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Abstract Background Acute myocarditis (AM) can be defined as an inflammatory disease of the myocardium and characterized by large heterogeneity of clinical presentation. Myocarditis is becoming increasingly recognized as a contributor to unexplained mortality, and is thought to be a major cause of sudden cardiac death in the first two decades of life. The present study aimed to search the assessment of repolarization dispersion measured from the 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (including Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/QTc ratios) in AM patients. Methods Totally 56 patients (mean age was 22 ± 3.7 years and 67% of the patients were male) with AM and 56 control subjects (23 ± 4.7 years and 64% of the patients were male) were enrolled. Tp-e intervals, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/corrected QT (QTc) ratios were calculated from 12-lead electrocardiogram. Results Heart rate, QT and QTc values were similar between groups. QRS interval was lower in AM group compared to the control group (p

Abstract Background Non-invasive imaging tests are widely used in the evaluation of stable angina pectoris (SAP). Despite these tests, non-significant coronary lesions are not a rare finding in patients undergoing elective coronary angiography (CAG). Two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking global longitudinal strain (GLS) imaging is a more sensitive and accurate technique for measuring LV function than conventional 2D methods. Layer-specific strain analysis is a relatively new method that provides endocardial and epicardial myocardial layer assessment. The aim of the present study was to evaluate longitudinal layer-specific strain (LSS) imaging in patients with suspected SAP. Methods Patients who underwent CAG for SAP were retrospectively screened. A total of 79 patients with no history of heart disease and wall motion abnormalities were included in the study. Forty-three patients with coronary lesions > 70% constituted the coronary artery disease (CAD) group and 36 patients without significant CAD constituted the control group. Layer-specific GLS transmural, endocardium, and epicardium values (GLS-trans, GLS-endo, and GLS-epi, respectively) were compared between the groups. Results Patients in the CAD group had significantly lower GLS values in all layers (GLS-trans: -18.2 + 2.4% vs -22.2 + 2.2% p

Cardiac mass can be described as an abnormal structure within or directly contiguous to the heart. Tumors and thrombi are the most common types of cardiac masses. Intracardiac thrombi have been encountered in various clinical settings and can result in severe morbidity and mortality due to embolic events. Cardiac neoplasms are extremely rare, and are usually metastatic tumors. The major primary malignancies associated with cardiac metastases include cancers of the lung, breast, stomach, and liver, and lymphoma, leukemia, and melanoma. Osteosarcoma (OS) is the most common type of bone malignancy, and is almost always highly malignant. A previous study demonstrated that OS very rarely metastasizes to the heart. Presently reported is an unusual case of OS with intracaval, right atrial, and right ventricular extension that was misdiagnosed as venous thrombus.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the relationship between mean platelet volume (MPV) and the presence and extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients who underwent coronary angiography for stable chest pain. Study design: A total of 540 patients (350 male, 190 female; mean age: 59.6+-11.4 years) were consecutively included in the study. The patients were divided into four groups according to the presence and extent of their CAD as follows: Group 1 - patients with no significant CAD, group 2 - one vessel disease, group 3 - two vessel diseases, and group 4 - three vessel disease. Also, the Gensini score of each coronary angiogram was calculated. Results: There were 159 patients in group 1, 169 in group 2, 110 in group 3, and 102 in group 4. As expected, we found significant differences among the groups regarding mean age and other coronary risk factors including gender, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia, smoking, and family history of ischemic heart disease. However, there were no significant differences among the groups regarding platelet counts and MPV values (8.5+-0.1 fl, 8.5+-1.2 fl, 8.6+-0.9 fl and 8.6+-0.9 fl, MPV values of groups 1-4, respectively). Although the Gensini score was found to be significantly correlated with age, plasma uric acid level, white blood cell count, hemoglobin level, fasting blood glucose, and high density lipoprotein level, no significant association was detected between MPV and Gensini score values. Conclusion: This study is one of the largest studies assessing the relationship between MPV and the extent of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with stable CAD to date. However, we found no association between MPV and the presence and extent of coronary atherosclerosis.

Abstract Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy is well known to reduce mortality in selected patients with heart failure (HF). Objective: To investigate whether monitored episodes of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) might predict future HF hospitalizations in ICD recipients with HF. Methods: We examined 104 ICD recipients (mean age: 60 ± 10.1 years, 80.8 % male) with HF who were referred to our outpatient clinic for device follow-up. After device interrogation, patients were divided into NSVT positive and negative groups. The primary endpoint was the rate of hospitalization within the next 6 months after initial ICD evaluation. Results: Device evaluation demonstrated at least one episode of monitored NSVT in 50 out of 104 patients. As expected, no device therapy (shock or anti-tachycardia) was needed for such episodes. At 6 months, 24 patients were hospitalized due to acute decompensated HF. Hospitalization rate was significantly lower in the NSVT negative as compared with positive groups (38% versus 62%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.166 ; 95% CI 0.056 to 0.492; p = 0.01). Conclusions: Monitored NSVT bouts in ICD recordings may serve as a predictor of future HF hospitalizations in ICD recipients with HF suggesting optimization of therapeutic modalities in these patients along with a close supervision in the clinical setting.