Effects of exercise therapy on polymyositis complicated by post-myocarditis cardiomyopathy: A case report.

Background: A 42-year-old woman with chronic polymyositis complicated by post-myocarditis cardiomyopathy underwent supervised and unsupervised exercise therapy with staged increases in intensity.

Methods: Supervised exercise therapy, which included adopted standards for patients with heart failure, was performed for 6 months. After one month, unsupervised exercise therapy was commenced, in the form of 15 min walking, the duration of which was increased to 30 min after 2 months.

Seven-year clinical outcomes of patients with moderate coronary artery stenosis after deferral of revascularization based on gray-zone fractional flow reserve.

The range (0.75-0.80) of fractional flow reserve (FFR) is known as the gray zone.

Assessment of optimum stent deployment by stent boost imaging: comparison with intravascular ultrasound.

Stent boost (SB) imaging is an enhancement of the radiologic edge of the stent by digital management of regular X-ray images. The purpose of the present study was to validate SB imaging by comparison with the anatomical standard using intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). We investigated SB and IVUS after stent implantation in 68 arteries in 60 patients.

A flow-limiting stenosis is the major determinant of exercise-induced myocardial stunning in patients with coronary artery disease.

Background: Although stress-induced myocardial stunning often develops after exercise testing, determinants of this phenomenon have not been evaluated.

Methods And Results: Thirty-one patients with 1-vessel coronary artery disease, limited to the left anterior descending artery (LAD), were evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) and intracoronary pressure measurements to calculate fractional flow reserve (FFR). In addition, electrocardiogram-gated technetium-99m sestamibi myocardial imaging was acquired >30 min after exercise and 4 h later to assess the development of stunning.

Relationship between radial and central arterial pulse wave and evaluation of central aortic pressure using the radial arterial pulse wave.

Since a decrease of central aortic pressure contributes to the prevention of cardiovascular events, simple measurement of not only brachial blood pressure but also central aortic pressure may be useful in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we simultaneously measured radial artery pulse waves non-invasively and ascending aortic pressure invasively, before and after the administration of nicorandil. We then compared changes in central aortic pressure and radial arterial blood pressure calibrated with brachial blood pressure in addition to calculating the augmentation index (AI) at the aorta and radial artery.

Decrease of fractional flow reserve shortly after percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: The aim of the present study was to quantitatively assess the physiological acute recoil after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and to determine the relation between it and target lesion revascularization (TLR) in the chronic phase.

Methods And Results: This study evaluated 76 patients who underwent elective PCI between May 1997 and December 2001: plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) in 50 patients and bare metal stent implantation in 26 patients. Fractional flow reserve (FFR) was measured immediately (FFR0m) and 15 min (FFR15m) after the final dilation, and the difference (dif-FFR) was calculated.

[Intracoronary temperature in patients with coronary artery disease].

Objectives: Measurements of changes in plaque temperature may predict plaque rupture. The present study investigated variations in temperature within the atherosclerotic coronary artery using a pressure guide wire with thermal sensor (dual sensor guide wire).

Methods And Results: Seventy-seven patients (78 lesions), who had no significant lesion at the orifice of the culprit coronary artery, were studied.

[Influence of serum homocysteine level on coronary atherosclerosis in Japanese].

Objectives: This study investigated the relationship between serum homocysteine level and coronary artery disease in Japanese.

Methods: Serum homocysteine level was measured in 200 consecutive patients who underwent coronary angiography for the assessment of ischemic heart disease. Patients with acute myocardial infarction were excluded, so 197 patients were included in this study.

[Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy with mid-ventricular obstruction complicated by apical aneurysm appearing as delayed contrast hyperenhancement on magnetic resonance imaging: two case reports].

Case 1: A 52-year-old man presented with a chief complaint of palpitation. Diabetes mellitus was pointed out in 1992. Electrocardiography (ECG) revealed left ventricular hypertrophy in 1997.

Coronary flow--pressure relationship distal to epicardial stenosis.

To assess the coronary flow velocity - pressure relationship distal to a stenosis, and to evaluate the influence of microvascular abnormalities on this relationship, coronary flow velocity and coronary pressure were measured simultaneously in 38 patients (42 vessels). The instantaneous peak coronary flow velocity was plotted against the simultaneous measured distal coronary pressure, and the slope of the relation in the phase of diastolic flow decrease was calculated as the flow - pressure slope index (FPSI) and the X-intercept of the slope was calculated as zero-flow pressure (Pzf). The slope of the curve increased from 2.

[Measurement of fractional and coronary flow reserve using dual sensor guide wire].

Objectives: Fractional flow reserve and coronary flow reserve (CFR) are indices of the severity of coronary artery stenosis influenced by both epicardial and microcirculatory dysfunction. The CFR was measured using the new pressure guide wire with thermal sensor (dual sensor guide wire) on the basis of the thermodilution principle (CFR-thermo), and compared to the CFR as measured by the Doppler method (CFR-Doppler), and the relationships were evaluated between CFR-thermo, fractional flow reserve and stress myocardial scintigraphy.

Methods And Results: CFR-thermo and CFR-Doppler were measured in 14 patients (20 vessels) by the dual sensor guide wire and Doppler guide wire, respectively.