Thrombolysis with intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) is currently an approved therapy for patients with acute ischemic stroke. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) immediately following t-PA treatment for stroke is a rare but serious complication. A case of acute myocardial infarction (MI) following IV t-PA infusion for acute stroke was observed. This is a 52-year-old male with a known history of hypertension and chest pain, who subsequently developed MI four hours after IV t-PA was administered for acute ischemic stroke. The disruption of intra-cardiac thrombus and subsequent embolization to the coronary arteries may be an important mechanism. In addition, spontaneous recanalization of infarct-related arteries may be associated with greater myocardial salvage and better prognosis.
Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Stroke ; complications ; drug therapy ; Tissue Plasminogen Activator ; therapeutic use

The occurrence rate of restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary intervention (PCI) was quite high. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been proved to have the effect in preventing and curing restenosis. In this article, turbid-phlegm was proved to be directly related with restenosis after PCI in aspects of coronary arteriography, blood lipid, blood viscosity, fibrolysis system, free radicals, plasma homocysteine, insulin resistance, etc. So it is one of the important pathogenetic factors of restenosis after PCI in TCM.
Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Coronary Restenosis ; drug therapy ; etiology ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Myocardial Infarction ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Phytotherapy

There are not enough clinical data about centenarians with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). A 104-year-old woman exhibited sharp chest pain and severe dyspnea. In routine examinations, her electrocardiogram showed 1-3 mm ST-segment elevation from V1 to V4 leads, the cardiac enzymes were also elevated: creatine kinase (CK)-MB was 45.7 U/L, and cardiac specific troponin I was 40 microg/L. A two-dimensional echocardiography showed anteroseptal akinesia with severely depressed left ventricular function, 38% ejection fraction. She primarily refused to receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) considering her old age, and she was given a dual anti-platelet medications (low molecular heparin and frusemide). Three days later, due to continuously deteriorating angina pectoris and dyspnea, she was treated with PCI. A diagnostic percutaneous transradial coronary angiography revealed 95% stenosis in the proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD) with 90% stenosis at the origin of diagonal one. A percutaneous coronary intervention for the LAD lesion was successfully performed, and the final angiogram showed a good coronary flow without residual stenosis. The dual anti-platelet medications had to be ceased due to the upper gastrointestinal bleeding after one week and Tongguan Capsule (Chinese medicine composed with Radix Astragali, Radix Salviae Miltiorrhiae, etc.) was administered continuously. The six-month follow-up displayed a high level quality of life for the centenarian woman with the absence of angina pectoris and dyspnea. The case reinforces the importance of PCI for very elderly patients with AMI even centenarian people and reveals the possibility that Tongguan Capsule can be used to replace dual anti-platelet medication with the reduction of bleeding complications.
Aged, 80 and over ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Female ; Heart Failure ; drug therapy ; Humans ; Integrative Medicine ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; drug therapy

OBJECTIVETo compare the prognostic value of clinical risk score and thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow grade alone or combined on outcome of acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

METHODSA total of 206 eligible patients [135 males, mean age (67.57 +/- 9.88) years] were enrolled. The primary endpoints included cardiac death and non-cardiac death. The secondary endpoints included non-fatal stroke, reinfarction, heart failure and recurrent angina. Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) established by using different endpoints and clinical risk score, TIMI flow grade or combined risk scores. The prognostic value for different endpoint expressed as the area under the curve (AUC).

RESULTSEleven patients lost during the (11.41 +/- 5.33) months follow up and data were available for 195 patients, 8 patients reached the primary endpoints, and 17 patients reached the secondary end-points at the end of follow up. The AUC was 0.67 (95% CI = 0.557 approximately 0.786), P = 0.006; 0.68 (95% CI = 0.557 approximately 0.786), P = 0.004 and 0.730 (95% CI = 0.691 approximately 0.815), P < 0.001, respectively for clinical risk score, TIMI flow grade and the combined risk score respectively. There were no significant differences among clinical risk score, TIMI flow grade and combined risk score (all P > 0.05) for AUC and for primary end point and the secondary end point.

CONCLUSIONThe result from this study suggests that the efficacy of predicting the total events based on clinical risk score, TIMI flow grade and combined risk score was similar.

