Impact of Preoperative Echocardiograms on In-Hospital Outcomes of Patients Undergoing Surgical Hip Fracture Repair and Their Clinical Appropriateness.

Objectives: Preoperative transthoracic echocardiograms (TTE) before hip fracture repairs are controversial. This study aimed to quantify the frequency of ordering TTE, the appropriateness of testing based on current guidelines, and the impact of TTE on in-hospital morbidity and mortality outcomes.

Methods: This retrospective chart review of adult patients admitted with hip fracture compared the length of stay (LOS), time to surgery, in-hospital mortality, and postoperative complications between TTE and non-TTE groups.

Impella Management for the Cardiac Intensivist.

The Impella mechanical circulatory support (MCS) system is a catheter-based continuous flow cardiac assist device that is widely used in the treatment of cardiogenic shock in medical and surgical cardiac intensive care units. As with all forms of MCS, device-related complications remain a major concern, the incidence of which can be mitigated by adhering to a few fundamental concepts in device management. The purpose of this review is to comprehensively describe our strategy for managing, repositioning, and weaning the Impella catheter.

Double interatrial septum with persistent interatrial chamber: A rare but clinically significant anomaly.

Double interatrial septum is an extremely rare congenital anomaly which forms a distinguished midline interatrial chamber between the two atria. The objective of this case report is to highlight this unusual anomaly and to discuss the potential complications of this condition. We report the case of a 6-year-old asymptomatic child who underwent cardiac evaluation for a soft systolic murmur eventually being diagnosed with double interatrial septum.