Status and potential clinical value of a transthoracic evaluation of the coronary arteries.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Labombarda F
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4717568 | biostudies-other | 2016 Jan
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other
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Project description:The aim of this paper is to highlight coronary investigation by transthoracic Doppler evaluation. This application has recently been introduced into clinical practice and has received enthusiastic feedback in terms of coronary flow reserve evaluation on left anterior coronary artery disease diagnosis. Such diagnosis represents the most important clinical application but has in itself some limitations regarding anatomical and technological knowledge. The purpose of this paper is to offer a didactic approach on how to investigate the different segments of left anterior and posterior descending coronary arteries by transthoracic ultrasound using different anatomical key structures as markers. We will conclude by underlining that, nowadays, innovative technology allows complete evaluation of both major coronary arteries in many patients in a resting condition as well as during pharmacology stress-tests, but we often do not know it.
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Project description:BACKGROUND: Improvements in ultrasound technology has enabled direct, transthoracic visualization of long portions of coronary arteries : the left anterior descending (LAD), circumflex (Cx) and right coronary artery (RCA). Transthoracic measurements of coronary flow velocity were proved to be highly reproducible and correlated with invasive measurements. While clinical applications of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) of principal coronary arteries are still very limited they will likely grow. The echocardiographers may therefore be interested to know the ultrasonic views, technique of examination and be aware where to look for coronary arteries and how to optimize the images. METHODS: A step-by-step approach to direct, transthoracic visualization of the LAD, Cx and RCA is presented. The technique of examination is discussed, correlations with basic coronary angiography views and heart anatomy are shown and extensively illustrated with photographs and movie-pictures. Hints concerning optimization of ultrasound images are presented and artifacts of imaging are discussed. CONCLUSIONS: Direct, transthoracic examination of the LAD, Cx and RCA in adults is possible and may become a useful adjunct to other methods of coronary artery examination but studies are needed to establish its role.
| S-EPMC317358 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundLesions in the proximal left coronary artery (LCA) are associated with a poor prognosis compared with other lesional sites. Transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) can help to detect proximal LCA flow, and an accelerated coronary flow velocity (CFV) indicates the presence of proximal LCA lesions. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic value of CFV in the proximal LCA measured by TTDE.MethodsWe enrolled 1472 consecutive hemodynamically stable patients with known or suspected heart disease whose CFV was successfully detected using TTDE accompanied by routine echocardiography between 2008 and 2011. The primary outcome was cardiac death (acute myocardial infarction, heart failure, or sudden cardiac death) and patients were followed up over a median of 6.3?years.ResultsOverall, 42 cardiac deaths (3%) were observed. An increased CFV was significantly associated with the outcome in several models based on potential confounders (age, rate pressure product, Framingham Risk Score, diabetes, coronary artery disease, hemoglobin, brain natriuretic peptide, estimated glomerular filtration rate, left ventricular mass, left ventricular ejection fraction, and E/e'). Using a receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, the optimal cut-off value for the CFV to the association of the outcome was 37?cm/s (area under the curve, 0.70; sensitivity, 82%; specificity, 62%). In sequential Cox proportional hazards models, the CFV added incremental prognostic information to the clinical and basic echocardiographic parameters (chi-squared: 110.7 to 146.6, P?<?0.01).ConclusionsAn increased CFV in the proximal LCA was associated with cardiac death, incremental to the clinical and basic echocardiographic parameters.
