Dramatic Improvement of Pulmonary Tumor Thrombotic Microangiopathy in a Breast Cancer Patient Treated With Bevacizumab.

A 47-year-old woman diagnosed with stage IV left-sided breast cancer (T3N3aM1; OSS, HEP, LYM) 6 months back presented with respiratory distress. On admission, she developed respiratory failure, requiring 4 L of oxygen support. Pulmonary embolism was ruled out because computed tomography revealed no obvious pulmonary artery thrombus.

Association between sarcopenia and exercise capacity in patients with pulmonary hypertension without left heart disease.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) has recently been described as a complex clinical syndrome affecting multiple organ systems, including the heart, lungs, and skeletal muscle, each of which plays an important role in exercise capacity. However, the relationship between exercise capacity and skeletal muscle abnormalities in patients with PH has not been fully elucidated.

Methods: We retrospectively analysed the exercise capacity and measures of skeletal muscle of 107 patients with PH without left heart disease (mean age 63 ± 15 years, 32.

Impact of grip strength and gait speed on exercise tolerance in patients with pulmonary hypertension without left heart disease.

Patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) suffer from poor exercise tolerance due to impaired oxygenation and/or reduced cardiac output. However, the relationship between exercise tolerance and physical function remains unclear. The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between exercise tolerance and physical function in patients with PH.

Importance of identifying the direction of pulmonary venous flow in diagnosing a cavopulmonary window: A case report and review of literature.

A 75-year-old male suffered from dyspnea on exertion. In a referring hospital, cardiac catheterization demonstrated a 25% increase in oxygen saturation between the high superior vena cava (SVC) and the right atrium, suggesting a pre-tricuspid left-to-right shunt. However, neither an intracardiac shunt nor a partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection was detected.

Prognostic role of bronchial asthma in patients with heart failure.

There are few reports investigating the relationship between bronchial asthma (BA) and heart failure (HF). We hypothesized BA may have impact on prognosis in patients with HF. Among 323 consecutive outpatients with HF, 191 patients without chronic obstructive pulmonary disease were analyzed.

Is crossability of the classic crown with the glide assist superior to the micro crown in the Diamondback 360® coronary orbital atherectomy system?

The Diamondback 360® coronary orbital atherectomy system (OAS) can safely debulk calcified lesions by pullback of the crown, if the crown is advanced to the distal of the lesion. The aim of this study was to compare crossability with two types of crown in OAS. Thirty-six consecutive severely calcified lesions in 33 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention with the coronary OAS were included.

Time course of restenosis with "black hole" on intravascular ultrasound after implantation of platinum-chromium everolimus-eluting stent: Assessment using optical frequency-domain imaging.

Management of in-stent restenosis (ISR) remains challenging even in the drug-eluting stent era. We report the case of a Japanese female with repeated ISR after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndrome. We observed ISR tissue with "black hole" on intravascular ultrasound, which appeared to be heterogeneous tissue on optical frequency-domain imaging (OFDI).

Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging is associated with coronary endothelial dysfunction in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Myocardial fibrosis and coronary endothelial dysfunction are important determinants of outcome in patients with heart failure. However, the relationship of these factors in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is not fully understood. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between endothelium-dependent coronary vasomotor abnormality and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in patients with DCM.

Correlation between microvascular dysfunction and B-type natriuretic peptide levels in non-ischemic heart failure patients with cardiac fibrosis.

Backgrounds: The relationship between microvascular dysfunction and plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels remains unclear in heart failure (HF) patients with cardiac fibrosis.

Methods: This study evaluated 55 consecutive non-ischemic HF patients in an effort to determine the relationship between endothelial independent coronary microvascular dysfunction and plasma BNP levels, as well as whether each measure is correlated with myocardial fibrosis. We evaluated plasma BNP levels in patients with stable HF.

Late gadolinium enhancement on cardiac magnetic resonance predicts coronary vasomotor abnormality and myocardial lactate production in patients with chronic heart failure.

Myocardial fibrosis and microvascular dysfunction are key determinants of outcome in heart failure (HF); we examined their relationship in patients with HF. Our study included 61 consecutive patients with HF but without coronary stenosis. All underwent gadolinium-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance to evaluate late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and an acetylcholine (ACh) provocation test to evaluate microvascular dysfunction.