PA-TDI duration was an independent predictor of POAF following OPCAB. Awareness of risk of POAF may lead to the prevention of POAF, a rapid response to POAF, shortened hospital stay, and improved prognosis.

No abstract

rugada syndrome (BS) is characterized by ST-segment elevation in leads V1-3 with a right bundle branch block pattern and nocturnal sudden cardiac death caused by ventricular fibrillation (VF). 1,2 Patients with this syndrome who have experienced syncopal episodes or have been resuscitated from cardiac arrest have a poor prognosis if they do not receive an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Although the prevalence of Brugada-type ECG change in healthy subjects is approximately 0.1-1%, their prognosis of is relatively good compared with symptomatic patients. 3-10 However, some asymptomatic patients become symptomatic and sudden cardiac death can occur with the first VF attack, so it is a problem in Japan of how to treat asymptomatic patients with a typical Brugada-type ECG who are detected by daily medical checkup. The results of some recent studies regarding the prognostic value of programmed electrical stimulation (PES) for patients with BS are conflicting; 6-9 Priori et al reported that the factors that predicted cardiac events were spontaneous ST elevation in leads V1-3 and episodes of syncope, but that VF inducible by PES did not indicate an increased risk of cardiac arrest, 7 whereas Brugada et al reported that induci-bility of ventricular arrhythmia and an abnormal ECG without provocation were predictors of arrhythmic events. 8,9 However, an electrophysiological study (EPS) is expensive and invasive, and sometimes results in complications, so it should not be carried out for all asymptomatic patients who show a Brugada-type ECG, but only for those patients for whom there is a high risk for a cardiac event. Because it is currently impossible to accurately predict the occurrence of cardiac events in asymptomatic patients, the present study was designed to determine noninvasive methods that could predict induction of VF by PES in asymptomatic patients with Brugada syndrome. For this purpose, the clinical characteristics of asymptomatic patients in whom VF was induced by PES were assessed, and the differences between the clinical values in asymptomatic patients with PES-induced VF and those without PES-induced VF were studied using noninvasive methods (a sodium channel blocker [pilsicainide] challenge test and a signal averaged electro-gram). Methods Patients The subjects of this study were 41 male asymptomatic patients with BS (age 27-66 years; mean age, 45±10 years). A Brugada-type ECG was defined as late r' wave (>0.2 mV) and ST segment elevation (>0.1 mV). 3 All of the subjects Circ J 2003; 67: 312-316 Ventricular fibrillation (VF) is induced in some asymptomatic patients with Brugada syndrome (BS), but the pro-gnostic value of programmed electrical stimulation (PES) in such patients is controversial. The clinical characteristics of 41 asymptomatic BS patients, divided into 2 groups according to whether VF was induced by PES (inducible VF group: n=13, non-inducible VF group: n=28) were evaluated. ST levels in the right precordial leads were measured before and after administration of pilsicainide...

Heart rate control during AF without sinus conversion may result in an incomplete cure of TIC, suggesting the advantages of rhythm control with ablation in patients with TIC.

A fatal case of puffer poisoning in an 80-year-old man is reported. By using a bioassay with mice and extracts of crude poisons, the toxicities of the autopsy materials, fresh puffer ovaries, and the remaining cooked ovaries were determined and expressed in mouse units per gram (M.U.). Some medicolegal aspects of puffer poisoning are also discussed. Puffer poisoning is a primary cause of fatal food poisoning in Japan even though its frequency is not high.