Background: Different percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) strategies, including the use of single long stents (SLSs) and overlapping multiple stents (OMSs), have been introduced to treat very long coronary lesions (VLCLs). The aim of this study was to compare procedural and long-term clinical outcomes between SLSs and OMSs in patients with VLCLs.
Methods: In this historical cohort study, 1709 patients who underwent PCI with the new generation of drug-eluting stents (length ≥38 mm) were stratified into the SLS [PROMUS /Resolute/XIENCE (PRX), (=38 mm), n=1121 (65.59%) and BioMime, (≥40 mm), n=124 (7.26%)] and OMS [(59.43±10.80 mm), n=464 (27.2%)] groups and followed up for 440.93±361.32 days. The study endpoints comprised immediate post-PCI outcomes, major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), the patient-oriented composite endpoint (POCE), and the device-oriented composite endpoint (DOCE) at the long-term follow-up.
Results: The mean age of the patients was 59.28±10.60 years, and 69.6% of them were male. Flow grade 3 (P=0.296) and residual stenosis (P=0.533) were statistically similar between all the groups. A lower level of post-PCI troponin was observed in the BioMime group [14.52 (IQR_25%-75%:10.44–22.42) ng/L; P=0.031] than in the PRX and OMS groups [18.63 (IQR_25%-75%:10.51–34.02) ng/L and 18.96 (IQR_25%-75%:11.17–35.34) ng/L; respectively]. Similarly, the PRX and BioMime groups received lower amounts of the contrast agent [206.29±49.15 mL and 208.06±55.23 mL; respectively] than did the OMS group [265.50±74.69 mL; P<0.001]. There were no statistically significant differences in the incidence of MACE [81 (7.2%), 7 (5.6%), and 28 (6.0%); P=0.603], the POCE [141 (12.6%), 13 (10.5%), and 54 (11.6%); P=0.731], and the DOCE [51 (4.5%), 4 (3.2%), and 21 (4.5%); P=0.791] between the PRX, BioMime, and OMS groups, respectively.
Conclusion: In the treatment of VLCLs, the SLS and OMSs appear to have similar clinical outcomes. BioMime ultra-long stents may have comparable results to PRX coronary stents.

Background: Although sexual death during intercourse occurs rarely in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVDs), most such patients avoid it because they fear a dangerous event. Given the significance of awareness about this issue among patients with CVDs, we sought to compare sexual knowledge between 2 groups of patients prepared for cardiac surgery and patients prepared for cardiac rehabilitation (CR).
Methods: This cross-sectional study, conducted between April and July 2016, recruited 157 patients with CVDs (107 candidates for surgery and 50 patients prepared for CR) in Imam Ali Hospital, in the Iranian city of Kermanshah. The cases, selected through entire counting according to our inclusion criteria, responded to a standard sexual knowledge inventory. Sexual knowledge and professionals responsible in providing sexual rehabilitation from the perspective of patients were compared using the independent t-test and the χ² test.
Results: The participants’ mean age was 55.39±9.82 years (male: 58.6%). Overall, the 2 groups had poor sexual knowledge. Although the CR program started 57.85±13.92 days after surgery, the sexual knowledge of this group of patients was not significantly different from that of the patients prepared for surgery (P=0.904). This difference was not significant between the 2 genders (P=0.077). Finally, concerning the professionals responsible in providing sexual rehabilitation, the patients selected psychologists (P=0.006) and nurses (P=0.012) more frequently in the initial phase of CR program.  
Conclusion: Sexual knowledge was poor in our CR patients at the outset of the program. Given the poor knowledge in these patients 2 months after surgery and the lack of significant difference in knowledge between these patients and those prepared for surgery, it is advisable that they be provided with the necessary information in this regard in this golden time before hospital discharge.

Background: Although invasive treatments such as primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) are the treatment of choice in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients, the survival benefit of this treatment in patients with a history of coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) has yet to be fully evaluated.
Methods: In this historical cohort study, 251 STEMI patients with a history of CABG between 2007 and 2017 were stratified into 3 groups of no reperfusion, thrombolytic, and PPCI based on their treatment strategy. Baseline clinical characteristics, details of the STEMI event, and the course of hospitalization were evaluated for all patients and they were followed up until May 2018 to assess all-cause mortality.
Results: The mean age of the study population was 64.01±9.45 years, and 81.7% of them were male. The median follow-up time was 1304 (IQR_25%-75%: 571–2269) days, the short-term (1 month) mortality rate was 5.97%, and the long-term mortality rate was 15.1%. There was no significant difference between the 3 different strategies in terms of survival. In the fully adjusted multivariate analysis, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (HR: 15.06, 95% CI: 2.25–101.14, P=0.005) was significantly associated with short-term mortality, while diabetes (HR: 5.95, 95% CI: 2.03–17.44, P=0.001), opium abuse (HR: 4.85, 95% CI: 1.45–16.23, P=0.010), and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (HR: 11.73, 95% CI: 3.44–40.28, P=0.001) were significantly associated with long-term mortality.
Conclusion: Our results failed to show the superiority of invasive treatment in terms of survival. Further studies regarding the advantages and disadvantages of invasive treatment in post-CABG patients are required.

