Search

Gp IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists have been the subject of much work in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome with no ST elevation (ACS ST-). The initial studies (PRISM, PRISM-PLUS, PURSUIT, PARAGON, CAPTURE, GUSTO IV-ACS) were performed at the end of the 1990s and universally showed a significant reduction in an endpoint combining death and myocardial infarction, especially in patients with an elevation of troponin and treated by angioplasty. However, these studies were performed at a time when clopidogrel was not being used regularly for this indication. Four randomised studies have recently re-evaluated the significance of Gp IIb/IIIa blockers prescribed either on admission to coronary intensive care (ELISA-2, PRACTICE) or in the coronary angiography suite during angioplasty (ADVANCE, ISAR-REACT 2) in patients presenting with ACS ST- pre-treated with clopidogrel in association with aspirin and heparin. The results of these studies suggest that Gp IIb/IIIa blockers initiated at the start of angioplasty significantly reduce an endpoint combining death, myocardial infarction and the need for emergency revascularisation. On the other hand, studies in which Gp IIb/IIIa blockers are initiated in coronary intensive care have been negative, but they have only been carried out on small numbers. The results of the ACUITY study comparing bivalirudin and Gp IIb/IIIa blockers in this context have recently been published. Bivalirudin seems to compare well with Gp IIb/IIIa blockers in terms of ischemia, but it significantly reduces the occurrence of hemorrhagic events.

The FAST MI registry was designed to evaluate the 'real world' management of patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI), and to assess their in-hospital, medium- and long-term outcomes. Patients were recruited consecutively from intensive care units over a period of one month (from October 2005), with an additional one-month recruitment period for diabetic patients. The study included 3059 MI patients in phase 1 and an additional 611 diabetic patients in phase 2. Altogether, 53% of the patients had a final diagnosis of Q wave MI and 47% had non Q wave MI. Patients with Q wave MI were more likely to be men, younger, more frequently with a family history or a history of smoking. Patients with non Q wave MI had worst baseline demographic and clinical characteristics mainly explained by their older age. Time from symptom onset to hospital admission was less than three hours for 22% of the patients with Q wave MI and for 14% of the non Q wave MI patients. Among patients with Q wave MI, 64% received reperfusion therapy, 35% with primary percutaneous coronary interventions, 19% with pre-hospital thrombolysis and 10% with in-hospital thrombolysis. Over 70% of patients received statin therapy during the hospital stay and over 90% anti platelet agents. In-hospital mortality was 5.8% in patients with Q wave MI and 4.9% in patients with non Q Wave MI. At discharge beta-adrenergic blockers and statins and, to a lesser extent, medications of the renin angiotensin system were commonly prescribed. Over 90% received antiplatelet agents.

It is difficult to summarize in a few pages the wealth of information appeared during the year 2005 in the field of epidemiology and cardiovascular prevention. The general epidemiological data on the evolutionary tendencies of coronary mortality and morbidity make it possible to underline the effectiveness of the control of the great risk factors within the framework of the primary prevention. Although lipids and diabetes have still this year held the front of the scene through many trials, this analysis is also focused on smoking, subject more and more tackled in the cardiologic journals, and to which a larger attention should be paid in our daily practice. The Paris Prospective Study I brought new data concerning the early identification of the subjects at risk of sudden death, starting from the analysis of the evolution of heart rate profile during and after exercise. Is the concept of metabolic syndrome a phenomenon of mode or does it constitute in itself an autonomous prognostic factor beyond the risk related to the plurality of the factors which define it? The cardiologist will have to be interested more and more in the living conditions of his patients and in particular with the environmental factors such as the air pollution, who seems to have a considerable impact on the incidence of the acute coronary events. Lastly, the ADMA (asymmetric dimethylarginine), seems a possible new marker of cardiovascular risk, but its real prognostic interest remains to be defined.

The in-hospital management and short- and long-term outcomes was assessed in 2 registries of consecutive patients admitted for acute myocardial infarction, 5 years apart, in France. The 2000 cohort was younger and with a less frequent history of cardiac diseases, but was more often diabetic and with anterior infarcts. Time to admission was actually longer in 2000 than in 1995 (median 5.25 hours vs 4.00 hours). Overall, reperfusion therapy was used in 43% of the patients in both registries. However, the use of reperfusion therapy increased from 1995 to 2000 in patients admitted within 6 hours of symptom onset (64 vs 58%), with an increasing use of primary angioplasty (from 12 to 30%). Five-day mortality significantly improved from 7.7 to 6.1% (p < 0.03) and one-year survival was also less in the most recent period (85 vs 81%, p < 0.01). Multivariate analyses showed that the period of inclusion (2000 vs 1995) was an independent predictor of both short- and long-term mortality in patients admitted within 6 hours of symptom onset. Thus, in the real world setting, a continued decline in one-year mortality was observed in patients admitted to intensive care units for recent acute myocardial infarction, especially for patients admitted early. This goes along with a shift in reperfusion therapy towards a broader use of primary angioplasty, and with an increased use of the early prescription of recognised secondary prevention medications.

