Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome, particularly seen in women during pregnancy or in the puerperium. It has a high acute phase mortality. The etiology is uncertain. Hormonal changes during pregnancy, hemodynamic stress and changes in the autoimmune status have been considered as possible etiological factors. A timely diagnosis and institution of appropriate treatment is important for a successful outcome. There is no consensus of opinion for optimal treatment. Conservative management, coronary artery bypass graft surgery, and percutaneous coronary intervention, all have been described in the literature as possible therapeutic options. Spontaneous coronary artery dissection should be considered as a differential in any young woman presenting with chest pain associated with pregnancy. We report two cases of pregnancy-associated spontaneous coronary artery dissection, both successfully managed, along with a comprehensive review of the previously published literature.

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Giant left atrium is a rare condition, with a reported incidence of 0.3%, and following mainly rheumatic mitral valve disease. Although rheumatic heart disease represents the main cause of giant left atrium, other etiologies have been reported. Giant left atrium has significant hemodynamic effects and requires specific management. In this review, we present two cases, discuss the different definitions, etiologies, clinical presentation and management modalities.

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Objective: Little is known about thrombolytic therapy patterns in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in the Middle East. The objective of this study was to evaluate the clinical profile and mortality of STEMI patients who arrived in hospital within 12 hours from pain onset and received thrombolytic therapy. Patients and Methods: This was a prospective, multinational, multi-centre, observational survey of consecutive acute coronary syndrome patients admitted to 65 hospitals in six Middle Eastern countries during the period between October 2008 and June 2009, as part of Gulf RACE-II (Registry of Acute Coronary Events). Analyses were performed using univariate statistics. Results: Out of 2,465 STEMI patients, 66% (n = 1,586) were thrombolysed with namely: streptokinase (43%), reteplase (44%), tenecteplase (10%), and alteplase (3%). 22.7% received no reperfusion. Median age of the study cohort was 50 (45-59) years with majority being males (91%). The overall median symptom onset-to-presentation and door-to-needle times were 165 (95- 272) minutes and 38 (24-60) minutes, respectively. Generally, patients presenting with higher GRACE risk scores were treated with newer thrombolytic agents (reteplase and tenecteplase) (P < 0.001). The use of newer thrombolytic agents was associated with a significantly lower mortality at both 1-month (0.8% vs. 1.7% vs. 4.2%; P = 0.014) and 1-year (0% vs. 1.7% vs. 3.4%; P = 0.044) compared to streptokinase use. Conclusions: Majority of STEMI patients from the Middle East were thrombolysed with streptokinase and reteplase in equal numbers. Nearly one-fifth of patients did not receive any reperfusion therapy. There was inappropriately long symptom-onset to hospital presentation as well as door-to-needle times. Use of newer thrombolytic agents in high risk patients was appropriate. Newer thrombolytic agents were associated with significantly lower mortality at 1-month and 1-year compared to the older agent, streptokinase.

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Univentricular heart or single ventricle heart is a rare and complex congenital heart disease (CHD). We report the successful management of a parturient with a single ventricle, and pulmonary stenosis. The univentricular heart is discussed in detail and the maternal and fetal outcome in pregnant women with CHD is reviewed.

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Background: Cardiac complications are the primary cause of death in patients with b thalassemia major. QTc interval is an indicator of variability of ventricular repolarization and is supposed to be prominent in high risk patients. The aim of this investigation was to evaluate the relationship between QTc interval in β thalassemia major in comparison with the control group. Patients and Methods: Sixty β thalassemia major and intermadia patients were enrolled in this analytical cross-sectional study. Thalassemia major and intermadia patients with no clinical symptoms of cardiac disease underwent echocardiographic and stress tests. QTc interval, blood pressure, heart rate, and average serum ferritin levels were measured. Statistical analysis was performed using version 15 SPSS. Results: Although there was no clinical or echocardiographic sign of cardiac disease and QTc intervals measured before the test were not significantly different between patients and control group (421.7 ± 29.6 vs. 412.4 ± 28.2, P = 0.06), we found that, during stress test, QTc intervals (452.7 ± 30.8 vs. 410.2 ± 26.2, P < 0.001) and heart rate (105 ± 15.1 vs. 89.7 ± 12.3, P < 0.001) were notably greater in β thalassemia major patients compared to the control group, respectively. Conclusion: We found augmented QTc intervals in this group of thalassemia major patients who have neither clinical nor electrocardiographic and gross echocardiographic signs of cardiac disease. QTc interval can be helpful in the cardiac assessment of thalassemia major patients.

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The practice of conventional medicine has markedly changed since the introduction of the concept of the evidence-based medicine. Randomized controlled study design and large sample size were the only justifications for level A or B evidence at the summit of what is called the evidence pyramid. A lot of medical interventions that were based on a plethora of basic researches and multiple large real world or observational studies in humans became questioned now by the results of even a single large sized randomized controlled trial (RCT). The conflicting evidences for the value of vitamin E and Omega-3 fatty acids in cardiovascular diseases are famous examples for such perplexity. This article discusses this problem on the basis of scientific, ethical, and statistical critical appraisal. To conclude, in this era of overwhelming flow of data, it should be emphasized in short, fast-to-read articles that it is important to consider not only the level of evidence "as dictated by the study design and sample size" but also the relevance of evidence. Studies tell us about populations but we treat individuals. The type of the studied individuals, the enrollment criteria, the methodology, the dose of the studied drug and all the combined medications in the study should be clearly considered whenever the reported results are to be generalized beyond the specific situation studied. Comparing the effect of an active drug against placebo by giving either one of them to a group already treated with other multiple drugs (optimum medical therapy) could be a misleading indicator for the pure efficacy of the active drug. Many confounding variables such as known "or unknown" drug-drug interactions, sharing mechanisms of action or unexpected adverse drug reactions can afflict only the group randomized to take the active drug. These variables will not affect the control group simply because they add to their optimized multiple drug therapy an inert placebo.

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Left main coronary artery aneurysm is an uncommon coronary anomaly. We describe herein a male whose coronary angiogram revealed left main coronary artery aneurysm. The purpose of the case report is to highlight the clinical picture, workup, and treatment options for such patients.

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