Coronary-subclavian steal through the left internal mammary graft is a rare cause of myocardial ischemia in patients who have had a coronary bypass surgery. We report a 70-year-old man who presented with sustained monomorphic ventricular tachycardia 5 years after the surgical creation of a left internal mammary to the left anterior descending artery. Cardiac catheterization illustrated that the left subclavian artery was occluded proximally and that the distal course was visualized by retrograde filling through the left internal mammary graft. Clinical ventricular tachycardia was reproducibly induced with a single ventricular extrastimulus, and antitachycardia pacing terminated the tachycardia. Restoration of blood flow by way of a Dacron graft placed between the descending aorta and the subclavian artery resulted in the total relief of symptoms. Ventricular tachycardia could not be induced during the control electrophysiologic study after surgical revascularization.
Aged ; Coronary Artery Bypass/adverse effects ; Coronary Artery Disease/*diagnosis/etiology/*pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Postoperative Complications/diagnosis/etiology ; Subclavian Steal Syndrome/*diagnosis/etiology/*pathology ; Tachycardia, Ventricular/*pathology

It is never an easy thing to diagnose heart vascular disease only depending on the unenhanced postmortem computed tomography (PMCT). This article reported a case of sudden natural death after the complaint of anterior chest pain in which coronary artery calcification (CAC) was clearly displayed using PMCT scan. The entire coronary artery system was almost reconstructed via multiplanar reformation (MPR) and volume-rendering reconstruction (VR), and the total calcium score of the coronary arteries was obtained with CaScoring automatic analysis software. The results showed that CAC was conspicuous; the total calcium score was 640.3, considerably higher than 400. The pulmonary ground-glass opacity (GGO) and small amount of fluid both in the subglottic trachea and main bronchi were also found. The imaging results confirmed those of autopsy. In addition, the results concluded that PMCT might serve as an invaluable adjunct to the classic autopsy procedure.
Autopsy ; Calcinosis/diagnosis* ; Cause of Death ; Coronary Artery Disease/diagnosis* ; Coronary Vessels/pathology* ; Death, Sudden/etiology* ; Forensic Pathology ; Humans ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methods*

Aortic Valve Stenosis ; blood ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Child ; Coronary Artery Disease ; blood ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Coronary Vessels ; diagnostic imaging ; pathology ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Hyperlipoproteinemia Type II ; blood ; complications ; diagnosis ; genetics ; Lipoproteins, LDL ; blood ; Triglycerides ; blood

PURPOSE: When performing coronary angiography (CAG), diagnostic catheter intubation to the ostium can cause damping of the pressure tracing. The aim of this study was to determine the predictors of atherosclerotic ostial stenosis in patients showing pressure damping during CAG. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In total, 2926 patients who underwent diagnostic CAG were screened in this study. Pressure damping was defined as an abrupt decline of the coronary blood pressure with a blunted pulse pressure after engagement of the diagnostic catheter. According to CAG and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), we divided damped ostia into two groups: atherosclerotic ostial lesion group (true lesion group) and non-atherosclerotic ostium group (false lesion group). Clinical and angiographic characteristics were compared between the two groups. RESULTS: The overall incidence of pressure damping was 2.3% (68 patients and 76 ostia). Among the pressure damped ostia, 40.8% (31 of 76 ostia) were true atherosclerotic ostial lesions (true lesion group). The true lesion group had more frequent left main ostial damping and more percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) performed on non-ostial lesions, compared to the false lesion group. On multivariate logistic regression analysis, left main ostial damping [hazard ratio (HR) 4.11, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.24-13.67, p=0.021] and PCI on non-ostial lesion (HR 5.34, 95% CI 1.34-21.27, p=0.018) emerged as independent predictors for true atherosclerotic ostial lesions in patients with pressure damping. CONCLUSION: Left main ostial damping and the presence of a non-ostial atherosclerotic lesion may suggest a significant true atherosclerotic lesion in the coronary ostium.
Aged ; *Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Artery Disease/etiology/*radiography ; Coronary Occlusion/diagnosis/*therapy ; Coronary Stenosis/etiology/*radiography ; Coronary Vessel Anomalies/radiography ; Coronary Vessels/*pathology ; Female ; Humans ; Incidence ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/adverse effects/methods ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Radiography, Interventional

OBJECTIVEWe retrospectively analyzed the causes, diagnosis, clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of 17 patients with rhabdomyolysis.

