[Coronary angioplasty during the acute phase of myocardial infarction in the aged subject].

Myocardial infarction is a common and serious condition in patients over 70 years of age. The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility and efficacy of angioplasty without thrombolysis for revascularising an occluded artery in this age group. Between March 1986 and December 1989, 32 patients over 70 years of age (average 76 +/- 3 years) underwent angioplasty without thrombolysis in the acute phase of myocardial infarction.

Influence of the rt-PA dose (1 mg/kg versus 1.5 mg/kg) and duration of administration on the patency of infarct-related coronary arteries in 81 patients.

This open study compared the efficacy and side effects of two dose regimens of intravenous rt-PA initiated before the fifth hour after the onset of myocardial infarction. The first 40 patients (group A) received 1 mg/kg of rt-PA infused over 90 minutes, including a 10-mg initial bolus. The following 41 patients (group B) received 1.

[How to evaluate the cost/effectiveness ratio of different therapies of coronary disease].

The results of epidemiologic studies on the efficacy of different strategies of prevention or improvement of the prognosis of coronary artery disease are generally expressed in terms of percentage reduction of risk; for example, the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia reduces the risk of coronary death by 21%. In order to improve the assessment of the efficacy of these approaches the authors propose to take into account the number of subjects which needs to be treated each year to prevent one cardiovascular event more than the control group (for example, in hypercholesterolaemia, 1,736 patients). This number depends on the reduction of risk and also on the incidence of complications in the control group.

[Ventricular arrhythmias disclosing myocardial abscess in infectious mitro-aortic endocarditis].

The authors report the case of a myocardial abscess in an infectious endocarditis with a double localization, mitral and aortic. The way it is revealed, by severe and recurring ventricular arrhythmias, differs from the conduction disorders usually described. The diagnosis is suspected by non-invasive examinations, echocardiography and nuclear magnetic resonance.