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We herein present the findings of the case of a 23-year-old man who was hospitalized for ventricular tachycardia (VT) with no previous history of cardiac disease or any family history of sudden death. Based on the clinical features as well as the echographic and MRI results, the patient was diagnosed with both acute viral myocarditis and arythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD). The patient underwent implantation of an automatic cardioverter defibrillator. There was no recurrent VT during the 24 month follow-up. This case demonstrates the link between ARVD and myocarditis, and highlights the importance of conducting an RV assessment through a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) study in the context of arrhythmia and myocarditis.

Aims: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFPEF) is common but not well understood. Electrical dyssynchrony in systolic heart failure is harmful. Little is known about the prevalence and the prognostic impact of dyssynchrony in HFPEF., Methods and Results: We have designed a prospective, multicenter, international, observational study to characterize HFPEF and to determine whether electrical or mechanical dyssynchrony affects prognosis. Patients presenting with acute heart failure (HF) will be screened so as to identify 400 patients with HFPEF. Inclusion criteria will be: acute presentation with Framingham criteria for HF, left ventricular ejection fraction>or=45%, brain natriuretic peptide (BNP)>100 pg/mL or NT-proBNP>300 pg/mL. Once stabilized, 4-8 weeks after the index presentation, patients will return and undergo questionnaires, serology, ECG, and Doppler echocardiography. Thereafter, patients will be followed for mortality and HF hospitalization every 6 months for at least 18 months. Sub-studies will focus on echocardiographic changes from the acute presentation to the stable condition and on exercise echocardiography, cardiopulmonary exercise testing, and serological markers., Conclusion: KaRen aims to characterize electrical and mechanical dyssynchrony and to assess its prognostic impact in HFPEF. The results might improve our understanding of HFPEF and generate answers to the question whether dyssynchrony could be a target for therapy in HFPEF.

Objectives: Characterize the incidence, clinical and etiologic features and outcomes of advanced congestive heart failure., Background: This condition is frequent, severe and costly, yet no population-based epidemiological data are available that take into account modern advances in diagnosis and therapy., Methods: The EPICAL (Epidémiologie de l'Insuffisance Cardiaque Avancée en Lorraine) study was based on a comprehensive registration of patients with ACHF (defined as hospital admission for presence of NYHA class III or IV symptoms, radiological and/or clinical signs of pulmonary congestion and/or signs of peripheral edema, left ventricular ejection fraction <30% or a cardiothoracic ratio >60%) in patients aged 20-80 years during year 1994, in the community of the Lorraine region in France (n = 1,592,263). Average follow-up for readmission to hospital and mortality was 18 months (12-24 months)., Results: From 2,576 registered patients, 499 were enrolled into the study among which, 358 were new presentations. This represents a crude incidence rate of 225 per million. 46.3% had a coronary heart disease. One-year mortality rate was 35.4% and the rate of mortality and/or readmission to hospital was 81%. Patients were admitted to hospital 2.05 times per year (64% of these for worsening heart failure), spending 27.6 days per year in hospital. Twenty received a heart transplant (4%). On discharge, 74.8% were using ACE inhibitors and 49.6% digitalis., Conclusions: Mortality and hospitalization rate of advanced CHF remain very high despite recent therapeutic progress. Major therapeutic and managed-care research is required.

We compared the prognostic significance of prior angina pectoris in 151 patients > or = 75 years of age admitted for acute myocardial infarction. There was a similar in-hospital course, but the long-term outcome was poorer in patients with prior angina.

The acute and long-term results of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) of the left coronary artery in 106 patients (group 1) with chronic occlusion of the right coronary artery were compared with those of 106 patients matched for sex (92 male) and age (56 +/- 10 years) undergoing left PTCA with a normal right coronary artery (group 2). Before the procedure, group 1 had more unstable angina (42 vs 29%; p < 0.05), more frequent prior myocardial infarction (80 vs 25%; p < 0.001), and a lower left ventricular ejection fraction (56 +/- 10% vs 65 +/- 11%; p < 0.005). Acute results were not different in the 2 groups with respect to primary success (group 1: 93%; and group 2: 89%) and complications (group 1: 2 with emergency coronary surgery, and 4 with periprocedural myocardial infarction and no death; and group 2: 1 with emergency coronary surgery, 1 death, and 3 with periprocedural myocardial infarction). At 6 months, 79 patients in group 1 and 71 patients in group 2 had reangiography; the rate of restenosis was 35% in group 1 and 42% in group 2. In both groups, left ventricular ejection fraction increased significantly in patients without restenosis (58 +/- 12% vs 63 +/- 10%, p < 0.001 [n = 44] in group 1; and 66 +/- 9% vs 70 +/- 10%, p < 0.001 [n = 29] in group 2). In group 1, improvement was significant only for patients without collaterals to the occluded right coronary artery (59 +/- 10% vs 66 +/- 7%; p < 0.003 [n = 24]).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Alcohol consumption was compared between 23 men admitted to hospital with idiopathic dilated myocardiopathy (DCM) and 46 men with coronary artery disease. Duration of regular daily alcohol, heavy daily alcohol, mean daily alcohol consumption, in particular consumption of wine were higher in patients with DCM. Among the biological markers, only serum levels of immunoglobulin A and bilirubin were increased in pts with DCM.

