Analysis of the Nursing Effect of Continuity of Care on Elderly Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Unstable Angina and its Impact on Quality of Life

Objective:To analyze the effect of using continuity of care for elderly patients with coronary heart disease(CHD)with unstable angina pectoris(UAP)and its impact on their quality of life.Methods:100 cases of elderly patients with CHD with UAP admitted to our hospital from March 2022 to March 2023 were selected and grouped into an observation group and a control group of 50 cases each according to the randomized number table method.The nursing effect and quality of life of the observation group(continuity nursing)and the control group(routine nursing)were compared.Results:The total effective rate of nursing care was 96.00%observation group and 80.00%for the control group,and the differences were significant(χ2=6.061,P<0.05).Patients in the observation group had fewer episodes(1.42±0.21)times/week and a shorter duration(5.46±0.39)min,which were better than the control group(t=3.465,2.973;P<0.05).The depression self-rating depression scale(SDS)score(42.16±6.64)and anxiety self-rating scale(SAS)score(32.26±7.35)in the observation group were lower and the quality of life was higher as compared to that of the control group(P<0.05).Conclusion:Continuous nursing care improved the nursing effect of elderly CHD with UAP patients,promoted the alleviation of UAP symptoms,improved patient mentality,and improved their quality of life.Hence,continuous nursing care possesses significant clinical application value.

Effects of systematic cardiac rehabilitation training in elderly patients with unstable angina following cardiac stent implantation

BACKGROUND Coronary stent implantation is usually used to treat unstable angina to alleviate stenosis or occlusion,promoting blood flow restoration and alleviating symptoms such as myocardial ischemia.And postoperative cardiac rehabilitation is essential for enhancing recovery and prognosis.Nevertheless,conventional rehabilitation lacks specificity,particularly for elderly patients with multiple comorbidities and poor compliance,rendering it less effective.AIM To investigate the effects of systematic cardiac rehabilitation training in elderly patients with unstable angina following coronary stenting intervention.METHODS A retrospective enrollment was conducted comprising fifty-four elderly patients with unstable angina pectoris who underwent systematic cardiac rehabilitation training after receiving coronary intervention as the rehabilitation group,while fifty-three elderly patients who received basic nursing and rehabilitation guidance measures after coronary intervention were assigned to the control group.Differences in Seattle Angina Questionnaire scores,survival quality(SF-36)scores,cardiopulmonary exercise function assessment index,echocardiographic cardiac function index,and adverse cardiovascular events were compared between the two groups.RESULTS After intervention,the rehabilitation group observed greater VO2 Max,maximum metabolic equivalent,eft ventricular ejection fraction,left ventricular end-diastolic diameter and smaller left ventricular end-systolic diameter.And the rehabilitation group observed greater scores of physical activity limitation,stable angina pectoris,treatment satisfaction,and SF-36 score.The incidence of adverse cardiovascular events in the two groups,showed no significant difference.CONCLUSION Systematic cardiac rehabilitation following coronary stenting in elderly patients with unstable angina pectoris can enhance cardiac function recovery,consequently enhancing both quality of life and cardiopulmonary exercise tolerance.

Effects of preinfarction angina on no-reflow phenomenon after percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction

Objective To evaluate effects of preinfarction angina(PA) on no reflow phenomenon after percutaneous coronary intervention(PCI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction(AMI).Methods one hundred patients with first AMI were divided into no reflow group( n =15)and reflow group( n =85). All patients undervent PCI within 12h after onset of AMI.No reflow phenomenon,defined as TIMI grade 2 flow or less without apparent residual stenosis .Myocardial enzyme was continuously measured;Left ventricular function was assessed by radionuclideimaging; The incidence of ventricular aneurysm and in hospital mortality was observed. Results (1)Patients with no reflow had a significantly lower incidence of PA( 20% vs 61% , P <0.01 ), a higher incidence of anterior infarction (67%vs35%, P <0.05 ), and had significantly higher peak creatine MB fraction than those with reflow(403±132vs277±151, P <0.01 ).(2) Patients with no reflow had significantly larger myocardial infarction area (MIA) ( 27.6 ±9.1% vs 20.9 ±9.4% , P <0.01 ), significantly higer left ventricular ejection fraction (46±8% vs 53±9%, P <0.01 ),and had a higher incidence of ventricular aneurysm and mortality than those with reflow (20%vs4%,p<0.05;20% vs 2%, P <0.05 ). (3)Multivariate Logistic analysis showed that the absence of preinfarction angina was a major independent determinant of no reflow( OR = 6.12 , P =0.01 ).Conclusions The absence of preinfarction angina is a high dangerous factor of no reflow phenomenon; No reflow phenomenon is associated with a high incidence of heart failure and mortality.

