Editor’s Message

Dear Readers,

This issue of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology continues our series of special focus sections to provide a more in-depth examination of important topics in cardiovascular medicine. The special section for the October 2008 issue includes articles focusing on the use of radial artery access for diagnostic and interventional catheterization procedures. The guest editor for this section is Dr. Deepak Bhatt, Chief of Cardiology at the VA Boston Healthcare system and director of the Integrated Interventional Cardiology Program at the VA and the Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Dr. Bhatt has provided an introduction to the section and the articles that are featured this month. In addition to the focus section on the use of radial artery access, this issue of the journal includes original research articles, two review articles, a CME offering and a case report with interesting clinical images. Articles published online this month include case reports highlighting the use of covered stents for the treatment of recurrent bilateral renal artery in-stent restenosis, percutaneous mitral valvuloplasty through a Carpentier-Edwards ring, the role of filter wire protection in situations where left main thrombus complicates percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), a case of spontaneous hemopericardium in a patient with hemophilia B, the use of percutaneous repair of a pseudoaneurysm associated with coarctation of the aorta, a case showing the use of intracoronary thrombus aspiration through a guiding catheter in a patient with stent thrombosis, and a case report demonstrating a rare complication of blindness after coronary angiography. These case reports can be found on our website at: www.invasivecardiology.com. I encourage you to read these interesting and informative articles, as well as any past issues of the journal that you may have missed.

The original research articles contained in this issue of the journal cover a variety of clinical topics. Dr. Edo Kaluski and associates from Helios Heart Center in Siegburg, Germany, and the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, New Jersey, present their analysis of the first use of the MGuard stent system in humans. Dr. David Ramsdale and collaborators from The Cardiothoracic Centre in Liverpool, United Kingdom, present their research to evaluate late outcomes after drug-eluting stent implantation. Dr. Nobuyoshi Tanaka and colleagues from the Toyohashi Heart Center in Toyohashi, Japan, report on the impact of plaque debulking prior to single sirolimus-eluting stent implantation for the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery bifurcation stenosis. In the last original research article, Dr. Pavel Cervinka and associates from Masaryk Hospital and the University of Jan Evangelista Purkyne in the Czech Republic, present their randomized trial investigating the treatment of bifurcation lesions using dedicated bifurcation stents versus bare-metal stents. Dr. Saleem Sharieff and colleagues from the NICVD in Karachi, Pakistan, and McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, report their comparison of three different techniques for treating patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. Drs. Eugenia Nikolsky and Roxana Mehran from Columbia University Medical Center and the Cardiovascular Research Foundation in New York, have provided a CME selection on hydration protocols to reduce the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy. This issue includes two review articles, the first from Dr. Mazullah Kamran and colleagues from The Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York, describing spontaneous coronary artery dissection. In addition, a review article from Santhosh Koshy et al explores the “black-hole” phenomenon after vascular brachytherapy. A clinical images selection from Drs. Ramana, Varga and Leya from Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois, describing a case involving a late presentation of an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery originating from the pulmonary artery completes the issue.

Don’t miss this issue of the journal, with its special focus on radial artery access and other interesting topics that I hope will provide state-of-the-art information on optimal therapies for the treatment of cardiovascular disease.

Sincerely,


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

J INVASIVE CARDIOL 2008;20: A5