Over 4 yr, 102 consecutive patients more than 75 yr old (56 men, 46 women; mean age 78 +/- 3 years, range: 76-89 years) underwent 120 percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty procedures. At baseline, 86% had severe anginal symptoms (Canadian class III or IV), 43% had a history of prior myocardial infarction; 61% had multivessel coronary artery disease, and mean left ventricular ejection fraction was 60 +/- 11%. Calcifications were observed on 66% of the dilated arteries. A total of 158 vessels (1.3 vessel per procedure) were attempted: 1 vessel in 89 procedures (74%), 2 vessels in 24 (20%) and 3 vessels in 7 (6%). The primary success rate was 80% per lesion (126/158) and 77% per procedure (92/120). Complications included 3 deaths (3%), 9 Q-wave infarctions (7.5%) and there was no emergency coronary bypass surgery. The primary success rate was significantly related to the absence of coronary calcifications on the dilated segment (88% versus 75%, p < 0.05) and to the initial patency of the dilated artery (subtotal stenosis: 83% versus total occlusion: 53%, p < 0.05). Follow-up data were obtained in the 79 consecutive patients with a duration of follow-up exceeding 8 months. The mean duration of follow-up was 23 +/- 13 months (range 8 to 61 months). No patient was lost to follow-up; 11 patients died (cardiac causes: 7), 2 had a non-fatal infarction, 7 had aortocoronary bypass surgery and 18 had repeat percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The aim of this study was to compare alcohol consumption and biological markers for alcoholism in a population of 23 men (57 +/- 8 years) admitted to hospital with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), and a control group of 46 men (54 +/- 8 years) with coronary artery disease, matched for age. The DCM group had a higher daily alcohol consumption (82 g/day vs. 30 g/day, P < 0.0002). This difference was greater for the consumption of wine (63 g/day in the DCM group vs. 24 g/day in the control group, P < 0.002). Duration of regular daily alcohol consumption was longer in DCM patients (34 years vs. 22 years, P < 0.01) as well as duration of heavy alcohol consumption (> 60 g/day) (25 years vs. 10 years, P < 0.001). Among the biological markers, only the serum levels of immunoglobulin A were significantly increased in the DCM group (3.7 g/l vs. 2.7 g/l, P < 0.03). In this French population, alcohol is strongly linked to DCM. Biological markers appear to be poor predictors of alcohol intoxication in this so-called 'idiopathic' myocardial disease.

During the past five years transluminal angioplasty of the coronary arteries has considerably developed due to the improvement of the technology. Beside one-vessel lesions, its indications have been extended to multiple vessel pathology, chronic obturation and lesions found in patients who had previously undergone aorto-coronary bypass, as well as in those who had unstable angina, or in the elderly. Despite the quality of the initial results and the relatively low accident rate, this method has raised numerous problems: (I) unintentional optimization of the results, (II) unexplained postangioplastic incidents, (III) high rate of early restenosis, (IV) encouraging long-term results but marked by numerous coronary "events", (V) increasing cost of the procedure, (VI) disappointing resumption of work and, above all, (VII) lack of good randomized trials to establish the exact indications of angioplasty in the treatment of chronic heart failure. The new techniques of cardiocirculatory assistance or excision of atheroma have only started to be evaluated.

