Myocardial ischemia, resulting from imbalance in myocardial oxygen supply and demand, can be quantitatively assessed by positron emission tomography (PET) with absolute measures of myocardial blood flow and oxygen consumption rate (MVO2). Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) has notable advantages over PET, with no radiation, high spatial resolution, faster scan times, and excellent soft tissue con...

Far more extensive than the epicardial coronary vasculature that can be visualized angiographically is the coronary microcirculation, which foregoes routine imaging. Probably due to the lack of techniques able to provide tangible evidence of its crucial role, the clinical importance of coronary microvascular dysfunction is not fully appreciated. However, evidence gathered over the last several ...

BACKGROUND Ischemia occurs frequently in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) without evidence of epicardial stenosis. This study evaluates the hypothesis that the occurrence of ischemia in HCM is related to remodeling of the coronary microcirculation. METHODS AND RESULTS End-diastolic septal wall thickness was significantly increased in patients with HCM (25.8+/-2.9 mm) in comparison with cardi...

A functional microcirculation is vital to the survival of mammalian tissues. In vivo video microscopy is often used in animal models to assess microvascular function, providing real-time observation of blood flow in normal and diseased tissues. To extend the capabilities of in vivo video microscopy, we have developed a contrast-enhanced system with postprocessing video analysis tools that permi...

There is growing evidence of the presence and relevance of coronary microvascular abnormalities in many cardiac diseases. In particular, it has been recently shown that dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is characterized by dysfunction of the coronary microvessels since its very early onset. Coronary microcirculatory dysfunction is not an effect of myocardial damage but seems in turn to cause progres...

Fifty-eight normal subjects and 51 subjects with borderline hypertension underwent microvascular and hemodynamic studies while on an ad libitum diet and during periods of sodium depletion (10 mEq/day) and repletion (200 mEq/day). Hemodynamic measurements included arterial blood pressure, cardiac index, total peripheral resistance, forearm blood flow, vascular resistance, venous compliance, and ...

BACKGROUND Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells have unique properties favorable to their use in clinical practice and have been studied for cardiac repair. However, these cells are larger than coronary microvessels and there is controversy about the risk of embolization and microinfarctions, which could jeopardize the safety and efficacy of intracoronary route for their delivery. The index of microc...

A 59-year-old woman was admitted in our hospital due to persistent cough and dyspnea. Transthoracic 2-dimensional echocardiography demonstrated a cardiac mass (29 x 34 mm) that extended from the right upper pulmonary vein into the left atrium causing the partial obstruction of the right lower vein as indicated by the increased Doppler velocities. Contrast echocardiography confirmed the presence...

INTRODUCTION Esmolol may efficiently reduce heart rate (HR) and decrease mortality during septic shock. An improvement of microcirculation dissociated from its macrocirculatory effect may a role. The present study investigated the effect of esmolol on gut and sublingual microcirculation in a resuscitated piglet model of septic shock. METHODS Fourteen piglets, anesthetized and mechanically ven...