Chronic total occlusion (CTO) is quite frequent finding in coronary artery disease. Comprised of a combination of fibrocalcific and thrombotic elements, CTO has been reported in approximately onethird of patients undergoing diagnostic coronary angiography. This thematic issue goes in depth into “coronary CTO ” that still represents the last frontier in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). ...

Bacground: Evidence from several lines of investigations suggests that Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) is involved in atherosclerosis as a bridge between innate and acquired immunity. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) can trigger inflammation through activation of human TLR4 (hTLR4) on monocytes. Hydrocortisone as an anti-inflammatory and immuno-suppressant agent has multiple mechanisms of a...

Treatment of concomitant severe coronary artery disease and lung cancer is a complicated issue. The present study describes a case of a 65-year-old man with coronary artery disease and primary lung cancer that was successfully treated with lung resection and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) using Cypher stents. Prior to lung resection, the patient underwent a PCI for diffuse stenosis of...

umerous researchers have attempted to improve the methods of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), with the goal of obtaining equivalent or better long-term results compared with coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). In the beginning of the drug eluting stent (DES) era, the initial success rate was very high rate and the target lesion revascularization (TLR) of PCI was dramatically improved....

With significant improvements in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) technology, complex high risk PCI is increasingly offered to patients with limited revascularization options. Percutaneous mechanical circulatory support devices are often utilized for hemodynamic support during these complex procedures. Veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) allows full hemodynamic supp...

Background: Cardiovascular diseases are global problems. They are causes of death in about 43% of people worldwide and may become the most widespread reason of death by 2020. The prognosis is directly dependent to immediate diagnosis and on time treatment. Introduction of new biochemical markers as the early diagnosis of complications after coronary revascularization is very important in this p...

I read with great interest the recent report by Dr. Soran and coworkers regarding the current perspective of treating multivessel coronary disease w1x. Despite the fact that the authors brought into perspective a new way of analyzing the different groups that form the multivessel coronary artery disease, one point that struck me is the analysis of the cost-effectiveness of coronary artery bypas...

The formalizing post resuscitation care to include therapeutic hypothermia and cardiac angiography with percutaneous coronary intervention when needed could significantly improve survival following cardiac arrest. Any sudden death patient suspected to have a cardiac origin for their cardiac arrest should be considered for early catheterization and subsequent percutaneous coronary intervention (...

This study aims to investigate CYP2C19 gene polymorphisms and the association between with cardiovascular risk factors major adverse events (MACE) in patients acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A prospective cross-sectional analysis involved 86 AMI enrolled assessed MACE evaluated after three months of treatment. CYP2C19*1*1 genotype accounted for highest prevalence at 54.7%, which means normal...