Right ventricular function was studied by means of a thermodilution catheter before, during and after percutaneous transluminal angioplasty of the proximal right (group 1, n = 8), left anterior descending (group 2, n = 8) or left circumflex (group 3, n = 8) coronary artery. All patients had evidence of myocardial ischemia, with single-vessel disease affecting the proximal segment of one of the three major coronary arteries; no patient had had a previous myocardial infarction and all had normal cardiac function at baseline study. Cardiac index decreased during balloon inflation. Mean pulmonary artery pressure was unaffected in group 1 but increased in group 2 (from 19 +/- 5 to 31 +/- 11 mm Hg, p less than 0.01) and in group 3 (from 19 +/- 2 to 22 +/- 5 mm Hg, p less than 0.05). Right ventricular ejection fraction decreased from 62 +/- 9% to 52 +/- 10% (p less than 0.01) in group 1 and from 64 +/- 7% to 44 +/- 10% (p less than 0.005) in group 2, and returned to normal within 2 min after balloon deflation in both groups. In group 3, right ventricular ejection fraction was unchanged during balloon inflation (58 +/- 5% at baseline, 58 +/- 9% at 60 s, p = NS). Therefore, brief occlusion of the proximal segments of the left anterior descending or right coronary artery results in marked alteration of right ventricular performance that is probably caused by right ventricular free wall ischemia in the right coronary group and by the concomitant effects of septal ischemia and increased right ventricular afterload in the left anterior descending artery group.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The optimal method used to analyze quantitatively the immediate angiographic results of coronary stenting in the coronary arteries has not been studied. Accordingly, minimal luminal cross-sectional area was determined by 2 methods, edge detection and densitometry, in 19 patients who underwent percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) and then coronary stent implantation for symptomatic coronary stenoses. The correlation coefficient, 0.73 before angioplasty, decreased to 0.59 after coronary angioplasty and then increased to 0.83 after stent implantation. The mean differences between edge detection and densitometric determinations of minimal luminal cross-sectional area were 0.31 +/- 0.51 mm2 before PTCA, -0.38 +/- 1.22 mm2 after angioplasty and 0.35 +/- 0.79 mm2 after coronary stenting. It is concluded that, although the correlation and variability in the measurement of minimal luminal cross-sectional area between edge detection and densitometry deteriorate after PTCA, they are improved after stenting, probably because of smoothing of the vessel contours by the stent and remodeling of the stented segment into a more circular configuration. Therefore, in the stented coronary artery, edge detection and densitometry are equally acceptable methods of analysis.

The prognostic value of echocardiographic apical 4 chamber recordings was assessed retrospectively in 18 patients who underwent left ventricular aneurysmectomy following anterior wall myocardial infarction. After an average follow-up period of 2 years, 7 patients had died or remained in functional Classes III or IV (Group 1) and 11 patients had satisfactory clinical outcomes (Group 2). There were no significant clinical or coronary angiographic differences between the two groups. The left ventricular surface area, transverse diameter and fractional shortening of the surface were also comparable in the two groups. The surface area of the aneurysm was greater in patients in Group 1 (37.4 +/- 11.8 cm2 vs 21.1 +/- 15.8 cm2, p less than 0.05). However, the more discriminating parameters were those related to the non-aneurysmal contractile zones (NACZ). Patients in Group 1 had a smaller relative surface area of the NACZ than those in group 2; 6 of the 7 patients in Group 1 had NACZ of less than 40 per cent of the left ventricle compared with none of the patients in Group 2 (p less than 0.001). In addition, the function of the NACZ was significantly worse in Group 1: surface fractional shortening: 9.6 +/- 10.2% vs 32.6 +/- 8.3% (p less than 0.001); ejection fraction: 20.7 +/- 9.1% vs 41.6 +/- 6.1% (p less than 0.001). All patients in Group 1 and none in Group 2 had ejection fractions of the NACZ of less than 30 per cent. Therefore, the apical 4 chamber view provides valuable prognostic information in patients who are candidates for surgical resection of left ventricular anterior wall aneurysms.

Fifteen patients undergoing routine follow-up angiography 5 months after successful percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) without angina and with normal exercise thallium scintigraphy were selected for analysis. The coronary flow reserves of these patients were compared with those of 24 patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries to establish whether PTCA can restore to normal the coronary flow reserve of patients with chronic coronary artery disease. The quantitative cineangiographic changes and the concomitant alterations in coronary flow reserve as an immediate result of the PTCA and the subsequent changes 5 months later are described. Coronary flow reserve was measured with digital subtraction cineangiography. PTCA resulted in an increase in minimal obstruction area (mean +/- standard deviation) from 0.8 +/- 0.3 to 3.4 +/- 0.7 mm2 and in coronary flow reserve from 1.0 +/- 0.3 to 2.5 +/- 0.6. Five months later a further substantial and significant (p less than 0.05) late increase in obstruction area (3.8 +/- 0.9 mm2) and flow reserve (3.6 +/- 0.5) had occurred. In 11 of 15 patients coronary flow reserve was restored to normal. Changes in stenosis geometry are likely to be 1 of the major determinants of this late normalization of coronary flow reserve.

