Successful flutter catheter ablation through the azygos continuation due to an interrupted inferior vena cava.

Inferior vena cava IVC is a crucial route for catheter access (both directly to the right heart and indirectly through a transeptal puncture to the left heart, used in most electrophysiological procedures). However, interrupted IVC is a real challenge to traditional arrythmia ablation approaches, compromising in certain cases the success of the procedure. A well-developed azygos continuation offers an alternative pathway, bypassing the interrupted segment of the IVC.

A rare case of perimyocarditis induced by all-trans retinoic acid administration during induction treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia.

Treatment by All-Trans Retinoic Acid (ATRA) combined with an Anthracycline Chemotherapy has been shown to improve disease-free survival in patients with Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL). Although ATRA is generally well tolerated, occurrence of Retinoic Acid Syndrome (RAS) during the induction chemotherapy in some patients is recognized as a distinct complication and a potential life-threatening side effect. Isolated myocarditis as a result of RAS related to ATRA administration is uncommon and has been rarely reported in the literature.

Prosthetic thrombosis and coronary embolism during pregnancy: a delicate situation of antithrombotic therapy management.

Mechanical heart valve thrombosis is not so rare in pregnant women because of the difficulties in managing anticoagulant treatment and the hypercoagulability state associated with pregnancy. Among the embolic complications of valve prosthetic thrombosis, the coronary embolism is rare, it requires an urgent pharmaco-invasive approach which must be adapted to this particular associated condition. We report the observation and the difficulties of managing antithrombotic therapy in a pregnant patient hospitalized for non-obstructive prosthetic valve thrombosis complicated by coronary embolism and resulting in ST elevation myocardial infarction.