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Biomedical subjects

J M McComb

Publications and source records attributed to J M McComb.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources
PubMed1993

Heart rate and late mortality in cardiac transplant recipients.

There are currently 104 patients at this centre who have survived at least 3 months after orthotopic cardiac transplantation. Seven of these long-term survivors have subsequently died and in three cases death was sudden and unexpected. All three of these patients had been noted to have inappropriately high resting heart rates (> 130 b.min-1). The rhythm was sinus tachycardia, supraventricular tachycardia or both intermittently. The heart rates of all 104 long-term survivors were recorded from ECGs taken at routine follow-up visits every 3 months for one year and annually thereafter. The overall mean heart rate was 100 +/- 13.2 b.min-1. Four patients, including the three identified above, had mean heart rates greater than the 95th centile. The mortality rate in this group is 75%. Four deaths have occurred in the remaining 100 patients (P < 0.001). In our series, an inappropriately high resting heart rate due to sinus tachycardia or supraventricular tachycardia in long-term survivors of cardiac transplantation, is an adverse prognostic sign.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Intravenous adenosine reveals intermittent preexcitation by direct and indirect effects on accessory pathway conduction.

In some patients with accessory pathways preexcitation occurs intermittently during sinus rhythm. In these patients the antegrade refractory period of the accessory pathway may either exceed the sinus cycle length under some circumstances, or conduction block in the accessory pathway may be variable. The ability of intravenous adenosine to unmask intermittent preexcitation was determined in patients with intermittent preexcitation but absent preexcitation at the time of study. Six patients undergoing assessment of the Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome received incremental doses of intravenous adenosine (3, 6, and 12 mg). Adenosine administration was repeated in three patients after intravenous beta blockade (propranolol 0.2 mg/kg). Adenosine unmasked preexcitation in all patients. P delta intervals with preexcited beats were substantially shorter than resting PR intervals in all cases (range 40-80 msec shorter). In 4/6 patients preexcitation was seen early, coincident with the onset of atrioventricular nodal block. In 4/6 patients preexcitation was seen late during the secondary sinus tachycardia that follows the direct cardiac effects of adenosine. Two patients exhibited early preexcitation and late preexcitation. Beta blockade failed to prevent early preexcitation (2/2 patients) but abolished preexcitation related to sinus tachycardia (3/3 patients). Early preexcitation, coincident with the onset of AV nodal block, suggests a direct effect of adenosine on accessory pathway conduction. Late preexcitation, occurring during secondary sinus tachycardia, and abolished by beta blockade, suggests enhanced accessory pathway conduction due to sympathetic activation.

Adenosine↗
PubMed1993

Morphology of the cardiac conduction system in patients with electrophysiologically proven dual atrioventricular nodal pathways.

INTRODUCTION: Although the electrophysiologic criteria for dual atrioventricular nodal pathways are well established, the anatomical substrate is still unclear. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined the hearts from 10 patients who had been studied electrophysiologically prior to cardiac transplantation. All 10 patients were male, aged 22 to 60 years. Nine of the 10 patients had dual atrioventricular nodal pathways according to accepted criteria. Histologic studies of the atrioventricular conduction system showed normal structure of the atrioventricular node in all 10 hearts, with minor variations within the node in 3 cases, within the penetrating bundle in 3 cases, and within the nonbranching bundle in 3 cases. The atrial approaches to the atrioventricular node were generally scanty in 6 hearts. The solitary case that was shown electrophysiologically to lack dual pathways had no obvious difference in the structure of the nodal area other than sparsity of transitional cells. We were unable to locate any extranodal atrial tracts as described by other investigators. CONCLUSION: The anatomical substrate for conduction over dual pathways may be too subtle to be detected by gross morphologic studies. Since dual pathways were unmasked in all patients but one during electrophysiologic studies, it may be that the potential for these pathways is ubiquitous.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Financial audit of antitachycardia pacing for the control of recurrent supraventricular tachycardia.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the financial implications of antitachycardia pacing in patients with frequent supraventricular tachycardia. PATIENTS: Intertach pacemakers were implanted in 25 patients (mean age 47 years, five men): 22 had atrioventricular nodal reentry tachycardia. The patients had failed a mean of 4.9 (range zero to eight) drugs and had been admitted to hospital 3.7 (zero to 31) times over a symptomatic period of 13.9 years (two months to 54 years). RESULTS: The mean admission time for implantation was 2.8 (two to seven) days. One patient with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome subsequently underwent surgery. Infection occurred in two patients, and pain over the pacemaker required its resiting in two. Two patients have had one admission each for tachycardia. Six patients remain on anti-arrhythmic drugs. Costs were calculated including value added tax, capital charges, and allocated overheads. The cost a year before pacing was 1174 pounds including drug costs, clinic visits, and hospital admissions. The mean cost of pacemaker implantation was 3364.22 pounds, including the pacemaker and lead, admission and procedure, readmissions and first pacing check. Subsequent annual follow up cost was 73.72 pounds including annual clinic visits and drug costs. The cost of pacing is 4241 pounds whereas medical management costs 7044 pounds assuming pacemaker life of six years: with a 10 year life the cost is 4537 pounds compared with 11,740 pounds: with a 12 year life the cost is 4685 pounds compared with 14,088 pounds. CONCLUSION: The excess cost of implantation of an antitachycardia pacemaker is minimal in patients with frequent supraventricular tachycardia despite drug treatment and is justified by excellent control of symptoms and reduction of drug use and hospital admissions.

