Relationship Between Cardiac Rehabilitation Participation and Health Service Expenditures Within a Universal Health Care System.

Objectives: To examine the relationship between cardiac rehabilitation participation and health service expenditures in Ontario, Canada.

Patients And Methods: A total of 6284 patients referred to cardiac rehabilitation between April 1, 2003, and December 31, 2010, were linked to 6284 matched cardiac rehabilitation eligible nonreferred controls and followed over a 3-year period across multiple linked administrative databases to identify health service utilization expenditures and mortality. All patients had previous cardiac hospitalizations within the preceding year.

Inadvertent transarterial pacemaker lead placement.

We present a case of a 73-year-old patient with acute left-sided hemiparesis four months after right ventricular pacemaker insertion. Post-procedural electrocardiogram revealed a paced RBBB complex and an abnormal lead path on chest X-ray. Subsequent echocardiography and computed tomography showed left ventricular pacemaker malposition with retrograde passage to the punctured subclavian artery.

Sedentary time and its association with risk for disease incidence, mortality, and hospitalization in adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: The magnitude, consistency, and manner of association between sedentary time and outcomes independent of physical activity remain unclear.

Purpose: To quantify the association between sedentary time and hospitalizations, all-cause mortality, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancer in adults independent of physical activity.

Data Sources: English-language studies in MEDLINE, PubMed, EMBASE, CINAHL, Cochrane Library, Web of Knowledge, and Google Scholar databases were searched through August 2014 with hand-searching of in-text citations and no publication date limitations.

Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging for non-invasive diagnosis of lipomatous hypertrophy of inter-atrial septum.

A 71-year-old asymptomatic woman is found to have an incidental cardiac mass on transthoracic echocardiography. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) findings are consistent with lipotamous hypertrophy of the inter-atrial septum. Given the characteristic appearances on CMR, biopsy or surgery was not indicated and the patient was managed conservatively.

Treatment and outcomes of patients with suspected acute coronary syndromes in relation to initial diagnostic impressions (insights from the Canadian Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events [GRACE] and Canadian Registry of Acute Coronary Events [CANRACE]).

The early diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains challenging, and a considerable proportion of patients are diagnosed with "possible" ACS on admission. The Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE/GRACE(2)) and Canadian Registry of Acute Coronary Events (CANRACE) enrolled 16,618 Canadian patients with suspected ACS in 1999 to 2008. We compared the demographic and clinical characteristics, use of cardiac procedures, prognostic accuracy of the GRACE risk score, and in-hospital outcomes between patients given an admission diagnosis of "definite" versus "possible" ACS by the treating physician.

Comparison of abciximab and eptifibatide on angiographic and clinical outcomes in rescue percutaneous coronary intervention for failed fibrinolytic therapy.

Background: Adjunctive administration of the glycoprotein IIb/IIIa platelet receptor antagonist (GPA), abciximab, improves outcomes in patients undergoing rescue percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, it is unknown if other GPAs provide a similar benefit in this setting.

Objective: We sought to compare angiographic and clinical outcomes of patients receiving abciximab or eptifibatide as an adjunct to rescue PCI.