By the time you receive this issue, we will have seen a recovery of sorts in the drug-eluting stent (DES) market. With the addition of new-generation DES approved for marketing in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration, including the Xience V/Promus stent, there are now four DES systems. The utilization of DES is increasing—close to 70% of all stents used in PCI are DES. We have also seen a new wave of manuscripts that support the safety and efficacy of DES even for off-label indications. Clearly, published data are what makes the difference. Because the practice of medicine and the use of DES should be based solely on reliable data, we encourage all of you to continue to follow those patients undergoing DES implantation and to submit your manuscripts for publication. Thus, we are putting out a call for papers that discuss the utilization of these new-generation stents and that compare the concerns we had with Cypher and Taxus with those of these newcomers.
In this issue you will find a diverse content, which reflects the broad scope of CRM. In the first of five clinical original articles, Goto et al. sought to develop a more practical and user-friendly method of predicting long-term survival in revascularization patients since predictors are often reported in terms of hazard ratios, which are accurate but difficult to convert to concrete values. Next, Segev et al. aimed to examine the safety and feasibility of a manual thrombus-aspiration device in patients undergoing primary PCI. In their submission, Celebi et al. determined that although there is significant association between endothelin-1 levels and coronary flow rate, these levels are not sufficient to determine the presence of coronary slow flow. Wojcik et al. aimed to verify if the micronucleus test is suitable to detect the dose absorbed by lymphocytes in the course of endovascular brachytherapy with 32P. In the last of the clinical original articles, Ferrante et al. independently searched Pubmed, Medline, and EMBASE for all reports of published studies and assessed the association between baseline C-reactive protein levels and the occurrence of angiographic restenosis after stent implantation.
Our sole review article comes to us from Pakala who reviewed recent advances in physiology and pathophysiology of urotensin-II with particular reference to its role in atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases. Our first case report, from Varghese et al., discusses a case of recurrent late paclitaxel-eluting stent thrombosis (8 and 21 months after initial stent implantation) upon discontinuation of dual antiplatelet therapy. Next, Aydin et al. report on a case of an isolated fistula of the circumflex branch of the left coronary artery emptying into the main pulmonary artery, and the successful surgical repair of the lesion. The case of an obese female patient with acute nonmassive pulmonary embolism in whom transthoracic echocardiography did not allow a reliable evaluation of the right ventricle is then presented by Nucifora et al. Lastly, Matsuo et al. discuss the case of a 68-year-old gentleman who presented with exertional dyspnea and abnormal chest X-ray findings.
In their letter to the editor, Sharma et al. discuss the recent article by Rigatelli et al. and suggest readdressing the diagnostic assessment for intracardiac shunts and identifying patients with “large functional-grade” shunts for possible therapeutic interventions. This issue's special feature presents the second group of select abstracts from CRT 2008.
With the proliferation of papers in the field and the competition to get those papers published in leading cardiology journals, we would like to propose an alternative to those authors who have experienced rejection from another journal due to low priority. To do this, one must submit to us their revised manuscript, including the reviewers' comments and responses. If suitable for publication upon expedited review by the editor, papers will be then published in CRM without additional review. Remember, we will only look at papers that were rejected because of low priority only. This approach may be more efficient since papers are circulated for several months before they find their ultimate destination. Again, we hope you find the journal interesting and encourage you to take an active role either by contributing a paper or simply spreading the word about CRM and our initiatives.
FULL TEXT