Comparison of plasma microRNA-1 and cardiac troponin T in early diagnosis of patients with acute myocardial infarction

BACKGROUND:Early reperfusion can effectively treat acute myocardial infarction(AMI) and reduce the mortality signif icantly. This study aimed to compare the role of plasma microRNA-1(miR-1) and cardiac troponin T(cTnT) in early diagnosis of AMI patients.METHODS:From May 2011 to May 2012,plasma samples were collected from 56 AMI patients and 28 non-AMI controls. The expression of plasma miR-1 was measured by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(qRT-PCR),and the level of plasma cTnT was measured using electrochemiluminescence-based methods on an Elecsys 2010 Immunoassay Analyzer. SPSS 16.0 was used for the statistical analysis of the results. Data were expressed as mean±standard deviation unless otherwise described. The differences about clinical characteristics between the AMI patients and controls were tested using Student's t test or Fisher's exact test. The Mann-Whitney U test was conducted to compare the expression of microRNAs between the AMI patients and controls. MicroRNAs expression between different intervals of the AMI patients was compared using Wilcoxon's signed-rank test. The receiver operating characteristic(ROC) curve was established to discriminate the AMI patients from the controls.RESULTS:In the present study,the expression of plasma miR-1 was signifi cantly increased in the AMI patients compared with the healthy controls(P<0.01). The plasma miR-1 in the AMI patients decreased to the normal level at 14 days(P>0.05). The expression of plasma miR-1 was not related to the clinical characteristics of the study population(P>0.05). ROC curve analyses demonstrated that miR-1 was specifi c and sensitive for the early diagnosis of AMI,but not superior to cTnT.CONCLUSION:Plasma miR-1 could be used in the early diagnosis of AMI,but it is similar to cTnT.

Real-Time Automatic ECG Diagnosis Method Dedicated to Pervasive Cardiac Care

Recent developments of the wireless sensor network will revolutionize the way of remote monitoring in dif-ferent domains such as smart home and smart care, particularly remote cardiac care. Thus, it is challenging to propose an energy efficient technique for automatic ECG diagnosis (AED) to be embedded into the wireless sensor. Due to the high resource requirements, classical AED methods are unsuitable for pervasive cardiac care (PCC) applications. This paper proposes an embedded real-time AED algorithm dedicated to PCC sys-tems. This AED algorithm consists of a QRS detector and a rhythm classifier. The QRS detector adopts the linear time-domain statistical and syntactic analysis method and the geometric feature extraction modeling technique. The rhythm classifier employs the self-learning expert system and the confidence interval method. Currently, this AED algorithm has been implemented and evaluated on the PCC system for 30 patients in the Gabriel Monpied hospital (CHRU of Clermont-Ferrand, France) and the MIT-BIH cardiac arrhythmias da-tabase. The overall results show that this energy efficient algorithm provides the same performance as the classical ones.

Noninvasive Diagnosis of Cardiac Amyloidosis by MRI and Echochardiography

This study described the radiological features on echocardiography and MRI specific to cardiac amyloidosis confirmed on biopsy. Eleven cases of biopsy-proven cardiac amyloidosis were retrospectively reviewed in this study. All patients underwent biopsy, cardiac MRI and echocardiography. The main echocardiography and MRI findings were as follows: diffuse ventricular and septum wall thickening, atrial enlargement, pericardial effusion, restricted left ventricular (LV) systolic and diastolic function, characteristic granular sparkling of myocardium. MRI revealed a characteristic pattern of global subendocardial late enhancement, extending in varying degrees into the neighboring myocardium. The findings agreed with the infiltration distribution of amyloid protein. Typical abnormalities seen on echocardiography and MRI should have important diagnostic and prognostic value of cardiac amyloidosis. MRI should be considered in the diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis if echocardiographic features are suspicious.

Is cardiac MRI an effective test for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy diagnosis?