Identifying Metabolite and Protein Biomarkers in Unstable Angina In-patients by Feature Selection Based Data Mining Method

Unstable angina（UA） is the most dangerous type of Coronary Heart Disease（CHD） to cause more and more mortal and morbid world wide. Identification of biomarkers for UA at the level of proteomics and metabolomics is a better avenue to understand the inner mechanism of it. Feature selection based data mining method is better suited to identify biomarkers of UA. In this study, we carried out clinical epidemiology to collect plasmas of UA in-patients and controls. Proteomics and metabolomics data were obtained via two-dimensional difference gel electrophoresis and gas chromatography techniques. We presented a novel computational strategy to select biomarkers as few as possible for UA in the two groups of data. Firstly, decision tree was used to select biomarkers for UA and 3-fold cross validation was used to evaluate computational performanees for the three methods. Alternatively, we combined inde- pendent t test and classification based data mining method as well as backward elimination technique to select, as few as possible, protein and metabolite biomarkers with best classification performances. By the method, we selected 6 proteins and 5 metabolites for UA. The novel method presented here provides a better insight into the pathology of a disease.

Plasma Levels of the Anti-inflammatory Cytokine IL-10 and Inflammatory Cytokine IL-6 in Patients with Unstable Angina

The plasma levels of inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6 （IL-6） and anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 （IL-10） in the patients with unstable angina or stable angina were determined and compared. In 30 patients with unstable angina and 22 patients with stable angina, plasma levels of IL-10 and IL-6 were detected by ELISA and plasma lipid parameters by lipid research clinical methods respectively. The results showed plasma levels of IL-10 were significantly lower in unstable angina group than in stable angina group （P=0. 005）, while those of IL-6 were significantly increased in unstable angina group as compared with those in stable angina group （P= 0. 039）. There was a significantly negative correlation between IL-10 and IL-6 in patients with unstable angina （r=-0.41, P=0. 003）. In the unstable angina group, IL-6 levels were obviously positively correlated with TC （r=0. 314, P=0. 023）, but not with TG and HDL. There were no significant correlations between IL-10 and plasma lipid parameters. It was suggested that the decreased IL-10 and increased IL-6 might be associated with the atheromatous plaque stability and progression of coronary heart diseases. IL-10 may play an important role in preventing coronary vascular lesions.

A Clinical Study of Safflower Yellow Injection in Treating Coronary Heart Disease Angina Pectoris with Xin-Blood Stagnation Syndrome

Objective： To evaluate the clinical effect and safety of Safflower Yellow injection （SYI） in treating coronary heart disease angina pectoris （OHD-AP） with Xin-blood stagnation syndrome （XBSS）. Methods： Adopted was the multi-centered, randomized, positive parallel controlled method, 448 patients with CHD-AP-XBSS were enrolled and divided into two groups, 336 in the tested group treated with SYI and 112 in the control group treated with Salvia injection by intravenous dripping once a day for 14 days, so as to observe the conditions of angina, electrocardiogram, and therapeutic effect on traditinal Chinese medicine （TCM） symptoms as well as the safety of the treatment. Results： The significantly effective rate and total effective rate in the tested group were 60.06% （194/323） and 91.02 % （294/323） respectively; those in improvement of TOM symptoms were 40. 18% （129/321） and 75.23% （243/323） respectively, which were better than those in the control group （P〈0.01）. Conclusion： SYI Injection is effective and safe in treating OHD-AP-XBSS.

