Editor`s Message

Dear Readers,

The goal of the Journal of Invasive Cardiology is to provide state-of-the-art information relevant to the effective diagnosis and treatment of patients with cardiovascular disease. There are many selections in this issue that I hope clinicians will find useful in their practice.

In our first original research contribution, Dr. Marta Francesca Brancati and colleagues from the Institute of Cardiology, Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Rome, Italy report on their registry tracking the outcome of non-cardiac surgery after stent implantation in the DES era. Also, Dr. Antonella Tommasino and collaborators from the Cardiovascular Departments at Catholic University of the Sacred Heart and Policlinico Casilino in Rome and Ospedale Morgani in Forli, Italy, report on their multicenter registry to evaluate the procedural and clinical outcomes of the zotarolimus-eluting Resolute stent in patients with unselected bifurcation coronary stenosis treated with the provisional approach. Drs. Rita Jermyn and Luis Gruberg from Stony Brook University Medical Center in Stony Brook, New York have written the commentary to accompany this research. Next, Dr. Shigenori Ito and colleagues from the Division of Cardiology, East Medical Center Higashi Municipal, Aichi, Japan and Baystate Medical Center Western Campus of Tufts University School of Medicine present their study of angiographic and clinical characteristics of patients with Acetylcholine-induced coronary vasospasm on follow-up coronary angiography after drug-eluting stent implantation. In our next selection, Dr. Sorin Brener and collaborators from the Division of Cardiology at the New York Methodist Hospital in Brooklyn, New York report on their study to evaluate the utility of the SYNTAX score in predicting mortality in patients with high-risk clinical features undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. The commentary on this topic has been provided by Dr. Robert Applegate from the editorial board and his colleague, Holly L. Humphrey, MD from the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The final original research selection comes from Dr. Sumith Aleti and colleagues from the Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Central Arkansas Veterans Healthcare System in Little Rock, Arkansas who present the results of their study to determine the effects of chronic angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor therapy on myocardial injury in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

This issue also contains selections from the clinical images, new techniques and brief communications sections. In the first new technique selection, Drs. Raghav Gupta, Archana Gautam and Thomas Hennebry from the Cardiovascular Section, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma describe their treatment for bilateral acute limb ischemia using a percutaneous site-specific pharmaco-mechanical thrombolysis-thrombectomy system. In the next selection, Drs. Norlmasa Taniguchi, Akihiko Takahashi and Shingo Sakamoto from the Department of Cardiology, Sakurakai Takahashi Hospital in Japan describe their successful fenestration using a chronic total occlusion-dedicated guidewire in a patient with catheter-induced dissection of the right coronary artery. And finally, Drs. Pranav Kansara and Susan Graham from the Departments of Internal Medicine and Cardiology at the State University of New York at Buffalo in Buffalo, New York, present a brief communication on a case series and extended follow-up of patients with spontaneous coronary artery dissection. In the first clinical image selection, Drs. Vicens Martí, Joan Garcia-Picart and Antoni Serra from the Institut d’Investigacio Biomedica Sant Pau in Barcelona, Spain have submitted an interesting clinical image showing a large occlusive thrombus in an aortosaphenous vein graft producing acute coronary syndrome. Next, Drs. Shalima Gautman, Deepak Mishra and BK Goyal from describe an unusual case where they utilized radial angiography to image a tortuous aorta in Kyphoscoliosis. This image can be found in the online portion of the February issue.

Additional articles published in our “Online Exclusive” section this month include a complex case with recurrent coronary artery thrombus formation in the setting of diabetic ketoacidosis, a case of coronary vasospasm in a postpartum woman, a patient with left main thrombus as a complication of thrombectomy during primary PCI, presentation of case with sudden cardiac death due to a large coronary aneurysm that was successfully treated with a covered stent and ChromaFlo guidance, a case with recurrent MI due to one subacute and two very late thrombotic events of drug-eluting stent associated with clopidogrel resistance, a patient with variant angina with angiographic follow-up of an embolized giant right coronary artery-superior vena cava fistula where collateral vessels developed, an example of acute stent thrombosis associated with heparin-induced thrombocytopenia and abciximab-induced profound thrombocytopenia, a case demonstrating the utility of using intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation prior to non-cardiac surgery and a patient in which simultaneous aortic and mitral metallic paravalvular leaks were repaired through one delivery sheath. All of the articles mentioned above can be found on our web site and I encourage you to visit www.invasivecardiology.com to read these informative articles. Also take advantage of our links to Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn from the JIC home page to stay connected to interesting discussions of important cardiology topics.

Sincerely,