AIM:To evaluate the referrals with suspected arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy(ARVC)and compare cardiac MR(cMR)findings against clinical diagnosis.METHODS:A retrospective analysis of 114(age range16 to 83,males 55%and females 45%)patients referred for cMR with a suspected diagnosis of ARVC between May 2006 and February 2010 was performed after obtaining institutional approval for service evaluation.Reasons for referral including clinical symptoms and family history of sudden death,electrocardiogram and echo abnormalities,cMR findings,final clinical diagnosis and information about clinical management were obtained.The results of cMR were classified as major,minor,non-specific or negative depending on both functional and tissue characterisation and the cMR results were compared against the final clinical diagnosis.RESULTS:The most common reasons for referral included arrhythmias(30%)and a family history of sudden death(20%).Of the total cohort of 114 patients:4 patients(4%)had major cMR findings for ARVC,13patients(11%)had minor cMR findings,2 patients had non-specific cMR findings relating to the right ventricle and 95 patients had a negative cMR.Of the 4 patients who had major cMR findings,3(75%)had a positive clinical diagnosis.In contrast,of the 13 patients who had minor cMR findings,only 2(15%)had a positive clinical diagnosis.Out of the 95 negative patients,clinical details were available for 81 patients and none of them had ARVC.Excluding the 14 patients with no clinical data and final diagnosis,the sensitivity of the test was 100%,specificity 87%,positive predictive value29%and the negative predictive value 100%.CONCLUSION:CMR is a useful tool for ARVC evaluation because of the high negative predictive value as the outcome has a significant impact on the clinical decision-making.

A New Method for Cardiac Diseases Diagnosis

The objective of this work is to perform automatic diagnosis using a non invasive method which consists on the bioimpedance signal processing. Bioimpedance signal (BIS) represents the aorta impedance variation during the heart cycle activity. BIS is detected by mean of two electrodes located at the level of the ascendant aorta. Automatic diagnosis method consists on preparing, first, a data base with a set of cepstral parameters of different BIS according to normal case and different cardiac diseases. This data base is composed from n classes Yk corresponding to n diseases. The classification of anonymous individuals is based on the determination of Fisher distance between anonymous disease and class Yk using Fischer formula. Our method permits to calculate seven relevant cepstral parameters. The application of Fisher method has allowed us to perform the diagnosis of five anonymous cases. The major interest of this method is its especially useful for the exploration of cardiovascular system anomalies for emergency cases, children, elderly and pregnant women who can’t support surgical operations especially at the level of the heart.

Noninvasive diagnosis of vulnerable coronary plaque

Myocardial infarction and sudden cardiac death are frequently the first manifestation of coronary artery disease.For this reason,screening of asymptomatic coronary atherosclerosis has become an attractive field of research in cardiovascular medicine.Necropsy studies have described histopathological changes associated with the development of acute coronary events.In this regard,thin-cap fibroatheroma has been identified as the main vulnerable coronary plaque feature.Hence,many imaging techniques,such as coronary computed tomography,cardiac magnetic resonance or positron emission tomography,have tried to detect noninvasively these histomorphological characteristics with different approaches.In this article,we review the role of these diagnostic tools in the detection of vulnerable coronary plaque with particular interest in their advantages and limitations as well as the clinical implications of the derived findings.

Current concept in the diagnosis,treatment and rehabilitation of patients with congestive heart failure

Heart failure(HF)is a major public health problem with a prevalence of 1%-2%in developed countries.The underlying pathophysiology of HF is complex and as a clinical syndrome is characterized by various symptoms and signs.HF is classified according to left ventricular ejection fraction(LVEF)and falls into three groups:LVEF≥50%-HF with preserved ejection fraction(HFpEF),LVEF<40%-HF with reduced ejection fraction(HFrEF),LVEF 40%-49%-HF with mid-range ejection fraction.Diagnosing HF is primarily a clinical approach and it is based on anamnesis,physical examination,echocardiogram,radiological findings of the heart and lungs and laboratory tests,including a specific markers of HF-brain natriuretic peptide or N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide as well as other diagnostic tests in order to elucidate possible etiologies.Updated diagnostic algorithms for HFpEF have been recommended(H2FPEF,HFA-PEFF).New therapeutic options improve clinical outcomes as well as functional status in patients with HFrEF(e.g.,sodium-glucose cotransporter-2-SGLT2 inhibitors)and such progress in treatment of HFrEF patients resulted in new working definition of the term“HF with recovered left ventricular ejection fraction”.In line with rapid development of HF treatment,cardiac rehabilitation becomes an increasingly important part of overall approach to patients with chronic HF for it has been proven that exercise training can relieve symptoms,improve exercise capacity and quality of life as well as reduce disability and hospitalization rates.We gave an overview of latest insights in HF diagnosis and treatment with special emphasize on the important role of cardiac rehabilitation in such patients.

Diagnosis and management of coronary allograft vasculopathy in children and adolescents

Coronary allograft vasculopathy remains one of the leading causes of death beyond the first year post transplant. As a result of denervation following transplantation, patients lack ischaemic symptoms and presentation is often late when the graft is already compromised. Current diagnostic tools are rather invasive, or in case of angiography, significantly lack sensitivity. Therefore a non-invasive tool that could al ow early diagnosis would be invaluable.This paper review the disease form its different diagnosis techniques,including new and less invasive diagnostic tools to its pharmacological management and possible treatments.

