Editor's Message

Dear Readers,

The goal of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology is to provide state-of-the-art information that will support clinicians in the effective management of patients with cardiovascular disease. There are many selections in this issue that I hope readers will find useful in their clinical practice to promote more effective treatment of cardiovascular disease patients. 

We have included several articles in the original research section which examine various applications of the SYNTAX scoring system. These are followed by a commentary and review by Drs. C. Michael Gibson and Anjan Chakrabarti from the Cardiovascular Division, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. In the first article, Dr. Joao Brito and collaborators from Hospital Santa Cruz in Carnaxide, Portugal present the results of their study of the predictive value of the SYNTAX score in risk stratification of patients undergoing unprotected left main coronary artery angioplasty.  Next, Dr. Zhaojun Xiong and colleagues from the Departments of Cardiovascular Disease and Neurology, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Sun Yat-Sen University in Guangzhou, China present their analysis of the association between serum uric acid, smoking, Framingham Risk Stratification, and Clinical SYNTAX score and the complexity of coronary artery disease. In the final original research selection, Dr. Frank Scherff and colleagues from the Departments of Cardiology at Cardiocentro Ticino in Lugano, Switzerland, Centre Hospitalier Universitaire Vaudois in Lausanne, Switzerland, and the Foundation IRCCS Department of Biometrics and Biostatistics in Pavia, Italy present their research study on use of the SYNTAX score to predict early mortality risk in the elderly with acute coronary syndrome undergoing primary PCI.

Next, also in the original research section, Dr. Alejandro Peirone and colleagues from Hospital Privado Centro Medico de Cordoba in Cordoba, Argentina present their study on immediate and short-term results of percutaneous closure of the patent ductus arteriosus using the Nit-Occlud PDA-R device.  Dr. P. Syamasundar Rao from the University of Texas-Houston Medical School/Children’s Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston, Texas has provided a commentary to accompany the article by Peirone et al. In the last original contribution, Dr. Alberto Hendler and colleagues from the Cardiology Division, Interventional Cardiology Unit, Assaf Harofeh Medical Center, Tel-Aviv University, Sackler School of Medicine in Zerifin, Israel report on their investigation of the outcome of PCI in nonagenarians. Drs. Dean Ferrera and Adhir Shroff from the University of Chicago have provided the commentary on this topic.

The Brief Communication selection in this issue is from Dr. Lida Papavasileiou and colleagues from the Division of Cardiology and Department of Medicine at the University of Rome in Rome, Italy and presents their experience of early detection of chronic myocardial ischemia in a patient implanted with an ICD capable of intracardiac electrographic monitoring. In the Clinical Images selection, Drs. Juergen Kammler, Clemens Steinwender and Franz Leisch from the Cardiovascular Division at General Hospital Linz in Linz, Austria present a case demonstrating false left ventricular apical aneurysm that occurred following transapical aortic valve replacement. We have included a review article from Drs. Ivica Kristic and Josip Lukenda from the Division of Cardiology, Department of Internal Medicine at University Hospital Split in Split, Croatia covering the topic of radial artery spasm during transradial coronary procedures. And finally, the New Technique we highlight this month is from Drs. Jimmy A. Thomas, Jigar Patel, and Faisal Latif from the Cardiovascular Section of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. They describe using a Guideliner support catheter in a challenging clinical situation.

Articles published in our “Online Exclusive” section this month include a case of very late stent thrombosis occurring one week after cessation of dual antiplatelet therapy, a case demonstrating the use of a self-expandable coronary stent system with OCT evaluation to treat complex coronary stenosis complicated by post-stenotic aneurysm, a patient who developed distal LAD coronary artery obstruction as a complication of transapical aortic-valve implantation,  a case showing atresia of the left internal mammary artery graft following PCI of the left main, a case demonstrating the feasibility of using Ikari left catheter via the right radial approach for better guide support in a patient with dextrocardia, a case describing the use of intrapericardial synthetic glue injection in an effort to salvage recurrent cardiac tamponade, and a case of early prosthetic endocarditis complicating repeated attempts at CoreValve implantation. These selections can be found on our website 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. Also take advantage of our technologies with links to Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn from our home page for interesting discussions of important topics.

Sincerely,

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