Embolic occlusion of the peripheral vessels is common in bacterial endocarditis, especially during the terminal stages, but occlusion of the coronary artery in this disease is unusual at any time. Virchow (1856) described coronary embolism in a case of recent endocarditis. Saphir (1933) surveying earlier reports of coronary embolism from all causes, found 35 cases reported since Virchow's origi...

One of the single anomalous origins of coronary artery that has rarely been reported is a congenital anomaly of coronary circulation that occurs in the left coronary artery originating from the right coronary sinus of valsalva. We report a 49-year-old male patient with non-ST segment elevated myocardial infarction that was identified to have an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from ...

The relationships among clinical variables, coronary anatomy, and left ventricular function during the early hours of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were evaluated from data acquired in the Western Washington Intracoronary Streptokinase Trial. All patients had symptoms and electrocardiographic changes typical of AMI. All data were obtained before treatment with streptokinase. Mean time to ca...

BACKGROUND In the setting of primary percutaneous coronary intervention, patients with a chronic total occlusion in a non-infarct related artery were recently identified as a high-risk subgroup. It is unclear whether ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients with a chronic total occlusion in a non-infarct related artery should undergo additional percutaneous coronary intervention of the chron...

This study assesses the relation between qualitative and quantitative findings of myocytes and interstitial connective tissue in the ischemic heart disease. Qualitative and quantitative changes of myocytes and interstitial connective tissue were studied on the serial cross myocardial sections from 20 autopsied hearts with ischemic lesions, stained by immunohistochemistry using a monoclonal anti...

Cooled-tip radiofrequencycatheter ablation of the cavotricuspid isthmus, performed after pulmonary vein isolation, resulted in acute occlusion of the posterolateral branch of the right coronary artery in a 49-year-old male with previously known right coronary artery disease. The occlusion was successfully stented. It is conceivable that previously diseased coronary arteries are more prone to be...

BACKGROUND Currently, only anecdotal information exists on the presentation and outcome of coronary arterial injury after ablation procedures. METHODS AND RESULTS Four patients who sustained coronary artery injury of a cohort of patients undergoing 4655 consecutive ablation procedures (0.09%) are described. The patients' mean age was 45+/-11 years, and 1.8+/-0.5 prior ablation attempts had be...

OBJECTIVE To assess the effect of recanalisation on collateral flow in a case-control study in patients with and without chronic total coronary occlusions. DESIGN In 54 patients undergoing percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) (mean (SD) age 61 (6) years), coronary collateral flow was measured by intracoronary pressure or Doppler guide wires at the end of repeated balloon occl...

Coronary artery fistulas are one of the most common congenital anomalies of the coronary arteries. Most fistulas are small and of no clinical significance, although larger or multiple fistulas can be symptomatic and produce complications. Early percutaneous occlusion is now always recommended, and surgical closure is restricted to use for multiple or large fistulas. Here we report four cases of...

We infused dobutamine (20 microgram/kg per min) intravenously, once before and once after coronary artery occlusion, in 10 chronically instrumented dogs. Both infusions increased cardiac output and left ventricular dP/dt and dP/dt/P, but divergent effects on heart rate and aortic blood pressure were observed. Dobutamine decreased heart rate and increased mean aortic blood pressure before corona...