Psychological stress and type D personality have been associated with adverse cardiac prognosis, but little is known about their relative effect on the pathogenesis of coronary heart disease (CHD). "Type D" refers to the tendency to experience negative emotions and to inhibit the expression of these emotions in social interactions. We investigated the relative effect of stress and type D person...

BACKGROUND The aim was to investigate prognostic relevance of history of allergy in subjects with unstable angina treated with coronary angioplasty. METHODS Fifty-seven consecutive patients with unstable angina who underwent coronary angioplasty were enrolled in the study and were divided into two groups: those with a history of allergy (Group A, N = 15); and controls (Group C, N =42). Major ...

To evaluate the effectiveness and cost of low osmolarity, nonionic contrast agents for cardiac angiography, 443 patients were randomized to receive either iopamidol or diatrizoate. All adverse events that occurred within 24 h of the procedure were recorded prospectively by study personnel and classified according to previously determined criteria. Major events were defined as life threatening o...

BACKGROUND Performance of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is usually restricted to hospitals with cardiac surgery on site. We conducted a noninferiority trial to compare the outcomes of PCI performed at hospitals without and those with on-site cardiac surgery. METHODS We randomly assigned participants to undergo PCI at a hospital with or without on-site cardiac surgery. Patients requ...