The teaching and learning of psychotherapy in a general hospital

A general teaching hospital provides an excellent setting for the teaching of psychiatric residents. The Canadian model for a teaching network, including general and specialty hospitals, allows for special interests to develop within given hospitals. A department of psychiatry which chooses the teaching of psychotherapy as a special interest is examined. The teaching occurs in all areas of the department (ambulatory, inpatient, consultation-liaison) and is backed up by appropriate seminars. Individual supervision provides the backbone of the teaching program. The special interest exists within a department which must answer all of the psychiatric needs of a general hospital population. From the university point of view, the network is strengthened by the existence of various areas of concentrated interest within various component units of the network.

Left ventricular mural thrombus in a patient with thrombocytosis and agnogenic myeloid metaplasia

The two factors responsible for the development of left ventricular mural thrombi are endocardial injury secondary to old or recent anterior myocardial infarction and left ventricular dysfunction. Endothelial damage also is thought to be the initial event in the development of arterial thrombi. However, arterial thrombi may develop in patients with thrombocytosis secondary to myeloproliferative disorders in the absence of endothelial injury. A patient had thrombocytosis secondary to agnogenic myeloid metaplasia and a left ventricular mural thrombus developed in the absence of clinical or laboratory evidence of old or coronary angiogram and left ventricular function. To our knowledge, this is the first such case reported.

Complex ventricular arrhythmias after myocardial infarction during convalescence and follow-up: a harbinger of multi-vessel coronary disease, left ventricular dysfunction and sudden death

Sixty-one medically treated patients had coronary and left ventricular angiography and 24-hour electrocardiographic monitoring 10-24 days after myocardial infarction, and then had serial 24-hour electrocardiographic monitoring during the 13 +/- 11 months after myocardial infarction. Complex ventricular arrhythmias (2 or more sequential ventricular premature depolarizations (VPDs), multiform VPDs, bigeminy) during follow-up were associated with a high mortality rate and occurred most commonly in the setting of three-vessel coronary disease, proximal left anterior descending coronary disease and low left ventricular ejection fraction. By contrast, patients without complex VPDs in either the late hospital or posthospital phase of myocardial infarction had no mortality during the year following myocardial infarction; furthermore, these patients had a higher incidence of single-vessel coronary disease and less left ventricular dysfunction. These results emphasize the adverse prognostic significance of complex ventricular arrhythmias in the year after myocardial infarction and their association with extensive coronary artery disease and left ventricular damage.

Prolonged QT interval at onset of acute myocardial infarction in predicting early phase ventricular tachycardia

The prospectively assessed time course of changes in ventricular repolarization during acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is reported in 32 patients admitted 2.0 +/- 1.8 (SD) hours after AMI onset. The initial corrected QT interval (QTc) upon hospitalization was longer (0.52 +/- 0.07 seconds) in the 14 patients developing ventricular tachycardia (VT) within the first 48 hours as compared to QTc (0.47 +/- 0.03 seconds) in the eight patients with frequent ventricular premature beats (VPBs) and to QTc (0.46 +/- 0.03 seconds) in the 10 patients with infrequent VPBs (p less than 0.001; analysis of variance). By the fifth day after AMI onset, the QTc shortened significantly only in the VT group, suggesting a greater initial abnormality of repolarization in these patients. All 32 patients had coronary angiography, radionuclide ventriculography, and myocardial perfusion scintigraphy before hospital discharge. Significant discriminating factors related to early phase VT in AMI included initially longer QT and QTc intervals, faster heart rate, higher peak serum levels of creatine kinase, acute anterior infarction, angiographically documented proximal stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery, and scintigraphic evidence of hypoperfusion of the interventricular septum. Prior infarction, angina pectoris, hypertension, multivessel coronary artery disease, and depressed left ventricular ejection fraction did not provide discrimination among the three different ventricular arrhythmia AMI groups. We conclude that (1) the QT interval is frequently prolonged early in AMI, (2) the initial transiently prolonged ventricular repolarization facilitates and predicts complex ventricular tachyarrhythmias within the first 48 hours of AMI, (3) jeopardized blood supply to the interventricular septum frequently coexists, and (4) therapeutic enhancement of rapid recovery of the ventricular repolarization process merits investigation for prevention of VT in AMI.

