Localization and Spread of Challenging Conduction Gaps of Pulmonary Veins for Atrial Fibrillation Cryoablation.

Background: Cryoballoon ablation has been widely performed in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF). In some challenging pulmonary veins (PVs), the procedure requires additional touch-up applications against the residual conduction gaps. It implies that there could exist difficult sites to cover with standard cryoballoon applications (CBAs), resulting in resistant conduction gaps (RCGs).

Non-invasive recanalization of first-generation sirolimus-eluting stent thrombosis due to stent fracture and coronary artery aneurysm after clopidogrel treatment 15 years after implantation.

Unlabelled: In 2020, a 48-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital due to unstable angina. In 2005, three first-generation sirolimus-eluting stents (1st-SESs) had been deployed to his right coronary artery (RCA). Over the past 10 years or so, the patient has been treated with single antiplatelet therapy using aspirin.

Corrigendum to "Oncostatin M mediates cardioprotection via angiogenesis in ischemic heart disease" [Am. Heart J. Plus Cardiol. Res. Pract. vol. 35, 2023, 100331].

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1016/j.ahjo.

Oncostatin M mediates cardioprotection via angiogenesis in ischemic heart disease.

Objective: Oncostatin M (OSM) is an inflammatory cytokine belonging to the interleukin-6 family member, which plays an important role in various cardiovascular diseases. We recently reported increased serum OSM levels in patients with coronary artery disease. However, the specific role in HF with ischemic heart disease (IHD) remains unclear.

Takotsubo syndrome associated with coronary microvascular dysfunction: A case study.

Unlabelled: The patient, a 68-year-old man, presented to our emergency room with chest pain, prompting an emergency cardiac catheterization due to elevated cardiac troponin-I levels. While no obvious coronary artery stenosis was found, there was evidence of apical ballooning wall motion in the left ventricle, leading to a diagnosis of takotsubo syndrome. Three months later, he occasionally experienced chest pain at rest, prompting us to conduct another cardiac catheterization.

Diagnosed corrected transposition of great arteries after cesarean section: A case report.

Background: Corrected transposition of the great arteries (cTGA) is a cardiac malformation in which the ventricular and arterial-ventricular positions in the heart are doubly reversed. In general, this defect puts a load on the systemic circulation and causes heart failure, resulting in a poor prognosis. This article reports a case of cTGA detected in a patient with post-caesarean pregnancy who had undergone elective caesarean section and was experiencing an episode of acute heart failure.

A case of ventricular fibrillation without left ventricular systolic dysfunction induced by trastuzumab emtansine for breast cancer.

Trastuzumab-induced cardiomyopathy is a known complication of its use in breast cancer treatment. However, cardiac complications of trastuzumab without left ventricular systolic dysfunction have been rarely reported. These include left bundle branch block, sinus node dysfunction, and ventricular tachycardia.

Unique left pulmonary vein isolation in straight common trunk based on longitudinal conduction of left lateral ridge.

Background: A left common pulmonary vein (LCPV) is the most common anatomical variation in the pulmonary vein (PV) and often influences strategies of PV isolation for atrial fibrillation (AF). Our objective was to elucidate the electrical properties of the specific shape of LCPV and to apply it to an ablation procedure.

Methods And Results: We investigated consecutive 12 out of 204 paroxysmal AF patients who had the shape of a straight common trunk in LCPV defined by the formation of a single conduit with parallel cranial and caudal walls after the coalescence of superior and inferior PVs on the distal side.

A case of vasospastic angina with exertional sign.

We herein report a case of a 56-year-old woman with angina pectoris. She visited our emergency room because of chest pain. She finally underwent emergency percutaneous coronary intervention in right coronary artery due to acute coronary syndrome.

Oncostatin M is a novel biomarker for coronary artery disease - A possibility as a screening tool of silent myocardial ischemia for diabetes mellitus.