Study on Effect of Zhixinkang Capsule(脂欣康胶囊)in TreatingUnstable Effort Angina and Hyperlipidemia and Its Function in Vascular Endothelium Protection

Objective:To observe the clinical effect and protection of vascular endothelium of Zhixin-kang Capsule (ZXKC) in middle-aged and old people with unstable effort angina and hyperlipidemia. Methods: Sixty-five patients with unstable effort angina were randomly divided into ZXKC group (34 cases) and control group (31 cases). Conventional western medical therapy was given to both groups, with ZXKC group receiving additional ZXKC treatment. Data of 20 healthy persons were taken as normal group. Forty-eight patients with hyperlipidemia were divided into ZXKC group treated with ZXKC (31 cases) and control group treated with Yixintong (17 cases). The changes of clinical symptoms and laboratory indexes in all the patients were observed before and after treatment. Results: In patients with unstable effort angina, the efficacy of treatment of ZXKC, the withdrawal rate of nitroglycerin, the relieving of symptoms, the improvement of the electrocardiogram, the counts of circulating endothelial cells, the content of platelet P-selectin, the content of plasma endothelin (ET), the activity of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and the activity of malonyldialdehyde (MDA) were all better than those in the control group. In patients with hyperlipidemia, there was no significant difference in lipids reduction between ZXKC group and the control group. In both groups, the total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), low density lipo-protein-cholesterol (LDL-C), lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] , ET, oxidized low density lipoprotein, MDA, arte-riosclerotic index (AI) all lowered obviously, while the SOD, HDL-C and calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP) were all elevated markedly. In the ZXKC group, the nitric oxide(NO) increased significantly whereas the ET/CGRP and ET/NO decreased markedly. The total effective rate in symptom relieving, the markedly effective rate, the reduction of TC, ET and ET/CGRP, and the elevation of SOD in ZXKC group were all superior to those in the control group. Conclusion: ZXKC could effectively resist myocardial ischemia, relieve angina, reduce blood lipids, protect vascular endothelial cells, inhibit the activation of platelets, and resist lipid peroxidation.

Development of cryptotanshinone-loaded pellets for angina chronotherapy:In vitro/in vivo prediction and evaluation

The clinical manifestations of variant angina is unevenly distributed during the 24 h, thusthe in vivo performance of drugs should be tailored according to the angina circadianrhythm. Cryptotanshinone(CTN) is one of the representative bioactive lipid-soluble com-ponents of Danshen which has been commonly used for cardiovascular diseases such asangina pectoris. The aim of this study was to develop a novel CTN sustained-released pel-lets(CTN-SRPs) to precisely synchronize the CTN plasma concentrations with predictedoccurrence of angina pectoris for angina chronotherapy. A deconvolution-based methodwas applied to develop and optimize the CTN-SRPs. The plasma concentration-time curveof CTN immediate-released formulation after oral administration in rats was used as theweight function. The predicted plasma concentration-time curve of CTN-SRPs simulatedaccording to the incidence of variant angina during 24 h was used as the response func-tion. Then the desired drug release profile of CTN-SRPs was calculated based on deconvo-lution using weight function and response function, and subsequently used for guiding theformulation optimization. CTN-SRPs were prepared with the combinations of PVP, polox-amer 127 and EC as matrix using fluidized bed technology. An orthogonal design was em-ployed to obtain the optimal formulation with its release profile similar with the desiredone. Pharmacokinetic studies validated that the actual plasma concentration-time curve ofthese optimized CTN-SRPs was similar with the predicted one. In addition, the percent er-rors(%PE) of CTN plasma concentrations in 8–12 h were less than 10%. In conclusion, thisdeconvolution-based method could be applied to adjust the in vivo performance of drugs forangina chronotherapy.