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Project description:Background In the absence of obstructive coronary stenoses, abnormality of noninvasive stress tests (NIT) in patients with chronic coronary syndromes may indicate myocardial ischemia of nonobstructive coronary arteries (INOCA). The differential prognosis of INOCA according to the presence of coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMD) and incremental prognostic value of CMD with intracoronary physiologic assessment on top of NIT information remains unknown. Methods and Results From the international multicenter registry of intracoronary physiologic assessment (ILIAS [Inclusive Invasive Physiological Assessment in Angina Syndromes] registry, N=2322), stable patients with NIT and nonobstructive coronary stenoses with fractional flow reserve >0.80 were selected. INOCA was diagnosed when patients showed positive NIT results. CMD was defined as coronary flow reserve ≤2.5. According to the presence of INOCA and CMD, patients were classified into 4 groups: group 1 (no INOCA nor CMD, n=116); group 2 (only CMD, n=90); group 3 (only INOCA, n=41); and group 4 (both INOCA and CMD, n=40). The primary outcome was major adverse cardiovascular events, a composite of all-cause death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven target vessel revascularization at 5 years. Among 287 patients with nonobstructive coronary stenoses (fractional flow reserve=0.91±0.06), 81 patients (38.2%) were diagnosed with INOCA based on positive NIT. By intracoronary physiologic assessment, 130 patients (45.3%) had CMD. Regardless of the presence of INOCA, patients with CMD showed a significantly lower coronary flow reserve and higher hyperemic microvascular resistance compared with patients without CMD (P<0.001 for all). The cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events at 5 years were 7.4%, 21.3%, 7.7%, and 34.4% in groups 1 to 4. By documenting CMD (groups 2 and 4), intracoronary physiologic assessment identified patients at a significantly higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events at 5 years compared with group 1 (group 2: adjusted hazard ratio [HRadjusted], 2.88; 95% CI, 1.52-7.19; P=0.024; group 4: HRadjusted, 4.00; 95% CI, 1.41-11.35; P=0.009). Conclusions In stable patients with nonobstructive coronary stenoses, a diagnosis of INOCA based only on abnormal NIT did not identify patients with higher risk of long-term cardiovascular events. Incorporating intracoronary physiologic assessment to NIT information in patients with nonobstructive disease allowed identification of patient subgroups with up to 4-fold difference in long-term cardiovascular events. Registration URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04485234.
| S-EPMC9238617 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Incidental findings are not uncommon in echocardiography. A transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) of an adult woman with arterial hypertension showed a tubular structure with hyperechoic walls in the atrial side of the atrioventricular groove in apical views. Coronary computed tomography angiography correlated this finding with a retroaortic course of the anomalous circumflex artery (retroaortic anomalous coronary artery [RAC], benign coronary artery variant). Recently described as the RAC sign on TTE, practitioners should be aware of this finding to avoid mistaken it as artifacts, catheters/leads, or calcified mitral annulus.
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Project description:BackgroundMitochondrial fission regulator 2 (MTFR2) was involved in the progression and development of various cancers. However, the relationship between MTFR2 with lung adenocarcinoma (LUAD) had not been reported. Herein, this study analyzed the clinical significance and potential mechanisms of MTFR2 in LUAD via bioinformatics tools.ResultsWe found that the level of MTFR2 was increased, and correlated with sex, age, smoking history, neoplasm staging, histological subtype and TP53 mutation status in LUAD patients. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis showed LUAD patients with increased MTFR2 had a poor prognosis. In addition, univariate COX regression analysis showed neoplasm staging, T stage, distant metastasis and MTFR2 level were risk factors for the prognosis of LUAD. A total of 1127 genes were coexpressed with MTFR2, including 840 positive and 208 negative related genes. KEGG and GSEA found that MTFR2 participated in the progression of LUAD by affecting cell cycle, DNA replication, homologous recombination, p53 signaling pathway and other mechanisms. The top 10 coexpressed genes, namely CDK1, CDC20, CCNB1, PLK1, CCNA2, AURKB, CCNB2, BUB1B, MAD2L1 and BUB1 were highly expressed, and were associated with poor prognosis in LUAD.ConclusionsConsequently, we elucidated MTFR2 was a biomarker for diagnosis and poor prognosis in LUAD, and might participate in the progression of LUAD via affecting cell cycle, DNA replication, homologous recombination and p53 signaling pathway.
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Project description: Not available
| S-EPMC8078969 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The coronary microcirculation (CM) plays a critical role in the regulation of blood flow and nutrient exchange to support the viability of the heart. In many disease states, the CM becomes structurally and functionally impaired, and transthoracic Doppler echocardiography can be used as a non-invasive surrogate to assess CM disease. Analysis of Doppler echocardiography is prone to user bias and can be laborious, especially if additional parameters are collected. We hypothesized that we could develop a MATLAB algorithm to automatically analyze clinically-relevant and non-traditional parameters from murine PW Doppler coronary flow patterns that would reduce intra- and inter-operator bias, and analysis time. Our results show a significant reduction in intra- and inter-observer variability as well as a 30 fold decrease in analysis time with the automated program vs. manual analysis. Finally, we demonstrated good agreement between automated and manual analysis for clinically-relevant parameters under baseline and hyperemic conditions. Resulting coronary flow velocity reserve calculations were also found to be in good agreement. We present a MATLAB algorithm that is user friendly and robust in defining and measuring Doppler coronary flow pattern parameters for more efficient and potentially more insightful analysis assessed via Doppler echocardiography.
