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 and will enhance the treatment of their patients. 

In the first original research selection, Dr. Tesfaldet T. Michael and colleagues from Veteran Affairs North Texas Healthcare System, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, Department of Internal Medicine at the University of Toledo in Toledo, Ohio, Central Arkansas Veteran Healthcare System and the University of Arkansas in Little Rock, Arkansas, Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece and Michael DeBakey Veterans Affairs Medical Center present the results of their study of recurrent cardiovascular events with Paclitaxel-eluting versus bare metal stents in the treatment of saphenous vein graft lesions, the SOS (Stenting of Saphenous vein grafts) trial. Drs. Gautam Kumar and Habib Samady have provided the commentary to accompany the Michael et al article. Next, Dr. John Liuzzo and collaborators from Saint Vincent Catholic Medical Centers, Hackensack University Medical Center and Mulkay Cardiology Consultants in Union City, New Jersey report on their study of Esomeprazole in coronary artery disease patients, the EPAC prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled trial for the prevention of atypical chest pain. In the next original research selection, Dr. Anand Prasad and colleagues from the University of California, San Diego, Division of Cardiology, UCSD Medical Center in San Diego, California report on their study of renal artery plaque composition associated with changes in renal frame count following renal artery stenting. Next, Dr. Rebecca Inglis and collaborators from Royal Berkshire Hospital, Reading UK, Milton Keynes General Hospital, Milton Keynes, UK, Buckinghamshire Hospital, High Wycombe, UK and the Oxford Heart Centre in Oxford, UK have provided an assessment of the occurrence of complications in pericardiocentesis. In the final original research selection, Dr. Abhay Krishna and colleagues from Sanjay Gandhi PGIMS in Lucknow, India present their research on the prognostic role of elevated BNP levels in patients undergoing coronary stenting.

In the first clinical image selection, Drs. Narasaraju, Atreya and Joshi from the Departments of Cardiology, Clinical Research and Radiology, Apollo Health City, Jubilee Hills, Hyderabad, India describe a case of an isolated single coronary artery arising from the right sinus of Valsalva.  In another case describing an anomalous situation, Drs. Jun Zhu, Wei Xiong and Xu Qin from Huashan Hospital, Fudan University and the First Affiliated Hospital of Tsinghua University in Beijing, China present an interesting clinical image of a right coronary artery originating from the mid portion of the left anterior descending coronary artery. Drs. Korabathina, Pham and Kapur from the Division of Cardiology, Molecular Cardiology Research Institute, Tufts Medical Center in Boston, Massachusetts describe the use of a percutaneous left ventricular assist device to support a subacute left ventricular rupture. We’ve included a brief communication which describes an interesting presentation of multivessel intervention and use of a percutaneous right ventricular assist device by Sandra Weiss, Neeraj Jolly and Atman Shah from the University of Chicago. An editorial commentary on this topic has been provided by Drs. Carlos Arrieta-Garcia and Lloyd W. Klein from Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Articles published in our “Online Exclusive” section this month include a case where IVUS was used to evaluate the simultaneous two-vessel very late stent thrombosis and coronary aneurysm formation following Sirolimus-eluting stent implantation, use of the left vertebral and left internal mammary artery in a post CABG patient to protect stenting of a total left subclavian artery occlusion, the use of Prasugrel to safely treat a patient who developed arthritis from Clopidogrel, occurrence of late cardiac perforation following ASD closure, an unusual coronary configuration involving a single left coronary artery with the RCA originating form the left main artery and following a retroaortic course, a case showing that diffuse ST-segment elevation in the precordial leads may occur due to occlusion of the RCA or its branches leading to right ventricular myocardial infarction, the use of micro-coil embolization to treat post-traumatic high flow priapism, and evaluation of metal fatigue in myocardial bridges that resulted in stent fracture and recurrent symptoms.

These selections can be found on our Web site, and I encourage you to visit www.invasivecardiology.com to read these  articles, as well as any past issues of the journal that you may have missed. Also take advantage of links from our home page to the Journal of Invasive Cardiology’s Facebook page and our LinkedIn group to join other readers in discussing important topics and ideas related to treating patients with cardiovascular disease.

Sincerely,

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