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Background: Fulminant myocarditis presentation (FMP) is a rare and severe presentation of myocarditis. The natural history of FMP and its clinical features associated with poor outcomes are incompletely understood because there is a lack of generalizable evidence. Methods: This multicenter retrospective cohort study included patients hospitalized with histologically proven myocarditis who underwent catecholamine or mechanical support from 235 cardiovascular training hospitals across Japan between April 2012 and March 2017. Clinical features and the prognostic predictors of death or heart transplantation within 90 days on the basis of clinical and pathologic findings were determined using the Kaplan-Meier method, log-rank test, and Cox regression analysis. Results: This study included 344 patients with histologically proven FMP (median age, 54 years; 40% female). The median follow-up was 600 days (interquartile range, 36 to 1599 days) and the cumulative risk of death or heart transplantation at 90 days was 29% (n=98). Results from multivariable Cox regression analysis showed that older age, nonsinus rhythm, low left ventricular wall motion ( Conclusions: The results from analyses of data from this multicenter registry demonstrated that patients with FMP are at a higher risk of death or heart transplantation in real-world settings. These observations inform which clinical and pathologic findings may be useful for prognostication in FMP. Registration: URL: https://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr ; Unique identifier: UMIN000039763.

Patient: Female, 68 Final Diagnosis: Hepatocellular carcinoma Symptoms: Shortness of breath Medication: — Clinical Procedure: Cardiac resynchronization therapy Specialty: Cardiology Objective: Diagnostic/therapeutic accidents Background: Intracardiac thrombosis has been known to be associated with not only hepatocellular carcinoma but also with amyloidosis and use of a cardiac implantable electronic device. We report a case of a continuous tumor thrombus with hepatocellular carcinoma from the portal vein and hepatic vein to the right atrium via the inferior vena cava in a patient with a cardiac amyloidosis and an implanted cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) device. Case Report: A 68-year-old female first admitted to our hospital because of heart failure with an AL type primary cardiac amyloidosis. After 3 years, she underwent an implantation of a CRT device for biventricular pacing following repeated episodes of heart failure and low left ventricular ejection fraction of 34% with NYHA class III. Again, she presented with symptoms of heart failure and cardiomegaly on chest x-ray at 7 years after the CRT device implantation. The echocardiography showed a huge echogenic mass occupying the right atrium, and 64 multi-detector computed tomography showed a lobulated heterogeneously enhancing mass of hepatocellular carcinoma in the right upper lobe of her liver and a continuous tumor thrombus from the portal vein and hepatic vein to the right atrium via the inferior vena cava. Conclusions: Intracardiac thrombosis and heart failure occurred in a patient with hepatocellular carcinoma and cardiac amyloidosis, who had an implanted CRT device, which resulted not only in hypercoagulability by the hepatocellular carcinoma itself and the accumulation of various risk factors, but also the progression of myocardial damage with the development of amyloidosis.

In this paper, both nylon 6 and 2 wt% clay reinforced nylon 6 matrix nanocomposite were used for thermal exposure tests at temperatures of 80 oC and 120 oC and 150 oC, respectively. Then, the tensile tests and fatigue tests of the exposed specimens were conducted at room temperature. It was shown that the tensile strength in both nylon 6 and NCH-2 decreased with an increase in thermal exposure temperature. The brittle fracture occurred in the specimens exposed at 120 oC and 150 oC. After pre-oxidation treatment at 80 °C for 100 hours, the fatigue strength decreased 14% in nylon 6, and 8% in NCH-2. From this result, it was understood that the addition of clay in nylon 6 could suppress the decrease of fatigue strengths.

A 72-year-old female was diagnosed as a stress-induced cardiomyopathy from apical ballooning pattern of left ventricular dysfunction without coronary artery stenosis after the mental stress. ECG showed the transient T-wave inversions after the ST-segment elevations. By the mental stress after 1 year, she showed a transient dysfunction with similar ECG changes again. T-wave inversions recovered earlier, and cardiac sympathetic dysfunction showed a lighter response corresponding to the less severe dysfunction than those after the first onset. Wellens' ECG pattern was associated with the degree of neurogenic myocardial stunning with sympathetic hyperinnervation caused by mental stress.