The 2002 and 2005 recommendations of the European Society of Cardiology for the management of ST-elevation myocardial infarction at the acute stage are reviewed. Primary angioplasty should, whenever possible, constitute the default strategy, but intravenous thrombolysis still has an important role, particularly in the first few hours following symptom onset.

Pre-hospital management of chest pain is a difficult problem. The emergency doctor has to take triage decisions based on instantaneous data whereas the decisional rationale of the many pathologies concerned, including acute coronary syndromes, is often based on observation over several hours. There have been few studies of the efficacy of pre-hospital management of chest pain by an emergency ambulance service. Therefore, the DOLORES register was set up to assess this problem over a 6 month period by the emergency ambulance service of Necker Hospital in Paris. Between January and June 2004, the Necker emergency ambulance service was called out on 205 occasions for chest pain. Forty-three patients had acute coronary syndromes (ACS) with ST elevation. Of the remaining 162 patients, 32 stayed at home, 2 were admitted the following day by cardiologists for coronary angiography, 52 were admitted for observation to the emergency unit and 76 were admitted to the coronary care unit. In the latter two groups, the final diagnosis of ACS without ST elevation was retained in 11/52 and 57/76 patients respectively. Finally, 2 patients were admitted directly to the catheter laboratory. The clinical and paraclinical data noted by the emergency ambulance service and at hospital admission was concordant in all cases. Pre-hospital triage by the emergency ambulance service seems to be effective. These results require confirmation with a large scale study.

New French recommendations on infective endocarditis (IE) prevention were recently published and mark a turning point in the history of antibiotic prophylaxis. Endocarditis is an evolving disease, and its clinical and microbiological profile dramatically changes over time. The French surveys that were conducted in 1991 and 1999 showed variations in underlying heart disease with a decrease in native valvular disease and an increase of IE in patients without previously known heart disease. Moreover, the distribution of responsible microorganisms dramatically changed over time, with a marked decrease of oral streptococci. In addition, some dogmas are now challenged. First of all, the part of responsibility of dental procedures is debated, as dental bacteraemia possibly responsible of endocarditis are more likely due to daily manoeuvres such as tooth brushing or chewing gum than to occasional dental procedures. Moreover, as suggested by case-control studies, efficacy--or lack of efficacy--of antibiotic prophylaxis is far from being clinically proved. For all these reasons, the proportion of theoretically avoidable endocarditis seems very low, and the benefit of largely and systematically applied antibiotic prophylaxis may be discussed, not only in terms of financial cost but also in terms of microbiological threat of emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria. So, the general idea of those new recommendations was to maintain the principle and the modalities of antibiotic prophylaxis, but to limit its indications to situations at high benefit to risk ratio, i.e. procedures at high risk in patients at high risk. Depending on the situation, antibiotic prophylaxis may be either recommended or become optional and decision-making factors are defined. Furthermore, the importance of general prophylaxis was emphasised, concerning more specifically oral and cutaneous hygiene, and patients and practitioners' education, such as, for example, recommendations on blood cultures to be performed before any antibiotic treatment in case on fever occurring in a patient at risk during the 3 months following a procedure at risk.

Objective: To compare the results of two readings of Intima Media thickness (EIM): one performed during measurement by the cardiologist, the other by a technician in a reading unit. To evaluate the consequences of these readings on the principal criterion of a study conducted into cardiovascular risk (RCV) for hypertensives followed up in ordinary medical practice., Methods: The EIM was measured in 991 hypertensives with the aid of the M'Ath program by cardiologists specially trained in the technique, within the framework of a study aimed at evaluating the RCV according to the WHO/ISH classification. The re-reading of source data by a reference centre was performed with the same program., Results: The analysis was performed in 973 patients after eliminating duplicates and missing values (2%). The average cardiologist value of EIM was 0.761 +/- 0.168 mm, after centralised reading it was 0.743 +/- 0.128 mm. The difference between the measurements was -0.020 +/- 0.150 (p < 0.0001). According to the OMS/ISH classification, the presence of a vascular condition categorizes a hypertensive as being at "high risk" of a cardiovascular complication occurring. The calculation of RCV was performed by taking a value of EIM > 0.7 mm and/or presence of a plaque to define a vascular condition. The appreciation of risk was identical for the subjects at low risk and at very high risk. There was a shift from medium risk towards high risk: General Medicine 15%, Cardio 49%, after re-reading 68%., Conclusion: Despite the simplicity and the good inter observer reproducibility of the measurement of EIM by the M'Ath program, centralization of the reading is recommended during clinical trials.