Acute Coronary Syndrome ; diagnosis ; Aged ; Angina Pectoris ; drug therapy ; Angina, Unstable ; drug therapy ; Female ; Fibrinolytic Agents ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; drug therapy ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prognosis ; Risk Assessment ; Thrombolytic Therapy

Acute Disease ; Anaphylaxis ; drug therapy ; Epinephrine ; administration & dosage ; adverse effects ; therapeutic use ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Thrombosis ; chemically induced ; complications

PURPOSE: We aimed to determine the demographic and epidemiologic variables that are associated with no treatment in lung cancer patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Patient data were collected from the Korean National Health Insurance Database. The lung cancer group included patients with an initial diagnosis of lung cancer between January 2009 and December 2014. Treated cases were defined as those that underwent surgery, radiation, or chemotherapy until death, after the diagnosis of lung cancer. Risk of no treatment was calculated by multiple logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: Among the 2,148 new cases of lung cancer from 2009 to 2104, 612 (28.4%) were not treated. Risk of no treatment was higher in the following patients: patients in their 60s (odds ratio [OR], 1.18; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.75 to 1.84), 70s (OR, 3.64; 95% CI, 2.41 to 5.50), and >80 years old (OR, 16.55; 95% CI, 10.53 to 25.03) than those in their 50s; patients with previous myocardial infarction (OR, 2.07; 95% CI, 1.01 to 4.25) or chronic kidney disease (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 1.57 to 5.30); and patients diagnosed at a non-referral hospital (OR, 1.40; 95% CI, 1.01 to 1.92) or primary care provider (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.43 to 2.29) compared with referral hospital. Low-income patients receiving Medicaid were 1.75 times (95% CI, 1.14 to 2.68) more likely to forgo treatment than high-income patients (upper 20%). Risk was not associated with sex or the year in which the lung cancer was diagnosed. CONCLUSION: Age predominantly determines whether patients with lung cancer undergo anti-cancer treatment.
Diagnosis ; Drug Therapy ; Humans ; Logistic Models ; Lung Neoplasms ; Lung ; Medicaid ; Myocardial Infarction ; National Health Programs ; Primary Health Care ; Referral and Consultation ; Renal Insufficiency, Chronic

No abstract available.
Adrenal Cortex Neoplasms/*complications/diagnosis/surgery ; Adrenalectomy ; Adrenocortical Adenoma/*complications/diagnosis/surgery ; Adult ; Biopsy ; Coronary Angiography ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Humans ; Hyperaldosteronism/diagnosis/*etiology ; Male ; Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis/*etiology/therapy ; Percutaneous Coronary Intervention/instrumentation ; Tomography, X-Ray Computed ; Treatment Outcome

OBJECTIVETo investigate the morphological and quantitative alterations of peripheral blood endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) after snake venom fibrinolytic enzyme therapy.

METHODSSixty patients with STEMI and 20 control patients free of STEMI were enrolled in this study. The mononuclear cells were isolated from the peripheral blood of the STEMI patients before and 3 and 7 days after fibrinolytic enzyme injection. The isolated cells were cultured in RPMI1640 medium supplemented with vascular endothelial growth factor 165 (VEGF165) and basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF). The EPCs were characterized as adherent cells of positive for both DiL-acLDL and FITC-UEA-I by direct fluorescent staining. The cell morphology was observed and the number of the colony-forming units (CFU) was determined by phase-contrast microscope.

RESULTSThe number of the EPCs increased obviously in patients with STEMI 3 days after fibrinolytic enzyme injection, and reduced 7 days after the injection but remained greater than that in the control group. The injection of fibrinolytic enzyme did not result obvious changes in the number of CFU in the patients with STEMI.

CONCLUSIONSnake venom fibrinolytic enzyme injection can increase the peripheral blood EPCs in patients with STEMI.

Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Cell Count ; Electrocardiography ; Endothelial Cells ; cytology ; Female ; Humans ; Immunohistochemistry ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; diagnosis ; drug therapy ; pathology ; Snake Venoms ; Stem Cells ; drug effects ; pathology ; Thrombolytic Therapy

Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; Combined Modality Therapy ; Diagnosis, Differential ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; therapeutic use ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Middle Aged ; Myocardial Infarction ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Phytotherapy ; Stents

As the first nationwide Korean prospective multicenter data collection registry, the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR) launched in November 2005. Through a number of innovative approaches, KAMIR suggested new horizons about acute myocardial infarction (AMI) which contains unique features of Asian patients from baseline characteristics to treatment strategy. Obesity paradox was existed in Korean AMI patients, whereas no gender differences among them. KAMIR score suggested new risk stratifying method with increased convenience and an enhanced accuracy for the prediction of adverse outcomes. Standard loading dose of clopidogrel was enough for Asian AMI patients. Triple antiplatelet therapy with aspirin, clopidogrel and cilostazol could improve clinical outcomes than dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel. Statin improved clinical outcomes even in AMI patients with very low LDL-C levels. The rate of percutaneous coronary intervention was higher and door-to-balloon time was shorter than the previous reports. Zotarolimus eluting stents as the 2nd generation drug-eluting stent (DES) was not superior to the 1st generation DES, in contrast to the western AMI studies. KAMIR made a cornerstone in the study of Korean AMI and expected to be new standards of care for AMI with the renewal of KAMIR design to overcome its pitfalls.
Acute Disease ; Drug-Eluting Stents ; Humans ; Myocardial Infarction/*diagnosis/drug therapy ; Platelet Aggregation Inhibitors/therapeutic use ; Registries ; Republic of Korea ; Risk Factors ; Severity of Illness Index ; Sirolimus/analogs & derivatives/therapeutic use