Current status and future perspectives of fractional flow reserve derived from invasive coronary angiography.

Assessment of the functional significance of coronary artery stenosis using invasive measurement of fractional flow reserve (FFR) or non-hyperemic indices has been shown to be safe and effective in making clinical decisions on whether to perform percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Despite strong evidence from clinical trials, utilization of these techniques is still relatively low worldwide. This may be to some extent attributed to factors that are inherent to invasive measurements like prolongation of the procedure, side effects of drugs that induce hyperemia, additional steps that the operator should perform, the possibility to damage the vessel with the wire, and additional costs.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation: A Report on Serbia's First Systematic Program.

Introduction: Severe aortic stenosis, a highly-common valve disease in the elderly, has a poor prognosis if left untreated. To address the concern of effective procedures for severe aortic stenosis, a systematic TAVI program was established at the Dedinje Cardiovascular Institute (Belgrade, Serbia).

Methods: Our cohort was composed of 56 patients (74±15 years old).

Transcatheter closure of atrial septal defect in a patient with Noonan syndrome after corrective surgery.

Introduction: Transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) closure is considered to be a gold standard for patients with the suitable anatomy as compared to cardiac surgery. Reocurrence of ASD after surgical closure is a very rare late complication which can be successfully managed with transcatheter procedure.

Case Report: We reported a female patient with Noonan syndrome who presented with hemodinamically significant ASD 37 years after the corrective cardiac surgery.

Challenges in treatment of postinfarction ventricular septal defect and heart failure.

Introduction: Acquired ventricular septal defect (VSD) is uncommon, but serious mechanical complication of acute myocardial infarction with poor outcome and high mortality rate in surgically or medically treated patients.

Case Report: We report a 58-year-old male patient admitted to our hospital six days following acute inferior myocardial infarction complicated by ventricular septal rupture with signs of heart failure. Coronary angiography revealed 3-vessel disease, with proximally occluded dominant right coronary artery.