Global Cardiology Science and Practice - Current Issue

Marfan syndrome is a genetic disease with variable clinical presentation. This case describes a 36-year-old lady who was diagnosed with Marfan syndrome based on revised Ghent criteria. She was found to have bicuspid aortic valve and sensorineural hearing loss. Inferior vena cava stenosis was suspected on echocardiography due to high velocity flow and visualization of a focal narrowing in the inferior vena cava proximal to hepatic v Read More

While cardiac involvement is not a common presentation in human echinococcosis, it may lead to life-threatening complications including cyst rupture; anaphylactic shock; tamponade; pulmonary, cerebral or peripheral arterial embolism; acute coronary syndrome; dysrhythmias; infection; ventricular or valvular dysfunction, as well as sudden death. Here we report a 9-year old girl who was diagnosed to have hydatid cyst of the interventricular Read More

A large number of clinical trials over the last 30 years have firmly consolidated the importance of lowering low density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDLc) in the prevention of cardiovascular diseases (CVD) and its associated devastating sequelae.1 While healthy diets and exercise are highly recommended to lower LDLc levels, in many individuals with high baseline levels of LDLc, this is not sufficient to bring levels down to recommended target valu Read More

Bioresorbable polymers and biocorrodible metals are the latest developments in biodegradable materials used in interventional cardiology for the mechanical treatment of coronary atherosclerosis. Poly-L-lactic acid is the most frequently used bioresorbable polymer and initial evidence of feasibility, efficacy and clinical safety following deployment of polymer-based platforms was gained after completion of the first-in-man longitudinal ABS Read More

The impetus for developing drug-eluting bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) has been driven by the need for elastic and transient platforms instead of stiff and permanent metallic implants in diseased coronary anatomies. This endeavor would prevent acute recoil or occlusion, allow sealing of post-procedural dissections following acute barotrauma, provide inhibition of in-segment restenosis through efficient drug-elution and would further prepare t Read More

Wave intensity analysis (WIA) is a technique developed from the field of gas dynamics that is now being applied to assess cardiovascular physiology. It allows quantification of the forces acting to alter flow and pressure within a fluid system, and as such it is highly insightful in ascribing cause to dynamic blood pressure or velocity changes. When co-incident waves arrive at the same spatial location they exert either counteracting or summative Read More

Angiopoietin-like proteins (ANGPTLs) have emerged as an important regulator of lipid and glucose metabolism, as well as insulin sensitivity. ANGPTL3 plays a key role in regulating circulating triglycerides (TG) and cholesterol levels through reversible inhibition of lipoprotein lipase (LPL) and endothelial lipase enzymes activity. Loss of function mutation of ANGPTL3 gene has been identified in many subjects with familial combined hypolipidemi Read More

“… it is better to dissect nature, than to reduce her to abstraction” Francis Bacon, Novum oragnum scientiarum, 1620

The mechanisms responsible for sustaining atrial fibrillation are a key debate in cardiovascular pathophysiology, and directly influence the approach to therapy including ablation. Clinical and basic studies have split AF mechanisms into two basic camps: ‘spatially distributed disorganization’ and ‘localized sources’. Recent data suggest that these mechanisms can also be separated by the method for mapping – with nearly all traditional electrogr Read More