Objective: Oncostatin M (OSM) is an inflammatory cytokine of the interleukin-6 family which plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. Therefore, we tested our hypothesis that serum OSM levels are increased in patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD).

Methods And Results: Serum OSM level was measured by sandwich technique immunoassay in 315 consecutive patients and who underwent coronary angiography at the International University of Health and Welfare Hospital from April 2019 to March 2021.

Stent collapse caused by balloon occlusion and aspiration system in saphenous vein graft intervention.

We present the case of an 82-year-old male patient with unstable angina pectoris referred for percutaneous coronary intervention in the saphenous vein graft (SVG) to left circumflex coronary artery. An everolimus-eluting cobalt chrome stent was successfully deployed, using an embolic protection device with balloon occlusion and aspiration system. During the procedure of aspiration thrombectomy, the deployed stent unexpectedly collapsed.

Identification and visualization of stimulus-specific transcriptional activity in cardiac hypertrophy in mice.

Identification of specific signaling pathways for cardiac hypertrophy in living animals is challenging because no methods have been established to directly observe sequential molecular signaling events at the transcriptional level during pathogenesis. Here, our aim was to develop a useful method for monitoring the specific signaling pathways involved in the development of cardiac hypertrophy in vivo. Expression profiling of the left ventricle by microarray was performed in 2 different mouse models of cardiac hypertrophy: mechanical pressure overload by transverse aortic constriction (TAC) and neurohumoral activation by angiotensin II (Ang II) infusion.

A case report of very late stent thrombosis with peri-stent coronary artery aneurysm and stent-related coronary vasospasm.

We describe a 42-year-old man with very late stent thrombosis (VLST) 35 months after implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES). Three months after the VLST episode, a follow-up angiography showed a formation of peri-stent coronary artery aneurysm. Sixty-five months after SES implantation, the patient suffered an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Plasma cyclophilin A is a novel biomarker for coronary artery disease.

Background: Oxidative stress induces secretion of cyclophilin A (CyPA) from vascular smooth muscle cells and it plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis in mice. Therefore, we tested our hypothesis that plasma CyPA levels are increased in patients with coronary artery diseases (CAD).

Methods And Results: In 320 consecutive patients undergoing coronary angiography, we examined the relationship between plasma CyPA levels and the severity of CAD.

Involvement of rho-kinase activation in the pathogenesis of coronary hyperconstricting responses induced by drug-eluting stents in patients with coronary artery disease.

Background: Activation of Rho-kinase plays a central role in the pathogenesis of drug-eluting stents (DES)-induced coronary hyperconstricting responses in pigs in vivo has been previously demonstrated. In the present study, Rho-kinase activation involved in those responses in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) is examined.

Methods And Results: In 24 patients with CAD who underwent coronary intervention with either DES or bare-metal stents (BMS), coronary vasomotor responses to intracoronary acetylcholine (ACh) before and after intracoronary pre-treatment with a Rho-kinase inhibitor, fasudil was examined.

Current perspectives on protective roles of erythropoietin in cardiovascular system: erythropoietin receptor as a novel therapeutic target.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a principal regulator that promotes proliferation and terminal differentiation of erythroid progenitor cells. EPO receptors are expressed not only in hematopoietic lineage cells but also in the cardiovascular system. We performed animal experiments using transgene-rescued EPO receptor null mutant mice (EpoR-/- rescued) that express the EPO receptor exclusively in the hematopoietic cells.

Protective effects of recombinant human erythropoietin against pressure overload-induced left ventricular remodeling and premature death in mice.

Chronic left ventricular (LV) pressure overload induced by hypertension is one of the most common causes of heart failure. Earlier reports have shown the cardioprotective effects of erythropoietin (EPO). In the present study, we tested the hypothesis that recombinant human EPO exerts a protective effect against pressure-overload induced LV remodeling.

Enhanced Rho-kinase activity in circulating neutrophils of patients with vasospastic angina: a possible biomarker for diagnosis and disease activity assessment.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to examine whether Rho-kinase activity is systemically enhanced in patients with vasospastic angina (VSA) and, if so, whether a noninvasive diagnostic method could be developed to improve practice.