The concept of pulse pressure has been developed over the past 10 years. Large observational studies in the general population have shown a link between pulse pressure and risk of late coronary events. The correlation between pulse pressure and coronary events appears particularly strong in the elderly. More limited data have shown that a high level of pulse pressure was related to angiographically documented coronary artery disease; recently, a correlation between pulse pressure and a high level of C reactive protein has been evidenced in the NHANES cohort. In patients with known coronary artery disease, pulse pressure is a prognostic factor, both after myocardial infarction with left ventricular dysfunction (SAVE trial) and after myocardial revascularization by coronary surgery or angioplasty (BARI randomised trial and registry). In addition, two small-sized studies have shown a strong correlation between pulse pressure and restenosis after conventional percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.

Objective: The difficulty in controlling hypertension in coronary patients has been underlined. The aim of the study was to assess blood pressure profile (BP) at hospital discharge in a large population of survivors of an acute coronary syndrome., Design and Methods: An observational study was conducted in France in 77 cardiological centers. The medical records of all patients admitted in these hospitals on January 1998 for a myocardial infarction or unstable angina and who survived were studied. Clinical characteristics and BP at hospital discharge were recorded. Patients with blood pressure > or = 140/90 mmHg were considered as uncontrolled hypertensives (HT)., Results: Data were available in 1327 of the 1394 patients recruited: at hospital discharge, 344 patients (25.9%) were controlled and 431 (32.4%) were uncontrolled hypertensives. Among these patients, 406 (94.1%) had systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mmHg, 139 (32.2%) had diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mmHg and 292 patients (67.7%) had systolic blood pressure > or = 140 mmHg and diastolic blood pressure < 90 mmHg. Pulse pressure in controlled hypertensives (51.02 +/- 10.93 mmHg) was quite similar to that in normotensives (47.81 +/- 9.84 mmHg) whereas pulse pressure was significantly higher in uncontrolled hypertensives (65.86 +/- 13.29 mmHg)., Conclusion: At hospital discharge after a coronary event, arterial hypertension is uncontrolled in 32.4% of patients mainly because of poor systolic blood pressure control. Achieving normal blood pressure throughout the hospitalisation should improve long term blood pressure control, reduce pulse pressure and improve the prognosis in this high risk population.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the distribution and hospital treatment of cardiovascular risk factors in coronary patients. A transverse observational study was carried out in 77 cardiological centres throughout France. All patients with a history of myocardial infarction or of unstable angina during the month of January 1998 were enrolled. The clinical features of 1334 patients (71.4% men, 746 myocardial infarction, 588 unstable angina) on hospital admission were analysed. The prevalence of smoking, dyslipidaemia, hypertension and obesity was 49, 45, 42, 19 and 11% respectively in the men and 17, 46, 63, 23 and 10% respectively in the women. The number of treatable risk factors slightly decreased in the oldest age group. The prevalence of hypertension increased with age whereas smoking and dyslipidaemia decreased in both men and women. Obese and diabetic patients had more risk factors than the others. A little less than half of patients with dyslipidaemia were under no preventive measures (diet and/or lipid-lowering drugs) and 40% of men with a previous history of coronary artery disease continued to smoke. The authors conclude that men over 85 and women over 75 years of age have fewer risk factors than other age groups and the type of risk factor varies with age. The treatment of dyslipidaeamia and smoking is still inadequate and should be improved.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the risks and benefits, immediate and at long term, of coronary angioplasty associated with stent implantation in patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction. It was a retrospective study in which all patients with left ventricular ejection fractions 35% who underwent angioplasty between December 1994 and January 1998 were included. Seventy eight patients with an average ejection fraction of 29 +/- 6% who were haemodynamically stable were retained, excluding acute myocardial infarctions and cases of cardiogenic shock. The population was mainly masculine (6(men and 13 women) with a mean age of 65 +/- 11 years. The primary success rate was 97%. The loss of a collateral branch during the procedure, causing a non-Q wave infarction and the impossibility of implanting the stent at the desired site in another patient, were the only two failures. Hospital mortality was nil. The mean follow-up period was 450 +/- 290 days; long-term mortality was 17%. All deaths were of cardiovascular origin. The probability of survival at 6 months, 1 year and 800 days, was 88, 85 and 75% respectively. The good initial results were not maintained at long-term, but this could not be attributed to restenosis or to the pre-existing left ventricular dysfunction.