Prevalence of linked angina and gastroesophageal reflux disease in general practice

AIM： To evaluate the association between gastroesophageal reflux diseases （GERD） and coronary heart diseases. METHODS： One thousand nine hundred and seventy consecutive patients who attended our hospital were enrolled. All of the patients who first attend our hospital were asked to respond to the F-scale questionnaire regardless of their chief complaints. All patients had a careful history taken, and resting echocardiography （ECG） was performed by physicians if the diagnostic necessity arose. Patients with ECG signs of coronary artery ischemia were defined as ST- segment depression based on the Minnesota code. RESULTS： Among 712 patients （36%） with GERD, ECG was performed in 171 （24%）, and ischemic changes were detected in eight （5%）. Four （50%） of these patients with abnormal findings upon ECG had no chest symptoms such as chest pain, chest oppression, or palpitations. These patients （0.6%; 4/712） were thought to have non-GERD heartburn, which may be related to ischemic heart disease. Of 281 patients who underwent ECG and did not have GERD symptoms, 20 （7%） had abnormal findings upon ECG. In patients with GERD symptoms and ECG signs of coronary artery ischemia, the prevalence of linked angina was considered to be 0.4% （8/1970 patients）.CONCLUSION： The present study suggested that ischemic heart disease might be found although a patient was referred to the hospital with a complaint of GERD symptoms. Physicians have to be concerned about missing clinically important coronary artery disease while evaluating patients for GERD symptoms.

NeuroAid (MLC601) versus piracetam in the recovery of post-infarct homonymous hemianopsia

In the clinic, the natural recovery rate of homonymous hemianopsia caused by occipital lobe infamtion is low. At present, ideal therapeutic effects of piracetam for improving visual field defects following homonymous hemianopsia do not exist. The present randomized, controlled study compared the effects of NeuroAid （MLC601） versus piracetam for improving visual field defects in post-infarct homonymous hemianopsia patients matched for age and sex. After 3 months of treatment with NeuroAid （MLC601） or piracetam, visual field defects were significantly improved, compared with prior to treatment （P 〈 0.001）. After treatment with MLC601, relative reduction of right and left visual field defects was 45% and 45.7%, respectively, while relative reduction after treatment with piracetam was 32.7% and 30.3%, respectively. These findings suggested that MLC601 was superior to piracetam for reducing visual field defects in homonymous hemianopsia patients.

Coronary revascularization in the elderly with stable angina

A proportion of elderly with coronary artery disease is rapidly growing. They have more severe coronary artery disease, therefore, derive more benefit fi＇om revascularization and have a greater need for it. The elderly is a heterogeneous group, but compared to the younger cohort, the choice of the optimal revascularization method is much more complicated among them. In recent decades, results has improved dramatically both in surgery and percutaneous coronary intervention （PCI）, even in very old persons. Despite the lack of evidence in elderly, it is obvious, that coronary artery bypass surgery （CABG） has a more pronounced effect on long-term survival in price of more strokes, while PCI is certainly less invasive. Age itself is not a criterion for the selection of treatment strategy, but the elderly are often more interested in quality of life and personal independence instead of longevity. This article discusses the factors that influence the choice of the revascularization method in the elderly with stable angina and presents a complex algorithm for making an individual risk-benefit profile. As a consequence the features of CABG and PCI in elderly patients are exposed. Emphasis is centered on the frailty and non-medical factors, including psychosocial, as essential components in making the decision of what strategy to choose. Good communication with the patients and giving them unbiased information is encouraged.

Relationship between resistin level in serum and acute coronary syndrome or stable angina pectoris

Objective： To investigate the relationship between serum resistin level and acute coronary syndrome （ACS） or stable angina pectoris （SAP）. Methods： Sixty-five patients, with coronary artery disease, were enrolled and divided into three subgroups： acute myocardial infarction （AMI）, unstable angina pectoris （UAP） and SAP, and 26 healthy people were recruited as controls in the cross-sectional study. Serum resistin levels were determined by ELISA （enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay）, and WBC （white blood cell count）, hsCRP （high sensitive C-reaction protein）, CKmax （maximum of creatinkinase）, CK-MBmax （maximum of isozyme of creatinkinase） and cTnImax （maximum of troponin） were measured by standard laboratory methods. Results： The serum resistin levels were 4 folds higher in AMI patients, 2.43 folds in UAP patients and I. 12 folds in SAP patients than in the healthy controls （P〈0.05）. The resistin levels were also significantly different between AMI [（8.16±0.79） ng/ml], UAP [（5.59±0.75） ng/ml] and SAP [（3.45±0.56） ng/ml] groups （P〈0.01）; WBC, hsCRP, CK CK-MBmax and cTnlmax were significantly increased in AMI patients over UAP and SAP patients. Spearman analysis showed that serum resistin levels were positively correlated with WBC （r=0.412, P=0.046）, hsCRP （r=0.427,p=0.037）, CK CK-MBmax and cTnImax （r=0.731, 0.678, 0.656; P〈0.01）. Conclusion： Serum resistin levels increased with inflammatory factors and myocardial impairment. The results suggest that human resistin might play an important role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and AMI as an inflammatory factor.