Introduction: Rotational atherectomy (Rota) has been proposed as the best strategy relative to all other percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in complex and severely calcified lesions, and the examination of calcified plaque conditions is necessary to determine whether Rota is indicated. Multidetector computed tomography coronary angiography (CTA) can provide non-invasive assessment of calcified plaques with obstructive coronary artery disease. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that regional coronary artery calcium score (CAC) of the target lesion on CTA would aid in deciding whether subsequent intervention strategies should be pursued, including Rota. Methods: Lesion CAC and calcified plaque patterns measured in the target lesion on CTA were evaluated regionally with quantitative coronary analysis (QCA) on angiography for predicting Rota treatment in 116 consecutive patients (168 target lesions) who had undergone their first PCI (mean age ± standard deviations: 68 ± 10 years, females: 19.8%). Results: PCI without Rota was performed successfully in 105 patients (154 lesions), and Rota treatment was added in 11 patients (14 lesions). The patients with Rota had significantly higher SYNTAX score (p=0.007) and CAC than those without Rota (p Conclusions: The lesion CAC as a simple marker of calcified plaque condition in target lesion is useful for indicating the addition of Rota in patients with PCI.

Background— Left atrial (LA) remodeling is a factor in atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after pulmonary vein catheter ablation (CA), but right atrium (RA) remodeling has not been investigated for possible associations to AF recurrence. Methods and Results— Using 64-slice multidetector computed tomography, RA and LA volumes were measured 3-dimensionally before CA in 65 patients with initially proven idiopathic paroxysmal AF (mean age, 60±10 years, 81.5% men). The CA procedure was guided by CARTO Merge atrial electroanatomic mapping. Sixteen patients (24.6%) had AF recurrence within the 6-month period after the CA. The recurrence was associated with a large RA volume [odds ratio, 1.04; 95% confidence interval (CI), 1.02 to 1.07, P P =0.002], and low LA mean voltage with 1.03 [95% CI, 1.01 to 1.05, P =0.002]. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, RA and LA volumes remained predictive of AF recurrence. Large atrial volumes (mL) (RA ≥87 or LA ≥99) predicted AF recurrence (sensitivity of RA volume: 81.3% in 13 of 16 patients with AF recurrence; specificity: 75.5% in 37 of 49 patients without AF recurrence; sensitivity of LA volume: 81.3% in 13 of 16 patients with AF recurrence; specificity: 69.4% in 34 of 49 patients without AF recurrence), and the combined estimate of both atrial volumes was incremental and additive prognostic power (sensitivity: 75% in 12 of 16 patients with AF recurrence; specificity: 93.9% in 46 of 49 patients without AF recurrence). Conclusions— Both LA and RA remodeling are equally associated with post-CA AF recurrence.

ObjectivesWe investigated whether cardiac sympathetic nervous system (SNS) activity measured by iodine-123 meta-iodobenzylguanidine (123I-mIBG) imaging would be associated with both the occurrence of heart failure (HF) and the transit to permanent atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with paroxysmal AF.BackgroundAtrial fibrillation occurs suddenly and transiently and can persist, and results in the occurrence of HF. An important feature of AF and HF is their propensity to coexist not only because they share antecedent risk factors, but also because the one may directly predispose the heart to the other. However, a useful modality for predicting the occurrences of both those has not been established in patients with paroxysmal AF.MethodsThe 123I-mIBG scintigraphy was performed to evaluate cardiac SNS activity presented as the heart/mediastinum ratio in 98 consecutive patients (age 66 ± 13 years, 63.3% male) with idiopathic paroxysmal AF and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (≥50%).ResultsDuring 4 ± 3.6 years of follow-up, the transit to permanent AF was associated with the occurrence of HF (34.3% in 12 of 35 patients with permanent AF vs. 6.3% in 4 of 63 patients without, p < 0.0001). Lower heart/mediastinum ratio and lower left ventricular ejection fraction were the independent predictors of the transit to permanent AF with adjusted hazard ratios of 3.44 (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.9 to 6.2, p < 0.0001) and 1.04 (95% CI: 1.01 to 1.08, p = 0.014). Further, these factors and higher plasma brain natriuretic peptide concentration were the independent predictors of the occurrence of HF with permanent AF, with adjusted hazard ratios of 5.08 (95% CI: 1.5 to 17.5, p = 0.011), 1.11 (95% CI: 1.03 to 1.19, p = 0.004), and 1.004 (95% CI: 1.001 to 1.008, p = 0.014).ConclusionsCardiac SNS abnormality was associated with the occurrence of both HF and permanent AF in paroxysmal AF patients, and 123I-mIBG imaging may be a useful modality for predicting the development of AF.