The predictive value of several diagnostic strategies after myocardial infarction was assessed in 178 patients (mean age 55 +/- 9 years) treated medically after a primary Q wave myocardial infarction. Within 6 weeks of onset of symptoms the authors performed exercise stress test coupled with Thallium 201 scintigraphy, isotopic left ventriculography and conventional coronary angiography with ventriculography. The average left ventricular ejection fraction was 45 +/- 12%. Two non-invasive diagnostic strategies with and without results of scintigraphy and two invasive strategies with and without ventricular volumes were studied. The average follow-up period was 58 +/- 22 months. Sixteen cardiac deaths occurred. Multivariate Cox analysis showed that, in contrast to left ventricular volumes, coronary angiography did not provide additional prognostic value compared with the non-invasive model with Thallium scintigraphy and did not appear to be essential in terms of predictive value in this population. Moreover, the size of reversible defect on Thallium scintigraphy was an independent predictive factor of cardiac death and provided additional and independent prognostic information in the non-invasive and invasive strategies. Therefore, the reduction of residual ischaemia by coronary revascularisation could improve the long-term prognosis after myocardial infarction.

In the last few years, coronary angioplasty has been the object of real progress in the treatment of total chronic coronary occlusion; The primary success rate of the procedure regularly exceeds 70% with the use of improved equipment; however, these procedures are not without risk with a reported complication rate close to that of angioplasty of non-occlusive stenosis. The use of stents has significantly reduced the restenosis rate, mainly by decreasing the risk of reocclusion. The indications of angioplasty for chronic occlusion remain controversial: the procedure is justified in patients with angina; in asymptomatic patients, angioplasty may improve global and regional left ventricular function in those with documented myocardial viability and limit ventricular remodelling but the results of a randomised trial of systematic angioplasty versus medical treatment in this type of indication are not yet available.

The clinical significance of rapid monomorphic ventricular tachycardia (VT) (> 270 beats/min), also called ventricular flutter, remains controversial in patients without documented spontaneous sustained VT. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcome of 115 patients with ischaemic heart disease, aged 58 +/- 10 years, without spontaneous ventricular arrhythmias, but who had inducible ventricular flutter during programmed ventricular stimulation. The patients underwent stimulation to evaluate the prognosis after myocardial infarction or to investigate a malaise with or without loss of consciousness. Sustained ventricular flutter was the only inducible arrhythmia in all patients. The mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 42 +/- 14%. During an average follow-up period of 66 +/- 43 months, 31 deaths, including 27 of cardiac causes, were observed. The 1, 5, and 11 year survival of the whole population was 94, 79 and 64% respectively. In univariate analysis, anterior wall myocardial infarction, a low LVEF, the presence of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) on 24 hour Holter monitoring and Class III antiarrhythmic treatment, were poor prognostic factors (p 0.05). In multivariate analysis, the only independent predictive factors of mortality were low LVEF (p = 0.006), the presence of NSVT on Holter monitoring (p = 0.003) and the absence of betablocker therapy (p = 0.015). Medical therapy with betablockers or the implantation of an automatic defibrillator may be indicated in these patients at higher risk.

Sildenafil (Viagra), an inhibitor of phosphodiesterase 5, has a powerful vasodilatory effect on the corpus cavernosa. An evaluation of coronary risk is necessary before its prescription in order to answer two questions: does taking this drug expose the patient to any special risk? Does the return to sexual activity itself carry any risk? Sildenafil is associated with a slight decrease in systolic (10 mmHg) and diastolic (7 mmHg) blood pressure which does not seem to be accentuated by the concommittant use of antihypertensive drugs. The co-administration of nitrate derivatives (before or after taking sildenafil) causes potentially dangerous falls in blood pressure (on average 40 mmHg for the systolic blood pressure). Co-administration of sildenafil and NO-donors is formally contra-indicated. The safety of sildenafil has been shown to be satisfactory in clinical trials: in particular, the risk of myocardial infarction is no greater in treated patients. Sexual activity is a generally moderately intense physical exercise and only rarely causes myocardial infarction. In practice, in patients without known coronary artery disease, the clinical history should be sufficient to determine whether the return of sexual relations is possible without risk. In known cardiac patients, sildenafil is contra-indicated in unstable situations; in stable coronary disease, it would seem wise to take advantage of the annual exercise stress testing to make sure of the absence of ischaemia on effort. In all cases, the patient must be warned that co-administration of nitrate derivatives is an absolure contra-indication to sildenafil treatment.

The initial phase of the epidemiological USIK study has recensed data concerning 2,563 patients admitted to hospital for acute myocardial infarction. The second phase of this study has documented the 1 year survival of 2,152 patients (84%). The population comprised 1,533 men and 619 women with a mean age of 67 years. Severe left ventricular dysfunction (LVEF < 35%) was observed in 18% of patients and clinical signs of cardiac failure were present in 35% of patients in the first 5 days of infarction. The mortality was 8.2% at 5 days, 13.2% at 28 days and 19.5% at one year. In multivariate analysis, the principal predictive factor of mortality at 1 year was age (RR = 1.06, p = 0.0001): the mortality increased by 6% per year of age. In survivors 5 days after the onset of infarction, the 1 year prognosis was significantly correlated with age (RR = 1.05, p = 0.0001) and with cardiac failure (LVEF: RR = 1.57, p = 0.0001) and Killip class (RR = 1.66, p = 0.0001). The prescription of an ACE inhibitor or a betablocker in the first 5 days of infarction was associated with a reduction in 1 year mortality of 27% (p = 0.04) and 37% (p = 0.01) respectively. In conclusion, this study has determined the features of patients admitted to the Intensive Care Unit for acute myocardial infarction in France and to identify the factors influencing 1 year survival.

