Pakistan Heart Journal
Latest Publications

A 77 -year-old lady with history of hypertension and Parkinson`s disease was admitted with cough and fever and diagnosed as pneumonia. On second day of admission, she started having chest pain, initial ECG was interpreted as atrial flutter. When her ECG was reviewed by a cardiologist, ECG features were found to be consistent with artifacts due to tremors. A repeat 12 leads ECG clearly demonstrated normal sinus rhythm and the patient remained completely asymptomatic throughout the hospital stay. Tremor induced artifacts can be mistaken for arrhythmias. Correct diagnosis is important, in order to avoid inappropriate treatment and unnecessary interventions.

Combined congenital aortic and pulmonary valvular stenosis is a rare congenital heart defect. Prevalence of severe combined valvular stenosis of aortic and pulmonary valve accounts about 0.01% and also has association with many syndromes.  This combination presents unusual diagnostic as well as management problems. Apart from a few case reports, there is little in the literature on the combined stenosis of both semilunar valves and its management. We present this rare combination in a 9 year old boy which was promptly managed with the balloon valvoplasty without any complications in the same setting under local anesthesia with sedation.

Objectives: Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) at a younger age is now becoming a crucial problem. This study determined the effect of gender on the clinical findings and outcomes of young patients (≤ 45 years) with ACS. Methodology: In this descriptive cross sectional study, young patients (≤45 years) who presented with ACS and underwent coronary angiography were recruited. The comparison of clinical profile, angiographic findings, in-hospital, and 90-days mortality between genders were made. Results: A total of 335 young patients with ACS were included, 80.6% of whom were men. A significant difference was found between men and women in terms of mean age: 38±6 vs. 40±5 (p=0.014), hypertension: 37.8% vs. 58.5% (p=0.002), diabetes: 17.4% vs. 35.4% (p=0.001), smoking: 50.4% vs. 6.2% (p≤0.001), use of smokeless tobacco: 14.1% vs. 4.6% (p=0.037), median time from symptom onset to first medical contact: 270 [420–165] minutes vs. 346 [499.5–240] minutes (p=0.047), ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) 89.6% vs. 78.5% (p=0.015), non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) 8.5% vs. 18.5% (p=0.019), and three-vessel disease (3VD) 10.7% vs. 21.5% (p=0.019), respectively. In-hospital and 90-day mortality rates were 0.4% vs. 3.1% (p=0.097) and 1.5% vs. 4.6% (p=0.136) for men and women, respectively. Conclusion: Women tended to have a higher age at presentation, more frequent traditional risk factors, late presentation after symptom onset, frequent NSTEMI, and 3VD, whereas men were distinct with frequent STEMI and higher tobacco use. In addition, women trended to have a higher in-hospital as well as short-term mortality than men did.

Objectives: To compare the frequency of severe mitral regurgitation after percutaneous mitral balloon valvuloplasty (PMBV) via Inoue balloon and multi-track balloon technique in our population. Methodology: In this retrospective observational study which was conducted at a tertiary care cardiac center of Karachi, Pakistan between 2015 and 2020 on Hospital registry of PMBV patients. Data were categorized in to two groups, Inoue balloon or multi-track balloon technique. Post procedure echocardiographic and catheterization parameters and in-hospital outcomes and complications, including severe MR, were compared between two groups. Results: Out of 470 PMBV procedures, 286 (60.9%) were performed with multi-track and 184 (39.1%) with Inoue balloon. Improvement in mitral value area was significantly higher with multi-track as compared to Inoue balloon (0.66±0.31 cm2 vs. 0.56±0.29 cm2; p<0.001). Severe MR was not significant, 3.5% (10/286) vs. 4.3% (8/184); p=0.639 for multi-track and Inoue balloon. One patient in Inoue balloon group and two patients in multi-track group required emergency valve surgery. Stroke was observed in two patients of multi-track group and two patients from the same group developed tamponade. No in-hospital mortality was observed. Conclusion: Post-procedure severe MR is a significant and frequent complication. Rate of post procedure severe MR are similar for PMBV via Inoue balloon and multi-track balloon. Both methods are equally effective with equal success rate.

Objectives: To compare the predictive value of TIMI and GRACE score for predicting in-hospital outcomes after non-ST elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS). Methodology: This study included prospectively recruited cohort of patients presented to a tertiary care cardiac center of Karachi, Pakistan who were diagnosed with NSTE-ACS. GRACE and TIMI score were obtained and in-hospital mortality was recorded. The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves analysis was performed and area under the curve (AUC) was obtained as indicative of predictive value for both scores. Results: A total of 300 patients were included, out of which 76.7%(230) were male and mean age was 58.04±10.71 years. Risk profile comprises of 84.3%(253) hypertensive, 42.0%(126) diabetic, 27.3%(82) smokers, 9.0%(27) obese, 15.3%(46) dyslipidemic, and 31%(93) with sedentary lifestyle. Mean GRACE and TIMI score were 120.19±33.17 and 3.18±0.85 respectively. In-hospital mortality rate was 5.3%(16). AUC for the GRACE score was 0.851 [0.767 - 0.934] with the optimal cut-off value of 150 with sensitivity of 68.8% and specificity of 84.9%. The AUC for the TIMI score was 0.781[0.671 - 0.891] with the optimal cut-off value of 4 with sensitivity of 75.0% and specificity of 67.6%. Conclusion: The GRACE score has high discriminating strength for predicting in-hospital mortality after NSTE-ACS. GRACE score should be used as risk stratification modality in clinical decision making for the management of NSTE-ACS.

