The Relationship Between Endocan and Serum Inflammatory Markers in Patients with Senile Calcific Aortic Stenosis.

Background: Endocan is an indicator of many pathologies accompanied by inflammation, endothelial cell activation, and dysfunction. In this study, we examined the relationship between degenerative aortic sclerosis, which progresses in a similar pathophysiologic mechanism as atherosclerosis, and serum inflammatory markers and endocan levels.

Methods: A total of 155 patients without known coronary artery disease, aged between 65 and 80 years, were consecutively included in the prospective cross-sectional study.

Prognostic Nutritional Index as a Predictor of No-Reflow Occurrence in Patients With ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Who Underwent Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Nutritional status and its index (Prognostic Nutritional Index, PNI) is an important prognostic factor for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The present study investigated whether PNI it is associated with no-reflow in patients with STEMI. In this retrospective study, 404 patients with STEMI and underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) were consecutively included, between January 2016 and December 2018.

A new risk factor for predicting stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation: morning blood pressure surge.

Background: Stroke, the most feared complication in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), is still an important cause of mortality and morbidity. In our study, we aimed to investigate the frequency of stroke and related parameters in patients with atrial fibrillation, for whom 24-h ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was performed.

Method: A total of 282 patients with permanent AF were included in this study.

Elevated levels of short-term blood pressure variability: A marker for ascending aortic dilatation in hypertensive patients.

: Ascending aortic aneurysms are one of the primary causes of mortality. However, not much is known about the etiologies of aortic aneurysm. Recently, in hypertensive (HT) patients, blood pressure variability (BPV) has been recommended as a remarkable risk factor for adverse cardiovascular outcomes.

A rare complication of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: Free-floating nose cone.

Presently described is a case in which the tip of the delivery catheter system (nose cone) has been broken during catheter removal after valve deployment in a femoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedure and the successful management of this rare complication.

Flail Tricuspid Leaflet During the Percutaneous Closure of Post-Myocardial Infarction Ventricular Septal Defect.

• A post-MI ventricular septal defect is a complication of ST-elevation MI. • Iatrogenic tricuspid regurgitations have not been reported after percutaneous closure. • Care should be taken with the degree of tricuspid regurgitation to prevent iatrogenic tricuspid injury.

Importance of the heart borders as a fluoroscopic clue for cardiac tamponade.

Every catheter laboratory is equipped with an X-ray system designed to provide fluoroscopic imaging of the heart. Although cardiac catheters are well visualized in all X-ray imaging, the soft tissue of myocardium is not. Therefore the imaging of the cardiac chambers is indirect through relation to the cardiac silhouette.

Massive Myocardial Staining and Thebesian Venous Opacification during Complicated Coronary Angiography.

Myocardial staining is a complication of coronary angiography or intervention procedures and consists of extravasations of contrast material into the myocardium. The powerful injection of contrast (myocardial staining) is caused by the improper positioning of the angiography or guiding catheter and can lead to refractory ventricular tachyarrhythmias and occasionally cardiac death. It results in small puffs of dye extravasating into pericoronary space (epicardial or myocardial).

Impact of Aortic Stiffness Evaluated by Aortic Pulsatility on Fractional Flow Reserve.

Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a highly reproducible, accurate and lesion-specific index to indicate inducible ischemia for a particular coronary artery lesion. Invasively measured aortic pulsatility (AP) is an indicator of aortic stiffness. In this study we aimed to evaluate the possible impact of AP in terms of aortic stiffness on FFR measurement.

Monocyte to HDL Cholesterol Ratio Predicts Coronary Artery Disease Severity and Future Major Cardiovascular Adverse Events in Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Background: We aimed to investigate the usefulness of monocyte to HDL cholesterol ratio (MHR) in predicting coronary artery disease severity and future major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Methods: 2661 patient with ACS were enrolled and followed up during median 31.6 months.

Non-O blood groups can be a prognostic marker of in-hospital and long-term major adverse cardiovascular events in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Recent studies have suggested ABO blood type locus as an inherited predictor of thrombosis, cardiovascular risk factors, myocardial infarction. However, data is scarce about the impact of non-O blood groups on prognosis in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic importance of non-O blood groups in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) METHODS: 1835 consecutive patients who were admitted with acute STEMI between 2010 and 2015 were included and followed-up for a median of 35.

Platelet to Lymphocyte Ratio as a Prognostic Marker of In-Hospital and Long-Term Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events in ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction.