Background: The vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), as an angiogenic cytokine, binds endothelial cell receptors and stimulates angiogenesis and collateral formation. We evaluated the association between VEGF plasma levels and the gene polymorphism rs699947 and the formation of coronary collaterals in patients with coronary artery disease.
Methods: A total of 195 patients with ≥70% narrowing in at least 1 coronary vessel (according to coronary angiography) were included in the study. The presence of the rs699947 polymorphism within the promoter of the VEGF gene was investigated using polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism (PCR-RFLP). The plasma VEGF concentration was quantified via the ELISA method. The Rentrop method was used to grade the extent of collateral development.
Results: There was no significant difference in VEGF levels between the groups with good and poor collaterals. The frequency of the A allele of rs699947 was found to be higher in the patients with good collaterals than in those with poor collaterals (P=0.014). The odds ratio of good collaterals for AA was 2.67 (P=0.025) when compared with the CC genotype. Further, our additive model revealed an association between the rs699947 polymorphism and collateral formation (OR: 1.96, 95% CI: 1.05–3.65, P=0.033).
Conclusion: The rs699947 polymorphism might be a novel genetic factor affecting collateral development in Iranian patients with coronary artery disease. 

Background: Bariatric surgery is efficiently associated with the long-term resolution of obesity and its related morbidities. Not only can this surgical modality improve the metabolic profile, diastolic and systolic cardiac functions, and the clinical symptoms of heart failure or cardiomyopathy, but it can also reduce the atherosclerosis risk, ventricular mass, and pericardial fat thickness. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effects of weight loss on echocardiographic parameters 1 year after sleeve gastrectomy.
Methods: This quasi-experimental study, conducted in Modarres Hospital, Tehran, Iran, from September 2016 to September 2017, recruited 101 patients. Those with morbid obesity (body mass index ≥40 kg/m²) had undergone surgery 1 year before the study commencement. All the patients underwent sleeve gastrectomy. The data of echocardiographic indices before and 1 year after surgery were recorded and analyzed.
Results: The mean age of the participants was 37.11±9.81 years. The majority of the study participants were female (n=77, 76.2%). During the first postoperative year, the mean weight loss was 43.82±14.53 kg. The mean systolic blood pressure was 137.96±19.60 mmHg and 123.37±9.60 mmHg before sleeve gastrectomy and 1 year afterward, respectively (P<0.001). The mean left ventricular size was 48.22±4.04 mm and 44.97±5.70 mm before sleeve gastrectomy and 1 year postoperatively, correspondingly (P<0.001). The mean pulmonary artery pressure was 28.88±5.25 mmHg and 24.10±4.78 mmHg before sleeve gastrectomy and 1 year after surgery, respectively (P<0.001). The mean left atrial size was 35.72±3.32 mm and 33.12±3.52 mm before sleeve gastrectomy and 1 year thereafter, correspondingly (P<0.001).
Conclusion: Weight loss resulting from sleeve gastrectomy may improve systolic blood pressure, left atrial and left ventricular size, and pulmonary artery pressure.

Air inside the pericardial cavity is called “pneumopericardium”, which is a rare complication of pericardiocentesis. Pneumopericardium may resolve spontaneously or can complicate into tension pericardium, requiring urgent aspiration. We herein describe a 55-year-old man with pericardial effusion who underwent pericardiocentesis. The patient was completely asymptomatic after the procedure. Chest radiograph and computed tomography scan accidentally detected pneumopericardium, which was subsequently complicated by atrial fibrillation and necessitated pharmacological cardioversion. We found no case of asymptomatic pneumopericardium complicated by atrial fibrillation after pericardiocentesis in our literature review. Clinicians and cardiologists should do a post pericardiocentesis chest X-ray to diagnose pneumopericardium and prevent the catastrophic complications of tension pneumopericardium.

Intramural esophageal dissection is a condition that typically presents with chest pains and may be associated with hematemesis, odynophagia, and hematemesis. The role of antiplatelet/anticoagulant agents in the development of intramural esophageal hematoma is controversial. The management of intramural esophageal dissection is generally conservative with low mortality and morbidity. The case described here is a 66-year-old woman who presented with chest pains, odynophagia, and dysphagia 1 month after percutaneous coronary intervention while taking ASA (80 mg daily) and clopidogrel (75 mg daily) for dual antiplatelet therapy. The patient was diagnosed as intramural esophageal dissection and underwent successful conservative medical management. The relative contribution of dual antiplatelet therapy with ASA and clopidogrel after percutaneous coronary intervention in this case is, albeit uncertain, a possibility. 

Coronary artery anomalies (CAAs) are defined as variants of normal epicardial coronary arteries. They are mostly detected incidentally during coronary angiography. Clinical studies have shown that abnormal origins and courses of coronary arteries make them more prone to atherosclerosis. Percutaneous treatment for atherosclerotic occlusions in anomalous coronary arteries has some difficulties, including inadequate guiding-catheter support and the need for an experienced operator. Here, we describe successful percutaneous coronary interventions for critical stenoses in 2 different CAAs and present a brief literature review.

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