Clinical Non-inferiority Trial on Treatment of Coronary Heart Disease Angina Pectoris of Xin-blood Stasis Syndrome Type with Lyophilized Salvia Salt of Lithospermic Acid Powder for Injection

Objective： To evaluate the effectiveness and safety of lyophilized Salvia salt of lithospermic acid powder for injection （SSLA） in treating coronary heart diseases angina pectoris （CHD-AP） of Xin-blood stasis syndrome type, and to conduct the non-inferiority trial with Danshen injection （丹参注射液, DSI） as positive control. Methods： An non-inferiority clinical layered, segmented, randomized, and blinded trial on three parallel and multiple centered groups was conducted in 480 patients with stable effort angina grade Ⅰ , Ⅱand Ⅲ, who had two or more times of attack every week. The 240 patients in test group A were treated with SSLA 200 mg added in 250 ml of 5% glucose solution for intravenous dripping every day; the 120 patients in test group B were treated with SSLA but the dosage doubled; and the 120 patients in the control group were treated with DSI 20 ml daily in the same method as SSLA was given. The clinical effectiveness and safety were evaluated after the patients were treated for 14 days. Results： The results showed that the markedly effective rate in test groups A, B and control group was 37.45 %, 36.75 % and 30.09 % respectively, while the total effective rate in them was 88.09%, 89.74% and 67.26% respectively. Statistical significance was shown in comparisons of the therapeutic effect between control group with test group A and test group B, with that in the two test groups superior to that in the control group, and non-inferiority trial showed eligibility （P〈0.01）. Adverse reaction appeared in 8 patients in the test groups and 2 in the control group. Conclusion： SSLA has definite therapeutic effect in treating patients with CHD-AP, with its effect not inferior to that of DSI, and no evident toxic-adverse reaction.

Can music improve the symptoms of stable angina? A randomized controlled trial

Worldwide, the leading cause of death is ischemic heart disease. Other than medical and surgical management, alternative therapy such as relaxing music has been identified as having an impact on reducing morbidity in ischemic heart disease. Although several studies have been conducted to find out the impact of music on pain, anxiety, heart rate and stress in myocardial ischaemia, literature on the long term impact of music on severity of symptoms associated with stable angina is very sparse. Therefore, the whole purpose of this study was to determine the long term effects of Indian music on severity of symptoms in patients with stable angina. Methodology: A single blind randomized clinical trial was conducted on 60 patients of 45 to 65 years of age with stable angina. Intervention group (n = 30) listened to a music based on Indian classical system at home twice a day complementary to their regular treatment for a period of one month. Control group (n = 30) was only on their usual treatment. Both groups were assessed prior and one month after the study period for severity of symptoms based on Canadian classification of angina guidelines and their treatment. Results: Severities of symptoms (timing of the chest pain, chest pain during walking and climbing a staircase, the effect of chest pain in day to day physical activities, frequency and the number of GTN used per week and frequency of consultation a doctor for chest pain) were significantly improved in the study group (p < 0.05, p < 0.01) after intervention. However, the control group did not show any significant changes (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Systematically, regular listening of music based on Indian classical system significantly improves the severity of the stable angina symptoms. Hence music has a potential benefit in considering for use as complementary to angina treatment in reducing morbidity.

