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Aims: Anthracyclines have profound consequences on the structure and function of the heart, which over time cause a cardiomyopathy that leads to congestive heart failure. Early detection of subclinical left ventricular (LV) dysfunction following a low dose of anthracyclines may be a preventive strategy. The aim of this study was to determine torsion analysis using two-dimensional speckle-tracking imaging (STI), useful for detecting early anthracycline-mediated cardiotoxicity., Methods and Results: Conventional and Doppler echocardiography images were obtained from 25 patients (mean age 58 ± 11 years) before chemotherapy and 1 and 3 months after treatment. The cumulative anthracycline doses were 98 ± 59 and 170 ± 87 g/m(2) at 1 and 3 months, respectively. After standard echocardiography, LV torsion and twisting velocity profiles from apical and basal short-axis images were analysed using STI. LV dimensions and ejection fraction did not change throughout follow-up. Although isovolumic relaxation time showed prolongation 3 months after chemotherapy, other Doppler indices did not show significant changes. However, significant deteriorations in torsion (P < 0.0001 by ANOVA), twisting rate (P < 0.0001 by ANOVA), and untwisting rate (P < 0.001 by ANOVA) were found 1 month after chemotherapy. A significant negative correlation was observed between cumulative anthracycline doses and torsion (r = -0.524, P < 0.0001)., Conclusion: LV torsion analysis could be a useful non-invasive approach for early detection of subclinical anthracycline cardiotoxicity.

Background: The patency and complications in aorto-iliac (AI) stenting remain poorly understood. The aim of this paper was to investigate the safety and efficacy after AI stenting., Methods and Results: This study was performed as a large-scale multicenter, retrospective registry. A total of 2,147 consecutive patients with AI disease were enrolled. The safety endpoints were procedure success, complications and 30-day mortality. The efficacy endpoints were primary, assisted primary and secondary patency, overall survival, freedom from major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE; all-cause death, myocardial infarction and stroke), and major adverse cardiovascular and limb events (MACLE; any repeat revascularization for limb and leg amputation in addition to MACE). Procedure success, complication rate and 30-day mortality were 97.6%, 6.4% and 0.7%. Primary patency was 92.5%, 82.6% and 77.5% at 1, 3 and 5 years, assisted primary patency was 97.0%, 92.7% and 91.9% at 1, 3 and 5 years and secondary patency was 99.0%, 98.7% and 98.5% at 1, 3 and 5 years. The overall survival rate was 95.0%, 87.6%, and 79.3% at 1, 3 and 5 years. The cause of death was cardiovascular in 44.1%. Freedom from MACE (MACLE) was 93.3% (89.9%), 84.4% (76.7%), and 74.9% (66.8%) at 1, 3 and 5 years. Female gender, diabetes, renal failure, absence of aspirin, reference vessel diameter <8.0mm and outflow lesion were found to be independent predictors of primary patency., Conclusions: The safety and efficacy after AI stenting are feasible compared to surgical reconstruction.

Soutenir (Asahi-Intecc, Nagoya, Japan), a novel microsnare, was used to grip and pull a retrograde guidewire through arteries with chronic total occlusions during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Soutenir can pass through a microcatheter with a 0.020″ lumen, and it can easily enter distal lesions in the coronary artery. Here, we introduce a method for retrieving the tip of a broken intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) catheter by using this microsnare. We present the case of a 64-year-old man who was referred to our hospital for narrowing of the proximal right coronary artery (RCA). After IVUS examination, the catheter was removed from the artery with some difficulty, and the catheter tip broke. The broken tip remained in the RCA and was carried along with the blood to the distal part of the RCA. The conventional gooseneck snare and filter device failed to retrieve the broken tip. However, Soutenir easily passed beyond the catheter tip and reached the distal part of the atrioventricular branch. It snared the tip of the catheter, whereby the tip could easily be removed. Thus, without damaging the RCA, we successfully removed the broken catheter tip from the RCA using this microsnare.

Recent evidence suggests that treatment with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist suppressed local inflammation in vascular tissues or cardiomyocytes; therefore, we examined the effect of spironolactone on glucose and lipid metabolism in a mouse model with diet-induced diabetes and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease. C57BL/6 mice were fed either the control diet, 60% fat diet with 30% fructose water (HFFD), or HFFD with spironolactone for 8 wk. HFFD mice demonstrated apparent phenotypes of metabolic syndrome, including insulin resistance, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and fatty liver. Although treatment with spironolactone did not affect the increased calorie intake and body weight by HFFD, the increments of epididymal fat weight, blood pressure, serum triglyceride, free fatty acids, leptin, and total cholesterol levels were significantly suppressed. Elevation of blood glucose during glucose and insulin tolerance tests in HFFD mice was significantly lowered by spironolactone. Notably, increased glucose levels during pyruvate tolerance test in HFFD mice were almost completely ameliorated to control levels by the treatment. Staining with hematoxylin-eosin (HE) and Oil-red-O demonstrated marked accumulation of triglycerides in the centrilobular part of the hepatic lobule in HFFD mice, and these accumulations were effectively improved by spironolactone. Concomitantly HFFD feeding markedly up-regulated hepatic mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines (TNFalpha, IL-6, and monocyte chemoattractant protein-1), gluconeogenic gene phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase, transcription factor carbohydrate response element binding protein, and its downstream lipogenic enzymes, all of which were significantly suppressed by spironolactone. These results indicate that inhibition of mineralocorticoid receptor might be a beneficial therapeutic approach for diet-induced phenotypes of metabolic syndrome and fatty liver.