We assessed the prognostic value of the platelet to lymphocyte ratio (PLR) on in-hospital and long-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) in a large prospective study. Patients (n = 1938) admitted with acute STEMI within 12 hours of symptom onset and who underwent pPCI between January 2010 and January 2015 were followed up for 31.6 ± 16.

Coronary artery perforation during diagnostic coronary angiography resulting in acute pericarditis.

We report a case of coronary artery perforation during diagnostic coronary angiography. No cardiac biomarker elevation was observed. However, the patient suffered acute pericarditis which was treated conservatively.

Association of prediabetes with diffuse coronary narrowing and small-vessel disease.

Background: A significant number of patients may not benefit from conventional techniques of myocardial revascularization due to diffuse coronary artery disease (CAD) or small coronary arterial sizes because of smaller arteries causing anastomotic technical difficulties and poor run-off. Diabetic patients have a more severe and diffuse coronary atherosclerosis with smaller coronary arteries limiting the possibility to perform a successful and complete revascularization, but this has not been examined in prediabetics.

Objective: To evaluate whether there is an association between prediabetes and the coronary arterial size.

Right ventricular functions in patients with slow coronary flow.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate right ventricular systolic and diastolic functions with the use of conventional and tissue Doppler echocardiography in patients with slow coronary flow (SCF).

Methods And Results: Patients who were detected to have SCF but otherwise normal epicardial coronary arteries between October 2010 and July 2011 were included in our study. The control group was selected from the patients with normal coronary arteries but no SCF.

Plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha and its receptors in patients with mitral stenosis and sinus rhythm undergoing percutaneous balloon valvuloplasty.

This study aimed to determine whether plasma levels of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) and soluble TNF receptor (sTNF-R) increases in rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) patients with sinus rhythm and to examine the effect of percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV) on these parameters. Twenty-six patients with MS and sinus rhythm (study group, 20 female, mean age 33 +/- 8 years), who were scheduled for PMBV, and a well-matched control group consisting of 21 healthy volunteers (15 female, mean age 35 +/- 6 years) were enrolled in the study. Tumor necrosis factor-alpha and sTNF-R levels were compared between study patients and controls, and between peripheral and left atrium (LA) blood.

Evaluation of atrial vulnerability immediately after radiofrequency catheter ablation of accessory pathway in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.

Purpose: The intrinsic atrial vulnerability is proposed as one of the mechanisms of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) in Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome. In this study, we examined the early changes in atrial refractoriness and intra- and inter-atrial conduction times after radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation of accessory pathway (AP).

Methods: Twenty-four consecutive patients with WPW syndrome and documented AV reciprocating tachycardia but without history of PAF (fourteen male, mean age 39 +/- 9.

Coagulation, fibrinolytic system activation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with mitral stenosis and sinus rhythm.

Anticoagulation treatment can prevent systemic embolism in patients with mitral stenosis (MS) and atrial fibrillation (AF), but this treatment is under debate if patients are in sinus rhythm. The authors aimed to determine the hemostatic changes in patients with MS and sinus rhythm. Forty-six patients (28 in sinus rhythm and 18 in AF) with mitral stenosis were enrolled in this study.

QT dispersion significantly increases after implantable cardioverter-defibrillator shocks.

Objective: To determine whether QT dispersion (QTd), a noninvasive electrocardiographic parameter of ventricular tachyarrhythmia risk assessment, is changed by implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) shocks delivered during implantation process, to analyze the duration of these changes, and to further evaluate the effect of amiodarone on these parameters.

Methods: Twenty-six consecutive patients who are scheduled to undergo ICD implantation for aborted sudden cardiac death or documented symptomatic sustained ventricular tachycardia were enrolled into the study. A simultaneous 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) was recorded after the ICD implantation just before starting the testing shock when the patients were under general anesthesia (baseline record) and at 1st, 5th, 10th, 15th, 20th, 25th, and 30th minutes after the successful shocks.

Clinical features of isolated ventricular noncompaction in adults long-term clinical course, echocardiographic properties, and predictors of left ventricular failure.

Background: Isolated ventricular non-compaction (IVNC) is a rare disorder characterized by prominent trabecular meshwork and deep recesses. We retrospectively assessed the clinical characteristics and natural course of IVNC in adults diagnosed at our hospital.

Methods And Results: Sixty-seven adult patients (44 male, mean age 41 +/- 18 years) with the diagnosis of IVNC were evaluated in this retrospective cohort.