Total suprarenal aortic occlusion with cardiac disease: a case series of three cases

Acute aortic occlusion(AAO)has been very rarely reported in the literature and is a potentially life-threatening emergency.[1-5]AAO mostly occurs in cardiac disease patients,[1-4,6,7]and leads to cardiac complications.[1,2,5,6]Suprarenal aortic occlusion(SAO)is a very rare type of AAO,and infrarenal aortic occlusion(IAO)accounts for 75.8%-97.8%.[1,3,5-7]SAO is different from IAO in some clinical manifestations,treatment strategies,and prognoses.[3,6-8]SAO with cardiac disease will make the condition more complex and could easily cause a delay in diagnosis and portend worse outcomes with amputation and mortality rates.[1,3,6]Early and fast diagnosis and positive revascularization treatment are necessary to prevent cases from becoming fatal.[1-3]Herein,we present a case series of SAO with cardiac disease.

Overall approaches to cardiac tumors:Still an unsolved enigma?

Cardiac tumors are neoplasms involving heart structures at any level,meaning the myocardium,valves,and cardiac chambers.When considering cardiac masses,it is not uncommon for surgeons to be surprised when they diagnose one.The real incidence of this complex group of diseases has been explored only after cardiac diagnostic tools became more appropriate.Despite differential diagnosis being relevant,surgical indication is usually requested for all malignant cardiac tumors and also for many types of benign tumors.The development of cardiac imaging techniques,therefore,has been the key point for a better understanding of the history of cardiac tumors and especially of the relevance of surgical indication in such conditions.Systematic and combined applications of echocardiography,cardiac computed tomography and magnetic resonance allow in the majority of case a clear definition of the nature of a newly discovered cardiac mass.The presence of a Li-Fraumeni syndrome seems to be the trigger aspect in accelerating the propensity of developing a cardiac tumor.Despite the revolutionary usefulness of the cardiac imaging techniques available,it is still considered a hazard to diagnose a malignant cardiac mass just with radiological imaging;the mainstay of the final diagnosis stands in surgical excision of the mass and histopathological report.

Chinese consensus on the diagnosis and treatment of immunoglobulin light-chain cardiac amyloidosis

Epidemiology of Amyloid Light-Chain Cardiac Amyloidosis(AL-CA)The annual incidence of amyloid light-chain(AL)amyloidosis is 3-5/million,and the incidence in men is slightly higher than that in women.Approximately,70%of patients with newly diagnosed AL amyloidosis have cardiac involvement.

High-sensitivity cardiac troponins in everyday clinical practice

High-sensitivity cardiac troponin(hs-cTn) assays are increasingly being used in many countries worldwide,however,a generally accepted definition of high-sen-sitivity is still pending.These assays enable cTn mea-surement with a high degree of analytical sensitivity with a low analytical imprecision at the low measuring range of cTn assays(coefficient of variation of < 10% at the 99th percentile upper reference limit).One of the most important advantages of these new assays is that they allow novel,more rapid approaches to rule in or rule out acute coronary syndromes(ACSs) than with previous cTn assay generations which are still more commonly used in practice worldwide.hs-cTn is also more sensitive for the detection of myocardial damage unrelated to acute myocardial ischemia.Therefore,the increase in early diagnostic sensitivity of hs-cTn assays for ACS comes at the cost of a reduced ACS specificity,because more patients with other causes of acute or chronic myocardial injury without overt myocardial isch-emia are detected than with previous cTn assays.As hs-cTn assays are increasingly being adopted in clinical practice and more hs-cTn assays are being developed,this review attempts to synthesize the available clinical data to make recommendations for their everyday clini-cal routine use.