Adult↗
PubMed1993

Permanent pacing after cardiac transplantation.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the need for long-term pacing and optimum mode of pacing in cardiac transplant recipients. DESIGN: (a) A retrospective review of patient records. (b) A prospective study of pacemaker use by 24 hour ambulatory electrocardiography before and after reprogramming to minimise use of pacemakers. SETTING: Outpatient clinic, supra-regional cardiopulmonary transplant unit. PATIENTS: All 21 patients at this centre who had received permanent pacemakers after cardiac transplantation. 18 of 19 survivors completed the prospective part of the study. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE: The presence of pacing during a 24 hour ambulatory electrocardiographic recording (programming: 50 beats/min, rate sensor inactivated). RESULTS: 21 of 191 (11%) recipients surviving one month or more received permanent pacemakers. The indication was sinus node dysfunction in 13 (62%) and atrioventricular (AV) block in eight (38%). Patients who paced on follow up 12 lead electrocardiograms declined from 38% at three months to 10% at three years after transplantation. After programming to 50 beats/min only five of 18 (28%) patients paced during a 24 hour ambulatory recording. Four of 11 (36%) recipients who received pacemakers for sinus node dysfunction paced compared with one of seven patients (14%) paced for AV block. No patient who had a pacemaker before the 16th day after operation continued to pace whereas five of nine implanted later were used long-term. CONCLUSION: Only five of 18 (28%) patients with pacemakers continued to pace long-term. Continued pacing was more common in those with persistent sinus node dysfunction after the second week after operation but the need for long-term pacing was not predictable.

Cardiac Pacing, Artificial↗
PubMed1992

Arrhythmias after cardiac transplantation.

The etiology and clinical significance of sustained arrhythmias, and atrial and ventricular premature complexes (APCs and VPCs, respectively) after heart transplantation are controversial. Fifty adult recipients surviving > 2 weeks were studied by continuous telemetry while in the hospital and by ambulatory electrocardiographic monitoring at 2, 4, 6, 12 and 24 weeks after transplantation. The median APC frequency was greater among subjects who experienced allograft rejection in the early postoperative period (0.7/hour, range 0 to 23) than among those who did not (0.2/hour, range 0 to 10.4) (p = 0.04). The APC frequency in all subjects decreased from 0.25/hour (range 0 to 23) early to 0/hour (0 to 14) later (p = 0.04). Atrial flutter was the most frequent sustained arrhythmia; it was recorded in 5 of 21 rejectors and in 1 of 29 nonrejectors (p = 0.04), and 11 of 16 episodes (69%) were related to acute rejection temporally. VPCs were recorded in all patients early after transplantation, but the median frequency subsequently decreased from 4.6/hour (range 0.5 to 470) early to 1.25/hour (range 0 to 225) later (p < 0.001). VPC frequency was unrelated to rejection. Sustained ventricular tachycardia was recorded once and was caused by the proarrhythmic effect of flecainide. Thus, APCs and VPCs occur frequently after transplantation. Frequent APCs are associated with rejection, whereas the main determinant of VPC frequency is time after transplantation. Atrial flutter is closely associated with rejection and should be regarded as an indication for endomyocardial biopsy. Ventricular tachycardia occurs seldom, and in this study was due to proarrhythmic drug effects.

Adult↗
PubMed1992

The management and outcome of late post-infarct ventricular tachycardia presenting to a district general hospital.