The purpose of this study was to assess the early changes in stenosis geometry after insertion of intravascular stents in human coronary arteries. Morphologic changes were evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography (using automated edge detection) and by calculation of the theoretical pressure decrease across the dilated and stented stenosis from the Poiseuille and turbulent resistances assuming a coronary blood flow of either 1 or 3 ml/s. Twenty-six patients were studied before and after angioplasty, as well as immediately after stent implantation. The stented coronary artery was the left anterior descending artery in 19 cases, the circumflex artery in 2 cases, the right coronary artery in 2 cases and a coronary artery bypass vein graft in 3 cases. After stent implantation, an additional increase in minimal luminal cross-sectional area of the dilated vessel was observed, suggesting that the self-expanding stainless steel endoprosthesis used in this study has a dilating function in addition to its stenting role.

Seventeen patients with stable congestive heart failure (class II and III New York Heart Association) received intravenous and oral enoximone in a 2-part study. Hemodynamic data were first obtained after intravenous administration of 0.75 mg/kg of enoximone; data were again obtained after 12 weeks of therapy with either oral enoximone (150 mg 3 times daily) or placebo. The efficacy and safety of oral enoximone were also studied in a 12-week, double-blind randomized format. In the intravenous study, enoximone was delivered over 5 minutes and hemodynamic data were measured for up to 12 hours after. Cardiac index increased 2.76 +/- 0.63 to 3.42 +/- 0.72 liters/min/m2), pulmonary wedge pressure decreased (19.5 +/- 8.8 to 14.6 +/- 8.0 mm Hg) as did mean arterial blood pressure (101 +/- 14.8 to 85 +/- 13.7 mm Hg) and systemic vascular resistance (1,880 +/- 573 to 1,254 +/- 383 dynes s cm-5). Heart rate increased slightly (82 +/- 17 to 86 +/- 14 beats/min). All these changes were maximal 1 to 2 hours after infusion and lasted 8 hours at least. Patients were then randomized double-blind to oral treatment. Baseline values showed that the 7 patients who received placebo had more severe CHF. Therefore, comparison might be biased. Patient overall assessment showed a continuous benefit in both groups. Ejection fraction improved from 30.1 +/- 6.8% to 33.9 +/- 9.9% in the enoximone group while it remained unchanged with placebo (23.4 +/- 6.5% to 23.4 +/- 1.5%).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Up until now, adrenal metastases from bronchial cancer have always been an autopsy diagnosis with a frequency as high as 45%. These metastases can now be diagnosed by means of computed tomography of the adrenal glands and most of the recent studies report an incidence of 10 to 15% of adrenal metastases independently of the histological type of bronchial cancer. The authors stress the need to perform this examination in the context of pre-treatment staging and for the follow-up of bronchial cancer. The outcome of these adrenal metastases is still poorly understood, but prospective studies could provide more information concerning their prognostic significance. In cases of operable bronchial carcinoma with an isolated adrenal metastasis, it is important to be able to detect this lesion which may be able to be excised prior to the thoracic surgery.

Early and late modifications of stenosis geometry after stenting of coronary arteries were assessed. Morphologic changes were evaluated by quantitative coronary angiography (automated edge-detection) and theoretical pressure drop across the dilated and stented stenosis was calculated from the Poiseuille formula, with turbulent resistances assuming a coronary blood flow of 1 or 3 ml/s. Eleven patients (ages 41 to 69 years, mean 55) were studied before and after angioplasty, and immediately after stent implantation. The stented coronary artery was the left anterior descending artery in 9 patients and the left circumflex in 2. Following stent implantation, an additional increase in minimal luminal cross-sectional area of the dilated vessel was observed, suggesting that the self-expanding stainless-steel endoprosthesis used had a dilating function in addition to its stenting role. Repeat angiography in 6 patients 3 months after stent implantation showed a decrease in the minimal luminal cross-sectional area without a significant change in theoretic pressure decrease. This slight reduction in vessel caliber had no hemodynamically significant repercussions. Thus, stenting of coronary arteries following dilatation is a potentially valuable technique for preventing both abrupt closure and late reduction in lumen diameter.