The aim of this study was to determine whether advances in angioplasty techniques have improved results in multiple vessel coronary disease and to compare present results with those reported in randomised trials comparing angioplasty and surgery. The hospital results of two cohorts of multivessel coronary patients treated by angioplasty during two different periods were compared (group 1: 1990-1991. group 2: 1994-1995). The first period corresponded to the inclusion period of randomised trials comparing surgery and angioplasty. The patients in group 2 (n = 449) were older than those in group 1 (n = 424), had more triple vessel disease, more severe angina and more previous angioplasty attempts. Moreover, there were more cases of unfavourable lesions. Nevertheless, the clinical success rate was high in group 2 (92% vs 84%; p < 0.001) and the major complication rate (death, myocardial infarction or emergency bypass surgery) was lower (2.9% vs 6.1%; p = 0.02). The main technical difference between the two periods concerned the use of coronary stents (12% vs 8%; p < 0.001). The fact of being in group 2 was identified by multivariate analysis as an independent predictor for clinical success and a lower major complication rate. The authors conclude that, since the publication of randomised trials comparing angioplasty with coronary surgery, the hospital results of angioplasty have significantly improved. This should be taken into account in considering the clinical applications of the results of these trials.

A review of the results of randomised trials of the use of betablockers in acute myocardial infarction shows by techniques of meta-analysis that their prescription in the early hours of the acute event leads to a reduction in short-term mortality: the reduction of risk is 12% as compared with groups which are not given betablockers. In addition to its impact on mortality, early betablocker therapy is associated with a reduction in the risk of recurrence of myocardial infarction and a proven antalgic effect. However, in patients receiving thrombolysis, the beneficial effect on mortality and recurrence of infarction of intravenous betablockers seems less evident. In daily clinical practice, the prescription of betablockers in the first days of infarction has significantly increased over the last ten years. In the USIK trial carried out in France in November 1995, nearly two thirds of patients received betablocker therapy. In the same study, the prescription of betablockers is associated with a reduction in mortality independent of the classical risk factors and the prescription of angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors. These results confirm the value of this therapeutic class in the acute phase of myocardial infarction.

Evaluation of heart rate variability is a common method of assessing autonomic nervous system function and its effects on heart rate in different conditions. The reproducibility of the technique is not known in the chronic phase of myocardial infarction. The aim of this study was therefore to assess the reproducibility of the measurement in 54 subjects who were clinically stable with no change in treatment at a distance from acute or semi-recent (> 2 years) myocardial infarction, after an interval of one month. The temporal and spectral analysis of heart rate variability included measurement of the standard deviation of the normal RR intervals (SDNN), on the mean heart rate, the percentage of RR intervals greater than 50 ms than the adjacent interval (pNN50), the coefficient of variability (CV), the square root of the differences between successive RR intervals (rMSSD), the power of low frequencies (LF) and high frequencies (HF) and of the fractional spectral power (LF/HF). No significant changes in these parameters were observed. Analysis of individual variations showed that the heart rate was the most stable parameter: for evaluation of vagal tone, the rMSSD showed less variability than the pNN50 and HF. The presence of cardiac disease did not influence these results. The authors conclude that parameters of evaluation of heart rate variability in temporal and spectral analysis are globally reproducible in stable subjects. However, individual values may change from one measurement to another. Nevertheless, abnormal variability is constantly observed at the second investigation and, similarly, normal variability also remains unchanged. These individual variations suggest that, for the demonstration of change in these parameters of variability with treatment, large population groups must be studied.

A national epidemiological study undertaken in November 1995 recensed the data of 2563 patients admitted to 373 Intensive Care Units for acute myocardial infarction. There were 1827 men and 736 women with an average age of 67 years. Seventeen per cent of patients had left ventricular ejection fration (LVEF) < or = 35%. The mortality rate at 5 days was 7.7%. Clinical heart failure (Killip > 1) was observed in 34.4% of patients. 63% of patients were admitted before the 6th hour. Forty-six per cent of patients underwent early revascularisation by thrombolysis and/or angioplasty. The most widely used drugs in the first 5 days were heparin (96%), aspirin (89%), betablockers (65%), and angiotension converting enzyme inhibitors (46%). The influence of region on the demographical features, morbidity, mortality and therapeutic practice was studied. France was divided into 6 regions. In the Centre, the patients were older, with increased morbidity and mortality compared with the national average. Patients in the North East were similar and had a higher incidence of obesity. In the Ile de France, patients were generally younger with a higher incidence of tobacco consumption and their infarcts were generally less severe. Finally, in the South East, the mortality was particularly low. In multivariate analysis living in this region was good prognostic factor whereas low LVEF (< or = 35%) and age > or = 65 years were poor prognostic factors. This study, for the first time in France, describes the clinical features of myocardial infarction admitted to the Intensive Care Unit with respect to criteria of severity (LVEF, Killip) and region of origin of the patients. Its confirms large regional variations in the severity of acute myocardial infarction.