A review was undertaken of late post-infarct ventricular tachycardia in a district hospital cardiac care unit in order to study the clinical course of a total population of such patients from initial presentation to ultimate outcome. Thirty-six patients with this diagnosis were identified over a 3 1/2-yr period. Twelve were treated by empirically chosen antiarrhythmic drugs. Twenty-four were referred for electrophysiologically guided treatment, of whom 16 were treated by antiarrhythmic drugs, 3 by anti-ischaemic measures alone, and 5 by non-pharmacological antiarrhythmic treatments (antiarrhythmic surgery, percutaneous ablation, defibrillator implantation, cardiac transplantation). Of those treated empirically, 4 died in hospital of their arrhythmia, 1 died suddenly at home, and 2 suffered non-fatal arrhythmia recurrences during mean follow-up of 20 months. There were no arrhythmic deaths in those whose treatment was guided by serial electrophysiology studies, although 4 patients died of cardiac failure or reinfarction, and 3 were hospitalised with a recurrence of ventricular tachycardia during mean follow-up of 16 months. Age, concomitant medical problems and the apparent response to initial antiarrhythmic therapy were the main factors influencing management decisions. The apparent superiority of more intensive management strategies based on electrophysiology studies must be interpreted in the context of the selection processes applied to the total population initially presenting.

Aged↗
PubMed1992

Surgery for ventricular tachycardia associated with right ventricular dysplasia: disarticulation of right ventricle in 9 of 10 cases.

Ten patients (nine men, one woman; mean age 39 years) with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia underwent surgery to control life-threatening drug refractory ventricular arrhythmias. All had ventricular tachycardia causing syncope and six had a history of cardiac arrest. In all a minimum of three antiarrhythmic drugs (mean five) had been ineffective. At operation, the right ventricle was grossly diseased in all patients. Ventricular tachycardias were induced and mapped intraoperatively in all patients. The surgical plan was to ablate the arrhythmogenic focus if it was less than 4 cm2; one patient was so managed. Of the remaining nine, four underwent partial (approximately 40% of the right ventricular free wall) and five underwent total right ventricular disarticulation. All survived the operation and are alive at a mean follow-up interval of 24 months (range 5 to 67). Two patients developed new sustained ventricular tachycardias. These were well tolerated and, unlike the original arrhythmias, were easily controlled by drug treatment. All patients who underwent right ventricular disarticulation manifested signs of right heart failure in the early postoperative period, but these lessened progressively with the development of systolic septal movement into the right ventricular cavity. All 10 patients are in New York Heart Association class I or II at last review. In selected patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia, surgery offers a curative treatment for ventricular tachycardia and should be considered for patients whose arrhythmias are life-threatening and refractory to drug treatment.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1992

QT dispersion in sinus beats and ventricular extrasystoles in normal hearts.

OBJECTIVE: Recent studies have suggested that QT interlead variability (dispersion) on the surface electrocardiogram may have potential as a measure of recovery time dispersion. To test this hypothesis further QT dispersion occurring in sinus beats was compared with that in ventricular extrasystoles. DESIGN: Simultaneous electrocardiograms were recorded at 50 mm/s during sinus rhythm in a drug free state while ventricular extrastimuli were introduced by programmed right ventricular stimulation at different coupling intervals. QT dispersion, defined as the difference between the maximum and minimum QT, was calculated separately for the extrasystoles and preceding and following sinus complexes. To correct for the influence of the number of measurable leads on QT dispersion, an "adjusted" QT dispersion calculated as QT dispersion/square root of the number of measurable leads, was used to compare sinus complexes and extrasystoles. PATIENTS: Nine patients were studied who were undergoing electrophysiological study for investigation of palpitation and were found to have electrically normal ventricles. RESULTS: At all coupling intervals tested "adjusted" QT dispersion was significantly greater in the ventricular extrasystoles than in either the preceding or following sinus complexes. For the coupling interval 350 ms, the 95% confidence intervals for the difference between means was 52 to 78 ms (preceding sinus complex) and 56 to 82 ms (following sinus complex) (p less than 0.00001). There was no correlation between the coupling interval and the magnitude of the "adjusted" QT dispersion. CONCLUSION: These results accord fully with expected differences in ventricular recovery time dispersion and offer further support for the hypothesis that QT dispersion reflects regional variation in ventricular recovery. If substantiated by invasive studies, these findings have wide implications for both the usefulness and the method of QT measurement.

Cardiac Complexes, Premature↗
PubMed1992

Incessant atrial tachycardia accelerated by pregnancy.

A 24 year old patient presented with incessant atrial tachycardia during the course of a twin pregnancy. Medical treatment slowed the ventricular response without restoring sinus rhythm. During labour the tachycardia spontaneously reverted to sinus rhythm. Subsequently the same arrhythmia was documented with a slower ventricular response than during pregnancy.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Reduction in QT dispersion by sotalol following myocardial infarction.

