Removal of an active fixation coronary sinus pacing lead 5 years postimplant: A case report.

Active fixation for a lead in the coronary sinus may be essential to select the optimal left ventricular pacing site, maximize the effectiveness of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) and avoid dislodgement. The Medtronic Attain Stability lead allows fixation through a side helix concentric with the lead body. Although electrical performance of such a lead is well known, evidence of extractability remains poor especially in the long term.

Remote assessment of QT interval: A new perspective for implantable cardiac monitors.

Background: There is an unmet need for simple tools for monitoring QT intervals. The feasibility of measuring the QT interval on the single‑lead subcutaneous electrocardiogram (subECG) recorded and transmitted by implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs) has never been tested.

Methods: We performed a standard ECG in patients who had already been implanted with a long sensing vector ICM (BIOMONITOR, Biotronik SE&Co.

Reverse takotsubo cardiomyopathy followed by left ventricle outflow tract obstruction: A dangerous relay race.

Reverse takotsubo cardiomyopathy (rTTC) is a less frequent variant of takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC) with several differences about epidemiology and clinical aspects. While left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction is relatively frequent in TTC patients, this complication has not been reported in the setting of rTTC yet. We describe the case of a female patient with rTTC complicated by LVOT obstruction and systolic anterior motion of mitral valve: the onset of these findings coincided with the regression of wall motion abnormalities.

Changes in oral anticoagulation for elective cardioversion: results from a European cardioversion registry.

Aims: In patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) pharmacological or electrical cardioversion may be performed to restore sinus rhythm. The procedure is associated with an increased risk of thromboembolic events, which can be significantly reduced by adequate anticoagulation (OAC). Our aim was to create a partly prospective, partly retrospective cardioversion registry, particularly focusing on OAC strategies in different European countries, and on emerging choice of OAC over time.

Septal rupture with right ventricular wall dissecting haematoma communicating with left ventricle after inferior myocardial infarction.

We report the case of an 86-year-old man referred for abdominal pain and ECG signs of inferior myocardial infarction. Transthoracic, transoesophageal and contrast echocardiographs showed a septal intra-mural haematoma, dissecting the right ventricle wall and partially obliterating the right ventricle lumen. A patent communication with left ventricle with extensive wall thrombosis was present at Doppler examination within dissecting haematoma.

SCN5A polymorphism restores trafficking of a Brugada syndrome mutation on a separate gene.

Background: Brugada syndrome is associated with a high risk of sudden cardiac death and is caused by mutations in the cardiac voltage-gated sodium channel gene. Previously, the R282H-SCN5A mutation in the sodium channel gene was identified in patients with Brugada syndrome. In a family carrying the R282H-SCN5A mutation, an asymptomatic individual had a common H558R-SCN5A polymorphism and the mutation on separate chromosomes.

Early and late determinants of C-reactive protein release in patients with acute coronary syndrome.

Increased levels of C-reactive protein (CRP) could be detected in subjects with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Several factors, atherosclerosis, coronary flow impairment, myocardial necrosis, each one acting during a different, earlier or later, phase of ACS, are supposed to be involved in CRP release in case of ACS. Role and relevance of each factor, not mutually exclusive, still need to be comparatively evaluated but a cooperative synergism could be presumably hypothesized.

C-reactive protein in patients with acute coronary syndrome: correlation with diagnosis, myocardial damage, ejection fraction and angiographic findings.

Background: C-reactive protein (CRP) plasmatic levels increase in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Correlations between CRP levels, myocardial functional damage and cardiomyocyte lysis remain to be defined.

Methods: 192 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (64.

Non-antiarrhythmic drugs for the prevention of cardiac arrhythmias.

It is noteworthy that drugs having a significant impact in preventing arrhythmias (atrial or ventricular) are those with no direct specific antiarrhythmic electrophysiologic properties. Specifically, drugs able to interfere with the renin-angiotensin system and the n-3 fatty acids seem to play a relevant role as antiarrhythmics, even if they do not act in the typical manner. Angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors decrease the incidence of arrhythmias in patients with decreased left ventricular function.

QT-interval prolongation in right precordial leads: an additional electrocardiographic hallmark of Brugada syndrome.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the occurrence of the Brugada Syndrome typical electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern (i.e., right bundle branch block, coved-type ST-segment elevation, and T-wave inversion in the right precordial leads) is characterized by a concomitant lengthening of QT intervals in the right precordial leads.