Metrics of care and cardiovascular outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction treated with pharmacoinvasive strategy: a decade-long network in a populous city in Brazil.

Background: Pharmacoinvasive strategy is an effective myocardial reperfusion therapy when primary percutaneous coronary intervention (p-PCI) cannot be performed in a timely manner.

Methods: Authors sought to evaluate metrics of care and cardiovascular outcomes in a decade-long registry of a pharmacoinvasive strategy network for the treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Data from a local network including patients undergoing fibrinolysis in county hospitals and systematically transferred to the tertiary center were accessed from March 2010 to September 2020.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Several Electrocardiographic Criteria for the Prediction of Atrioventricular Nodal Reentrant Tachycardia.

Background And Aims: Atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia (AVNRT) is the most common form of paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) whose diagnosis can be strongly suspected based on the surface eletrocardiogram alone. The purpose of this study is to determine the diagnostic accuracy of several electrocardiographic (ECG) criteria for the prediction of AVNRT.

Methods: Between November 2010 and January 2014, a total of 256 patients who underwent electrophysiological testing (EP) with regular, paroxysmal and narrow QRS complex tachycardia were prospectively enrolled.

Infarct artery distribution and clinical outcomes in occluded artery trial subjects presenting with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (from the long-term follow-up of Occluded Artery Trial [OAT]).

We hypothesized that the insensitivity of the electrocardiogram in identifying acute circumflex occlusion would result in differences in the distribution of the infarct-related artery (IRA) between patients with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) and STEMI enrolled in the Occluded Artery Trial. We also sought to evaluate the effect of percutaneous coronary intervention to the IRA on the clinical outcomes for patients with NSTEMI. Overall, those with NSTEMI constituted 13% (n = 283) of the trial population.

Influence of heart rate on quality of life in patients with chronic atrial fibrillation.

Background: Current criteria for rate control in atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment are empirical and based on a small amount of scientific data.

Hypothesis: This study was designed to analyze the influence of heart rate (HR, measured by the 6-minute walk test [6MWT] and 24-hour Holter monitoring) on quality of life (QoL).

Methods: A total of 89 male patients with chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) and resting HR < 90 bpm were included.

[Comparison of coronary angiography findings in diabetic and non-diabetic women with non-ST-segment-elevation acute coronary syndrome].

Objective: Compare hemodynamic and angiographic patterns, as well as atherosclerotic lesion morphology, in diabetic and non-diabetic females with unstable angina or non-ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (UA/NSTEMI).

Methods: Two interventional cardiologists determined the presence of severe atherosclerotic lesion, defined as those > or = 70%; plaque morphology, according to the American Heart Association classification; collateral circulation; plus ventricular and aortic pressures. Ejection fraction was calculated by angiography or echocardiography.

[Transient ventricular dysfunction (Takotsubo cardiomyopathy)].

The patient was a male with myasthenia gravis, hospitalized with acute respiratory failure due to decompensation of the underlying disease. He evolved with findings suggestive of acute myocardial infarction, with electrocardiographic and enzymatic alterations compatible with that diagnosis. The patient underwent emergency coronary angiography, which showed no severe coronary obstruction, although his left ventricle had significant systolic dysfunction with characteristic alterations, on ventriculography, of the syndrome described as transient ventricular dysfunction or Takotsubo syndrome.

Evaluation of systolic, diastolic, and pulse pressure as risk factors for severe coronary arteriosclerotic disease in women with unstable angina non-ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction.

Objective: To evaluate pressures assessed at the aortic root as risk factors for severe atherosclerotic coronary heart disease in women with unstable angina/compatible clinical history associated with increase in cardiac enzymes (total CPK and CK-MB) 2 times greater than the standard value used in the hospital, with the absence of new Q waves on the electrocardiogram (UA/NSTEMI).

Methods: Five hundred and ninety-three female patients with clinical diagnosis of UA/NSTEMI underwent cinecoronariography from March 1993 to August 2001, and the risk factors for CHD were studied. During examination the pressures, at the aortic root, and coronary obstructions were visually assessed by 2 interventional cardiologists, and those stenosis over 70% were considered severe.

Concomitant use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor and streptokinase after unsuccessful rescue angioplasty.

A 38-year-old man with acute myocardial infarction in the lower wall affecting the right ventricle underwent thrombolytic treatment with streptokinase. Approximately 2 hours after the thrombolytic treatment started, he presented with signs of coronary reocclusion. He underwent emergency cineangiocoronariography that revealed that his right coronary artery was completely occluded by a clot.