Neuronal system activity plays an important role for the prognosis of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Using (123)I metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) scintigraphy, we investigated whether a cardiac sympathetic nervous system (SNS) abnormality would be associated with an increased risk of vascular events in patients with paroxysmal AF.(123)I-MIBG scintigraphy was performed in 69 consecutive patients (67 + or - 13 years, 62% men) with paroxysmal AF who did not have structural heart disease. SNS integrity was assessed from the heart to mediastinum (H/M) ratio on delayed imaging. Serum concentration of C-reactive protein (CRP) was measured before (123)I-MIBG study.During a mean of 4.5 + or - 3.6 years follow-up, 19 patients had myocardial infarction, stroke or heart failure (range: 0.2-11.5 years). SNS abnormality (H/M ratio2.7) and high CRP (or = 0.3 mg/dl) were associated with the vascular events (58.3% in 14 of 24 patients with SNS abnormality vs 11.1% in 5 of 45 patients without SNS abnormality, p0.0001, 52.4% in 11 of 21 patients with high CRP vs 16.7% in 8 of 48 patients without high CRP, p0.0001). After adjustment for potential confounding variables such as age, left atrial dimension and left ventricular function, SNS abnormality was an independent predictor of vascular events with a hazard ratio of 4.1 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3-12.6, p = 0.014]. Further, SNS abnormality had an incremental and additive prognostic power in combination with high CRP with an adjusted hazard ratio of 4.1 (95% CI: 1.5-10.9, p = 0.006).SNS abnormality is predictive of vascular events in patients with idiopathic paroxysmal AF.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of pioglitazone on nitric oxide in patients with type 2 diabetes and coronary artery disease. Twenty-seven patients with coronary artery disease and diabetes mellitus who had received coronary stenting were eligible for the study. They were assigned to the no insulin resistance (NIR) group, the insulin resistance (IR) group, and the pioglitazone group (30 mg once a day). Endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6, leptin, and adiponectin were measured. In the pioglitazone group, eNOS, iNOS, and leptin were significantly lower and adiponectin was significantly higher than those in the IR group. Stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that eNOS correlated with TNF-alpha and iNOS correlated with leptin and TNF-alpha. Leptin was the strongest predictor of iNOS. Treatment with pioglitazone significantly reduced eNOS and iNOS by improving adipocytokine levels.

Patients with structural heart disease, severe left ventricular dysfunction, or history of cardiac arrest are at increased risk of sudden cardiac death. However, a useful marker for predicting sudden cardiac death is not clarified in low-risk patients without those conventional risks. We hypothesized that cardiac sympathetic nerve system (SNS) abnormality would be associated with ventricular tachyarrhythmic events in low-risk patients with ventricular tachycardia (VT).Iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine ((123)I-MIBG) scintigraphy was performed in 50 patients (mean+/-standard deviation, age 54 +/- 16 years, 52% males) with VT who did not have structural heart disease, severe left ventricular dysfunction, or history of cardiac arrest, and SNS activity was assessed from heart/mediastinal (H/M) ratio on delayed images.Over 11 years of follow-up, three patients had sudden deaths (6%) and nine patients had sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmic events (18%). SNS abnormality, defined as H/M ratio2.8, was predictive of sudden death or ventricular tachyarrhythmic events (45% in nine of 20 patients with SNS abnormality vs 16.7% in three of 30 patients without SNS abnormality, p = 0.005). After adjustment for potential confounding variables including slight left ventricular dysfunction, SNS abnormality remained independently predictive of ventricular tachyarrhythmic events with a hazard ratio of 5.3 (95% confidence interval = 1.4 to 20.8, p = 0.016).SNS abnormality is a readily available and powerful predictor of recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmic events in patients with VT who did not have conventional risk of sudden cardiac death. (123)I-MIBG scintigraphy can provide prognostic information of VT patients without conventional risk.

