Cardiology Journal 2008, tom 15, nr 4

In the current issue of Cardiology Journal, Qi-ming Liu et al. [1] present the study in which they prove that in the group of patients with microvascular angina (myocardial ischemia without stenosis in coronary arteries confirmed by means of several methods) more intense lipid disorders occur than in the control group (precisely selected in terms of gender and age) and additionally that it is associated with endothelial function impairment. This function was evaluated by measuring the extent of flow mediated dilatation of brachial artery (FMD, flow mediated dilatation). The negative correlation between concentration of lipoprotein (a) and LDL cholesterol and FMD [1] was alsodemonstrated...

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a multifactorial heart disease in which there is enlargement and systolic dysfunction of one or both ventricles. The exhaustion of compensatory mechanisms leads to symptoms of congestive heart failure, which is a significant problem in contemporary cardiology. DCM is still diagnosed using clinical assessment; echocardiography is necessary, and in some clinical situations we need hemodynamic assessment in order to identify the etiology and progression of heart disease...

A new device for the detection of lipid corecontaining plaques called a Catheter-based Lipi-Scan™ Coronary Imaging System manufactured by InfraReDx has received 510(k) clearance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration on 29 April 2008. The LipiScan device uses near-infrared spectroscopy to identify lipid core-containing plaques of interest in the coronary arteries in patients alreadyundergoing cardiac catheterization...

A 79-year-old man was sent by a general practitioner for diagnosis of a “strange murmur”. He was totally asymptomatic and his history was unremarkable. Physical examination revealed only a continuous systolic/diastolic murmur best heard over the left sternum border...

The most common interventions in structural heart diseases for various age groups are percutaneous occlusions of septal defects. We present the case of a woman with patent foramen ovale (PFO) periodically causing a right-to-left shunt, after an incident of stroke, with migraine attacks, treated by percutaneous closure of PFO with use of a novel occluder device — an Occlutech Figulla®...

We present the case of a 3-month-old infant with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) with pulmonary artery hypoplasia, critical right ventricle outflow tract (RVOT) obstruction and the presence of major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCA) and CATCH 22 syndrome. Due to anatomical conditions (severe pulmonary artery hypoplasia), the patient was not qualified for palliative operative treatment Blalock-Taussig shunt...

A 61-year-old patient with a 20-year history of permanent pacemaker implantation and half-a-year cardiac resynchronization therapy using a left ventricular lead placed via surgical approach was admitted for extraction of an old coiled right ventricular lead, which triggered ventricular arrhythmia and created a risk of pulmonary embolism...

Pseudo-Mahaim (AP-M) fibers are a rare variant of atrioventricular (AV) accessory pathways. Atriofascicular and atrioventricular accessory connections are characterized by slow conduction and decremental properties. Dual physiological AV node pathways, slow and fast, are observed in a large number of patients with AP-M...

High-dose statins are used in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) to reduce inflammation. The aim of the study was the evaluation of the influence of low-dose atorvastatin (20 mg) on selected inflammatory parameters and clinical outcomes after ACS...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has been accepted as an established therapy for advanced systolic heart failure. Electrical and mechanical dyssynchrony are usually evaluated to increase the percentage of CRT responders. We postulated that QRS notch can increase mechanical LV dyssynchrony independently of other known predictors such as left ventricular ejection fraction and QRS duration..