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Thirteen patients with left ventricular aneurysm due to coronary heart disease were studied by left heart and coronary sinus catheterization, including cineventriculography and measurement of ventricular mechanics and energetics at rest, and in some subjects, during either isoproterenol infusion or supine leg exercise. Eight patients had an aneurysm estimated to comprise greater than 20% of the left ventricular surface area, associated with increased left ventricular end-diastolic volume and pressure and mean systolic force. Average isometric rate of pressure rise and mean fiber shortening velocity and distance were uniformly decreased. Five patients had an aneurysm, estimated to comprise less than 15% of the left ventricular surface, associated with normal or nearly-normal left ventricular end-diastolic volume and pressure and mean systolic force. Average isometric rate of pressure rise was normal, but fiber shortening velocity and distance were moderately depressed. Stroke output and cardiac output were reduced in both groups. Aneurysms exhibited either paradoxical systolic expansion or apparent lack of motion (akinesis), or both. A theoretical analysis presented indicated that when approximately 20 to 25% of left ventricular area is inactivated by any pathological process, the degree of shortening distance required of the myofiber to maintain stroke volume exceeds physiological limits, and cardiac enlargement (Starling mechanism) must ensue to maintain adequate ejection of blood. The magnitude of the salutary response of isoproterenol coupled with an increase in mechanical efficiency during catecholamine infusion suggested that myocardial catecholamines were depleted with additional aggravation of heart failure in this disease.

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Parenchymatous intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH) is a serious, infrequent complication of thrombolytic therapy for acute myocardial infarction. We studied the clinical and radiologic features, manner of presentation, associated factors, and temporal course in 23 patients with ICH associated with 150 mg or 100 mg recombinant tissue-type plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and heparin therapy for acute myocardial infarction in the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) II Pilot and Randomized Clinical Trial. In TIMI II, 13 of the 23 ICH patients developed or maintained systolic blood pressure > or = 160 mm Hg or diastolic blood pressure > or = 90 mm Hg during the rt-PA infusion and before the onset of neurologic symptoms. Six patients (26%) had life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, five before onset of neurologic symptoms. A decreased level of consciousness was the earliest neurologic abnormality in 15 (65%) and the most common initial physical finding (in 19, or 82%). Onset was usually gradual (70%), but time to maximal deficit was frequently (61%) within 6 hours of onset. The locations of the primary ICH sites were lobar in 16 (70%), thalamic in four (17%), and brainstem-cerebellum in three (13%), but the putamen was never the primary site. Multiple lobar hemorrhages occurred in six cases (26%). The timing and size of ICH was similar among patients treated with 150 mg rt-PA and 100 mg rt-PA. Brain CT demonstrated an arteriovenous malformation in one case. Four patients had hypofibrinogenemia, which was profound in three patients. Pathologic findings were available for five patients. Of these, three patients had cerebral amyloid angiopathy, and one had hemorrhagic transformation of an ischemic cerebral infarction found at autopsy. We conclude that ICH following rt-PA and heparin therapy for acute myocardial infarction presents as a distinctive clinical syndrome. Intracerebral bleeding after combined thrombolytic and antithrombotic therapy may be associated with cerebral amyloid angiopathy and other vascular lesions. Acute or persistent hypertension before or during rt-PA infusion, life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias, and hypofibrinogenemia, either alone or in combination, may play roles in some cases. Care should be exercised when considering thrombolytic therapy for patients with risk factors for ICH.

Objective To test whether multiphoton microscopy (MPM) might allow identification of prostatic and periprostatic structures with magnification and resolution similar to gold standard histopathology. Material and Methods The present study included 95 robotic radical prostatectomy patients who consented to participate in an Institutional Review Board-approved study starting in 2007. The types of specimens used for imaging were excised surgical margins and biopsies, and sections obtained from the excised prostate. The specimens were imaged with a custom-built MPM system. All images were compared with haematoxylin/eosin histopathology of the same specimen. Results MPM of freshly excised, unprocessed and unstained tissue can identify all relevant prostatic and periprostatic structures, such as nerves, blood vessels, capsule, underlying acini and also pathological changes, including prostate cancer. Histological confirmation and correlation of these structures and pathologies have validated the findings of MPM. Conclusions MPM shows great promise as a tool for real-time intra-surgical histopathology without needing excision or administration of contrast agents. The results will, however, need to be confirmed in true surgical settings using a miniaturized MPM microendoscope.

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