Background: A reliable, noninvasive assessment of plaque configuration would constitute an important step forward for predicting complications following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Multislice computed tomography (MSCT) holds promise with respect to allowing for differentiation of coronary lesion configuration. However, it has not yet been clarified whether the characteristics of coronary artery plaque measured by MSCT predict complications after PCI. The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between plaque configuration and complications after coronary intervention in patients with stable angina pectoris. Methods: MSCT was performed in patients with angina pectoris who were scheduled for PCI prospectively, and 26 patients (70 ± 11 years, 18 males) with coronary artery plaque in a stenotic coronary artery measured by MSCT were recruited for this study. Thirty-five plaques in the stenotic coronary lesions were divided into 3 groups based on the CT density as soft, intermediate, and hard, and were compared with the complications after PCI. Results: The soft plaque group before PCI (n = 11) was significantly associated with the appearance of slow flow (n = 4) or a compromised side branch (n = 1) after PCI, whereas the hard plaque group before PCI (n = 17) was associated with the appearance of dissection (n = 2) or perforation (n = 1) after PCI (P = 0.004). The intermediate plaque group (n = 7) had only one complication, a compromised side branch (n = 1). Conclusion: Coronary arterial plaque characterized by MSCT can predict intervention-related complication. It may be important for the risk stratification of the patients scheduled to undergo PCI to investigate plaque configuration by MSCT.

A scheduling problem is formulated focusing on jobs stored in production resources in the present paper. In a production system with finite buffer capacity, the job are stored in not only buffers but also production resources such as machine tools and assembly robots. Therefore, successive jobs cannot be processed by the resources until the previous jobs are removed from them. In such a scheduling problem, certain processing orders of jobs are infeasible because start times and release times of the jobs can not be determined. The graph representation method for conventional scheduling problems is extended in order to judge feasibility of the present schedules, in which the jobs stored in the resources are taken into account. A local searching method is applied to improve the schedules of the production systems with finite buffer capacity. It gives an appropriate schedule in combination with the dispatching procedure proposed in the first report.