SERUM LEVELS OF VASCULAR ENDOTHELIAL GROWTH FACTOR IN PATIENTS WITH ANGINA PECTORIS AND ACUTE MYOCARDIAL INFARCTION

Objective. To determine whether serum vascular endothelial growth factor(VEGF)concentrations are altered in several kinds of coronary heart disease patients. Materials and methods. Using a VEGF enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA), serum VEGF concentrations were determined in antecubital venous blood of 16 patients with stable angina pectoris(SAP), 16 with unstable angina pectoris(UAP) and 16 with acute myocardial infarction(AMI) before and after thrombolytic therapy, and of 16 age- and sex-matched healthy volunteers who used as controls. Results. The concentrations of serum VEGF in patients with SAP(9860±2699pg/ml) and UAP (10361±2489pg/ml) tended to be higher than those in control subjects(8044±2457pg/ml), but the differences did not reach statistical significance (P>005 for each). Before thrombolytic therapy, the concentrations of serum VEGF in patients with AMI (28592±12515pg/ml) were significantly higher than those in patients with SAP, UAP or control subjects (P<001,respectively), and correlated with synchronous serum creatine kinase (CK) and its MB isoenzyme (CK-MB) contents(r=0866,P<0001 and r=0948,P<0001;respectively). Three hours after thrombolysis, the concentrations of VEGF had fallen to 11157±3129pg/ml (P<001 vs. before thrombolytic therapy and P<005 vs.control subjects). Conclusion. The present study shows that serum concentrations of VEGF in patients with AMI are markedly elevated and that increased serum VEGF levels may be one of the most sensitive indexes in diagnosing AMI and judging reperfusion.

Predictors of recurrent angina in patients with no need for secondary revascularization

BACKGROUND: Approximately 20% to 30% of patients with coronary artery disease (CAD)develop recurrent angina pectoris following successful and complete coronary revascularization utilizingpercutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We aim to investigate predictors of recurrent angina pectorisin patients who have undergone successful coronary revascularization using PCI, but on repeat coronaryangiography have no need for secondary revascularization.METHODS: The study comprised 3,837 patients with CAD, who were enrolled from January2007 to June 2019. They had undergone successful PCI;some of them redeveloped anginapectoris within one year after the procedure, but on repeat coronary angiography had no need forrevascularization. Thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) frame count was used to evaluatethe velocity of coronary blood in the follow-up angiogram. Multivariate logistic regression was usedto investigate risk factors for recurrent angina pectoris. Similarly, predictors of recurrent anginaaccording to the TIMI frame count were assessed using multivariate linear regression.RESULTS: In this retrospective study, 53.5% of patients experienced recurrent angina pectoris.By multivariate logistic regression, the following characteristics were statistically identified as riskfactors for recurrent angina pectoris: female sex, older age, current smoking, low-density lipoproteincholesterol (LDL-C) ≥1.8 mmol/L, and an elevated TIMI frame count (P for all <0.05). Similarly, usingmultivariate linear regression, the statistical risk factors for TIMI frame count included: female sex,older age, diabetes, body mass index (BMI), post-procedural treatment without the inclusion of dualantiplatelet therapy.CONCLUSIONS: Patient characteristics of female sex, older age, diabetes, and elevated BMIare associated with an increased TIMI frame count, coronary microcirculation dysfunction, and recurrentangina pectoris after initially successful PCI. In addition, current smoking and LDL-C ≥1.8 mmol/L arerisk factors for recurrent angina pectoris. In contrast, the treatment with dual antiplatelet therapy isnegatively correlated with a higher TIMI frame count and the risk of recurrent angina pectoris.

Left atrial area index predicts adverse cardiovascular events in patients with unstable angina pectoris