Patients admitted in coronary care units, in november 1995, for confirmed acute myocardial infarction within 48 hours of symptoms onset were included in this study. The choice of measurement of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was left to the physician in charge. Only investigations performed within the first 8 days were taken into consideration. In cases with multiple investigations, the following order of preference was applied: a) angiographic LVEF, b) isotopic LVEF, c) echocardiographic ejection fraction by Simpson's method, d) echocardiographic ejection fraction by Berning's method, e) semi-quantitative visual echocardiographic evaluation. 2563 patients were included (1827 males and 736 females, mean age 67 years). A quantitative evaluation of LVEF was obtained in 1477 patients (57%) whereas 2 053 patients (80%) underwent at least a semi-quantitative evaluation. The average LVEF was 50% and 17% of patients had an ejection fraction < or = 35%. Patients with LVEF < or = 35% were older, less likely males, non smokers and diabetics. Prior heart failure, previous myocardial infarction and anterior location in infarction were more frequent. Heart failure was more frequent in patients with LVEF < or = 35% (75 vs 23%, p < 0.001). One hundred and ninety-seven patients (7.7%) died in the five first days following the onset of symptoms. A left ventricular ejection fraction < or = 35% multiplied the risk of death by 8.1 (Confidence interval: 5.7-11.4, p < 0.001). The presence of clinical heart failure increased the risk even more.

The study of heart rate variability is a new means of assessing autonomic nervous system function and the risks of cardiac and sudden death in patients with advandec cardiac disease. The aim of this study was to analyse changes in heart rate variability in the hours preceding cardiac death and just before its occurrence. Seventeen subjects aged 78.5 +/- 10 years, with advanced cardiac disease responsible for a reduction of left ventricular ejection fraction below 40%, died during Holter ECG recording. Ten died of ventricular fibrillation, 5 of bradycardia and 2 of non-rhythmic causes. General analysis of heart rate variability showed a decrease in all but 1 patient, the average standard deviation of normal RR intervals in subjects in sinus rhythm being 53 +/- 14 msec and the fractioned spectral power (low frequency/high frequency power) being 1 +/- .07. The change in heart rate variability did not allow prediction of the mechanism of death: the mean heart rate only increased before death in 3 of the patients with an ischaemic component in the hours before death, the indices of vagal tone were very low in the majority of patients and, just before death, a disequilibrium between the spectral powers with a sudden increase in LF/HF ratio of 10 of the 17 patients, irrespective of the cause of death, appeared. In conclusion, a decrease in heart rate variability was observed in all cases but did not predict the mechanism of death. Just before death occurred, some patients, especially those with acute ischaemia, showed a sudden change in the indices of heart rate variability indicating a terminal vaso-sympathetic disequilibrium.

Programmed atrial stimulation is a technique increasingly used to assess different pathologies but the reproducibility of the results is totally unknown. The aim of this study was to determine its reproducibility. Two electrophysiological studies were undertaken without antiarrhythmic therapy in an interval of one to three months (average 18 months) in 48 patients. The programmed atrial stimulation used 1 and 2 extrastimuli delivered in sinus rhythm and then three paced rhythms (sinus cycle -10%, 600 ms, 400 ms). Twenty-one patients had documented atrial arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation n = 13, flutter n = 3 or tachycardia n = 5) (group 1) and the 27 other patients had no spontaneous arrhythmias (group II). In group I, clinical tachycardial was reproduced in 18 patients during the initial stimulation procedure. During the second investigation, 17 remained inducible and in the 3 in whom stimulation was negative, it remained so in 2 of the cases. The reproducibility was therefore 90%. In group II, 12 patients had inducible sustained (for over 1 minute) tachycardia during the first procedure (44%) but this only remained inducible in 6 patients. In the other 15 subjects, stimulation was negative during the first procedure but 7 of them had inducible tachycardial during the second procedure. The reproducibility of the technique was therefore only of 52%. The authors conclude that the reproducibility of programmed atrial stimulation in patients with documented spontaneous paroxysmal arrhythmias is excellent. However, the reproducibility is mediocre in subjects without spontaneous arrhythmias and the induction of tachycardial in this group of patients should be interpreted with caution given the variability of the response to programmed atrial stimulation.

