Editor`s Message

The goal of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology is to provide state-of-the-art information that is relevant to the effective diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. This issue contains many selections that clinicians will find useful in their practice.

Dr. Renicus Hermanides and collaborators from the Zwolle Myocardial Infarction Study Group report their randomized study to determine the efficacy of closure device versus manual compression in moderate to high risk bleeding patients undergoing coronary intervention. Drs. Eugenia Nikolsky and Rafael Beyar from the Technion–Israel Institute of Technology and Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa, Israel have provided a commentary on this topic. Next, Drs. Shishir Murarka, Robert Attaran and Mohammad Reza Movahed from Banner Estrella Medical Center in Phoenix, Southern Arizona VA Health Care System and University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center in Tucson, Arizona report on their evaluation of the correlation between estimated ejection fraction measured by echocardiography with measurements taken in the cardiac catheterization laboratory in patients awaiting heart transplantation. Dr. Maurice Remmelink and associates from the Department of Cardiology, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam in The Netherlands, report on their study assessing diastolic left ventricular dysfunction in patients with accelerated idioventricular rhythm after reperfusion by primary coronary intervention. Dr. Mark Ricciardi and colleagues from the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Helena Pain Center, Department of Radiology, Helena, Montana and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in El Paso, Texas report on their study to evaluate the use of highly controlled vascular syringes for pericardiocentesis. Dr. Jason Kovacic and associates from the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory, Cardiovascular Institute, Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, New York describe their analysis of the safety and efficacy of alcohol septal ablation in patients with symptomatic concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and outflow tract obstruction. Dr. Srihari Naidu, an editorial board member from Winthrop University Hospital in Mineola, New York has provided a commentary to accompany the article by Kovacic et al. The final original research selection comes from Dr. Salvatore Azzarelli and collaborators from the University of Catania in Catania, Italy. They present their results from a prospective registry of the clinical and angiographic outcomes in elderly patients treated with endothelial progenitor cell capture coronary stents.

This issue also contains selections from the clinical images section, a rapid communication selection, a brief communication and a review article. In the first clinical image selection, Drs. Rabellino, Garcia-Nielson and Maynar from the Departments of Endovascular Therapy and Interventional Cardiology in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, Spain describe an unusual case of endovascular repair of a complex thoracoabdominal aneurysm covering the descendent thoracic and abdominal aortic artery with a four fenestrated stent graft. Next, Drs. Sayed Tahir Hussain, Imran Arif and Tarek Helmy have submitted an interesting clinical image showing an everolimus-eluting stent fracture leading to recurrent restenosis in cardiac allograft vasculopathy. Drs. Subhash Benerjee, Ryan Master and Emmanouil Brilakis from the VA North Texas Healthcare System and the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas have provided a rapid communication article describing intravascular ultrasound-guided true lumen re-entry for successful recanalization of chronic total occlusion. Drs. Vishal Poptani, Bhavesh Thakkar and Nehal Patel from the U N Mehta Institute of Cardiology and Research Center in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India present a brief communication describing transcatheter closure of a rare case of aorto-right ventricular tunnel with single coronary artery. Dr. Bryan Schwartz and colleagues from Good Samaritan Hospital and the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California have provided a review article focusing on the use of vascular closure devices.

Articles published in our “Online Exclusive” section this month include a case showing the possible relationship of mechanical intervention and coronary artery aneurysm formation; a case showing iatrogenic coronary artery stenosis at the ostium of the left anterior descending artery after aortic valve replacement; a case showing myopericarditis secondary to embolization of fractured inferior vena cava filter limbs; several cases and a review of very late stent thrombosis and anti-neoplastic therapy; use of an e-PTFE-covered Cheatham-Platinum stent as a rescue device in a case of in-stent restenosis and aneurysm development after bare stent implantation; an unusual case where a prosthetic aortic valve abscess produced a left main coronary artery occlusion in a patient with Type IV dual left anterior descending coronary artery; a description of the simultaneous spontaneous coronary and vertebral artery dissection in a postpartum woman; and finally, a description of the use of alcohol septal ablation for symptomatic hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy in patients with prior coronary revascularization.

These selections can be found on our web site and I encourage you to visit www.invasivecardiology.com to read the current selections as well as any past issues of the journal that you may have missed. Also take advantage of our new technologies with our links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn for interesting discussions of important topics. These are also an opportunity for you to comment and interact with other readers of the journal. We look forward to your participation.

Sincerely,