No abstract

The present study demonstrated that erythrocyte-rich thrombi contain more inflammatory cells and reflect high thrombus burden, leading to impaired myocardial reperfusion in STEMI patients.

RT3D-DSE offers rapid and simple acquisition of the entire LV wall motion and provides feasible and accurate assessment of myocardial ischaemia.

Background and Purpose-Large atherosclerotic plaques in the aortic arch detected by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) are associated with increased risk of ischemic stroke in the elderly. The atherosclerotic process also affects aortic distensibility, which can also be assessed by TEE. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the possible association of aortic stiffness by TEE with ischemic stroke in elderly patients. Methods-We performed TEE in 40 consecutive elderly patients aged Ն55 years with acute ischemic stroke and in 42 consecutive control subjects aged Ն55 years. Aortic stiffness index ␤, which has been used in the literature to express the stiffness of the aortic wall, was calculated as follows: ␤ϭln (systolic blood pressure/diastolic blood pressure)/ ([D max ϪD min ]/D min ), where ln is natural logarithm, D max is maximum aortic lumen diameter, and D min is minimum aortic lumen diameter by TEE. The association of index ␤ with ischemic stroke was evaluated by logistic regression analysis after adjustment for potential confounders, including thickness of aortic arch plaques. Results-Index ␤ was significantly greater in stroke patients than in controls (9.7Ϯ5.0 versus 5.3Ϯ3.5; PϽ0.0001). When aortic plaque thickness and other stroke risk factors were entered in multivariate analysis, index ␤ was found to be independently associated with ischemic stroke (odds ratio, 1.28 per unit increase; 95% CI, 1.10 to 1.52). Conclusions-Aortic stiffness by TEE is associated with ischemic stroke, independent of thickness of aortic arch plaques and other stroke risk factors. This suggests that aortic stiffness by TEE may add prognostic information when assessing the risk of ischemic stroke in the elderly.

Background and Purpose-We evaluated the association between electrocardiographic left atrial abnormality (ECG-LAA) and ischemic stroke, especially whether ECG-LAA provides additional prognostic information to that provided by echocardiography. Methods-A population-based, case-control study included 146 patients with first ischemic stroke and 195 age-, gender-, and race/ethnicity-matched community control subjects. ECG-LAA was defined as either P-wave duration Ͼ120 ms or P-terminal force in precordial lead V 1 (PTFV 1 ) Ͼ40 ms⅐mm.