Assessment of lipophilic vs. hydrophilic statin therapy in acute myocardial infarction – ALPS-AMI study.

Background: Statins reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events, but no randomized trial has investigated the best statins for secondary prevention. We compared the efficacy of hydrophilic pravastatin with that of lipophilic atorvastatin in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: A prospective, multicenter study enrolled 508 patients (410 men; mean age, 66.

Systematic analysis of risk factors for coronary heart disease in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes: a matched case-control study.

Aim: To identify predictors of coronary heart disease (CHD) in Japanese patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Methods: A matched case-control study was performed using 800 patients with T2DM admitted for treatment of hyperglycemia from January 2002 to June 2010. Cases comprised 16 patients who had developed acute myocardial infarction and/or received a coronary artery bypass by June 2010, and controls comprised 48 age- and sex-matched patients without CHD events.

Endomyocardial biopsy in a patient with hemorrhagic pheochromocytoma presenting as inverted Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

A 29-year-old female patient presented with shock and dyspnea due to heart failure and pulmonary edema. Echocardiography indicated excessive contraction limited to the left ventricular apex and akinesis of the basal and middle ventricle, which were confirmed by emergency left ventriculography. The finding was diagnostic of inverted Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

Oculomotor Nerve Palsy following Cardiac Tamponade with Churg-Strauss Syndrome: A Case Report.

A 57-year-old man with a history of more than 10 years of bronchial asthma and chronic sinusitis complained of double vision which developed 18 days after cardiac tamponade with eosinophil-rich fluid (eosinophils 30%). He had oculomotor nerve palsy, and a blood test revealed eosinophilia (12,700/mm(3)) and elevation of both C-reactive protein and rheumatoid factor. He was diagnosed as having Churg-Strauss syndrome.

Noninvasive evaluation of coronary endothelial function following sirolimus-eluting stent implantation by using positron emission tomography.

Objective: Several invasive studies have reported delayed reendothelialization and endothelial dysfunction following sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) implantation. We evaluated the changes in coronary endothelial function following SES implantation by using a noninvasive method that involved positron emission tomography and cold pressor testing (CPT).

Methods: The study was conducted on 14 lesions on which percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was successively performed.

Patch-and-glue sutureless repair for blowout rupture after myocardial infarction: report of two cases.

A blowout cardiac rupture is sudden and dramatic. The most appropriate surgical repair remains controversial. We report our experience with blowout rupture treated by sutureless technique.

Patch-and-glue repair in combination with or without direct suture for cardiac rupture after myocardial infarction.

Objective: Left ventricular free-wall rupture is a catastrophic event after myocardial infarction. The most appropriate surgical management remains controversial. We have performed a patch-and-glue technique, with or without direct suture and using cardioplegic arrest, to treat postinfarction cardiac rupture.

Fatal acute pancreatitis with cystic formation in reactive systemic AA amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis.

We report a patient with reactive systemic AA amyloidosis secondary to rheumatoid arthritis who showed fatal acute pancreatitis with a cystic formation in the pancreas head. The pancreatitis rapidly worsened despite intensive treatment and resulted in death. In this patient severe deposition of amyloid in the gastrointestinal tract was considered to play an important role in the pathogenesis of the acute pancreatitis.