Rotational atherectomy (rotablation) has been proposed as a potentially superior strategy for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in complex and severely calcified lesions.We hypothesized that a per-lesion coronary artery calcium score determined by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) would be useful for predicting the requriement for rotablation during PCI.MDCT was performed in patients with stable angina pectoris who were scheduled for first PCI. In 116 consecutive subjects (168 target lesions) with successful PCI, MDCT and quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) data were retrospectively evaluated regarding their ability to predict rotablation.PCI without rotablation was performed in 105 patients (154 lesions), and rotablation was added in 11 patients (14 lesions). Patients with rotablation had significantly higher SYNTAX scores (p = 0.007) and total calcium scores (p 0.001) than those without rotablation. Per-lesion, a lesion length ≥20 mm and diameter stenosis ≥74% on QCA as well as a per-lesion calcium score ≥453 and calcification arc ≥270 in MDCT predicted rotablation. After adjustment for potential confounding variables, a high per-lesion calcium score was an independent predictor of rotablation (odds ratio 31.3, 95% confidence interval 2.8-345, p = 0.005, sensitivity 93% and specificity 88%).The extent of target lesion calcification in MDCT, a simple marker of calcified plaque, is useful for predicting the need for rotablation during PCI.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between exercise-induced QT dispersion and condition of infarct-related myocardium including myocardial scar after angioplasty assessed with exercise perfusion single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT).Exercise thallium-201 SPECT was performed 6 months after successful direct angioplasty in 67 male patients (60.6 +/- 11.5 years), who had Q wave infarction resulting from single vessel disease, and the number of perfusion defect areas (DS) was measured at rest and exercise together with QT (QTc) dispersion.In 52 patients with resting perfusion defects, the exercise-induced change in DS was correlated to the change in QT (or QTc) dispersion (r = -0.51 or r = -0.531, p0.0001). When the patients were grouped according to the patterns of transient perfusion defect, there were significant differences in DeltaQT dispersion and DeltaQTc dispersion among infarct-related three groups (reverse, fixed, and partial redistributions) and normal volunteers (DeltaQT dispersion; -5.7 +/- 12.7 ms in 13 patients with reverse redistribution, -16.3 +/- 13.1 ms in 30 patients with fixed redistribution, -28.9 +/- 29.5 ms in 9 patients with partial redistribution, and +3.4 +/- 20.9 ms in 12 normal volunteers, p = 0.0098; DeltaQTc dispersion; +18.2 +/- 20.8 ms, +1.4 +/- 16.7 ms, -15.4 +/- 30 ms, and +19 +/- 27.5 ms, p = 0.0017, respectively). DeltaQTc dispersion estimated the SPECT image patterns (p = 0.0002) with a sensitivity of 67.3%, a specificity of 83.7% and an accuracy of 78.2%.The change with exercise in QT dispersion may help detect the condition of infarct-related myocardium after angioplasty.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the significance of extension of exercise-induced ischemia toward apex of left ventricle.After injections of technetium-99m tetrofosmin at peak ergometer exercise and thallium-201 at 3 min post-exercise, dual-isotope single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) images were obtained simultaneously with cross-talk compensation using triple-energy window in 70 patients (65.8+/-9.5 years) with angiographically proven ischemic heart disease. The left ventricle was divided into a total of 18 areas in 3 levels of apical, middle, basal, and the extent and localization of ischemia to long axis of left ventricle were measured at peak exercise and 3 min into the recovery.Of 57 patients with exercise-induced reversible ischemia, in 25 patients with the ischemia in 2 levels to long axis of left ventricle, the ischemia extended mainly to the middle and basal levels (p0.0001) and was localized during recovery mainly in the basal level (p0.0005). In 21 patients with the ischemia in all 3 levels, the ischemia was localized during recovery mainly to the middle and basal levels (p0.05). The persistence of ischemia in apex at post-exercise reflected the delay of recovery from ischemia on the whole of left ventricle and was related to the enlargement of resting end-diastolic volume of left ventricle as compared to the quick recovery of ischemia in apex (p0.0005 and p0.05, respectively).Although the ischemia recovers earliest in the peripheral apical level within exercise-induced ischemic territory, the delay of recovery from the ischemia in the apical level may be related to the development of heart failure, independent of intensity of occurred ischemia during exercise.

The severity of exercise-induced painful ischemia and its recovery after the disappearance of pain are unknown. The aim of this study was to investigate the difference in severity of ischemia at both exercise and postexercise between painful ischemia and painless ischemia. After injections of technetium-99m tetrofosmin at peak ergometer exercise and thallium-201 at 3 minutes postexercise, dual-isotope single photon emission tomography was performed in 78 patients with angiographically proven ischemic heart disease. The extent of ischemic areas (the number of areas), the depth of ischemia in the ischemic area (the severity score of ischemia) and the extension of ischemia toward long axis of the left ventricle (the number of left ventricular levels with ischemic areas in apical, middle, and basal levels) at both exercise and postexercise were compared on the basis of the presence of pain and a history of diabetes mellitus (DM). The symptoms improved within 3 minutes postexercise in all painful ischemia patients. Of 59 patients with reversible ischemia, except for 4 painful ischemia patients with DM, the extent and depth of ischemia at postexercise were more severe in 14 painful ischemia patients without DM and 13 painless ischemia patients with DM than 28 painless ischemia patients without DM (extent; 2.9 +/- 1.7 areas, 3.5 +/- 2.8 areas versus 1.4 +/- 1.8 areas, P = 0.005, depth; 3.8 +/- 3.1 scores, 5.8 +/- 5.4 scores versus 1.9 +/- 3.0 scores, P = 0.0084, respectively) despite a comparable severity of ischemia at peak exercise (extent; 5.4 +/- 2.6 areas, 6.0 +/- 2.4 areas versus 4.3 +/- 3.3 areas, depth; 9.3 +/- 5.7 scores, 10.7 +/- 7.3 scores and 7.5 +/- 8.1 scores, all NS). The extension of ischemia toward long-axis of the left ventricle at both peak exercise and postexercise was more severe in the former 2 groups than the latter group (peak exercise; 2.4 +/- 0.6 levels, 2.5 +/- 0.7 levels versus 1.9 +/- 0.8 levels, P = 0.0263, postexercise: 1.8 +/- 0.7 levels, 1.5 +/- 0.9 levels versus 0.8 +/- 0.8 levels, P = 0.0014, respectively). The presence of chest pain is related to the extension of ischemia toward long-axis of the left ventricle, and the disappearance of pain was not related to the recovery of ischemia.

