Mar-07

Dear Readers,

This issue of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology coincides with the 56th Annual Scientific Sessions of the American College of Cardiology and includes original research articles, commentaries, letters to the editor, articles from the Rapid Communication section, the journal’s special sections Clinical Images and Clinical Decision Making, as well as online case reports and the proceedings of the International Andreas Gruentzig Society (IAGS) sessions on stroke and carotid artery stenting. These case reports and special IAGS session can be found on our website (www.invasivecardiology.com).
In the first original article, Dr. Carlo Vigna and collaborators from Italy, present their study assessing clinical, myocardial scintigraphy and late coronary angiographic results after the use of provisional T-drug-eluting stent placement for the treatment of bifurcation lesions. At 9-month follow up, they found acceptable rates for major adverse events, target vessel and lesion revascularization, demonstrating that angiography in selected patients based on myocardial scintigraphy was a useful approach. Dr. Paul Ho of the editorial board has provided a commentary to accompany this paper.
In the next original research article, Dr. Thomas Haldis and colleagues from the Meritcare Health System, The Heart Center, Geisinger Medical Center and Cooper Medical Center, describe a study assessing their technique to evaluate optimal stent placement without using intravascular ultrasound, but angiographic step-up and step-down instead. They showed that the step-up and step-down process was superior to the standard angiographic endpoint in achieving optimal stent apposition and expansion as compared to intravascular ultrasound. Dr. Kul Aggarwal of the editorial board has provided a commentary on this study.
Next, an original paper by Dr. Etsuo Tsuchikane and collaborators from the Toyohashi Heart Center and Toyokawa Municipal Hospital in Aichi, Japan, describes their examination of anti-intima hyperplastic effect on cilostazol-eluting stents in a porcine model. They demonstrated that cilostazol-eluting stents suppressed intimal hyperplasia and reduced intimal late loss compared to bare-metal stents.
In the next research article, submitted by Dr. Shepherd and associates from the Department of Physiology, University of Texas Health Science Center, the authors report on their research to evaluate a hand-held device that measures oxygen uptake. They found that the device was easy to use in a wide spectrum of patients, and describe their development of statistical modeling to minimize error in the measurement of cardiac output. Dr. Shyam Poludasu and colleagues from the SUNY Health Sciences Center in Brooklyn, New York, describe their study of the impact of gender on in-hospital percutaneous coronary interventional outcomes in African-Americans. They found that there were no significant differences in the composite outcome of in-hospital death, MI and repeat revascularization, but African-American women had significantly increased risk for bleeding complications following PCI, even when a modified strategy of GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor use with a bolus strategy was employed. Drs. Ruchira Glaser and Howard Herrmann of the editorial board have provided an accompanying editorial.
In the last original research article, Dr. Akiko Matsuo and colleagues present their randomized study comparing acute MI patients treated with a GuardWire temporary occlusion and aspiration system with patients in whom no distal protection was used. Their multicenter study showed that TIMI perfusion grade and incidence of no-reflow were not significantly improved with distal protection.
This issue also includes two selections from the Rapid Communication section. In the first, Dr. William Hillegass and colleagues from the University of Birmingham, Alabama, present their successful management of a patient presenting with a giant aneurysm of the right coronary artery that was treated with an innovative use of an Amplatzer Vascular Plug device.
In the second article, Drs. Chessa, Butera and Carminati from Milan, Italy, report on their successful use of a modified Cardia Intrasept device to close a secundum atrial septal defect. Also featured in this issue is a Clinical Images article. Drs. Kaneda, Taketani, and Saito from Stanford University and Shonan Kamakura General Hospital, present images from angiography, intravascular ultrasound and computed tomography showing a crushed stent previously implanted outside of a sirolimus-eluting stent, which resulted from passage of the guidewire outside the stent.
There is also a selection from the special section Clinical Decision Making. The discussion centers on a case presented by Dr. Yoshinobu Murasato and colleagues, reporting on an elderly patient who presented 6 months after implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent in which in-stent pseudo-restenosis has occurred due to organized thrombus. Drs. Dean Kereiakes, Deepak Bhatt, and David Kong offer their respective opinions about the management of the case and further explore the issues this case raises.
Remember to visit the journal online to read this month’s case reports. Drs. Jamshidi, Erne and Kobza from Kantonsspital in Lucerne, Switzerland, provide a case of an unusual presentation of a patient where percutaneous thrombus aspiration of a pulmonary artery followed by local fibrinolytic therapy was used to treat a submassive pulmonary embolism in association with right ventricular dysfunction. In the next case report, Dr. Jack Chen from Saint Joseph’s Hospital of Atlanta, Georgia, presents a case that demonstrates the challenges in diagnosing and treating left ventricular pseudoaneurysm. Dr. Farrukh Hussain from St. Boniface General Hospital, University of Manitoba, Canada, reports his use of the parallel wire technique to deal with wire-induced dissection of a complex calcified lesion. In the next case report, Dr. Paul Ho from Hawaii Region Kaiser Permanente in Honolulu, describes his successful management of a patient employing limited crossing of the penetration catheter into a severe coronary artery stenosis. Drs. Latib, Corbett and Colombo from EMO Centro Cuore Columbus in Milan, present their approach to recanalizing an occluded right coronary artery into the right internal mammary artery using a retrograde approach. In the next case report, Drs. Iacob, Pinte and Tintoiu from the Army Center for Cardiovascular Disease in Bucharest, report an unusual case of an aneurysm involving a coronary bifurcation treated with covered stent implantation. Dr. Madhavi Kadiyala and colleagues from The Western Pennsylvania Hospital in Pittsburgh, present a report on a rare case of anomalous left anterior descending artery with a large interarterial communication that was successfully diagnosed with CT angiography and invasive angiography.
And finally, please see the online publication of the journal for perspectives on carotid artery stenting and stroke treatment that occurred during the Biennial International Andreas Gruentzig meeting.

Sincerely,

Richard E. Shaw, PhD, FACC, FACA
Editor-in-Chief