Objective: To explore the diagnostic feasibility of noninvasive assessment of coronary atherosclerotic plaques with MSCT in comparison with IVUS., Methods: Contrast-enhanced MSCT angiography (Sensation 64, Siemens Medical Solutions) was performed before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and three-vessel IVUS (Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) was performed during procedure in 12 patients with stable angina pectoris. Complete investigation was digitally stored, and assessed offline with EchoPlaque (Indec Systems, Mountain View, CA). The comparison of MSCT with IVUS was performed based on segment at plaque site (American Heart Association 15-segment model)., Results: A total of 88 segments in 31 vessels (left anterior descending: 12, left circumflex: 10, and right coronary artery: 9) were investigated by both IVUS and MSCT. Among 68 assessable segments (54 proximal-middle segments and 14 distal segments) by MSCT (20 segments were excluded for poor image quality: 16 for severe calcification, 2 for motion artifact, 2 for poor opacification), MSCT correctly detected 47 of the 51 segments with plaques (sensitivity: 92%), and correctly evaluated 16 of 17 segments without plaques (specificity: 94%). Concerning plaque quantification, MSCT correlated well with IVUS in grading whether the vessel obstruction was less or more than 50% (simple kappa: 0.63, 95% CI: from 0.47 to 0.78). Plaque area by MSCT also correlated with that by IVUS (r = 0.53, P < 0.01), but overestimated plaque area [(9.09 +/- 3.89) mm(2) vs. (6.80 +/- 2.81) mm(2), P < 0.01]. In addition, 30 of 43 hypoechoic compositions were detected as low-density compositions by MSCT with average CT number as 67.39 HU., Conclusions: In segments without severe calcification, contrast-enhanced 64-slice CT angiography could detect plaques in coronary artery with high accuracy. Plaque area quantification by MSCT correlated with that of IVUS though with limited accuracy.

A 43-year-old woman had undergone patch closure operation for atrial septal defect 27 years ago. She was referred to our hospital for evaluation of frequent palpitations since 1 year ago. Electrophysiological study was performed with recording of the coronary sinus, His bundle, and low lateral right free wall electrography utilizing a steerable duo-decapolar electrode catheter(Livewire, Daig). Supraventricular tachycardia with cycle length alternation of 300 and 320 msec similar to atrial flutter was reproducibly provoked by burst pacing from the coronary sinus. During the supraventricular tachycardia, abnormal atrial potentials occurred in the low lateral right free wall region with very low amplitude and splitting potentials. The cycle length alternation of the supraventricular tachycardia depended on the occurrence of the splitting potentials, that is, the splitting potentials were present during the supraventricular tachycardia with a long cycle and the splitting potentials were absent during the supraventricular tachycardia with a short cycle. This phenomenon suggested that the splitting potentials resulted from 2:1 functional intra-atrial local conduction block. In addition, during sinus rhythm the abnormal electrograms revealed fractionated activity. Thus, these findings strongly imply that the supraventricular tachycardia is due to a macro-reentrant right atrial tachycardia utilizing an anatomical obstacle caused by the atrial septal defect operation as a central area, namely incisional reentrant atrial tachycardia. Three-dimensional electroanatomical mapping using the CARTO system(Biosense-Webster) was conducted to investigate whether the low lateral right free wall area possessed the critical isthmus essential to the reentry circuit. Electroanatomical mapping revealed that the very low amplitude potentials and the splitting potentials corresponded to the scars and the functional conduction block area detected by mapping using the multipolar catheter, respectively. According to the propagation mapping, the incisional reentrant atrial tachycardia slowly conducted the channel created by multiple neighboring scars clockwise and the alternation of the tachycardia cycle length was dependent on the development of the functional local intra-atrial conduction block within the channel. An approximately 1.5 cm successful linear lesion was created by radiofrequency catheter ablation to transect the isthmus based on the electroanatomical mapping findings. Afterwards, the incisional reentrant atrial tachycardia could not be induced by burst stimuli from the coronary sinus even under administration of isoproterenol. The use of three dimensional electroanatomical mapping(CARTO system) to evaluate the reentry circuit after the detection of abnormal potentials by using multipolar catheter in advance is a very useful method to determine optimal target site of ablation for a patient with incisional reentrant atrial tachycardia.