We report a reperfusion injury after rotational coronary atherectomy (RA) in a 66-year-old man with coronary artery disease. Submaximal exercise with thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) imaging before reperfusion showed partially reversible perfusion defects in the apex and reversible perfusion defects in the anteroseptal area. Thallium-201 and I-123 beta-methyl iodophenyl-pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) dual isotope SPECT was performed 5 days before and 1 hour after RA, and 1 month after RA. SPECT images at 1 hour after recovery of no reflow phenomenon after RA revealed enlargement of the defect sizes on thallium-201 and BMIPP uptakes in the anteroseptal area including the apex compared with those before RA. The defect size of thallium-201 uptake was progressively improved on 5 hour delayed redistribution imaging and 1 month after reperfusion compared with that of BMIPP uptake. In conclusion, the changes for the worse of thallium-201 uptake and fatty acid metabolism immediately after the no reflow phenomenon may indicate an injured membrane integrity with altered myocardial metabolism rather than myocardial ischemia. Thallium-201 and I-123 BMIPP dual isotope SPECT is useful for evaluating reperfusion injury after successful reperfusion therapy in a patient with acute coronary syndrome.

A 72‐year‐old female was diagnosed as a stress‐induced cardiomyopathy from apical ballooning pattern of left ventricular dysfunction without coronary artery stenosis after the mental stress. ECG showed the transient T‐wave inversions after the ST‐segment elevations. By the mental stress after 1 year, she showed a transient dysfunction with similar ECG changes again. T‐wave inversions recovered earlier, and cardiac sympathetic dysfunction showed a lighter response corresponding to the less severe dysfunction than those after the first onset. Wellens’ ECG pattern was associated with the degree of neurogenic myocardial stunning with sympathetic hyperinnervation caused by mental stress.

Development of atrial fibrillation (AF) is complexly associated with electrical and structural remodeling and other factors every stage of AF development. We hypothesized that P wave electrocardiography with an elevated brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) level would be associated with the progression to persistence from paroxysmal AF.P wave electrocardiography such as a maximum P wave duration (MPWD) and dispersion by 12-leads ECG, heart/mediastinum (H/M) ratio by delayed iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphic imaging, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), and left atrial dimension (LAD) by echocardiography, and plasma BNP level were measured to evaluate the electrical and structural properties and sympathetic activity in 71 patients (mean ± standard deviation, age: 67 ± 13 years, 63.4 % males) with idiopathic paroxysmal AF.Over a 12.9-year follow-up period, AF developed into persistent AF in 30 patients. A wider MPWD (129 ms) (p = 0.001), wider P wave dispersion (60 ms) (p = 0.001), LAD enlargement (40 mm) (p = 0.001), higher BNP level (72 pg/mL) (p = 0.002), lower H/M ratio (≤2.7) (p = 0.025), and lower LVEF (≤60 %) (p = 0.035) were associated with the progression to persistent AF, and the wide MPWD was an independently powerful predictor of the progression to persistent AF with a hazard ratio (HR) of 5.49 [95 % confidence interval (CI) 2.38-12.7, p 0.0001] after adjusting for potential confounding variables, such as age and sex. The combination of wide MPWD and elevated BNP level was additive and incremental prognostic power with 13.3 [2.16-13, p 0.0001].The wide MPWD with elevated BNP level was associated with the progression to persistent AF.

The patient was 68-year-old man with highly symptomatic paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. Transoesophageal echocardiography was performed to confirm no left atrial embolism, and contrast-enhanced 64-row multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) was performed to clarify the anatomic forms and routes of pulmonary veins (PV) before ablation (Figure 1A). The circumferential ablation procedure was performed using electroanatomical mapping (Figure 1B). Radiofrequency catheter energy was delivered with a closed irrigation cool-tip ablation catheter. The patient was kept on oral anticoagulation with a controlled international normalized ratio between 2 and …

We evaluate the systemic right ventricle (SRV) failure of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries using the scintigraphic studies in a case with 32-year-old male who improved the heart failure by the use of beta-adrenergic blockers. The myocardial perfusion sympathetic nervous system activity mismatch with preserved coronary flow and wall thickness indicates a distinctive feature as SRV cardiomyopathy, suggesting the importance of recovery of SRV sympathetic dysfunction for improving the prognosis.