Quantitative thallium-201 exercise scintigraphy for detection of coronary artery disease

In 140 patients with chest pain quantitation of regional myocardial TI-201 activity was performed by serial scintigraphic images after treadmill exercise. Criteria for an abnormal thallium scintigram included: (a) greater than or equal to 25% persisted reduction in TI-201 uptake in anterolateral, anteroseptal, posterolateral, and inferoapical segments, or greater than or equal to 35% reduction in the inferior segment; (b) an initial defect with delayed redistribution; and (c) abnormal TI-201 washout. Of 110 patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD), 100 had abnormal TI-201 scintigrams, while 27 of 30 patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries had normal scintigrams; 91% sensitivity, 90% specificity, and 97% predictive accuracy. Sensitivity and specificity were not significantly different when the 95 patients with diagnostic (greater than or equal to 85% maximum heart rate) and 45 with inconclusive (less than or equal to 85% maximum HR) Ex tests were compared. Comparison of qualitative and quantitative image analyses in a subset of these patients showed that both specificity and multivessel disease prediction were greater when the quantitative approach was used (90 against 73% and 78 against 39%, respectively). Sensitivity for CAD detection was reduced by 10% with visual interpretation alone. Thus, quantitative exercise TI-201 scintigraphy appears highly sensitive and specific for CAD detection in patients with chest pain.

Critical analysis of the preoperative and operative predictors of aortocoronary bypass patency

A prospective analysis of the angiographic and operative anatomic and reconstructive variables that influenced graft patency was undertaken at the University of Virginia Medical Center in 50 consecutive patients. Postoperative restudy showed that 18 of the 168 grafts performed were occluded due to venous disease, inadequate run-off, or sequential design error. Angiographic artery size was 27% larger than operative estimations; graft patency significantly increased with increasing distal artery diameter, with decreasing venous conduit diameter, and with good graftability rating of the vessels preoperatively. Ejection fraction, the degree of arterial stenosis, and the source of the saphenous vein conduit (the thigh or the lower leg) had no influence on graft patency. Simple grafts had a 96% patency, while sequential grafts had an 80% patency. When design error for sequential grafts was eliminated, the sequential patency rate rose to 88%. For revascularization of small circumflex vessels, consideration should be given to variation in the sequential grafting technique to improve patency in these vessels.

Predicting the extent and location of coronary artery disease during the early postinfarction period by quantitative thallium-201 scintigraphy

The ability of quantitative thallium-201 scintigraphy to predict the extent and location of coronary artery disease before hospital discharge after acute myocardial infarction was evaluated in 52 patients. All patients underwent coronary angiography and serial thallium-201 imaging either at rest (10 patients) or after submaximal exercise stress (42 patients; target heart rate 120 beats/min). Two or three vessel disease was designated if abnormal thallium-201 uptake or washout patterns, or both, were seen in two or three vascular segments, respectively. Of 156 vessels analyzed in the 52 patients, 91 stenoses of 70 percent or greater were found by angiography. Seventy-four (81 percent) of these were predicted by scintigraphy. The specificity of scintigraphy for identifying vessel stenoses was 92 percent. Sensitivity for detecting and localizing stenoses supplying an infarct zone was 96 percent compared with 62 percent for stenoses supplying myocardium remote from the acute infarct. Perfusion abnormalities were more frequently seen in the distribution of vessels with severe (90 percent or greater) stenoses than in those with moderate (70 to 90 percent) stenoses (87 versus 53 percent, p less than 0.01). Scintigraphy detected a greater proportion of left anterior descending and right coronary arterial stenoses than circumflex stenoses (91 and 87 versus 63 percent, respectively, p less than 0.006). In the 42 patients who underwent submaximal exercise testing, multivariate analysis of 23 clinical and laboratory variables identified multiple thallium-201 defects as the best predictor of multivessel disease. The predictive accuracy of exercise-induced S-T segment depression was only 45 percent compared with 88 percent (p less than 0.05) for thallium-201 scintigraphy. Thus, 2 weeks after myocardial infarction, exercise thallium-201 scintigraphy is useful for predicting the extent and location of coronary artery disease, particularly stenoses in the left anterior descending and right coronary arteries. Moreover, thallium-201 imaging at rest is reliable in assessing the extent of coronary disease in hospitalized patients who cannot undergo exercise testing because of unstable angina, uncompensated heart failure, poorly controlled arrhythmias or physical limitations.

