal indices and to identify responders to CRT.

Methods: Eighty-nine patients (74.1 +/- 1 years, left ventricular ejection fraction [LVEF] < 35%), QRS complex duration >150 ms, in stable New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III or IV on optimal medical treatment were prospectively randomized either in a control (n = 45) or CRT (n = 44) group and underwent clinical evaluation, cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET), 2D-Echo, heart rate variability (HRV), carotid baroreflex (BRS), and BNP assessments before and at 6- and 12-month follow-up.

Long-term outcomes with drug-eluting stents versus bare metal stents in the treatment of saphenous vein graft disease (results from the REgistro Regionale AngiopLastiche Emilia-Romagna registry).

Percutaneous revascularization of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) remains a challenging task. Drug-eluting stents (DESs) have been shown to decrease the incidence of restenosis in de novo native coronary artery lesions. However, their clinical value in SVGs remains to be established.