1/1 atrial tachycardia or "quinidine" flutter under class I antiarrhythmic drugs is a serious complication of these agents which, unfortunately, cannot be anticipated. The aim of this study was to review the cases of 11 patients who had suffered this complication of class I antiarrhythmic therapy to see if it could have been prevented. All drugs of this class were included. The 11 subjects were aged 57 to 78: 7 had no apparent underlying cardiac disease and the others had valvular (n = 1), hypertensive (n = 1) and ischaemic (n = 2) heart disease. They were treated for episodes of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation or tachycardia. In the absence of treatment, 7 patients had a short PR interval on the ECG (PR between 0.11 and 0.14 s). In the other 4, the PR interval was normal (0.16 to 0.20 s), but the P wave was widened with appearances of left atrial hypertrophy or an intra-atrial conduction defect. High amplification ECG performed in 3 patients showed continuity of atrial and ventricular depolarisation. Atrial stimulation showed excellent nodal conduction with a Wenckebach point of 200/min. The authors conclude that a short PR interval is predisposing factor to 1/1 atrial tachycardia with class I antiarrhythmics. High amplification ECG which allows identification of the end of the P wave with respect to the QRS complex could help identify subjects at risk when the P wave is widened and that, consequently, the PR interval appears to be normal.

The effects of late angioplasty of the culprit artery after myocardial infarction on the decisive prognostic factors of left ventricular function and remodeling are not well known. When the culprit artery is narrowed but patent, angioplasty leads to improvement in segmental contractility and global left ventricular function: it does not seem to influence left ventricular end-diastolic volume. When the artery remains occluded, global and regional left ventricular function is also improved when the recanalised artery remains patent. Moreover, restoration of satisfactory artery patency prevents ventricular remodeling whereas in failed angioplasty or reocclusion, there is a progressive increase in left ventricular volume. However, these results observed in unselected patients could be improved: it would seem that the different beneficial effects only occur when there is residual myocardial viability; in the absence of signs of myocardial viability, the ventricular effects of limitations of angioplasty (incidence of restenosis or reocclusion in this specific context, lower primary success rate in complete arterial occlusion) explain the negativity of rare randomised studies comparing the outcome of left ventricular function depending on whether a conventional attitude or systematic revascularisation of the culprit artery is adopted.

If the indications of coronary angiography are well chosen, the percentage of normal coronary angiographies should decrease. The authors analysed 7858 primary coronary angiographies performed between 1981 and 1990 in patients without valvular or congenital heart disease. The second 5 years were compared to the first. The percentage of primary coronary angiographies decreased (63% vs 75%; p < 0.01), the percentage of women increased (21.7% vs 18.4%; p < 0.001), and the mean age increased (58.5 +/- 0.3 vs 53.9 +/- 0.3; p < 10(-9)). The lesions were less extensive: 16.3% triple vessel disease versus 24.2% (p < 0.001); 31.3% double vessel disease versus 28.1% (p < 0.02); 49.1% single vessel disease versus 44.2% (p < 0.001). The percentage of normal coronary angiographies remained constant: 20.2% in the second five years versus 19.9% in the first. Over the 10 year period, there was no significant difference one year from another. The percentage of normal investigations remained the same in men (15.7%), decreased in women (34.7 vs 40.1%, p < 0.04), remained constant in patients under 60 years of age (24.5 vs 23.8%), but increased in the more elderly (14.9 vs 10.2%; p < 0.001). The percentage remained unchanged in stable angina (19.6 vs 19.8%) and in unstable angina (12.3 vs 11.2%): it increased in cases of atypical chest pain (72.2 vs 54.3%; p < 0.01). Although, globally, the number of normal coronary angiographies was unchanged at 20%, the indications of this investigation were more selective in the younger patients, especially women, in the second five years, but coronary angiography was more commonly performed in elderly patients because of the possibility of benefiting from coronary angioplasty.

Myocardial revascularisation is now an integral part of the treatment of unstable angina. Trials comparing the efficacy of coronary surgery and medical therapy date back to the end of the 1970s. They showed a clear benefit of revascularisation on functional status but a less pronounced effect on survival. Thus, at 10 years, half of the patients in the Veterans Administration series initially treated medically, underwent surgery; however the initial therapeutic choice was not a significant prognostic factor except in patients with triple vessel disease and those with left ventricular dysfunction whose survival was better when treated surgically. In the last 10 years, coronary angioplasty has become increasingly important in the treatment of unstable angina. The short-term results are very encouraging although complications are more common during the phase of clinical instability than when symptoms have been managed. The addition of thrombolytics to the conventional heparin and aspirin treatment during angioplasty seems to be potentially harmful rather than beneficial. However, new antithrombotic agents (platelets antiaggregants such as antiglycoprotein IIB-IIIA antibodies or direct inhibitors of thrombin such as hirudin or hirulog) seem to decrease the risks of this procedure. At term, the results obtained after angioplasty for unstable angina are similar to those observed in stable angina: the risk of restenosis seems to be about the same and the prognosis depends mainly on left ventricular function. In practice, the choice of therapeutic strategy in unstable angina remains open: the TIMI IIIB trial reported similar results at 6 months whether patients were treated by immediate coronary angiography or whether a more conservative strategy was adopted; the duration of the initial hospital stay was however shorter and the need for rehospitalisation was less frequent in those undergoing immediate coronary angiography.