Predictors of clinical course, coronary anatomy and left ventricular function after recovery from acute myocardial infarction

Patients who survive an acute myocardiac infarction (AMI) have significant coronary disease and are at risk for angina pectoris, recurrent myocardiac infarction and sudden death. This study provides data gathered prospectively for 106 patients surviving myocardial infarction who had coronary arteriography, left ventriculography and 24-hour electrocadiographic recordings before hospital discharge and were followed 30 months. Univariate analysis showed that low ejection fraction, proximal left anterior descending coronary disease and significant disease in all three coronary arteries were associated with a high risk of sudden cardial death. The ECG location or type of infarction was not helpful in predicting mortality, reinfarction or continuing angina. Multivariate analysis of 30 clinical and laboratory variables identified previous myocardial infarction and an ejection fraction less than 40% as the best predictors of mortality; all 13 patients who died were identified by these two variables. Three-vessel coronary artery disease, proximal left coronary disease and complicated late hospital-phase ventricular arrhythmias did not provide additional information about mortality once the information provided by the first two variables was considered. Multivariate analysis identified hypertension, three-vessel coronary disease, postinfarction angina pectoris and previous AMI as significant predictors of recurrent AMI during the 30 month follow-up.

Prognostic significance of resting anterior thallium-201 defects in patients with inferior myocardial infarction

To determine whether Tl-201 scintigraphy performed at rest during the late hospital phase of inferior myocardial infarction can predict subsequent coronary events, 25 patients with historical, enzymatic, and electrocardiographic criteria of transmural inferior infarction underwent serial imaging with computer quantification 7-35 days after admission. All 25 patients had inferior defects, and 13 (52%) also had anterior defects implying stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery. The patients were divided into those with inferior and anterior perfusion defects (Group 1) and those with inferior defects alone (Group 2). In Group 1, three patients had persistent defects in the anterior wall and ten had initial defects with redistribution. New or recurrent coronary events--which included new onset or progression of angina pectoris, sudden death, reinfarction, and congestive heart failure--were recorded over an average 7.2 months of followup (range 3-9 mo) for all patients. Ten of 13 (77%) patients in Group 1 had 17 coronary events and four of 12 (33%) patients in Group 2 had six coronary events (p < 0.02). Nine patients in Group 1 and three in Group 2 developed angina (p < 0.03). The apparently increased prevalence in Group 1 of sudden death (8% against 0%), reinfarction (8% against 0%), and congestive heart failure (46% against 25%) was not statistically significant. Thus resting Tl-201 scintigraphy with computer quantification is a highly sensitive method to detect inferior myocardial infarction even in the late hospital phase. Moreover, it appears to identify those patients with inferior infarction at high risk for subsequent coronary events, presumably due to stenosis of the left anterior descending coronary artery.

Thallium-201 scintigraphy at rest in ischemia and infarction

Serial imaging of the myocardium in the resting state after intravenous administration of thallium-201 can be employed to differentiate between ischemia or under-perfusion and myocardial infarction or scar. Redistribution of thallium with filling-in of defects on delayed images or rest can be observed in myocardial regions supplied by stenotic coronary arteries (greater than or equal to 70% narrowing). These myocardial segments usually exhibit normal or hypokinetic wall motion. Persistent defects over a two to three hour imaging period at rest correlate highly with Q waves on the electrocardiogram and akinetic or dyskinetic wall motion on ventriculography. Thallium scintigraphy can be successfully utilized for detecting and localizing acutely infarcted myocardium. Sensitivity for infarct detection is higher in the first 24 hours after the onset of chest pain, although with computer-assisted quantitative analysis of images sensitivity for late detection (ten to fourteen days post myocardial infarction) may be improved. Multivessel disease can be predicted in many patients with acute inferior myocardial infarction by demonstrating anteroseptal wall defects with delayed redistribution on rest images prior to hospital discharge. Patients who demonstrate inferior wall persistent defects (infarction) with anterior wall redistribution (hypoperfusion/ischemia) have a worse prognosis characterized by an increased frequency of recurrent angina and infarction compared to the group with only inferior defects. Thallium scintigraphy may also be useful in assessing myocardial infarct size. Patients with large defects during the acute phase of infarction have significantly higher early and late mortality.

