IMPORTANCE Prior studies have shown that physicians in New York State (New York) perform twice as many cardiac catheterizations per capita as those in Ontario for stable patients. However, the role of patient selection in these findings and their implications for detection of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) are largely unknown. OBJECTIVE To evaluate the extent of obstructive CAD and...

In this issue of Circulation, Detre et all review the incidence and outcome of periprocedural coronary artery occlusion following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in the second phase of the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute's (NHLBI) PTCA Registry. This registry examined the results in 1,801 patients managed during 1985-1986 with an initial PTCA not in the setting o...

Background We wished to evaluate whether differences in the rate of invasive cardiac procedures between men and women with acute myocardial infarction are associated with different shortand long-term mortality. Methods and Results The database (Myocardial Infarction Data Acquisition System, MIDAS) included all discharges for the years 1986 and 1987 with the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarct...

AIMS Chronic kidney disease is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. The level of kidney function at which this risk increases remains to be determined. We sought to characterize the relationship between kidney function and survival among patients with cardiovascular disease (CVD) undergoing cardiac catheterization using estimated glomerular filtration rat...

A thin-walled Silverman needle has been used for 254 percutaneous punch biopsies of the left ventricle in 198 patients with closed chests at the Cleveland Clinic. The technic is described. The biopsy specimens were adequate for diagnosis in 192 patients. In all but three patients (who had lupus erythematosus, scleroderma, and chronic glomerulonephritis with congestive heart failure) cardiac cat...

Background and Aims: Pericardial effusion is a common finding in every day clinical practice. It caused by range of local systemic disorders, many which could be idiopathic. effusions can acute or chronic. The etiology pericardial varies different parts the world related to relative prevalence diseases.
 Methods: This retrospective study where data from all cases admitted with SGNHC Januar...