Early high-dose rosuvastatin and cardioprotection in the protective effect of rosuvastatin and antiplatelet therapy on contrast-induced acute kidney injury and myocardial damage in patients with acute coronary syndrome (PRATO-ACS) study.

Background: There is a strong correlation between adverse clinical events and peak values of myocardial necrosis markers in non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome patients. In this clinical setting, high-dose statin treatment exerts acute beneficial effects against renal and myocardial damage. The aim of this report was to evaluate if, on admission, high-dose rosuvastatin can exert cardioprotective effects when administered in addition to high-dose clopidogrel.

Effects of tirofiban plus clopidogrel versus clopidogrel plus provisional abciximab on biomarkers of myocardial necrosis in patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes treated with early aggressive approach. Results of the CLOpidogrel, upstream TIrofiban, in cath Lab Downstream Abciximab (CLOTILDA) study.

Background: In non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS), a strong correlation between adverse clinical events and peak values of myocardial necrosis markers has been found. In this study, we evaluated whether the adjunctive treatment with upstream tirofiban reduces the peak levels of cardiac troponin I and creatine kinase-MB (CK-MB) fraction in patients with NSTE-ACS undergoing early invasive strategy and pretreated with aspirin, heparin, and clopidogrel.

Methods: A total of 300 patients were randomized to receive tirofiban (group 1) or not (group 2).

Pulmonary autograft for mitral valve replacement in infants: the Ross-Kabbani operation.

We describe the cases of 2 infants aged 6 and 2 1/2 months, respectively, affected by mitral valve dysplasia that caused severe valvular insufficiency and heart failure in which a surgical correction was indicated because of critical general conditions. In both patients the anatomic characteristics of the valves were not suitable for repair, and an implant of a mechanical prosthesis was excluded because of the very young age of the infants and the impossibility of maintaining an adequate anticoagulant therapy. Therefore a Ross-Kabbani intervention was performed with an implant of a pulmonary autograft (in the mitral position) and an insertion of a pulmonary homograft.

Multiparametric electrocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular hypertrophy in idiopathic and hypertensive cardiomyopathy.

Background: Electrophysiological abnormalities underlying the increased arrhythmogenicity of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) are still under investigation. The aim of this study was to assess non-invasively the electrophysiologic alterations in two different types of LVH, METHODS: Multiparametric non-invasive ECG analysis (R-R interval, QRS and QT intervals, QT dispersion, T-wave complexity, activation-recovery interval [ARI] dispersion, standard deviation of RR intervals [SDNN], filtered QRS duration [fQRS], root-mean-square voltage of the terminal 40 ms of the fQRS [RMS40] and low amplitude signal duration (< 40 microV) in the terminal portion of the fQRS [LAS]) was performed in 57 patients with hypertensive LVH and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and in 105 healthy subjects.

Results: The R-R interval and SDNN were similar in hypertrophic patients and controls.

[Non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes: the problem of the elderly patient].

The elderly population represents a relevant proportion of patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndromes and are at increased risk because of the greater extent of coronary artery disease, a reduction in left ventricular ejection fraction, and associated comorbidities. Results from registries and post-hoc analysis of randomized clinical trials have shown that an early invasive strategy with myocardial revascularization when indicated offers a greater clinical benefit in the elderly that in younger patients despite an increased procedural risk in elderly patients.

Infective endocarditis due to Capnocytophaga canimorsus.

We report the case of a 41-year-old woman with severe mitral regurgitation due to infective endocarditis caused by a rare zoonotic microorganism (Capnocytophaga canimorsus). She had had a rheumatic mitral endocarditis successfully treated with antibiotics when she was 13 years old. She arrived to our attention for a fever of unknown origin.

Moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation and coronary artery bypass surgery: effect of mitral repair on clinical outcome.

Background And Aim Of The Study: The optimal management of moderate (grade 2-3+) ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) at the time of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) remains the subject of controversy. The study aim was to determine whether mitral repair associated with CABG is preferable to CABG alone in patients with moderate ischemic MR, in terms of intermediate outcome.

Methods: Among 60 patients with moderate ischemic MR, 30 who underwent CABG plus mitral repair were compared with 30 others who underwent CABG alone.

Simultaneous assessment of electrocardiographic parameters for risk stratification: validation in healthy subjects.

Background: Sudden cardiac death represents a major public health problem, but in the general population the identification of those subjects at very high risk remains poor. Simultaneous multiparametric ECG analysis can improve the identification of high-risk patients.

Methods: Five-min ECG recordings at a 5 MHz sampling rate (extended length-XL-ECG, Mortara Instruments, Milwaukee, WI, USA) were acquired in 105 healthy subjects (age range 21 to 80 years), equally distributed for age decades and sex, and three additional recordings, 30 min apart, were repeated in 30 subjects on the second day.