Impact of aortic valve calcification severity on device success after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Aortic valvular calcium score (AVCS) can identify severe aortic stenosis (AS) and provide powerful prognostic information. In severe and symptomatic AS, patients can be referred for a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The aim of this study was to determine whether AVCS, measured on the preoperative contrast enhanced multislice computed tomography (MSCT), is associated with device success (DS), major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) and paravalvular leak (PVL) after TAVR.

Gated blood pool SPECT: The estimation of right ventricular volume and function is algorithm dependent in a clinical setting.

Background: Gated blood pool SPECT (GBPS) requires further validation for the assessment of the right ventricle (RV). This study evaluated three algorithms: BP-SPECT, QBS, and TOMPOOL (results are referred using this order). We compared (1) their "quantitative-accuracy": estimation of RV ejection fraction (EF), end-diastolic volume (EDV), and cardiac output (CO); (2) their "qualitative-accuracy": threshold values allowing diagnosing an impairment of the RV function; (3) their reproducibility: inter-observer relative variability (IOV).

Is TOMPOOL (gated blood-pool SPECT processing software) accurate to diagnose right and left ventricular dysfunction in a clinical setting?

Background: The assessment of right ventricular function is crucial for management of heart disease. TOMPOOL is a software that processes data acquired with Tomographic Equilibrium Radionuclide Ventriculography. In this report, TOMPOOL's diagnostic accuracy and inter-observer reproducibility were assessed in a cohort of patients with various etiologies of ventricular dysfunction.

Early triage of emergency department patients with acute coronary syndrome: contribution of 64-slice computed tomography angiography.

Background: Multislice computed tomography coronary angiography (MSCT-CA) is feasible in the emergency department (ED) for ruling out obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).

Aim: To investigate a diagnostic strategy using MSCT-CA for the early triage of patients presenting to the ED with acute chest pain suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), according to the medium-term incidence of clinical events.

Methods: We conducted a single-centre, prospective, observational cohort study in 123 patients with low-risk to intermediate-risk acute chest pain suggestive of ACS.

Type B intramural hematoma of the aorta: evolution and prognostic value of intimal erosion.

Purpose: The prognosis and treatment of type B intramural hematoma (IMH) remain unclear. Intimal erosions could be the target of preventive endovascular treatment, but we have no therapeutic criterion on which to decide preventive treatment.

Materials And Methods: A prospective multislice computed tomography (CT) study was carried out in 44 patients with type B IMH to assess morphologic evolution and intimal erosion to determine reliable predictive factors that would permit endovascular treatment.

Transseptal implantation of a left ventricular pacing lead for an ectopic location of the coronary sinus ostium in the left atrium.

Congenital abnormalities of the coronary sinus (CS) are rare but can be responsible for unsuccessful implantation of a cardiac resynchronization therapy device. We report the case of an ectopic drainage of the CS in the left atrium. A left ventricular lead was implanted by the transseptal route.

Oxidized low-density lipoproteins trigger endoplasmic reticulum stress in vascular cells: prevention by oxygen-regulated protein 150 expression.

Oxidized low-density lipoproteins (oxLDLs) trigger various biological responses potentially involved in atherogenesis. Disturbing endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function results in ER stress and unfolded protein response, which tends to restore ER homeostasis but switches to apoptosis when ER stress is prolonged. We aimed to investigate whether ER stress is induced by oxLDLs and can be prevented by the ER-associated chaperone ORP150 (150-kDa oxygen-regulated protein).

Left-circumflex coronary artery to right atrium fistula with saccular aneurysm and its endovascular treatment.

The combination of coronary artery aneurysm and coronary artery fistula is infrequent. A saccular aneurysm of a branch of the left-circumflex coronary artery associated with multiple fistulae to the right atrium was observed on a coronary angiogram performed in a 47-year-old female. Multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography detailed the anatomy of the abnormal coronary artery.