BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The role of mild hyperhomocysteinemia as a risk factor for cerebral ischemia may depend on stroke subtype. To test this hypothesis, we undertook a prospective case-control study of a group of patients with spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD), a group of patients with atherothrombotic stroke (non-CAD), and a group of control subjects. METHODS Fasting total plas...

The dipping variations of circadian blood pressure (BP) correlate closely with target-organ damages and cardiovascular events. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between BP reverse dipping and the prevalence of stable coronary artery disease (sCAD) in hypertensive patients. Clinical data and the results of 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) were obtained from 718 hyp...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Several constitutional and environmental risk factors may be involved in the occurrence of spontaneous cervical artery dissection (SCAD). This work explored the association between recent infection and SCAD in an hospital-based case-control study. METHODS Forty-seven patients with SCAD and 52 with ischemic stroke from another cause were prospectively and consecutively r...

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an extremely uncommon cause of myocardial infarction, occurring predominantly in women during or after pregnancy. The exact aetiology is unknown. This report describes a 33 year postpartum woman with diagnosed SCAD who tested positive for anticardiolipin antibody. This is the first case of SCAD in a patient with antiphospholipid antibody. The aut...

Guanidino acetic acid (GAA) is naturally occurring in animal tissues playing a major role in the energy metabolism as a precursor of creatine. The objective of the study was to examine potential effects of GAA (CreAMINOTM) supplementation in purely vegetable diets compared to a positive control. Therefore a total of 780 male ROSS 308 broiler chickens were assigned to one of the following three ...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The possibility that a disorder of immunity might have a role in the mechanism of local inflammatory alterations leading to spontaneous cervical artery dissection (sCAD) has been recently advocated. METHODS We explored this hypothesis in a case-control study, including patients with sCAD (n=29) and patients with non-CAD ischemic stroke (non-CAD; n=29). Serum levels of a...

BACKGROUND Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is an uncommon but serious condition presenting as an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or cardiac arrest. The pathophysiology and outcomes are poorly understood. We investigated the characteristics and outcomes of patients presenting with SCAD. METHODS In a retrospective study of a large cohort of patients with SCAD, data were collected re...

Nonatherosclerotic spontaneous coronary artery dissection (NA-SCAD) is an uncommon cause of myocardial infarction. It most commonly affects females in the perimenopausal age. NA-SCAD has been associated with many predisposing factors including pregnancy and hormonal therapy for both contraception and ovulation induction. The presented case is a previously healthy 41-year-old woman diagnosed wit...

BACKGROUND Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a nonatherosclerotic acute coronary syndrome for which optimal management remains undefined. METHODS AND RESULTS We performed a retrospective study of 189 patients presenting with a first SCAD episode. We evaluated outcomes according to initial management: (1) revascularization versus conservative therapy and (2) percutaneous coronar...

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a non-traumatic and non-iatrogenic separation of the coronary artery wall that is now recognised as an important cause of myocardial infarction, especially in younger women. SCAD can be elusive on coronary angiography and clinician familiarity with non-pathognomonic angiographic SCAD variants and the use of intracoronary imaging will improve diag...