Inflammatory Modifications in Paranasal Sinuses and Ostiomeatal Complex Anatomical Variations in Jet Aircraft Pilots: A Computed Tomography Study.

 Jet aircraft pilots are exposed to huge pressure variation during flight, which affect physiological functions as systems, such as the respiratory system.  The objective of the present investigation was to evaluate inflammatory changes of paranasal sinuses of jet aircraft pilots before and after a jet aircraft training program, using multislice computed tomography (CT), in comparison with a group of nonairborne individuals with the same age, sex, and physical health conditions. A second objective of the present study was to assess the association between the ostiomeatal complex obstruction and its anatomical variations.

Chronic troponin elevation assessed by myocardial T1 mapping in patients with stable coronary artery disease.

Background: Cardiac troponin detected with sensitive assays can be chronically elevated, in the absence of unstable coronary syndromes. In patients with chronic coronary artery disease, clinically silent ischemic episodes may cause chronic troponin release. T1 mapping is a cardiovascular magnetic resonance technique useful in quantitative cardiac tissue characterization.

Maxillary sinus volumetric changes in jet aircraft pilots: A multislice computed tomography pilot study.

Purpose: This study evaluated maxillary sinus volume changes in military jet aircraft pilot candidates before and after the training program, in comparison with a control group, considering the effects of pressurization, altitude, and total flight hours, through multislice computed tomography.

Materials And Methods: Fifteen fighter pilots were evaluated before initiating the training program and after the final approval. The control group consisted of 41 young adults who had not flown during their military career.

Biventricular imaging markers to predict outcomes in non-compaction cardiomyopathy: a machine learning study.

Aims: Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) is a genetic heart disease, with heart failure, arrhythmias, and embolic events as main clinical manifestations. The goal of this study was to analyse a large set of echocardiographic (echo) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) parameters using machine learning (ML) techniques to find imaging predictors of clinical outcomes in a long-term follow-up of LVNC patients.

Methods And Results: Patients with echo and/or CMRI criteria of LVNC, followed from January 2011 to December 2017 in the heart failure section of a tertiary referral cardiologic hospital, were enrolled in a retrospective study.

Evaluation of Myocardial Perfusion by Computed Tomography - Principles, Technical Background and Recommendations.

Coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) has gained a prominent role in the evaluation of coronary artery disease. However, its anatomical nature does not allow the evaluation of the functional repercussion of coronary obstructions. It has been made possible to evaluate Myocardial computed tomography perfusion (Myocardial CTP) recently, based on myocardial contrast changes related to coronary stenoses.

Predictors of Adamkiewicz artery and anterior spinal artery detection through computerized tomographic angiography.

Background: The detection of the Adamkiewicz artery and the anterior spinal artery has been associated with the ability to prevent adverse spinal cord outcomes after aortic surgical procedures. Yet, to our knowledge, no previous studies have attempted to use modern predictive models to identify the most important variables in determining artery detectability.

Aims: To develop a model to predict the odds of visualizing the Adamkiewicz artery or anterior spinal artery in patients undergoing computerized tomographic angiography.

Decreased glycolytic metabolism in non-compaction cardiomyopathy by 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose positron emission tomography: new insights into pathophysiological mechanisms and clinical implications.

Aims: The pathophysiological mechanisms of left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) remain controversial. This study performed combined 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose dynamic positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and 99mTc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies to evaluate myocardial glucose metabolism and perfusion in patients with LVNC and their clinical implications.

Methods And Results: Thirty patients (41 ± 12 years, 53% male) with LVNC, diagnosed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) criteria, and eight age-matched healthy controls (42 ± 12 years, 50% male) were prospectively recruited to undergo FDG-PET with measurement of the myocardial glucose uptake rate (MGU) and SPECT to investigate perfusion-metabolism patterns.

Epipericardial Fat Necrosis: Who Should Be a Candidate?

Objective: The objectives of the present study were to estimate the frequency of epipericardial fat necrosis among patients undergoing chest CT for chest pain and to compare the clinical and laboratory data between patients with epipericardial fat necrosis and control subjects.

Materials And Methods: A retrospective review of 7463 chest CT studies performed in the emergency department from July 2011 to December 2014 was conducted to collect data regarding patient demographic characteristics and CT findings. Twenty patients who had epipericardial fat necrosis diagnosed were defined as the main patient group.