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Project description:BACKGROUND::Polymer-free drug-eluting stents (DES) without permanent-polymer coating may be associated with rapid vessel healing, providing a rationale to reduce dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). The aim of the current study was to compare vessel healing of a polymer-free sirolimus-eluting stent (PF-SES), its bare metal stent (BMS) analogue to a permanent polymer-based sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) with proven effectiveness in porcine coronary arteries. MATERIAL AND METHODS::An ultrathin-strut cobalt-chromium PF-SES, its BMS analogue and an SES with a permanent polymer were used to study vessel healing and their antistenotic potential. Stents were implanted in porcine coronary arteries for histopathologic analysis at 7, 28 and 180?days. In an additional in vitro study, the thrombogenicity of PF-SES was compared with a fluoropolymer-coated everolimus-eluting stent (EES) which demonstrated low stent thrombosis rates in numerous studies. RESULTS::In the animal study, neointimal growth and injury scores were minimal and inflammation scores were low in the neointima and adventitia in all study groups. After 28?days, neointimal area was lowest in PF-SES when compared with SES and BMS (1.48 ± 0.55?mm² versus 2.43 ± 0.69?mm² versus 1.90 ± 0.85?mm², respectively, p < 0.05) and endothelialization of luminal surfaces was nearly complete in all groups, though SES show the least coverage with occasional adherent luminal inflammatory cells ( p > 0.05). At 180?days, neointimal area and thickness were most pronounced in SES ( p < 0.05) and comparable with BMS implantations, which were characterized by nearly completed vessel healing. PF-SES and BMS had complete endothelialization, absence of fibrin and sustained low inflammatory reaction when compared with the permanent polymer-based SES (inflammation score: PF-SES 0.41 ± 0.74 versus SES 2.52 ± 1.72 versus BMS 0.30 ± 0.65, respectively, p < 0.05 BMS versus SES). Granuloma formation and fibrin accumulation were most pronounced in SES but did not reach statistical significance, p > 0.05). In the in vitro thrombogenicity study, the PF-SES confirmed comparable antithrombogenic properties with regard to the parameters fibrin and platelet binding, and platelet aggregation when compared with the EES. CONCLUSIONS::As compared with BMS, the ultrathin-strut cobalt-chromium PF-SES showed similar endothelialization at 28?days and comparable healing characteristics at 180?days efficacious inhibition of neointimal proliferation in porcine coronary arteries with low inflammation responses and a BMS-like endothelialization at 180?days. In addition, in an in vitro model, the PF-SES also confirmed low thrombogenicity as compared with the EES.
| S-EPMC6376525 | biostudies-literature
Project description:BackgroundPatients with chest pain and no obstructive coronary artery disease have shown a high incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). We evaluated the role of absolute myocardial perfusion quantification in predicting all-cause mortality and MACE during long-term follow-up in this group of patients.MethodsWe studied 79 patients who underwent Nitrogen-13 ammonia PET for quantification of global myocardial blood flow (MBF) and myocardial flow reserve (MFR) due to suspected impaired myocardial perfusion. Patients with coronary artery disease (i.e., > 30% stenosis in one or more coronary arteries) were excluded. We assessed all-cause mortality and MACE. MACE was defined as the composite incidence of death, myocardial infarction (MI), or hospitalization due to heart failure.ResultsMedian follow-up was 8 (IQR: 3-14) years. Univariate Cox regression showed that only MFR (P = 0.01) was a predictor of all-cause mortality. Univariate Cox regression analysis showed that both MFR and Stress MBF were predictors of the composite endpoint of MACE (P < 0.001 and P = 0.01, respectively).ConclusionQuantitative assessment of myocardial perfusion may predict all-cause mortality and MACE in patients with chest pain and normal coronary arteries in the long-term follow-up.
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