Unfavorable Outcome of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Coronary Heart Disease with Rare Severe Pericoronary Fat Stranding

Background: Pericoronary fat stranding (PCFS) is a novel noninvasive imaging sign of coronary inflammation, and has important implications for cardiovascular risk stratification, and the outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for coronary heart disease patients with pericoronary fat stranding remains unknown. Aim: We report two rare cases of PCI-treated coronary heart disease patients with severe PCFS. Case Presentation: This is the first report of two rare cases of PCI for patients with coronary heart disease surrounded by severe PCFS. We demonstrated that the outcome in these cases is poor, and in-stent restenosis or occlusion occurs rapidly within 2- 6 months following PCI. However, Case 2 underwent coronary artery bypass grafting after the rapid occurrence of in-stent occlusion, and the bypass graft remained intact over the 5 years following coronary artery bypass grafting. Conclusion: Coronary artery bypass grafting rather than PCI may be appropriate for coronary heart disease patients with severe PCFS.

Computed tomography imaging of an ectopic thyroid on the ascending aorta

Ectopic thyroid on the ascending aorta is extremely rare, and its radiologic characteristics have not been reported in the radiologic literature. A case of ectopic thyroid on the ascending aorta is reported, and its imaging characteristics on computed tomography are discussed.

Low-Dose High-Pitch Cardiac CT to Evaluate Abnormal Pacemaker Lead Position

Displacement of a cardiac pacemaker lead or myocardial perforation by a lead is an infrequent complication of pacemaker implantation. While standard cardiac CT is useful for diagnosing such complications when routine examinations can not, the potential risks associated with exposure to the high doses of radiation used in CT are of concern. Here, we report three cases in which pacemaker lead displacement or myocardial perforation was definitively diagnosed by low-dose cardiac CT used in the high-pitch spiral mode, when other more routine examinations failed to suggest their occurrence. The mean dose of radiation used for definitively diagnosing the three patients was relatively low (2.19 mSv).