UNLABELLED Severe left ventricular dysfunction or cardiac sympathetic nervous system (SNS) abnormality predicts cardiac death in various heart diseases, including arrhythmogenic disorders. However, it is not clear whether SNS abnormality predicts sudden cardiac death during long-term follow-up in patients with a history of ventricular tachyarrhythmia. We hypothesized that SNS abnormality would be associated with recurrent ventricular arrhythmic events. METHODS 123I-metaiodobenzylguanidine (MIBG) scintigraphy was performed on 86 patients (mean age+/-SD, 46+/-19 y, 65.1% men) with a history of ventricular tachycardia or fibrillation. 123I-MIBG (111 MBq) was intravenously administered under resting conditions, and planar images were obtained 15 min and 4 h later (anterior view for 6 min; 512x512 matrices; zoom ratio, 1.0). SNS activity was assessed using the heart-to-mediastinum ratio on delayed imaging. RESULTS During about 11 y of follow-up (mean+/-SD, 5.2+/-3.7 y), 3 patients (3.5%) had sudden cardiac death and 21 patients (24.4%) had sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmic events. SNS abnormality, defined as a heart-to-mediastinum ratio of less than 2.8, and left ventricular dysfunction, defined as a left ventricular ejection fraction of less than 50%, were associated with sudden cardiac death or recurrent ventricular tachyarrhythmic events (18/40 patients [45%] with SNS abnormality, vs. 6/46 patients [13%] without, P=0.004; 9/15 patients [60%] with left ventricular dysfunction, vs. 15/71 patients [21.1%] without, P=0.008). After adjustment for potential confounding variables such as age, sex, coronary risk factors, medication use, history of structural heart disease, and left ventricular function, SNS abnormality was a powerful predictor of recurrent arrhythmic events, with a hazard ratio of 3.6 [95% confidence interval, 1.4-9.2, P=0.007]). Further, SNS abnormality had incremental and additive prognostic power in combination with left ventricular dysfunction, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 4.4 [95% confidence interval, 1.9-9.9, P

In a 66-year-old male with subacute extensive anterior wall myocardial infarction, we report a change in ST vector orientation from a basal anterior to a mid anterior after coronary artery recanalization of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery with rotational atherectomy. The ST vector shift on the frontal plane after recanalization was consistent with a change toward more distal location of the ischemia on thallium-201 single photon emission computed tomography images compared to the findings during an exercise test before intervention. These findings may be correlated with local occlusion caused by distal microvascular embolization which was not visualized on coronary angiography following recanalization.

Backgrounds: A history of structural heart disease, heart failure, or stroke increases mortality in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, a useful marker for predicting mortality is not clarified in AF patients without those conventional risks. We recently reported cardiac sympathetic nerve system (SNS) abnormality as a predictor of arrhythmogenic mortality. We hypothesized that SNS abnormality would be associated with increased mortality in patients with paroxysmal AF who didn’t have conventional risk factors. Methods and Results: Iodine-123 metaiodobenzylguanidine scintigraphy was performed to measure Heart/Mediastinum (H/M) ratio as SNS activity in 48 patients (mean ± standard deviation, age: 65 ± 14 years, 65% males) with paroxysmal AF who didn’t have structural heart disease, heart failure, or stroke. P wave dispersion on 12-lead ECG and left atrial dimension on echocardiography were also measured to evaluate structural and electrical properties. Over 11 years follow up, 15 patients (31.3%) transited to permanent AF, and 12 (25%) had cardio/cerebrovascular events. SNS abnormality (defines as H/M ratio Conclusion: SNS abnormality is predictive of mortality in patients with paroxysmal AF who did not have conventional risk.

