Editor`s Message

Dear Readers, This issue begins another year of publication for the Journal of Invasive Cardiology. The goal of the journal is to provide state-of-the-art information that is relevant to the effective diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. There are many selections in this issue that I hope clinicians will find useful in their practice.

First, Drs. Jack Martin and Marvin Slepian from Sharpe-Strumia Research Foundation in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, and Sarver Heart Center, University of Arizona in Tucson, review emerging data on the use of low-molecular weight heparin during percutaneous coronary intervention. Next, Dr. Fadi El-Atat and colleagues from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York report on their evaluation of an aggressive therapeutic approach to treat aspirin-resistant patients who are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Drs. Robert Dieter, John Lopez and Aravinda Nanjundappa have provided a commentary to accompany the El-Atat et al article. Dr. Giampaolo Niccoli and associates from the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart, Policlinico Gemelli in Rome, Italy, report on their study assessing baseline C-reactive protein serum levels and in-stent restenosis patterns after drug-eluting stent implantation. In the next original contribution, Dr. Allan Iversen and colleagues from Gentofte University Hospital, Glostrup University Hospital, Holbaek Hospital and the University of Copenhagen, all in Denmark, report their study on the impact of abciximab in diabetic patients with acute coronary syndrome who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention. The final original research selection comes from Dr. Javier Benezet and colleagues from the Department of Cardiology, Hospital Universitario Virgen del Rocio in Seville, Spain, who report on their study to evaluate the long-term clinical outcomes of drug-eluting stent use following rotational atherectomy for heavily calcified coronary lesions. Dr. James Wilentz from the Lenox Hill Heart and Vascular Institute in New York, New York, has provided a commentary on the current status of rotational atherectomy to accompany the Benezet et al article. In addition, Drs. Hadi, Fraser and Mamas from the Cardiology Department, University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, Prince George, British Columbia, present a communication on a novel use of the Heartrail catheter as a thrombectomy device.

This issue also contains an interesting clinical images selection. Drs. Anas Al Rifai, Zahid Awan and Sohail Hassan from William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan, Lady Reading Hospital in Peshawar, Pakistan, and Wayne State University School of Medicine in Detroit, describe an unusual case of left ventricular malaposition of an ICD lead in a patient with Ebstein’s Anomaly.

Articles published in our “Online Exclusive” section this month include a case showing a prosthetic aortic valve abscess producing left main coronary artery occlusion in a patient with Type IV dual left anterior descending artery; a patient with an anomalous origin of all three coronary arteries from the right sinus of Valsalva in the setting of angina pectoris; a case showing intervention using thrombectomy and fibrinolytic therapies for prosthetic valve thrombosis complicated by coronary embolism; two cases of patent ductus arteriosis associated with an aberrant right subclavian artery; a case demonstrating the novel use of a local drug delivery catheter for coronary perforation; a description of the closure of an aortic paravalvular leak under intravascular ultrasound and intracardiac echocardiography guidance; and two complex case interventions; one showing the management of an anomalous right coronary artery origin from the pulmonary artery coexisting with obstructive atherosclerotic disease of the left coronary artery and the other describing the use of aspiration thrombectomy in an unusual case of septal infarction caused by thrombotic occlusion of a large septal perforator. These selections 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 to review the past issues of the journal. I would like to thank all of the reviewers who have offered their expertise, guidance and a good deal of time to reviewing submitted manuscripts and helping ensure the quality of published articles throughout 2010. You will find the list of these dedicated reviewers on our Web site.

Sincerely,