Evaluation of a policy of selective drug-eluting stent implantation for patients at high risk of restenosis.

Drug-eluting stent (DES) deployment during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has reduced target-vessel revascularisation rates (TVR). The selective use of DES in patients at highest risk of restenosis may allay concerns about universal compliance of dual antiplatelet therapy for one year, and potentially reduce costs. If this strategy achieved acceptably low TVR rates, such an approach could be attractive.

Changes in left atrial volume in diabetes mellitus: more than diastolic dysfunction?

Aim: To evaluate left atrial (LA) volume and function as assessed by strain and strain rate derived from 2D speckle tracking and their association with diastolic dysfunction (DD) in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM).

Methods And Results: Seventy three patients with DM were compared with age- and gender-matched normal controls; 30 patients with DM alone were compared to those with hypertension (HT) alone. The maximum LA volume, traditional measures of atrial function, 2D strain and strain rate were analysed.

Bilateral coronary - pulmonary fistulae, diagnosed by transoesophageal echocardiogram.

Bilateral coronary artery fistulae to pulmonary artery is a rare condition. We diagnosed this condition by transoesophageal echocardiogram and successfully treated with surgery.

Evaluation of troponin T criteria for periprocedural myocardial infarction in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

In patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the diagnosis of periprocedural myocardial infarction is often problematic when the pre-PCI levels of cardiac troponin T (TnT) are elevated. Thus, we examined different TnT criteria for periprocedural myocardial infarction when the pre-PCI TnT levels were elevated and also the associations between the post-PCI cardiac marker levels and outcomes. We established the relation between the post-PCI creatine kinase-MB (CKMB) and TnT levels in 582 patients (315 with acute coronary syndromes and 272 with stable coronary heart disease).

Comparison of myocardial tissue velocities measured by two-dimensional speckle tracking and tissue Doppler imaging.

Myocardial velocities have prognostic implications, and transmitral E wave to mitral annular early diastolic tissue velocity ratio (E/Em) is utilized to estimate left ventricular (LV) end-diastolic pressure (EDP). There are no reference values for 2-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking myocardial velocities (S2D, E2D, A2D), and it is unknown if they are comparable with color tissue Doppler imaging (TDI). Predictors of E/E2D ratios are unknown and E/E2D has not been validated with LVEDP.

Pancreatitis in enteric fever.

Pancreatitis in enteric fever is rare. We report two patients with enteric fever, one due to Salmonella typhi infection and other due to S. paratyphi, who on investigation were found to have pancreatitis.