Background Drug-eluting stents (DESs) have been shown to decrease restenosis as compared with bare-metal stents. Recently, thiazolidinediones effectively reduced restenosis and the risk of repeat target vessel revascularization. We conducted a study to compare the performance of a DES with that of a bare-metal stent with pioglitazone in patients with Type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM). Methods The study was a prospective cohort trial involving 38 Type 2 diabetic patients referred for coronary stenting who were assigned to either the sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) group or the pioglitazone group. Quantitative coronary angiography was performed at study entry and at 6 months of follow-up to evaluate in-stent late luminal loss and the percentage of the luminal diameter and the rate of restenosis. We also analyzed major adverse cardiac events (MACE) at 12 months. Results There were no significant differences in glycemic control levels or in lipid levels in the two groups at follow up. The insulin and homeostasis model assessment insulin resistance at follow-up were significantly lower in the pioglitazone group than in the SES group. The percentage of restenosis was similar between the SES group and the pioglitazone group. The incidence of MACE at 1 year tended to be lower in the pioglitazone group than in the SES group. Conclusions The bare-metal stent with pioglitazone is not inferior to the SES in the present study and is one of therapeutic strategies of percutaneous coronary intervention for patients with DM.

Microcirculatory failure after reperfusion is clinically indicated to cause reperfusion injury whereas excessive intracellular calcium ion overload is experimentally proved as a key mechanism of reperfusion injury. We hypothesized that technetium-99m ((99m)Tc) pyrophosphate (Tc-PYP) uptake in injured but viable infarct-related myocardium with preserved myocardial perfusion after reperfusion estimated by thallium-201 ((201)Tl) uptake would be associated with final functional recovery.Dual-isotope Tc-PYP/(201)Tl single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) was performed 2 days after successful reperfusion therapy in patients with first acute myocardial infarction, and 50 patients (63 +/- 13 years old, female 22%) with preserved (201)Tl uptakes ofor = 50% in reperfused myocardium was followed for 1 month. Tc-PYP uptake was assessed as the heart-to-sternum (H/S) ratio. Two-dimensional echocardiography was also performed 2 days and 1 month after reperfusion to evaluate functional recovery.High Tc-PYP uptake, defined as the H/S ratioor = 0.81, was predictive of chronic phase no functional recovery (73.7% in 14 of 19 patients with high uptake vs 16.1% in five of 31 patients without those, p0.0001). After adjustment for potential confounding variables, including electrocardiographic persistent ST segment elevation at 1 h after reperfusion, high Tc-PYP uptake remained independently predictive of no functional recovery with odds ratio of 8.7 (95% confidential interval = 2 to 38.7; p = 0.005).High Tc-PYP uptake in reperfused but viable infarct-related myocardium was a powerful predictor of no functional recovery, which may reflect excessive intracellular calcium ion overload caused by reperfusion injury. Tc-PYP/(201)Tl dual-isotope SPECT imaging can provide prognostic information after reperfusion.

We investigated simultaneously the correlations between dobutamine-induced contractile reserve (CC), thallium-201 reverse redistribution (RR) and a mismatch between perfusion and metabolism (MM) to the magnitude of functional recovery. In 32 patients with coronary angioplasty early after infarction, echocardiography was performed at low-dose dobutamine stress within 1 week and at resting state at 1 month. Thallium-201/iodine-123 beta-methyl-iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) dual-isotope single photon emission tomography was performed at 1 month. Wall motion and the uptake of each tracer were scored as 0 to 2 in the infarct-related segments, and CC, RR, and MM were evaluated in the infarct-related segments. In 71 akinetic or dyskinetic segments before reperfusion, the initial thallium-201 uptake and initial BMIPP uptake scores and the 4 hour redistribution thallium-201 uptake scores were less severe in the group with complete functional recovery (group A), followed by the group with incomplete recovery (group B) and then the group with no recovery (group C) (each P < 0.0001). CC was the greatest in group A, followed by group B, and then group C (76.2% in 16/21, 60% in 15/25, 36% in 9/25, P = 0.0212). RR and MM were greater in group B (52% in 13 and 64% in 16) than in groups A and C (19% in 4 and 8% in 2, 33.3% in 7 and 24% in 6, P = 0.0013 and P = 0.0113). The intensity of functional damage reflects perfusion and metabolism, but the delayed and incomplete functional recovery after reperfusion may be closely related to RR, MM, and CC.