Objectives: To assess the improvement in left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) among patients with severe LV dysfunction. Methodology: This Quasi experimental study was conducted at Punjab Institute of Cardiology from January to June 2021. One hundred and thirty four patients of severe LV dysfunction with coronary anatomy suitable for CABG were included in the study.  Assessment of LVEF was carried out with echocardiography at baseline. All patients underwent CABG under general anaesthesia and were followed-up on 15th day with repeat echocardiography. Pre-CABG and post-CABG EFs were compared and mean changes in EFs were checked for potential effect modifications with gender, diabetes, CAD duration, age and body weight. Results: The mean LVEFs before and after surgery were 23.63 ± 1.17% and 32.11 ± 1.98% respectively. Mean improvement in LVEF after CABG was 8.5 ± 2.7 % (p < 0.001, 95% CI for difference 8.0 – 8.9) and did not different significantly according to gender, diabetes, CAD duration, age and body weight (P = 0.592, 0.167, 0.506, 0.138 and 0.458 respectively). Conclusion: Patients of CAD who underwent CABG had improved post-operative LVEFs independent of evaluated potential effect modifiers.

Objectives: To determine the prevalence, patterns and behavioural attributes of tobacco abuse in patients of acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Furthermore, to assess the interaction of tobacco abuse with other conventional risk factors of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Methodology: This observational study included 230 consecutive patients with ACS. Data was collected regarding total duration and extent of tobacco consumption, “tobacco addiction” and various behavioural patterns related to it. Risk factors profile was acquired for hypertension, diabetes, obesity, family history of premature CVD and dyslipidemia. Odds ratios (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for these risk factors were calculated for tobacco abusers compared to non-abusers. Results: Among the study population, 63(27.4%) were active tobacco users. Urban residents had lesser odds of being tobacco abusers compared to non-urban residents (0.49, [0.27 – 0.89]). Tobacco abusers had a lower prevalence of hypertension compared to non-abusers (0.44 [0.24 – 0.81]). A similar trend was observed for diabetes, obesity and dyslipidemia, however, the differences could not reach significance thresholds. Cigarette smoking was the commonest mode of tobacco consumption (90.5%). “Tobacco addiction” could be attributed to 84.1% of abusers. Most (82.5%) were willing to give up tobacco abuse and 63.3% had already made attempts at quitting. Conclusion: About one-third of ACS patients were tobacco abusers with the majority being tobacco addicts. Tobacco abuse was observed to be independently implicated as a risk factor in ACS patients. Furthermore, tobacco abuse was inversely related to hypertension translating into a sub-multiplicative / additive impact of hypertension as a risk factor.

For cardiac evaluation echocardiography is of immense importance. Easy availability, low cost, and portability lands it in the hands of novices at times. It has a learning curve and expertise must be obtained to keep the standard of reports high and reliable. The referring physician must be fully conversant with the indications of echocardiography. The echocardiographic machine should deliver images of high resolution and fully equipped with all the basic modalities. Availability of 3D (3-dimensional) imaging, tissue synchronization imaging and strain analysis are added advantages. Preliminary data of patient must be collected and the study should be recorded for off-line analysis. Finally, the findings should be narrated on a proforma in the form of a standardized report showing all the relevant features, especially directed to the query of referring physician, thus completing the loop.

Objectives: The study was designed to estimate daily salt intake, its discretionary use in healthy individuals and to validate three common methods for salt estimation in Pakistani population. Methodology: Information on demography and discretionary salt use was collected from healthy adults (>18 years) along with a blood sample, spot and 24 hour urine samples. Sodium, chloride, potassium levels and serum creatinine were measured using standard methods. For daily salt estimation, three common methods i.e. INTERSALT, Tanaka and Kawasaki were validated for their applicability in local settings. Results: Overall 24 h sodium excretion was 158 mmol/l indicating intake of 8.64 (±4.43) grams salt per day which was significantly associated with male gender (p. <0.004) and adding salt during cooking (p. <0.0001). Most (73%) of the participants know about hazardous effects of high salt intake, however, only 25% consider important to lower salt intake. None of three methods i.e. INTERSALT (bias: -19.64; CCC -0.79), Tanaka (bias: 167.35; CCC -0.37) and Kawasaki (bias: -42.49, CCC -0.79) showed any agreement between measured and estimated 24 hour sodium. Conclusion: Daily intake of salt was high which increases the risk for hypertension. Comparison of methods for estimation revealed that none of the three methods could be used for estimating daily intake of salt in local settings of Pakistan.

Cannabis used as both for medicine as well as recreational purposes. Extensive use is associated with many documented central nervous system and hepatic manifestation. How-ever only few cases are reported in literature with cardiac and hematological manifestation. Our case report is one of its kinds where our patient presents with thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura and atrial fibrillation and he required extensive treatment including plasmapharesis.