December 2006

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Volume 18 Issue 12
COMMENTARY: Bugs and Clots: The Value of Transesophageal Echocardiography in Defining Permanent Pacemaker Lead Infections
The number of patients receiving pacemaker and implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implants is rapidly increasing. The number of permanent pacemaker implants in the United States increased from about 95,000 in 1990 to 250,000 in 2002, while…
Figure 1. Kaplan-Meier plot to 1 year for unstable angina patients (left panel), and for myocardial infarction (MI) patients (right panel) of overall MACE-free survival (top panels), MI or death-free survival (middle panels), and for revascularization-fre
PCI with and without Abciximab after Upstream Eptifibatide Use: Outcomes in High-Risk Patients

Several clinical trials have demonstrated that platelet glycoprotein (GP) IIb/IIIa receptor inhibition reduces the ischemic complications of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).1–4 Comparative data between agents, however, are very limited,5 an…
Figure 1. Occluded infarct-related coronary artery (left anterior descending coronary artery).
GENOMICS AND CELLULAR THERAPY: Successful Mobilization of Peripheral Blood Stem Cells by Use of Granulocyte-Colony Stimulating F
There is increasing evidence that the liberation of stem cells by use of granulocyte-colony stimulating factor (G-CSF) with or without their transcoronary transplantation is feasible and can improve cardiac function in humans after acute myocardial i…
Strategies for Optimizing Outcomes in the NSTE-ACS Patient: The CATH (Cardiac Catheterization and Antithrombotic Therapy
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Target Audience: Clinical Cardiologists, Interventional Cardiologists and Nurses. Release Date: 12-01-06 Expiration Date: 11-30-07 Learning Objectives: Upon completion of this educational activity, participants should be able to: Educate clinician…
Strategies for Optimizing Outcomes in the NSTE-ACS Patient: The CATH (Cardiac Catheterization and Antithrombotic Therapy
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(PART II) A second group of patients who have received less attention were those who were switched at randomization; approximately three quarters of the patients were on some form of antithrombotic therapy prior to randomization — half of these woul…
Figure 1. (A) CT angiogram of the left pulmonary artery revealing multiple small branch occlusions (black arrows), and a large thrombus in the main left lower lobe branch (white arrows). (B) Transthoracic echocardiogram in the parasternal long axis view d
Percutaneous Thrombectomy for Pulmonary Embolism
Case Presentation. A 65-year-old female with squamous cell carcinoma of the uterus was admitted with acute dyspnea and hypotension. A computed tomography (CT) angiogram using the pulmonaryembolism (PE) protocol revealed evidence of multiple pulmonar…
Difficult Anatomies: Just Hold Your (Patient’s) Breath
To the Editor: Today’s vast armamentarium of percutaneous coronary interventional devices has both simplified and complicated the procedure. While user-friendly catheters, wires and stents have allowed the seasoned interventionalist to conquer incre…
Figure 1. AP cranial view of LAD (large arrow) showing subtotal occlusion of the first diagonal (small arrows).
Large Spontaneous Coronary Artery-to-Right Ventricular Fistula
Coronary fistulae are congenital or acquired communications between a coronary artery and either a chamber of the heart (coronary-cameral fistula) or any segment of the systemic or pulmonary circulation bypassing the myocardial capillary network. Cor…
To Close or Not To Close? PFO, Sex and Cerebrovascular Events
The precise role of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in causing stroke remains controversial. Clinical factors felt to support a diagnosis of paradoxical embolization through a PFO include presence of concurrent deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and onset of symp…
Figure 2. Severe stenosis in the mid-portion of the left anterior descending artery was successfully treated 3 days later with bare-metal stents.
Late Stent Thrombosis Mimicking Focal Restenosis after Sirolimus Stent Implantation: Angiographic and Intravascular Ultrasound A
Since the introduction of drug-eluting stents (DES) during interventional procedures, several randomized studies have demonstrated a significant reduction in coronary restenosis and target vessel revascularizations.1–4 However, despite the availabili…