Distal Radial Artery Access for Recanalization of Radial Artery Occlusion and Repeat Intervention: A Single Center Experience.

: Once occluded, the radial artery becomes unsuitable for repeat interventions and obligates the need for alternative vascular access, such as the femoral approach, which is not encouraged by current guidelines. With the dissemination of distal radial access (DRA), which allows the cannulation of the artery in its distal segment and which remains patent even in the case of radial artery occlusion (RAO), the option to perform angioplasty at this level becomes feasible. : Thirty patients with RAO were enrolled in this pilot study.

Radial Artery Calcification in Predicting Coronary Calcification and Atherosclerosis Burden.

Background: Atherosclerosis is a systemic arterial disease with heterogeneous involvement in all vascular beds; however, studies examining the relationship between coronary and radial artery calcification are lacking. The purpose of this study was to assess the relationship between the two sites and the prognostic value of radial artery calcification (RC) for coronary artery disease.

Methods: This is a single-center, retrospective cross-sectional study based on Doppler ultrasound of radial artery (RUS) and coronary artery angiography (CAG).

A case report of COVID-19-associated acute hand ischaemia in a young professional volleyball player.

Background: Several coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19)-associated complications are being increasingly reported, including arterial and venous thrombo-embolic events that may lead to amputation of the affected limbs. So far, acute upper limb ischaemia (ULI) has been reported only in critically ill patients.

Case Summary: Herein, we aimed to present a case of a 29-year-old, otherwise healthy male volleyball player, with acute ischaemic signs in the upper extremity who was diagnosed with COVID-19 1 month before the ischaemic event.

Distal Radial Artery Access for Coronary and Peripheral Procedures: A Multicenter Experience.

Introduction: Distal radial access (dRA) has recently gained global popularity as an alternative access route for vascular procedures. Among the benefits of dRA are the low risk of entry site bleeding complications, the low rate of radial artery occlusion, and improved patient and operator comfort. The aim of this large multicenter registry was to demonstrate the feasibility and safety of dRA in a wide variety of routine procedures in the catheterization laboratory, ranging from coronary angiography and percutaneous coronary intervention to peripheral procedures.

Impact of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and dyspnoea on clinical outcomes in ticagrelor treated patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention in the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial.

Aims: To evaluate long-term safety and efficacy of ticagrelor monotherapy in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in relation to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) at baseline and the occurrence of dyspnoea reported as adverse event (AE) that may lead to treatment non-adherence.

Methods And Results: This is a non-prespecified, post hoc analysis of the randomized GLOBAL LEADERS trial (n = 15 991), comparing the experimental strategy of 23-month ticagrelor monotherapy following 1-month dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after PCI with the reference strategy of 12-month DAPT followed by 12-month aspirin monotherapy. Impact of COPD and dyspnoea AE (as a time-dependent covariate) on clinical outcomes was evaluated up to 2 years.

Does Gender Have Prognostic Value Among Patients with Myocardial Infarction? Analysis of the Data from the Hungarian Myocardial Infarction Registry.

The authors analyzed data from the Hungarian Myocardial Infarction Registry (HUMIR) to examine the potential impact of gender on the treatment and 30-day and 1-year mortality of patients with myocardial infarction (MI). The National Registry of Myocardial Infarction included 42,953 patients between January 1, 2013 and December 31, 2016; 19,875 of whom were diagnosed with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and 23,078 with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). The proportion of women was 39% and 41.

[Lipid-lowering therapy of patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome in a Hungarian county hospital in 2015].

Introduction: The actual guidelines of cardiovascular prevention lay special emphasis on the lipid-lowering therapy of patients suffering from acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

Aim: To evaluate the occurrence of high-intensity statin therapy, recommended by guidelines, at discharge in a Hungarian county hospital with hemodynamic laboratory in patients who underwent percutaneous intervention, furthermore the LDL-cholesterol (LDL-C) levels and goal attainment rate in the first year.

Method: Retrospective data collection from the hospital database regarding the therapy at discharge and the lipid levels in the year following the intervention due to ACS in 2015.

Coating of intravascular balloon with paclitaxel prevents constrictive remodeling of the dilated porcine femoral artery due to inhibition of intimal and media fibrosis.

Here we investigated how a coating of intravascular balloon with paclitaxel (drug-coated balloon; DCB, Freeway™) impacted porcine peripheral artery vascular function and remodeling. Domestic swine (n = 54) underwent percutaneous overstretch balloon dilation of femoral and iliac arteries, controlled by angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT). Paclitaxel tissue uptake was measured at 1 h and 1, 3, and 9 days post-dilation.

Efficacy of drug-eluting balloon in patients with bare-metal or drug-eluting stent restenosis.

Introduction: In spite of improving results, the treatment of in-stent restenosis (ISR) of bare-metal stents (BMS), and particularly drug-eluting stents (DES), is a challenging clinical problem. There are promising but limited follow-up data concerning drug-eluting balloons in the treatment of BMS and DES restenosis. The goal of this real-world registry was to assess the long-term safety and efficacy of drug-eluting balloons in the treatment of BMS and DES restenosis.