Background The left atrial size has been considered as a useful marker of adverse cardiovascular outcomes. However, it is not well known whether left atrial area index （LAAI） has predictive value for prognosis in patients with unstable angina pectoris （UAP）. This study was aimed to assess the association between LAAI and outcomes in UAP patients. Methods We enrolled a total of 391 in-hospital patients diag- nosed as UAP. Clinical and echocardiographic data at baseline were collected. The patients were followed for the development of ad- verse cardiovascular （CV） events, including hospital readmission for angina pectoris, acute myocardial infarction （AMI）, congestive heart failure （CHF）, stroke and all-cause mortality. Results During a mean follow-up time of 26.3±8.6 months, 98 adverse CV events occurred （84 hospital readmission for angina pectoris, four AMI, four CHF, one stroke and five all-cause mortality）. In a multivariate Cox model, LAAI [OR： 1.140, 95% CI： 1.01±1.279, P = 0.026], diastolic blood pressure （OR： 0.976, 95% CI： 0.956-0.996, P = 0.020） and pulse pressure （OR 1.020, 95% CI： 1.007-1.034, P = 0.004） were independent predictors for adverse CV events in UAP patients. Conclusions LAAI is a predictor of adverse CV events independent of clinical and other echocardiographic parameters in UAP patients.

Increased frequency of angina attacks caused by switching a brand-name vasodilator to a generic vasodilator in patients with vasospastic angina:Two case reports

It is well known that calcium channel blockers(CCBs) are the first line of therapy for vasospastic angina(VSA). Here, we report two cases of VSA with an increase in the frequency of angina attacks after switching from a brand-name to a generic CCB. In both cases, angina recurred upon switching from a brand-name CCB to a generic CCB during follow-up. The patients' condition improved upon switching back to the original CCB. Both cases involved a high severity of VSA, based on the results of spasm provocation testing. These findings suggest that, in some patients with severe VSA, the frequency of angina attacks increases when switching from a brand-name CCB to a generic CCB. Cardiologists should consider this factor when prescribing drugs for angina.

Treatment of unstable angina with trimetazidine

Objective To evaluate the clinical therapeutic effects oftrimetazidine on the treatment of unstable angina （UA） as well as its effects on endothelin- 1 level and complications of patients. Methods One hundred and twenty patients with UA were randomized into the trimetazidine group （n =60） and the control group （n =60）, the trimetazidine group was subjected to treatment with 60 mg trimetazidine everyday for six months plus conventional treatment, and the clinical symptoms, changes in electrocardiogram, changes in the number of plasma circulating endothelial cells （CEC） and endothelin- 1 level of the two groups were observed after treatment for four weeks; and the incidence rates of cardiac arrhythmias, cardiac failure, hospitalization due to angina, myocardial infarction and sudden death were also observed after treatment for six months. Results 1） The total effective rate of integrative clinical therapeutic effects in the trimetazidine group and the control group after treatment for four weeks were 86.7% and 68.3%,respectively （P〈0.05）, and the excellence rates were 36.7% and 15% （P〈0.01）respectively; the total effective rates for the therapeutic effects in electrocardiogram were 66.7% and 46.7%,respectively （P〈0.05）, and the excellence rates were 30.0% and 11.7%, respectively （P〈0.01）. 2） The number of plasma CEC and endothelin-1 level of the two groups after treatment for four weeks significantly decreased （P〈0.05）, but the decreases in the trimetazidine group were even significant （P〈0.01 ）. 3） The incidence rates for cardiac arrhythmia in the trimetazidine group and the control group after treatment for six months were 10% and 20% （P〈0.05）, respectively, and the incidence rates for cardiac failure were 8.3% and 18.3%, respectively （P〈0.05）, and the incidence rates for hospitalization due to angina were 10% and 15%, and the incident rates for myocardial infarction were 3.3% and 13.3% respectively （P〈0.05）. Conclusion Trimetazidine can significantly improve the symptoms of UA and myocardial ischemia, reduce the damages to blood vessel endothelium and complications, and improve the prognosis.

Verapamil and vasospastic angina： underuse in the elderly population

The first case of Prinzmetal angina was described in 1959 by Prinzmetal, et al. Since this description, several triggering factors have been associated with vasospastic angina （VA） and included： illicit drugs such as cocaine, amphetamine or marijuana, but also bitter-orange, alcohol, butane, chemotherapy drugs, over-the-counter medication and different antibiotics. Smoking is also a major risk factor for developing VA.t21 Thus, except for smoking, many of conventional atherosclerosis risk factors do not appear to be applicable to VA.t21 However, vasospastic angina can also occur without any triggering factor.