Editor`s Message (September 2002)

Dear Readers, This issue of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology includes original research articles, case reports, and articles from the Journal special sections “Acute Coronary Syndromes”, “Clinical Decision Making”, “The Electrophysiology Corner” and “Interventional Pediatric Cardiology”, and a the session IV discussion from this year’s International Andreas Gruentzig Society Meeting. The first research article, from Dr. Timur Timurkaynak and associates from the Department of Cardiology at the Gazi University Medical School in Ankara, Turkey, compares the incidence of sidebranch occlusion between direct stenting and stenting with pre-dilatation. They found a higher, although not statistically different, rate of sidebranch occlusion in the pre-dilatation group. In an accompanying commentary, Drs. Antonio Colombo and Goran Stankovic from the EMO Centro Cuore Columbus and San Raffaele Hospital in Milan, Italy provide their thoughts on this approach. The second original research article, submitted by Dr. Yanming Huang and associates from the Departments of Cardiology and Pathology at the University Hospital Gasthuisberg and the Department of Organic Chemistry at the University of Ghent in Belgium describes an innovative technique used to spraycoat metallic stents to modulate the release of drug, thereby increasing the efficacy of these devices.. Following this article is an editorial by Dr. Peter Gonschior from Wallgau, Germany, who stresses the importance of long-term clinical data. The third research article, submitted by Dr. Katsuhiro Kawaguchi and colleagues from the Department of Cardiology at the Komaki City Hospital in Komaki, Japan, is a study comparing elastic recoil between the cutting balloon and conventional balloon angioplasty. They show that elastic recoil is significantly less with the cutting balloon and is sustained over the first 24 hours after treatment. Dr. Barry S. George from Riverside Methodist Hospital in Columbus, Ohio has also provided an editorial on this article. In the last research study, Dr. Ioannis Iakovou and collaborators from the Cardiology Department at the Onassis Cardiac Surgery Center in Athens, Greece, report on their outcomes comparing the Inoue versus retrograde non-transseptal technique in performing mitral balloon valvuloplasty. They found that the techniques yield very similar early and late results. This issue of the Journal also includes case reports on interesting topics, as well as two case reports with brief reviews of the literature. In the first case report, from Drs. Kobayashi, Collins and Moses from the Cardiovascular Research Foundation at the Lennox Hill Heart and Vascular Institute in New York, the authors describe their use of an embolization containment device for the treatment of an arterial lesion with a large thrombus burden. In the second case report, Dr. David Meerkin and colleagues from the Montreal Heart Institute, the Quebec Heart Institute and the Cardiac Catheterization Laboratories at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, Israel, describe a challenging case with a heavily calcified left anterior descending coronary artery lesion that they successfully managed using a cutting balloon and stenting. In the third case report, Drs. Richard Hongo and Bruce Brent from the California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, California, describes their innovative use of the cutting balloon to successfully treat an elastic ostial lesion that was jailed after stent implantation. The final case report, submitted by Dr. Vito Paolillo and colleagues from the Cardiac Intervention Unit and Department of Neurosurgery, Neurology and Anesthesiology at San Giovanni Bosco Hospital in Torino, Italy, presents an unusual case of acute myocardial infarction related to a cerebellar hemorrhage that was successfully treated with primary coronary angioplasty with implantation of coated stents and GP IIb/IIIa inhibitors. Four of our special clinical sections are featured in this issue. In the Clinical Decision Making section, edited by Dr. Michael Sketch from Duke University Medical Center in Durham, North Carolina, Dr. Sketch has invited Dr. James Orford and colleagues from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota to provide an unusual case for discussion in which a patient with a chronic total occlusion of the left anterior descending artery who subsequently develops anterior ischemia secondary to embolization of the posterior descending artery. Dr. James Chesebro of the Mayo Clinic offers his views of the patient and possible treatment options, as does Dr. Lloyd Klein from Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago and Dr. William O’Neill from William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. Their comments provide valuable dimensions to understanding the complexity of the case and the variety of ways available to approach the problem. The second special section, which covers advances in the field of Interventional Pediatric Cardiology and is edited by Dr. P. Syamasundar Rao from the Division of Pediatric Cardiology at Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri, contains an article by Dr. Mark Hoyer from the Riley Hospital for Children at the Indiana University School of Medicine in Indianapolis. In the article, Dr. Hoyer describes the closure of a very large patent ductus arteriosus using the Amplatzer Duct Occluder. In the next special section, the Electrophysiology Corner, edited by Dr. Todd Cohen of the Department of Cardiology at Winthrop-University Hospital in Mineola, New York, Dr. Cohen has collaborated with associates from the Department of Medicine at Winthrop to present an interesting analysis of their validation of a new method to acquire 12-lead EKG recordings. In the final special section, Acute Coronary Syndromes, edited by Dr. Lloyd Klein from the Section of Cardiology, Rush Heart Institute at Rush-Presbyterian-St. Luke’s Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois, Dr. Klein has invited Drs. Kandzari and Roe from the Duke Clinical Research Institute in Durham, North Carolina to provide a paper discussing the integration of GP IIb/IIIa inhibition into treatment strategies for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction. It is my hope that all of the articles in this issue of the Journal provide healthcare professionals with valuable information that is useful in the daily care of patients with cardiovascular disease.