Increased dispersion of ventricular recovery time is believed to be a substrate for serious ventricular arrhythmias. Class III antiarrhythmic drugs probably operate by decreasing dispersion through homogeneous prolongation of recovery time. A single surface QT value gives no information on recovery time dispersion but interlead variation in QT may be relevant. QTc dispersion was measured in 67 patients post myocardial infarction randomized to treatment with either sotalol or placebo. QTc dispersion was calculated as the difference between the maximum and minimum QTc in any surface electrocardiogram lead. Both maximum QTc and QTc dispersion varied considerably following infarction but throughout the 6-month follow-up period maximum QTc was significantly greater (P less than 0.05) and QTc dispersion significantly less (P less than 0.05) in patients on sotalol compared with placebo. These findings are in accord with expected changes in ventricular recovery time and provide strong support for the hypothesis that surface electrocardiogram QT variation reflects regional differences in ventricular recovery time.

Arrhythmias, Cardiac↗
PubMed1991

Electrophysiologic effects and antiarrhythmic efficacy of recainam in patients with supraventricular tachycardia.

Recainam is a new antiarrhythmic agent with class Ic properties. To evaluate its electrophysiologic effects and antiarrhythmic efficacy in patients with recurrent supraventricular tachycardia (SVT), programmed electrical stimulation was performed in 10 patients before and after intravenous recainam (loading dose 0.8 mg/kg, infusion 1 mg/kg/h), and in four patients on oral recainam 1,200 mg/day. Five patients had atrioventricular (AV) node reentrant tachycardia; five had AV-reciprocating tachycardia. There were no significant changes in electrocardiographic and intracardiac intervals after either intravenous or oral recainam. After intravenous recainam, the ventricular effective refractory period (ERP) shortened (231 +/- 14-219 +/- 9 ms, p less than 0.05). The antegrade ERP of all three bidirectional accessory pathway markedly prolonged, but the effect on retrograde accessory pathway and AV node ERPs was unremarkable. SVT induction was prevented in three of 10 patients and SVT cycle length increased modestly in seven (357 +/- 44-374 +/- 42 ms, p = 0.07). On oral recainam, an increase in the frequency of spontaneous SVT occurred in two patients. At the doses given, recainam caused less electrophysiologic change than expected, had modest antiarrhythmic efficacy, and might have significant arrhythmogenic potential.

Administration, Oral↗
PubMed1991

Long-term pacing in heart transplant recipients is usually unnecessary.

The indications for and timing of permanent pacing were reviewed in all 17 of 154 adult heart transplant recipients at this center who have had permanent pacemakers implanted. Resting 12-lead ECGs recorded during routine follow-up were examined. A prospective study of pacing requirement was then undertaken. Holter monitoring was performed before and after reprogramming the pacemakers to VVI mode at 50 beats/min. Exercise responses in various pacing modes were then assessed in seven patients with rate responsive pacemakers using a standard Bruce protocol treadmill test. The indication for pacing was sinus node dysfunction in 59% (10/17) and atrioventricular (AV) block in 41% (7/17). The majority of pacemakers were implanted between seven and 21 days after transplantation. There was a progressive reduction in the frequency of pacing on 12-lead ECGs with time after transplantation. There was a progressive reduction in the frequency of pacing on 12-lead ECGs with time after transplantation. Eight of 14 patients with empirically selected programming paced during Holter monitoring. After reprogramming to 50 beats/min VVI mode only three of 14 patients, all with sinus node dysfunction, paced. Rate responsive pacing made no difference to exercise time. The requirement for long-term pacing in cardiac transplant recipients is small (3/154) and is limited to patients with sinus node dysfunction. Rate responsive pacing did not increase exercise tolerance.

Adult↗
PubMed1991

Acute and chronic hemodynamic impact of total right ventricular disarticulation.

Right ventricular disarticulation is a radical operation to control ventricular arrhythmias in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. This report describes the acute and chronic hemodynamic impact of the procedure based on our experience of five patients with life-threatening arrhythmias unresponsive to medical therapy who have undergone total disarticulation of the right ventricle. Although all patients suffered acute postoperative hemodynamic problems, all survived and returned to an excellent functional class. Right ventricular disarticulation should be considered in patients with drug refractory ventricular tachycardias due to arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia when the arrhythmia either poses a life threat or results in chronic morbidity.

Adult↗
PubMed1990

Propafenone.

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Adult↗