Oxidation and inflammation play significant roles in the pathogenesis of coronary artery diseases. Monocyte count to high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol ratio (MHR) is a new marker and has revealed as an indicator of inflammation in the literature. The present study aimed to search the effect of MHR on in-stent restenosis (ISR) in patients with stable or unstable angina pectoris undergoing bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation. A total of 468 consecutive stable or unstable angina pectoris patients (mean age 60.3 ± 10.1 and 70 % men) who had undergone successful BMS implantation were included the study. Serum samples were obtained before the procedure. The mean period between two coronary angiography procedures was 14 ± 7.9 months. The baseline MHR levels were significantly higher in patients that had ISR (odds ratio, 3.64; 95 % confidence interval, 2.45- 4.84; P < 0.001). Stent diameter, the time between the two coronary angiographic studies, uric acid and MHR levels emerged as independent predictors of ISR. Our results indicate that elevated MHR is an independent and powerful predictor of ISR in patients with stable or unstable angina pectoris who underwent successful BMS implantation.

Background: Acute myocarditis (AM) can be defined as an inflammatory disease of the myocardium and characterized by large heterogeneity of clinical presentation. Myocarditis is becoming increasingly recognized as a contributor to unexplained mortality, and is thought to be a major cause of sudden cardiac death in the first two decades of life. The present study aimed to search the assessment of repolarization dispersion measured from the 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (including Tp-e interval, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/QTc ratios) in AM patients. Methods: Totally 56 patients (mean age was 22 ± 3.7 years and 67% of the patients were male) with AM and 56 control subjects (23 ± 4.7 years and 64% of the patients were male) were enrolled. Tp-e intervals, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/corrected QT (QTc) ratios were calculated from 12-lead electrocardiogram. Results: Heart rate, QT and QTc values were similar between groups. QRS interval was lower in AM group compared to the control group (p < 0.001). Tp-e, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/ QTc were significantly higher in AM group (p < 0.001, p < 0.001, p = 0.03 respectively) and they were significantly correlated with high troponin and high sensitive C reactive protein levels. In hospital follow-up time was 6 ± 2 days. Four patients have non sustained ventricular tachyarrhythmias and 1 patient dead because of cardiac arrest. Conclusions: Our study demonstrated that Tp-e intervals, Tp-e/QT and Tp-e/QTc ratios were higher in patients with AM than control subjects. The increased frequency of ventricular arrhythmias can be clarified by increased indexes of ventricular repolarization parameters in patients with AM.

Uçar FM, et al. Korean Circ J. 2016 Nov;46(6):821-826. https://doi.org/10.4070/kcj.2016.46.6.821

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy is well known to reduce mortality in selected patients with heart failure (HF). To investigate whether monitored episodes of non-sustained ventricular tachycardia (NSVT) might predict future HF hospitalizations in ICD recipients with HF. We examined 104 ICD recipients (mean age: 60 ± 10.1 years, 80.8 % male) with HF who were referred to our outpatient clinic for device follow-up. After device interrogation, patients were divided into NSVT positive and negative groups. The primary endpoint was the rate of hospitalization within the next 6 months after initial ICD evaluation. Device evaluation demonstrated at least one episode of monitored NSVT in 50 out of 104 patients. As expected, no device therapy (shock or anti-tachycardia) was needed for such episodes. At 6 months, 24 patients were hospitalized due to acute decompensated HF. Hospitalization rate was significantly lower in the NSVT negative as compared with positive groups (38% versus 62%; adjusted hazard ratio [HR] 0.166 ; 95% CI 0.056 to 0.492; p = 0.01). Monitored NSVT bouts in ICD recordings may serve as a predictor of future HF hospitalizations in ICD recipients with HF suggesting optimization of therapeutic modalities in these patients along with a close supervision in the clinical setting.