Throat Infection,Neck and Chest Pain and Cardiac Response:A Persistent Infection-Related Clinical Syndrome

Dizziness, chest discomfort, chest depression and dyspnea are a group of symptoms that are common complaints in clinical practice. Patients with these symptoms are usually informed that while neurosis consequent to coronary heart disease is excluded nonetheless they remain unhealthy with no rational explanation or treatment. 165 cases of these symptoms and 85 control subjects were reviewed and underwent further medical history inquiry, routine EKG test and cardiac ultrasound examination. Thirty-five patients received coronary artery angiography to exclude coronary heart disease. Serum myocardial autoantibodies against beta1-adrenoceptor, alpha-myosin heavy chain, M2-muscarinic receptor and adenine-nucleotide translocator were tested, and inflammatory cytokines and high sensitivity C-reaction protein were measured and lymphocyte subclass was assayed by flow cytometry. All patients had a complex of four symptoms or tetralogy： （1） persistent throat or upper respiratory tract infection, （2） neck pain, （3） chest pain and （4） chest depression or dyspnea, some of them with anxiety. Anti-myocardial autoantibodies （AMCAs） were present in all patients vs. 8% in controls. TNF-α, IL-1 and IL-6 were significantly higher in patients than in controls （P〈0.01）. CD3^＋ and CD4-CD8^＋ lymphocytes were significantly higher and CD56＋ lymphocytes lower in patients than those in controls （P〈0.01）. The ratio of serum pathogen antibodies positive against Coxsackie virus-B, cytomegalovirus, Mycoplasma pneumoniae and Chlamydia pneumoniae were all markedly higher in patients. These data led to identification of a persistent respiratory infection-related clinical syndrome, including persistent throat infection, neck spinal lesion, rib cartilage inflammation, symptoms of cardiac depression and dyspnea with or without anxiety.

Cardiac amyloidosis: state-of-the-art review

Cardiac amyloidosis(CA)is caused by deposition of amyloid fibrils in the myocardium and has two main sub-types,transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis(ATTR)and immunoglobulin light chain cardiac amyloidosis(AL).ATTR is further dif-ferentiated into wild-type(wtATTR)and hereditary(hATTR),depending on the absence or presence of mutation in the trans-thyretin gene.The increased recognition of disease with the improvement in diagnostic armamentarium and serendipitous ad-vancements in the therapeutic landscape have changed the status of CA from being a rare and untreatable disease to being a not-so-rare and treatable disease.Both ATTR and AL have certain clinical aspects that can provide early clues for the disease.While electrocardiography followed by echocardiography and subsequently cardiac magnetic resonance can raise suspicion for CA,the definitive diagnosis of ATTR is non-invasively established by bone scintigraphy while that of AL always needs histological con-firmation.Severity of CA can be gauged by serum biomarker-based staging of both ATTR and AL.ATTR therapies work by silen-cing or stabilizing TTR or by degrading amyloid fibrils,while AL is managed with anti-plasma cell therapies and autologous stem cell transplant.

Utility of cardiac bioenzymes in predicting cardiovascular outcomes in SARS-CoV-2

The relationship between coronavirus disease-19(COVID-19)and cardiovascular diseases has been an important issue.Therefore,cardiac biomarkers and cardiac imaging have an important place in the diagnostic phase.It is important to know the relationship of biomarkers in COVID-19 so that we can understand the diagnosis of the disease,the predicted course and results after diagnosis.

THE APPLICATION OF CAI TO MEDICAL INSTRUCTION──Multimedia Cardiac Diagnostic CAI System

-Computer-Assisted-Instruction(CAI)is a modern instruction method whick uses computer as its media.Multimedia cardiac diaguostic CAI system inte-grates graph,text and sound into one body,provides the medical students with large amount or medical cases.Teacher can input new knowledge and choose which item to teach.

CBL联合PBL教学法在心脏病介入诊治医师培训中的应用价值

目的探讨案例教学法(CBL)联合以问题为基础的教学法(PBL)在心脏病介入诊治医师培训中的应用价值。方法选取2020年3月至2022年3月西安交通大学第一附属医院介入培训基地的60名进修学员,按照教学方法不同将其分为LBL组和CBL+PBL组,各30名。LBL组采用传统的教学模式,CBL+PBL组采用CBL联合PBL的教学模式。比较两组的教学方法认同率、理论考核成绩、介入操作考核成绩。结果CBL+PBL组对于提高学习兴趣、培养临床思维能力、促进介入操作应用和记忆、提高分析和解决问题的能力、培养团队精神的认同率均显著高于LBL组(P<0.05)。CBL+PBL组的基础知识、问诊与查体、辅助检查分析能力、病例分析能力评分及总分均高于LBL组(P<0.05)。CBL+PBL组的血管穿刺及压迫、DSA机器操作、介入诊疗操作、术后观察及并发症处理评分及总分均高于LBL组(P<0.01)。结论CBL+PBL教学法在心脏病介入培训中能更好地调动学员的主观能动性,进而达到显著的教学效果。

