Coronary heart disease remains the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in Western countries. The best hope of salvaging viable myocardium after a coronary occlusion is by rapid reperfusion of the ischemic myocardium, either by thrombolysis or primary percutaneous coronary intervention. The use of intravenous intralipid infusion instead of thrombolysis or primary percutaneous coronary inter...

Revascularization risk-assessment tools guide optimal management of patients with coronary disease. However, until recently, percutaneous coronary intervention risk-prediction models had lagged behind surgical risk-prediction tools. Validated percutaneous coronary intervention risk calculators are now available, which allow the comparison of predicted 30-day mortality with coronary artery bypas...

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...

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome and sudden cardiac death. The incidence, causes, pathogenesis, and treatment have not been defined clearly, but spontaneous coronary artery dissection should be considered in young patients without major cardiovascular risk factors or in patients in the peripartum period who present with acute coronary syndrome. T...

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with immune thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) is rare. We describe a case of AMI in patient with ITP. An 81-year-old woman presented with acute inferoposterior MI with low platelet count on admission (34,000/µl). Coronary angiography revealed significant mid right coronary artery (RCA) stenosis with thrombus, subsequently underwent successful percutane...

the left ventricular aneurysm is one of the most significant complications of myocardial infarction and is defined as the expansion of the ventricular wall. the coronary artery aneurysm is characterized by an abnormal dilation of the localized portion of the coronary artery, and its main cause is atherosclerosis. we herein report an unusual case of coronary artery and left ventricular aneurysms...

BACKGROUND The management of patients with angiographically intermediate coronary lesions is a major clinical issue. Fractional flow reserve provides validated functional insights while optical coherence tomography provides high resolution anatomic imaging. Both techniques may be applied to guide management in case of angiographically intermediate coronary lesions. Moreover, these techniques ma...

BACKGROUND Studies of kidney disease associated with cardiac catheterization typically rely on billing records rather than laboratory data. We examined the associations between percutaneous coronary interventions, acute kidney injury, and chronic kidney disease progression using comprehensive Veterans Affairs clinical and laboratory databases. METHODS AND RESULTS Patients undergoing percutane...

BACKGROUND After successful percutaneous coronary arterial revascularization, 25% to 60% of subjects have restenosis, a recurrent coronary arterial narrowing at the site of the intervention. At present, restenosis is usually detected invasively with contrast coronary angiography. This study was performed to determine if phase-contrast MRI (PC-MRI) could be used to detect restenosis noninvasivel...