A high admission RDW level in patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI was associated with increased risk for in-hospital and long-term cardiovascular mortality.

The presence and the duration of obesity were associated with impairment of subclinical biventricular systolic and diastolic function. These findings have the potential to increase awareness of subclinical cardiac manifestations in patients with isolated obesity and influence their early management.

Objective:A predictive role of serum Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) for short-term adverse cardiovascular events including mortality in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) was reported in recent studies. The aim of the study was to investigate long-term prognostic significance of serum PTX3 in an AMI with 5-year follow-up period in this study.Methods:In this prospective study, 140 patients, who were admitted to the emergency department between January 2011 and December 2011 with acute chest pain and/or dyspnea and diagnosed with AMI and 60 healthy controls were included. PTX3 levels were measured at admission by using an ELISA method. The study group was divided into tertiles on the basis of admission PTX3 values: the high-PTX3 group (≥4.27 ng/mL), the middle-PTX3 groups (4.27–1.63 ng/mL), and the low-PTX3 group (≤1.63 ng/mL).Results:PTX3 level was significantly more greatly increased in the AMI group than in the controls (2.27±0.81 vs. 0.86±0.50 ng/mL, p<0.001). PTX3 level was found to be significantly positively correlated with TIMI score (r=0.368, p=0.037), high sensitive C-reactive protein (hsCRP) (r=0.452, p=0.024), pro-BNP (r=0.386, p=0.029), troponin I (r=0.417, p=<0.001), and GRACE score (r=0.355, p=0.045), and negatively correlated with HDL cholesterol (r=–0.203, p=0.016) and LVEF (r=–0.345, p=0.028). In multivariate analysis, PTX3 (OR=1.12, 95% CI 1.04–1.20; p=0.001) was a significant independent predictor of long-term cardiovascular mortality, after adjusting for other risk factors.Conclusion:PTX3 is a novel biomarker that may help to identify high risk individuals with AMI, who are potentially at risk of early major adverse cardiovascular events including mortality in the long-term period.

Objective:The present study was designed to evaluate the characteristics of pulmonary hypertension (PH) and adult cardiology practice patterns for PH in our country.Methods:We evaluated preliminary survey data of 1501 patients with PH (females, 69%; age, 44.8±5.45) from 20 adult cardiology centers (AdCCs).Results:The average experience of AdCCs in diagnosing and treating patients with PH was 8.5±3.7 years. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) was the most frequent group (69%) followed by group 4 PH (19%), group 3 PH (8%), and combined pre- and post-capillary PH (4%). PAH associated with congenital heart disease (APAH-CHD) was the most frequent subgroup (47%) of PAH. Most of the patients’ functional class (FC) at the time of diagnosis was III. The right heart catheterization (RHC) rate was 11.9±11.6 per month. Most frequently used vasoreactivity agent was intravenous adenosine (60%). All patients under targeted treatments were periodically for FC, six-minute walking test, and echo measures at 3-month intervals. AdCCs repeated RHC in case of clinical worsening (CW). The annual rate of hospitalization was 14.9±19.5. In-hospital use of intravenous iloprost reported from 16 AdCCs in CWs. Bosentan and ambrisentan, as monotreatment or combination treatment (CT), were noted in 845 and 28 patients, respectively, and inhaled iloprost, subcutaneous treprostinil, and intravenous epoprostenol were noted in 283, 30, and four patients, respectively. Bosentan was the first agent used for CT in all AdCCs and iloprost was the second. Routine use of antiaggregant, anticoagulant, and pneumococcal and influenza prophylaxis were restricted in only two AdCCs.Conclusion:Our nationwide data illustrate the current status of PH regarding clinical characteristics and practice patterns.

The relationship between epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) and coronary artery disease has been predominantly demonstrated in the last two decades. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of EAT thickness on ST-segment resolution that reflects myocardial reperfusion in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) for acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The present study prospectively included 114 consecutive patients (mean age 54 ± 10 years, range 35-83, 15 women) with first acute STEMI who underwent successful pPCI. ST-segment resolution (ΔSTR) <70 % was accepted as ECG sign of no-reflow phenomenon. The EAT thickness was measured by two-dimensional echocardiography. EAT thickness was increased in patients with no-reflow (3.9 ± 1.7 vs. 5.4 ± 2, p = 0.001). EAT thickness was also found to be inversely correlated with ΔSTR (r = -0.414, p = 0.001). Multivariate logistic regression analysis demonstrated that EAT thickness independently predicted no-reflow (OR 1.43, 95 % CI 1.13-1.82, p = 0.003). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis demonstrated good diagnostic accuracy for EAT thickness in predicting no-reflow [area under curve (AUC) = 0.72, 95 % CI 0.63-0.82, p < 0.001]. In conclusion, increased EAT thickness may play an important role in the prediction of no-reflow in STEMI treated with pPCI.