Noncompaction cardiomyopathy: a substrate for a thromboembolic event.

Background: Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCC) is a rare genetic cardiomyopathy characterized by a thin, compacted epicardial layer and an extensive noncompacted endocardial layer. The clinical manifestations of this disease include ventricular arrhythmia, heart failure, and systemic thromboembolism.

Case Presentation: A 43-year-old male was anticoagulated by pulmonary thromboembolism for 1 year when he developed progressive dyspnea.

Myocardial fibrosis detected by cardiac CT predicts ventricular fibrillation/ventricular tachycardia events in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Myocardial fibrosis (MF) occurs in up to 80% of subjects with asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and can constitute an arrhythmogenic substrate for re-entrant, life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias in predisposed persons.

Objective: The aim was to investigate whether MF detected by delayed enhancement cardiac CT is predictive of ventricular tachycardia (VT) and fibrillation (VF) that require appropriate therapy by an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD) in patients with HCM.

Methods: Twenty-six patients with HCM with previously (for at least 1 year) implanted ICD underwent MF evaluation by cardiac CT.

Hypotheses, rationale, design, and methods for prognostic evaluation of cardiac biomarker elevation after percutaneous and surgical revascularization in the absence of manifest myocardial infarction. A comparative analysis of biomarkers and cardiac magnetic resonance. The MASS-V Trial.

Background: Although the release of cardiac biomarkers after percutaneous (PCI) or surgical revascularization (CABG) is common, its prognostic significance is not known. Questions remain about the mechanisms and degree of correlation between the release, the volume of myocardial tissue loss, and the long-term significance. Delayed-enhancement of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) consistently quantifies areas of irreversible myocardial injury.

Dynamic myocardial perfusion imaging by dual-source computed tomography.

We report a dual-source computed tomography study of dynamic and quantitative myocardial perfusion in a 44-year-old patient with previous documented coronary artery disease. Quantitatively, the tomography showed myocardial perfusion deficit in the territories with significant coronary stenosis, confirmed by computed tomography angiography and conventional angiography. Dual-source computed tomography allowed dynamic perfusion and anatomic evaluation in a single study during the follow-up of this patient.

[Myocardial fibrosis in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and high risk for sudden death].

Background: The stratification of risk for sudden death in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) continues to be a true challenge due to the great heterogeneity of this disease's presentation, as most individuals remain asymptomatic during their entire lives and others present sudden death as first symptom. Recent studies have suggested that myocardial fibrosis may represent an important substrate for the malignant ventricular arrhythmias, that are responsible for the cases of sudden death related to this disease.

Objective: To assess the prevalence and quantification of myocardial fibrosis (MF) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients with implantablecardioverter - defibrillator (ICD) indicated due to their high risk or recovered from cardiac sudden death.

Late enhancement and myocardial perfusion in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (comparison between groups).

Background: The magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is an effective method to study hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).

Objective: To evaluate, using MRI, the parameters of systolic function, perfusion and myocardial viability in patients with HCM, comparing the groups with and without obstruction of the left ventricular outflow tract.

Methods: Twenty-one patients with a diagnosis of HCM underwent the assessment of myocardial function, viability and perfusion under stress and at rest through MRI.

Magnetic resonance vs technetium-99m pyrophosphate scintigraphy in the detection of perioperative myocardial necrosis.

Background: Perioperative myocardial infarction (POMI) is a complication of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) with a potential prognostic impact. Technetium-99m pyrophosphate myocardial scintigraphy (MS) is used in the diagnosis of POMI; however it shows a limited sensitivity for subendocardial lesions. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI), in turn, has a high accuracy in the detection of myocardial necrosis.

Regression of coronary artery outward remodeling in patients with non-ST-segment acute coronary syndromes: a longitudinal study using noninvasive magnetic resonance imaging.

Background: The association of plaques with outward arterial remodeling and acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has been mostly investigated by cross-sectional intravascular ultrasound studies. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has made it possible to noninvasively assess the coronary vessels of patients with chronic coronary artery disease, but no study has been done in patients with ACS. We sought to serially investigate changes in coronary vessel walls of patients with ACS using noninvasive serial MRI.