Radiofrequency ablation of the slow pathway of the reentry circuit is the usual radical treatment of nodal tachycardia. It is, however, possible to create atrioventricular conduction defects, the significance of which is not known. The aim on this study was to report the history of these conduction defects created during ablation of the slow pathway of the intranodal reentry circuit. Four cases were observed in a series of 27 patients. In one female patient, complete atrioventricular block was observed for 5 minutes before conduction returned to normal followed by recurrence of the tachycardias. Three other women developed complete atrioventricular block one to four days after the ablation. The block regressed after a maximum delay of 7 days. Six months to one year after the procedure, these three patients remain free of tachycardia and have only first degree atrioventricular block on the surface ECG. These patients were not implanted with a pacemaker. The authors conclude that complete atrioventricular block after ablation of the slow pathway may be treated conservatively, providing it is well tolerated. It normally regresses within few days.

The diagnosis of vasovagal malaise or syncope, suspected from the clinical history, may be confirmed by the tilt test. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of age on the results of this test in 346 patients who had unexplained malaise or syncope. Thirty-one patients were 7 to 19 years of age (group I), 59 were 20 to 40 (group II), 72 were 41 to 60 (group III) and 184 were 61 to 85 years old (group IV). The patients were maintained in the dorsal decubitus position for 20 minutes and then raised to 70 degrees until a malaise was observed or for a maximum of 40 minutes. The malaise or syncope was reproduced by the tilt test in 135 cases (39%). The number of positive responses was comparable in group I, II, III and IV (45, 42, 32 and 40%, respectively). The time before the malaise occurred was also similar in the four groups (17, 19, 15 and 20 minutes, respectively). Two responses to the tilt test characterised the different age groups: the greater number of malaises occurring independently of a drop in blood pressure or change in heart rate ("psychiatric" syncope) in group II compared with groups I, III and IV (40% versus 7, 9 and 9.5%); the higher frequency of pure vasodepressive forms in group IV compared with groups I, II and III (66% versus 28.5, 32 and 39%). In conclusion, the probability of a positive tilt test does not change with age. The mechanisms of the symptoms produced is the only difference observed with age.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the results of signal-averaged (SA) ECG in cases of complete right (RBBB) or left bundle branch block (LBBB). One hundred and seven patients had RBBB; 42 without cardiac disease (0), 56 with chronic myocardial infarction (MI) and 9 with primary cardiomyopathy (CMP). Seventy-four patients had LBBB: 20 without cardiac disease, 26 with chronic myocardial infarction and 28 with primary cardiomyopathy. A SA ECG (Cardionics, Fidelity) was performed with a 40 Hz band pass and compared with the recordings of 72 healthy controls without bundle branch block. The duration of the averaged QRS (QRS dur), the voltage of the last 40 milliseconds (RMS40) and duration of terminal activity < 40 microV (LAS) were measured. The analysis of results showed that QRS dur was significantly longer in subjects with ventricular tachycardia (VT) (p < 0.05) and in those with advanced cardiac disease (p < 0.05), whatever the type of bundle branch block, and that only the RMS40 distinguished patients with VT from those without VT, irrespective of the underlying cardiac disease and the type of bundle branch block. However, the study of the diagnostic value of each parameter showed very mediocre results: RMS 40 < 20 microV in myocardial infarction and < 17 microV in cardiomyopathy had sensitivities and specificities in RBBB of 73% and 50% respectively, incalculable in CMP, in LBBB 70% and 33%, 77% and 60% respectively; the LAS was unusable. The authors conclude that it is hazardous to interprete SA ECG in bundle branch block, especially in advanced cardiac disease where the specificity of the criteria becomes very low (< 50%).

Acute pulmonary embolism is a medical emergency and diagnostic certitude must be obtained as early as possible. In clinically serious situations, spiral CT is a reliable diagnostic tool. It provides direct signs of embolism with visualisation of thrombi in the pulmonary arteries as far as the segmental branches and its diagnostic value does not change in cases of pulmonary parenchymal involvement. In emergencies, spiral CT should replace pulmonary angiography, which is more costly and associated with greater morbidity and mortality. Other methods, in particular MRI, which is totally innocuous, could play an important role in the diagnostic strategy of acute pulmonary embolism in the near future.