Effects of a holmium-166 incorporated covered stent placement in normal canine common bile ducts.

Purpose: A specially designed self-expandable covered metallic stent incorporated with beta-emitting radioisotope, Holmium-166 (Ho-166), was developed for delivering intraluminal brachytherapy as well as for internal bile drainage in malignant biliary stricture. The purpose of the study was to demonstrate the safety and tissue response of the radioactive metallic stent on the normal canine common bile duct (CBD) prior to the clinical application.

Materials And Methods: Nitinol self-expandable stents (diameter; 4 mm, length; 20 mm) were covered with polyurethane membrane (50 microm thick) containing 21 to 135 muCi of Ho-166 (mean, 77.

Relation between Duke treadmill score and coronary flow reserve using transesophageal Doppler echocardiography in patients with microvascular angina.

Objectives: The link between coronary flow reserve (CFR) and Duke treadmill score (DTS) in patients with microvascular angina remains elusive.

Methods: We studied 108 subjects (M/F=48:60, mean age 54+/-9 years) with chest pain and normal coronary angiogram. ETT was performed by Bruce's protocol and the equation for calculating DTS was DTS=exercise duration-(5x ST deviation)-(4x exercise angina), with 0=none, 1=nonlimiting, 2=exercise limiting.

The impaired flow reserve capacity of penetrating intramyocardial coronary arteries in apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Background: Coronary flow reserve (CFR) capacity of penetrating intramyocardial coronary artery (PICA) in apical hypertrophic (AH) cardiomyopathy has not been studied yet.

Methods: We studied 65 patients with normal coronary angiogram results (mean age 56 +/- 10 years; 33 men, 32 women). Of these, 30 were normotensive without any left ventricular hypertrophy (control group), 24 had hypertension (HTN) without any left ventricular hypertrophy (HTN group), and 11 had AH cardiomyopathy (AH group).

Clinical findings in patients with cardiac troponin T elevation and end-stage renal disease without acute coronary syndrome.

Clinical, echocardiographic, and carotid ultrasound parameters were compared according to the level of cardiac tropopin T (cTnT) (cTnT <0.04 vs > or =0.04 microg/L; cTnT <0.

Infective endocarditis of the aortic valve complicated by massive pericardial effusion and rupture of a sinus of valsalva into the right atrium.

Infective endocarditis (IE) of the aortic valve is most commonly associated with perivalvular invasion and intracardiac fistula formation, which sometimes give rise to unpredictable clinical events. Massive pericardial effusion and aorticocardiac fistula are very rare complications of IE. We present a case in which IE of the aortic valve was initially associated with massive pericardial effusion requiring drainage and later complicated by rupture of a sinus of Valsalva with a fistula into the right atrium without formation of aneurysm.

DNA mediated resonance energy transfer from 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole to [Ru(1,10-phenanthroline)2L]2+.

The binding site of Delta- and Lambda-[Ru(phenanthroline)2L]2+ (L being phenanthroline (phen), dipyrido[3,2-a:2'3'-c]phenazine (DPPZ), and benzodipyrido[3,2-a:2'3'-c]phenazine (benzoDPPZ)), bound to poly[d(A-T)2] in the presence and absence of 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole (DAPI) was investigated by circular dichroism and fluorescence techniques. DAPI binds at the minor groove of poly[d(A-T)2] and blocks the groove. The circular dichroism spectrum of all Ru(II) complexes are essentially unaffected whether the minor groove of poly[d(A-T)2] is blocked by DAPI or not, indicating that the Ru(II) complexes are intercalated from the major groove.

The Glu298Asp polymorphism in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase gene is strongly associated with coronary spasm.

Background: Coronary spasm seems to be associated with coronary nitric oxide deficiency.

Objectives: We investigated whether the Glu298Asp polymorphism in the endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) gene is a definite risk factor for coronary spasm and whether diffuse spasm involving normal-looking coronary artery correlates significantly with the Glu298Asp polymorphism, in contrast with focal spasm superimposed on an atherosclerotic plaque.

Methods: A polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length polymorphism analysis was performed in 118 control participants and in 102 patients with variant angina and a similar degree of atherosclerotic burden.

Aspergillus infection in a large thrombus of a permanent ventricular pacing lead.

Pacemaker lead infection is a rare but a dangerous complication. Diagnosis can usually be established by the clinical picture and blood cultures. Transesophageal two dimensional echocardiography might be crucial in the diagnosis by visualizing pacing lead vegetations.