A Novel Technique of Balloon Pulmonary Angioplasty for the Treatment of Total Occlusion Lesions.

Balloon pulmonary angioplasty (BPA) has been recognized as an alternative therapeutic approach for patients with inoperative chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension and those with residual pulmonary hypertension after pulmonary endarterectomy. However, the safe and successful treatment rate for a total occlusion lesion (TOL) using BPA is low, mainly because vessels distal to the occlusion are invisible by angiogram. Here, we present the case of a 53-year-old woman with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension with successfully recanalization of a TOL by use of BPA with the aid of intracardiac echocardiography.

A Case of a Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy-Defibrillator Exhibiting a Lower and Alternately Variable Basic Rate.

A cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator (CRT-D) (Medtronic Inc. Protecta XT) was implanted in a 67-year-old man who had cardiac sarcoidosis with extremely low cardiac function. He had ventricular tachycardia which was controlled by catheter ablation, medication and pacing.

Identification of the State of Maximal Hyperemia in the Assessment of Coronary Fractional Flow Reserve Using Non-Invasive Electrical Velocimetry.

Previous research revealed that, in patients with coronary pressure-derived fractional flow reserve (FFR) in the 'grey zone' (0.75-0.85), repeated FFR assessments sometimes yield conflicting results.

Different Contributions of Physical Activity on Arterial Stiffness between Diabetics and Non-Diabetics.

Background: We compared the contribution of physical activity to the change in arterial stiffness between patients with and without diabetes in ischemic heart disease.

Methods: We studied 96 (diabetes) and 109 (without diabetes) patients with ischemic heart disease treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Arterial stiffness was assessed by cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI) at the first diagnosis of significant coronary ischemia and 6 months after PCI and optimal medical therapy.

Correlation between driveline features and driveline infection in left ventricular assist device selection.

Although the survival rate for left ventricular assist device (LVAD) therapy has improved, device-related complications are an unpredictable threat to the patient's quality of life. We focused on driveline infection, and aimed to determine whether specific features of drivelines affect the frequency of infection. We enrolled patients who underwent LVAD implantation and were followed-up at our institute between 2007 and 2015.

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy can be distinguished from donor-transmitted coronary atherosclerosis by optical coherence tomography imaging in a heart transplantation recipient: double layered intimal thickness.

Although survival after heart transplantation (HTx) has improved in recent years, cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) is still the leading cause of remote morbidity and mortality in HTx recipients, partly because of difficulty with its diagnosis. In general, routine surveillance for CAV is advocated with coronary angiography accompanied by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) if necessary. However, these modalities have limitations with respect to low spatial resolution, and sufficient qualitative/quantitative assessment of coronary intima has not been accomplished.

Brachial artery diameter has a predictive value in the improvement of flow-mediated dilation after aortic valve replacement for aortic stenosis.

Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular disease and aortic valve replacement (AVR) is one of its most effective interventions. AS affects not only the left ventricle, but also vascular function beyond the stenotic valve, which can lead to various types of vascular dysfunction. However, research evaluating the effect of AS on aortic vascular function is limited.