Disintegration with right ventricular and pulmonary embolization of a SMART stent: a case report and review of literature.

As composition and design have improved the integrity and durability of peripheral stents, vascular stent fracture and embolization have become less frequent complications of endovascular intervention. However, this phenomenon still remains a possibility with potentially catastrophic consequences, either from damage to cardiac structures or from disruption of vessel integrity, infarction, and thrombosis. Advancements in the tools for foreign body retrieval have allowed the skilled interventionalist to intercede without the need for surgical intervention.

Use of fractional flow reserve in the assessment of chronic mesenteric ischemia.

Chronic mesenteric ischemia (CMI) is a rare condition that is usually the result of atherosclerotic obstructive disease affecting the mesenteric arteries. The classic triad of post-prandial pain, food aversion and weight loss is not always present, often leading to low clinical suspicion for CMI and underdiagnosis. Non-invasive evaluation for CMI usually starts with mesenteric arterial duplex scanning, followed by computed tomography angiography, magnetic resonance angiography or conventional angiography, the latter being the gold standard for establishing its diagnosis.

Sheath hemorrhage after percutaneous ventricular assist device implantation.

Technical advances in temporary ventricular assist devices (VADs) continue to progress, allowing for percutaneous implantation during times of hemodynamic instability. However, device delivery systems, i.e.

Improvement in arterial stiffness following cardiac rehabilitation.

Background: Exercise has been shown to beneficially alter arterial stiffness in selected clinical settings. However, the effects of a standardized exercise protocol--"cardiac rehabilitation (CR)"--on measures of arterial stiffness in patients with established coronary heart disease (CHD) has not been well studied.

Methods: Using applanation tonometry, we studied arterial vascular properties in 26 men and 22 women (mean age 60.

How do you treat patients with myalgia who take statins?

3-Hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase inhibitors (statins) are safe and effective in lowering low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. As a result, they confer an all-cause mortality benefit across a wide range of patient groups. The utility of statins is limited by their adverse effects, including myalgias and rhabdomyolysis.

Gated myocardial perfusion SPECT asynchrony measurements in patients with left bundle branch block.

Purpose: This investigation sought to determine which newly available asynchrony parameter derived from gated myocardial perfusion SPECT (GMPS) systolic wall thickening data best distinguishes patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB) from normal subjects.

Methods And Materials: Emory Cardiac Toolbox (ECTb) algorithms were used to compute left ventricular (LV) global and regional function and perfusion indices with regional contraction phases for 20 patients with LBBB, and in 9 control (CTL) subjects who had no function or perfusion abnormalities. Histogram plots of phase frequencies versus R-R interval times included phase standard deviation (SD), bandwidth (BW), skewness and kurtosis.