A 57 year old man was admitted for investigation of recurrent syncopal attacks. Holter monitoring during an attack while in hospital revealed a unique sequence of gross ST segment elevation, ventricular tachycardia, prolonged ventricular fibrillation, asystole, junctional and ventricular escape rhythm, and finally spontaneous restoration of sinus rhythm with severe ST segment depression. Subseq...

OBJECTIVES In this work we studied the temporal evolution of changes in the electrocardiogram (ECG) as a consequence of the induced ischemia during prolonged coronary angioplasty, comparing the time course of indexes reflecting depolarization and those reflecting repolarization. METHODS We considered both local (measured at specific points of the ECG) and global (obtained from the Karhunen-Lo...

As the costs of medical care continue to rise, there has been increasing interest in evaluating the cost-effectiveness of medical practices. One area that has received particular scrutiny in recent years is percutaneous coronary revascularisation (PTCA). In the United States alone, more than 300 000 PTCAs are performed each year at an estimated cost of approximately US$3 billion. Despite the tr...

Although use of videotape for the recording of coronary angiograms continues to grow, the validity of quantitative coronary angiographic analysis of video images remains unknown. To estimate the reliability of angiographic images recorded on videotape, experimental and clinical angiograms were recorded simultaneously on both 35 mm cinefilm and super-VHS videotape with normal images and with spa...

on simultaneous recordings from 62 leads on the entire thorax before, during, and after balloon inflation during percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Twenty-five patients were studied, and 30 angioplasties were performed; 20 patients had one-vessel disease, and five patients had two-vessel disease. In total, 15 dilations in the left anterior descending artery (LAD), seven in t...

Patients who undergo percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) for coronary artery disease are at risk for recurrence at the site of the procedure. Placement of stents as an adjunct to PTCA is one strategy to reduce recurrence. The use of various techniques to apply intracoronary radiation through local application of catheters or placement of radioactive stents (also known as intra...

We report a case of superior vena cava (SVC) thrombosis in a patient with liver cirrhosis and peritoneovenous surgical Denver shunt, successfully treated by angioplasty. In 2005, a 75-year-old man with a criptogenetic liver cirrhosis and peritoneovenous surgical Denver shunt was admitted to our hospital for chylous ascites. Venography showed a stenosis near the junction of the SVC with the righ...

STUDY DESIGN Epidemiological study using national administrative data. OBJECTIVE To provide a complete analysis of national trends in spinal fusion from 1998 to 2008 and compare with trends in laminectomy, hip replacement, knee arthroplasty, percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty, and coronary artery bypass graft. SUMMARY OF BACKGROUND DATA Previous studies have reported a rapid inc...

Background. Although the technical success rate of coronary angioplasty in the elderly is high, very old patients have increased risk of procedure-related death and late recurrence of severe angina. We proposed to determine baseline variables that predict early and intermediate-term failure of percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) in patients more than 65 so we could effectively...

To establish comprehensive criteria for detecting restenosis and remodeling, inter- and intraobserver reproducibility of quantitative arteriography in the analysis of 20 lesions immediately after and 6 months after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) were assessed. Geometric single-plane (minimum, maximum, mean diameter and percent diameter stenosis), biplane (absolute and rel...