Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to Francisco G Cosío.
A 70-year-old lady with diabetes and monoclonal gammopathy underwent pacemaker implant for 2:1 atrioventricular block. Within 7 days, a painful, infiltrating, necrotic lesion involved the implant area. Biopsy was compatible with pyoderma gangrenosum and corticosteroid treatment led to healing in 3 weeks.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
AIMS: Systematic registration of data from clinical practice is important for clinical care, local, national and international registries, and audit. Data to be collected for these different purposes should be harmonized. Therefore, during Ireland's Presidency of the European Union (EU) (January to June 2004), the Department of Health and Children worked with the European Society of Cardiology, the Irish Cardiac Society, and the European Commission to develop data standards for clinical cardiology. The Cardiology Audit and Registration Data Standards (CARDS) Project aimed to agree standards for three modules of cardiovascular health information systems: acute coronary syndromes (ACS), percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), and clinical electrophysiology (pacemakers, implantable cardioverter defibrillators, and ablation procedures). METHODS AND RESULTS: Data items from existing registries and surveys were reviewed to derive draft data standards (variables, coding, and definitions). Variables common to the three modules include demographics, risk factors, medication, and discharge and follow-up data. Modules about a procedure contain variables on the lesion, the device, and medication during the procedure. The ACS module includes presenting symptoms, reperfusion and acute treatments, and procedures in hospital and at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: The data standards were discussed and adopted at a conference involving EU member states in Cork, Ireland, in May 2004. After a pilot study, the standards will be disseminated to stakeholders throughout Europe.
INTRODUCTION: The high posterolateral right atrium (RA) is considered the "sinus node area," but we lack information on endocardial atrial activation in sinus rhythm. We studied RA and left atrial (LA) endocardial activation in the electrophysiology laboratory. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty-five patients (21 men) aged 47 +/- 16.4 years (mean +/- SD) underwent RA mapping (22.2 +/- 3.8 points). In 21 patients, LA activation was mapped (11.1 +/- 3.9 points) through the coronary sinus (CS), right pulmonary artery, and/or a patent oval foramen. Fourteen patients had atrial arrhythmias, and 3 an ECG pattern of Bachmann's bundle block. Endocardial RA activation preceded P wave in 5 (-14 +/- 4.2 ms), coincided in 11, and followed P onset in 18 (16.7 +/- 6.6 ms). Location of the zero point varied from the superior vena cava to the low RA and from lateral to paraseptal RA. In 19 patients, activation started simultaneously in 2 to 5 points located >or=1 cm apart. RA activation was descending in most, but in 3 with low onset there was collision in the anterior and septal walls. In 15 of 21 patients, descending LA activation dominated, ending in the mid CS in 12, proximal CS in 1, and simultaneously throughout the CS in 2. In 3 with Bachmann's bundle block, CS activation was ascending and in 2 double potentials were recorded from the LA roof. CONCLUSION: During stable sinus rhythm, RA activation can start in different areas or simultaneously over large areas resulting in different activation patterns, both in the RA and the LA. LA activation is predominantly descending, but in Bachmann's bundle block it becomes ascending, and double potentials suggest a location of block in the LA roof.
Understanding of typical flutter circuits led the way to the study of other forms of macroreentrant tachycardias of the atria, and to their treatment by catheter ablation. It has become evident that the ECG classification of atrial flutter and atrial tachycardia by a rate cutoff and the presence or absence of isoelectric baselines between atrial deflections is not a valid indicator of tachycardia mechanism. Macroreentrant circuits where activation rotates around large obstacles are the most common arrhythmias found in patients with atypical forms of flutter or atrial tachycardia, especially after surgery for congenital heart disease, however, focal mechanisms can also be found. Large areas of low voltage electrograms, suggestive of severe myocardial damage (fibrosis or infiltration) can be found in many atypical macroreentrant tachycardias at the center of the circuit. Many of these circuits can be mapped precisely, critical isthmuses can be defined, and effective catheter ablation can be performed. The need to match activation maps with anatomy precisely, makes computer assisted, anatomically precise mapping a useful tool. Entrainment techniques have to be used sparingly to avoid tachycardia interruption. In complex cases, ablation can be done in sinus rhythm, after definition of conducting channels between low voltage areas and scars or anatomic obstacles. Long-term prognosis is uncertain and depends on the underlying pathology.
Explore the source record for details and available documents.
Typical atrial flutter has long been considered a reentrant arrhythmia, but it is only recently that the full structure of the right atrial circuit was understood, leading to de devise of ablation techniques. Recognition of the role of functional block, based on anisotropic conduction was crucial to understanding of the flutter circuit. Anisotropy at the terminal crest creates a line of block that, with the orifices of superior and inferior vena cava, constitutes the posterior boundary of the flutter circuit. The anterior boundary is the tricuspid ring, and the circuit is a ring of myocardium made by the septal and anterior right atrial walls, linked on top by the right atrial roof and inferiorly by the inferior vena cava-tricuspid ring isthmus. This isthmus, a relatively narrow part of the circuit, has become the established target for typical flutter ablation. Complete, bidirectional isthmus block is the final goal of flutter ablation. This has to be assessed, after flutter interruption, by pacing both sides of the ablation line while recording electrogram sequences from the opposite right atrial wall and the isthmus itself. Success is great in terms of prevention of flutter recurrence, however a 30% incidence of atrial fibrillation during follow-up casts a large shadow on long-term prognosis. Understanding of the myocardial abnormalities underlying atrial flutter and fibrillation will be necessary to improve this long-term outlook.
A case of severe mitral regurgitation with refractory heart failure, after atrioventricular junction ablation and pacemaker implant, was solved with left ventricular pacing. Mitral regurgitation was related to a change in segmental left ventricular motion during right ventricular pacing.