Holt-Oram syndrome

The autosomal dominant association of upper extremity skeletal defects with congenital heart disease is known as the Holt-Oram syndrome. We reviewed our experience with 39 affected patients of whom 15 were considered new mutations. Wide varieties of skeletal defects and congenital heart disease were observed, and the severity of skeletal involvement did not parallel that of cardiac disease. These patients demonstrate four previously unemphasized points: (1) There is a striking asymmetry of skeletal involvement, with the left side more severely affected. (2) Patients with skeletal defects alone can transmit both skeletal and cardiac defects to their children. (3) Hypoplastic peripheral vessels may be an associated abnormality and can result in difficulty with cardiac catheterization. (4) Electrocardiographic changes of terminal conduction delay in the right anterior chest leads were nor uniformly present in patients with otherwise typical secundum atrial septal defects.

Acute mental status changes caused by propranolol

A 74-year-old woman with mild dementia became disoriented and developed paranoid delusions when treated with low-dose propranolol. There was no evidence of cardiovascular instability, and the symptoms resolved within a week. Rechallenge with propranolol led to a recurrence of mental status changes.

External cardiac compression. A randomized comparison of mechanical and manual techniques

To compare the effectiveness of manual and mechanical chest compression during cardiopulmonary resuscitation, 50 patients who suffered cardiac arrest were randomly allocated to receive manual or mechanical chest compression. Randomization was performed after failure of initial resuscitative measures but within ten minutes after the onset of cardiac arrest (mean, 6.4 +/- 1.2 min). Ten patients from each group survived longer than one hour following resuscitation. Three from the mechanical group and two from the manual group were eventually able to leave the hospital. Thus mechanical compression appears comparable with manual compression when manual compression is performed under ideal conditions. Mechanical chest compression may be employed when trained personnel are not readily available or where manual compression is technically difficult to perform.

Recurrent cardiac tamponade and large pericardial effusions: management with an indwelling pericardial catheter

A new technique, using an atraumatic indwelling catheter, has been developed for short-term management of large or rapidly reaccumulating pericardial effusions. This technique (1) permits continuous pericardial fluid drainage, obviating repeated aspirations; (2) provides a convenient route for intrapericardial instillation of chemotherapeutic agents; and (3) enables one to await the results of diagnostic studies without subjecting a patient to thoracotomy. Experience in three patients suggests that in some cases the use of this catheter may eliminate the need for surgery; in others, it may serve as a valuable temporary measure to achieve stabilization of the patient's condition.

Severe viral pneumonia in young adults

Three patients with primary group-A influenzal pneumonia had diffuse pulmonary infiltrates, arterial oxygen tensions (PaO2) less than 50 mm Hg while breathing oxygen at 1 atm (fractional concentration of oxygen in the inspired gas (FIo2) equals 1.0), and right-to-left pulmonary shunts greater than 45 percent of total pulmonary blood flow. At an FIo2 of 1.0, end-expiratory pressure (EEP) was added in increments of 2 to 5 cm H2O every 30 to 60 minutes until the PaO2 was above 200 mm Hg and right-to-left shunting had fallen to less than 25 percent. The FIo2 was then lowered to 0.5. Using this systematic approach, all three patients required an FIo2 of 1.0 for less than 12 hours, minimizing the risk of oxygen toxicity. Two of the three patients did not require mechanical ventilation and breathed spontaneously while on continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), and one of them tolerated an EEP of 31 cm H2O. Two patients survived, and one died of a neurologic complication of cardiopulmonary arrest, despite clearing on the chest x-ray film and improved gas exchange. Therapy with CPAP can be safely used in adults and has practical as well as theoretic benefits over continuous positive-pressure ventilation.