METHODSRhabdomyolysis cases diagnosed from January 2005 to March 2014 in our department were included.

RESULTSA total of 17 rhabdomyolysis patients (male 13, mean age (60.4 ± 15.7) years) were analyzed.Four cases had coronary heart disease combined with hypertension, hyperlipaemia, atrial fibrillation, 10 cases had dilated cardiomyopathy combined with coronary heart disease, hyperlipaemia, atrial fibrillation, 8 cases had atrial fibrillation combined with hypertension, coronary heart disease, hyperlipaemia, 1 patient had pulmonary embolism combined with hyperlipaemia, 1 patient had aortic dissection combined with hypertension, 10 hypertension patients were combined with coronary heart disease, hyperlipaemia, atrial fibrillation, aortic dissection and 1 patient with ventricular tachycardia was combined with depression.Various degrees of liver and kidney dysfunction, reduced hemoglobin and myoglobinuria were found in all patients.Fever was found in 7 cases, relevant neurological signs in 5 cases. Digestive tract discomfort and muscle weakness or muscle pain symptoms were seen in all patients during hospitalization. All cases underwent renal replacement therapy and respirator was used in 14 patients to support breathing. Post therapy, 10 cases improved but 7 cases died. All 17 patients had history of statin use.

CONCLUSIONStatin may be the major cause of rhabdomyolysis in these patients, and the mortality of rhabdomyolysis is high despite various therapy stratigies.

Adult ; Aged ; Atrial Fibrillation ; Cardiomyopathy, Dilated ; Coronary Artery Disease ; Coronary Disease ; Female ; Humans ; Hydroxymethylglutaryl-CoA Reductase Inhibitors ; adverse effects ; Hypertension ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Rhabdomyolysis ; diagnosis ; etiology ; pathology ; therapy ; Tachycardia, Ventricular

OBJECTIVES: To explore the value of mast cell tryptase and brain natriuretic peptide（BNP） in the differential diagnostic of sudden death due to hypersensitivity and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. METHODS: Totally 30 myocardial samples were collected from the autopsy cases in the Department of Forensic Pathology, Shanxi Medical University during 2010-2015. All samples were divided into three groups： death of craniocerebral injury group, sudden death of hypersensitivity group and sudden death of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease group, 10 cases in each group. Mast cell tryptase and BNP in myocardium were detected by immunofluorescence staining and Western Blotting. RESULTS: Immunofluorescence staining showed that the positive staining mast cell tryptase appeared in myocardium of sudden death of hypersensitivity group and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease group. Among the three groups, the expression of mast cell tryptase showed significantly differences through pairwise comparison （P<0.05）; The expression level of BNP in sudden death of coronary atherosclerotic heart disease group were significantly higher than the sudden death of hypersensitivity group and death of craniocerebral injury group （P<0.05）. The difference of the expression level of BNP between the sudden death of hypersensitivity group and the death of craniocerebral injury group had no statistical significance （P>0.05）. CONCLUSIONS The combined detection of the mast cell tryptase and BNP in myocardium is expected to provide help for the forensic differential diagnosis of sudden death due to hypersensitivity and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease.
Anaphylaxis ; Autopsy ; Blotting, Western ; Case-Control Studies ; Coronary Artery Disease/complications* ; Death, Sudden, Cardiac/etiology* ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Fluorescent Antibody Technique ; Forensic Pathology ; Humans ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction ; Myocardium/metabolism* ; Natriuretic Peptide, Brain/metabolism* ; Tryptases/metabolism*