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 this issue includes articles focusing on treatment of patients who present with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The guest editor for this section is Dr. Samin Sharma from Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York. Dr. Sharma has provided an introduction to the section and a short discussion about the articles that are featured this month. In addition to the focus section on STEMI interventions, this issue of the journal includes original research articles, commentaries and a rapid communication selection. Articles published online this month include a case report of intractable Prinzmetal’s angina several months after implantation of a sirolimus-eluting stent, a report on a rare complication during an electrophysiology procedure that was determined to be a variant of takotsubo cardiomyopathy, a case report of atrial myxoma with distal embolization, a series of four cases demonstrating the use of bivalirudin in patients with thrombotic complications unresponsive to conventional treatment during percutaneous coronary intervention, and finally, a report describing the use of a ventricular assist device to rescue a patient from shock that evolved from a thrombosed prosthetic mitral valve. These can be found on our web site and I encourage you to visit www.invasivecardiology.com 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. Sameer Mehta and associates from Mid-America Heart Institute, St. Luke’s Hospital in Kansas City, Missouri, examine the suitability of saphenous vein graft lesions for the use of distal embolic protection devices. Dr. Kazuaki Mitsudo and colleagues from Kurashiki Central Hospital and medical centers from Sapporo, Yokohama, Shizuoka, Miyazaki and Isehara Japan, report on their multicenter study, the CONQUEST trial, in which they investigate the use of tapered and stiff-tip guidewires in the treatment of chronic total occlusions. In the next original research article, Dr. Craig Narins and associates from the divisions of Cardiology and Vascular Surgery at the University of Rochester School of Medicine and Dentistry in Rochester, New York, present their prospective randomized trial investigating the use of a topical hemostasis patch following percutaneous coronary and peripheral interventions. Dr. Zoltan Turi, of Camden, New Jersey, provides an insightful commentary to the Narins et al article. Next, Dr. Xiaofei Wang and collaborators from Tianjin First Central Hospital, Tianjin Medical Center in Tianjin, China, present their research to evaluate a new method to quantify coronary calcification by intravascular ultrasound which appears to discern different patterns of calcification in acute myocardial infarction, unstable and stable angina pectoris patients. Dr. Neil Weissman has provided a commentary to accompany the Wang et al article. Dr. Ralf Holzer and colleagues from the Heart Center at the Nationwide Children’s Hospital and the departments of pediatrics and cardiothoracic surgery at Ohio State University Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, report on their experience using hybrid stent delivery in the pulmonary circulation. This issue is completed with a Rapid Communication article from Dr. Sunil Wani and colleagues from the Department of Cardiology, Luzerner Kantonsspital, Luzern, and the Department of Pathology at the University Hospital, Basel, Switzerland, in which they present their attempt to define a link between coronary arteries and the histopathological involvement of the left ventricle in the setting of apical ballooning. It is my hope that these interesting articles and special focus on treatment of STEMI patients in this issue of the journal will provide important information to cardiovascular healthcare professionals so that they are able to provide state-of-the-art therapy for cardiovascular disease patients. Sincerely, Richard E. Shaw, PhD, FACC, FACA Editor-in-Chief