Introduction Chest pain is a common, expensive cause of admission to the hospital from the Emergency Department (ED). The History, ECG, Age, Risk Factors, and Troponin (HEART) score is a risk stratification tool often used to determine the disposition of chest pain patients. This study evaluates the association of age, gender, HEART score, diabetes mellitus (DM), hypertension (HTN), hypercholesterolemia, family history (Fam Hx), and tobacco use with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) and hospital readmission.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCardiac computed tomography is a promising new technology for non-invasive evaluation of the coronary arteries. As CT is inherently a high resolution volumetric imaging modality, data from structures other than the heart can be accessed in studies performed primarily for cardiac indications. Current generation scanners can easily detect abnormalities such as pulmonary emboli and aortic dissection on routine coronary CT angiograms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJ Am Coll Cardiol
March 2008
The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) together with key specialty and subspecialty societies, conducted an appropriateness review for stress echocardiography. The review assessed the risks and benefits of stress echocardiography for several indications or clinical scenarios and scored them on a scale of 1 to 9 (based upon methodology developed by the ACCF to assess imaging appropriateness). The upper range (7 to 9) implies that the test is generally acceptable and is a reasonable approach, and the lower range (1 to 3) implies that the test is generally not acceptable and is not a reasonable approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCirculation
March 2008
The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) together with key specialty and subspecialty societies, conducted an appropriateness review for stress echocardiography. The review assessed the risks and benefits of stress echocardiography for several indications or clinical scenarios and scored them on a scale of 1 to 9 (based upon methodology developed by the ACCF to assess imaging appropriateness). The upper range (7 to 9) implies that the test is generally acceptable and is a reasonable approach, and the lower range (1 to 3) implies that the test is generally not acceptable and is not a reasonable approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCatheter Cardiovasc Interv
April 2008
The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and the American Society of Echocardiography (ASE) together with key specialty and subspecialty societies, conducted an appropriateness review for stress echocardiography. The review assessed the risks and benefits of stress echocardiography for several indications or clinical scenarios and scored them on a scale of 1 to 9 (based upon methodology developed by the ACCF to assess imaging appropriateness). The upper range (7 to 9) implies that the test is generally acceptable and is a reasonable approach, and the lower range (1 to 3) implies that the test is generally not acceptable and is not a reasonable approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: After myocardial ischemia, prolonged suppression of fatty acid metabolism may persist despite restoration of blood flow, which is called metabolic stunning. We hypothesized that a branched-chain fatty acid, beta-methyl-p-[(123)I]-iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP), might identify the presence of myocardial ischemia late after demand ischemia at rest up to 30 hours later.
Methods And Results: In 32 patients with exercise-induced ischemia on thallium SPECT, BMIPP was injected at rest within 30 hours of ischemia.
Recent advances in computed tomography technology have made possible angiographic images of relatively small, moving vascular structures such as the coronary arteries. Computed tomographic coronary angiography is an exciting modality which has several obvious advantages over invasive catheterization, such as its relatively noninvasive nature and rapid speed of acquisition. However, significant drawbacks still exist, including limitations of spatial and temporal resolution and radiation exposure.
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