Angiotensin-Converting–Enzyme Genotype and Ischemic Heart Disease

Abstract

1 report the use of transesophageal echocardiography to diagnose aortic trauma in a series of 121 patients at the University of Kentucky Medical Center over a 24-month period. The same authors have reported on two similar series in the past two years from the same institution. 2,3 The first article, by Kearney et al., describes a series of 69 patients followed for 18 months, and the second, by Buckmaster et al., a series of 160 patients followed for 33 months. The findings in these studies are similar and demonstrate the high sensitivity and specificity of transesophageal echocardiography for the detection of traumatic rupture of the aorta.The authors do not indicate in the most recent paper 1 whether these series were consecutive or whether, in fact, these studies all involve the same patients. From the methods described, it would appear that the latter may be the case.These are important studies, because they suggest that transesophageal echocardiography could replace aortography as the gold-standard investigation for aortic trauma. The conclusions of the papers will obviously be much stronger if the studies involved consecutive series with a total sample of 350 patients. We request that the authors describe more clearly the patients in these three series. 1. Smith MD, Cassidy JM, Souther S, et al. Transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of traumatic rupture of the aorta. N Engl J Med 1995;332: 356-62. 2. Kearney PA, Smith DW, Johnson SB, Barker DE, Smith MD, Sapin PM. Use of transesophageal echocardiography in the evaluation of traumatic aortic injury. J Trauma 1993;34:696-703. 3. Buckmaster MJ, Kearney PA, Johnson SB, Smith MD, Sapin PM. Further experience with transesophageal echocardiography in the evaluation of thoracic aortic injury. J Trauma 1994;37:989-95.• Your letter must be typewritten and triple-spaced.• Its text, not including references, must not exceed 400 words (please include a word count).• It must have no more than five references and one figure or table.• It should not be signed by more than three authors.• Letters referring to a recent Journal article must be received within four weeks of its publication. • Please include your full address, telephone number, and fax number (if you have one). Our fax numbers: 617-739-9864 and 617-734-4457Our Internet address: letters@edit.nejm.orgWe cannot acknowledge receipt of your letter, but we will notify you when we have made a decision about publication. We are unable to provide prepublication proofs. Please enclose a stamped, self-addressed envelope if you want unpublished material returned to you.Financial associations or other possible conflicts of interest must be disclosed. Submission of a letter constitutes permission for the Massachusetts Medical Society, its licensees, and its assignees to use it in the Journal 's various editions (print, data base, and optical disk) and in anthologies, revisions, and any other form or medium.The New England Journal of Medicine Downloaded from nejm.org on August 13, 2015. For personal use only. No ot...

The insertion/deletion (I/D) polymorphism in the Angiotensin-converting enzyme gene and cancer risk: a meta-analysis

“…Third, this meta-analysis included data from Europeans, Asians, African-American and Latino populations, so that, the results are applicable to only these ethnic groups. Fourth, it is reported that PCR amplification of ACE I/D polymorphism using only flanking primer pairs would misclassify 4-5% of the ID genotype as the DD genotype and a second PCR should performed to confirm the DD genotype[50]. However, only a small portion of included studies performed a second PCR, indicating the possibility of imprecise results of the meta-analysis.…”