Transradial access for renal artery intervention.

Introduction: Percutaneous interventional procedures in the renal arteries are usually performed using a femoral or brachial vascular access. The transradial approach is becoming more popular for peripheral interventions, but limited data exists for renal artery angioplasty and stenting.

Methods: We have analyzed the clinical, angiographic and technical results of renal artery stenting performed from radial artery access between 2012 and 2013.

A randomised comparison of transradial and transfemoral approach for carotid artery stenting: RADCAR (RADial access for CARotid artery stenting) study.

Aims: Limited data exist on radial access in carotid artery stenting. This multicentre prospective randomised study was performed to compare the outcome and complication rates of transradial and transfemoral carotid artery stenting.

Methods And Results: The clinical and angiographic data of 260 consecutive patients with high risk for carotid endarterectomy, treated between 2010 and 2012 by carotid stenting with cerebral protection, were evaluated.

Long-term clinical follow-up after drug-eluting stent implantation for bare metal in-stent restenosis.

Objectives: We aimed to evaluate the long-term safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation in the treatment of diffuse bare metal stent (BMS) restenosis as compared to the treatment of de novo coronary lesions in high restenosis risk patient population.

Background: To date limited long-term data are available about the treatment of BMS restenosis with DES.

Methods: Five hundred and fourteen consecutive patients who underwent DES implantation between January 2003 and October 2006 at our institute were studied: 201 patients received DES for treatment of BMS restenosis and 313 patients received DES for high restenosis risk de novo lesions.

B-lines quantify the lung water content: a lung ultrasound versus lung gravimetry study in acute lung injury.

B-lines (also termed ultrasound lung comets) obtained with lung ultrasound detect experimental acute lung injury (ALI) very early and before hemogasanalytic changes, with a simple, noninvasive, nonionizing and real-time method. Our aim was to estimate the correlation between B-lines number and the wet/dry ratio of the lung tissue, measured by gravimetry, in an experimental model of ALI. Seventeen Na-pentobarbital anesthetized, cannulated (central vein and carotid artery) minipigs were studied: five sham-operated animals served as controls and, in 12 animals, ALI was induced by injection of oleic acid (0.

[Drug-eluting balloon in the treatment of a recurrent in-stent restenosis of drug-eluting stent].

Although medical treatment of atherosclerotic processes as a cause of the coronary artery disease has its own fundamental role, percutaneous coronary interventions showed an impressing development due to the intensive innovation. The use of stents increased the success rate of percutaneous coronary interventions, but in-stent restenosis appeared as a new complication. Drug eluting stents are dedicated to decrease the frequency of intima proliferation facilitating in-stent restenosis.

Five-year experience with transradial coronary angioplasty in ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction.

Background And Purpose: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) via radial approach has been shown to be an alternative to femoral approach in emergency cases; however, its feasibility has been questioned. This single-center study was performed to compare the outcomes and complication rates between transradial (TR) and transfemoral (TF) PCI in ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods And Materials: The clinical and angiographic data of 582 consecutive STEMI patients treated with PCI between 2001 and 2006 were evaluated in a retrospective study.

The elusive prognostic value of systemic endothelial function in patients with chest pain syndrome.

The prognostic value of systemic endothelial dysfunction still remains uncertain in ischemic heart disease. The aim of the study was to establish the prognostic value of ultrasonically assessed systemic endothelial dysfunction in patients with chest pain syndrome and to assess whether this information was incremental to that already provided by simple parameters derived from echocardiography, such as left ventricular mass index or ejection fraction. One hundred ninety-five in-hospital patients (age=60+/-10 years; 63 females) with known or suspected CAD have been enrolled.

Stress echo in chest pain unit: the SPEED trial.

Background: Emergency room (ER) evaluation of patients with acute chest pain and non-diagnostic electrocardiography (ECG) remains a frequent and difficult problem.

Aim: To assess safety and prognostic implications of pharmacological stress echocardiography in the ER chest pain unit (CPU).

Methods: A total of 552 patients (321 males, age 58+/-12.

Modulation of pain-induced endothelial dysfunction by hypnotisability.

Mental stress induces endothelial dysfunction, that is a reduction of the post-occlusion brachial artery flow-mediated vasodilation (FMD). This does not occur in subjects highly susceptible to hypnosis (Highs) in either the waking or hypnotic state. The aim of the present experiment was to assess whether endothelial dysfunction is also induced by acute nociceptive stimulation and whether high hypnotisability and/or the specific instruction of analgesia prevent its occurrence in awake highly hypnotizable individuals.

Traditional acupuncture does not modulate the endothelial dysfunction induced by mental stress.

Acupuncture is a useful tool to treat many diseases, including cardiovascular disorders, but its modulation of stress-related responses is still debated. Aim of this study was to estimate whether the traditional Chinese acupuncture affected the transient impairment of the brachial artery flow-mediated dilation (FMD) produced by acute mental stress. In addition, since a high susceptibility to hypnosis attenuates the endothelial dysfunction elicited by mental calculation, the possible interaction between acupuncture and hypnotizability was investigated.