Background: The activated Rho-kinase pathway plays a central role in the molecular mechanism of coronary vasospasm in animal models and patients with VSA. Recently, it has been reported that Rho-kinase activity in circulating leukocytes is associated with various diseases.

Cardiac shock wave therapy ameliorates left ventricular remodeling after myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in pigs in vivo.

Objectives: Left ventricular (LV) remodeling after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is associated with a poor prognosis and an impaired quality of life. We have shown earlier that low-energy extracorporeal cardiac shock wave (SW) therapy improves chronic myocardial ischemia in pigs and humans and also ameliorates LV remodeling in a pig model of AMI induced by permanent coronary ligation. However, in the current clinical setting, most of the patients with AMI receive reperfusion therapy.

Double-blind and placebo-controlled study of the effectiveness and safety of extracorporeal cardiac shock wave therapy for severe angina pectoris.

Background: Low-energy shock wave (SW) therapy has improved myocardial ischemia in both a porcine model and in patients with severe angina pectoris.

Methods And Results: To further confirm the effectiveness and safety of SW therapy, 8 patients with severe angina pectoris were treated with SW therapy in a double-blind, placebo-controlled and cross-over manner. SW therapy, but not placebo, significantly improved chest pain symptoms and cardiac function without any complications or adverse effects.

Slow progressive conduction and contraction defects in loss of Nkx2-5 mice after cardiomyocyte terminal differentiation.

Mutations in homeoprotein NKX2-5 are linked to human congenital heart disease, resulting in various cardiac anomalies, as well as in postnatal progressive conduction defects and occasional left ventricular dysfunction; yet the function of Nkx2-5 in the postnatal period is largely unexplored. In the heart, the majority of cardiomyocytes are believed to complete cell-cycle withdrawal shortly after birth, which is generally accompanied by a re-organization of chromatin structure shown in other tissues. We reasoned that the effects of the loss of Nkx2-5 in mice may be different after cell-cycle withdrawal compared with those of the perinatal loss of Nkx2-5, which results in rapid conduction and contraction defects within 4 days after the deletion of Nkx2-5 alleles (Circ Res.

Importance of dual induction tests for coronary vasospasm and ventricular fibrillation in patients surviving out-of-hospital cardiac arrest.

Background: The pathogenesis of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) without organic heart disease has not been fully investigated.

Methods And Results: Induction tests were performed in 12 consecutive patients with OHCA for both coronary vasospasm with intracoronary acetylcholine and ventricular fibrillation (VF) with programmed stimulation at 1 month after the event. All patients were positive for 1 of the tests: coronary vasospasm alone in 3, VF alone in 2, and both in 7.

Perinatal loss of Nkx2-5 results in rapid conduction and contraction defects.

Homeobox transcription factor Nkx2-5, highly expressed in heart, is a critical factor during early embryonic cardiac development. In this study, using tamoxifen-inducible Nkx2-5 knockout mice, we demonstrate the role of Nkx2-5 in conduction and contraction in neonates within 4 days after perinatal tamoxifen injection. Conduction defect was accompanied by reduction in ventricular expression of the cardiac voltage-gated Na+ channel pore-forming alpha-subunit (Na(v)1.

Identification of cardiac-specific myosin light chain kinase.

Two myosin light chain (MLC) kinase (MLCK) proteins, smooth muscle (encoded by mylk1 gene) and skeletal (encoded by mylk2 gene) MLCK, have been shown to be expressed in mammals. Even though phosphorylation of its putative substrate, MLC2, is recognized as a key regulator of cardiac contraction, a MLCK that is preferentially expressed in cardiac muscle has not yet been identified. In this study, we characterized a new kinase encoded by a gene homologous to mylk1 and -2, named cardiac MLCK, which is specifically expressed in the heart in both atrium and ventricle.