单中心180例心脏肿瘤的诊断及外科治疗效果分析

目的总结单中心10年心脏肿瘤的诊断及外科治疗策略,讨论心脏肿瘤临床治疗效果及预后。方法回顾性分析2013年01月至2022年12月于高州市人民医院心血管外科住院诊断为心脏肿瘤并外科手术治疗的患者资料。收集整理患者的围术期临床资料及随访情况,分析其诊断及外科治疗策略。结果全组180例,其中男76例,女104例,年龄为(55.96±16.01)岁;良性肿瘤为165例(91.67%),恶性肿瘤为15例(8.33%)。术中完整切除肿瘤169例(93.89%),次全切除11例(6.11%)。术中同期合并冠状动脉旁路移植术10例(5.5%),主动脉瓣置换1例(0.55%),二尖瓣成形2例(1.11%),三尖瓣成形术3例(1.67%)。体外循环时间为(105.22±11.24)min,主动脉阻断时间为(43.17±24.61)min,机械通气时间为(14.21±3.18)h,术后重症监护病房(ICU)停留时间为(2.46±1.21)d,胸液总量为(317.25±43.15)mL。全组围术期无死亡,随访时间为45.28(1~120)个月,黏液瘤复发3例(1.9%),恶性肿瘤复发3例(20%),死亡17例(9.4%)。结论心脏肿瘤缺乏特征性临床表现,需要综合影像学检查明确诊断。原发性良性心脏肿瘤的手术效果满意,安全可行;并且可采用更加微创化的治疗方式。恶性心脏肿瘤的预后差,建议及早治疗及个体化治疗。

CT心功能参数结合生化指标及Wells评分在急性肺动脉栓塞30 d不良预后中的评估价值

目的 探讨256层螺旋CT心功能相关参数、实验室指标及Wells评分对急性肺栓塞(acute pulmonary embolism, APE)严重程度的诊断效能,观察联合应用对提高急性肺栓塞患者30 d不良预后的预测价值。方法 纳入2018年5月至2021年11月行肺CT血管造影(CTPA)检查确诊为急性肺动脉栓塞住院患者进行回顾性分析,随访30 d且资料齐全者共225例,对照组为同期接受CTPA检查并确诊无肺栓塞患者70例。收集患者临床资料和实验室指标[肌酸激酶(CK)、肌酸激酶-特异性同工酶(CK-MB)和D-二聚体],计算Wells评分。采用心功能软件定量测量右心室(RV)、左心室(LV)体积;分别在横轴位图像、重建四腔心层面上测量右、左心室短径及截面积,计算其比值。对2组患者的上述定量指标进行分析。结果 2组患者肺部感染、冠心病史、既往肺栓塞或深静脉血栓病史、癌症活动期、手术/制动史及心率≥100次/min比较差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。RVD/LVD-ax、RVA/LVA-ax、RVD/LVD-4ch、RVA/LVA-4ch、RVV/LVV、D-二聚体及Wells评分在对照组、急性肺栓塞预后良好与预后不良间差异有统计学意义(P<0.05)。RVD/LVD-ax在预测30 d不良预后及早期死亡方面AUC值最大,分别为0.692、0.724。RVA/LVA-ax与D-二聚体、Wells评分三者联合检测时在预测早期死亡方面AUC值最大。ROC曲线分析显示冠状窦直径>8.65 mm时急性肺栓塞后右心后负荷增加的风险增大。结论 RVA/LVA-ax与D-二聚体、Wells评分三者联合预测效能最佳;与重建四腔心径线、面积及体积相比,横轴位测量心脏形态改变对评价APE预后更优;当冠状窦直径>8.65 mm时急性肺栓塞后右心后负荷增加的风险增大,可帮助临床进行风险分层。

左心室肥厚诊断和治疗临床路径中国专家共识2023

左心室肥厚是一类常见的心脏结构性改变,经影像学检查确诊。起病隐匿,早期症状不典型,易被忽视,延误诊治。多种疾病和情形可致左心室肥厚,近年来针对部分特定病因的治疗显示可显著改善患者预后,故需重视对左心室肥厚相关疾病的病因诊断。本专家共识由中国医师协会心血管内科医师分会心力衰竭学组和心衰中心心肌病专家委员会组织编写,全面介绍了左心室肥厚的早期筛查线索、规范诊治及随访路径。旨在深化广大临床一线医务工作者(尤其是基层医院)加强对左心室肥厚的认识,建立早期识别、早期转诊的意识,提高对常见及罕见左心室肥厚相关疾病的诊治能力,减少漏诊和误诊。