Utility of brain natriuretic peptide assay as a predictor of short term outcomes in patients presenting with syncope to the emergency department.

Background: Syncope is a common condition that accounts for 3% of emergency department (ED) visits and 1-6% of hospital admissions. Current admissions practices result in marginal diagnostic and therapeutic benefit and consume healthcare resources.

Methods: This prospective cohort study examined the use of brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) test as a predictor of short term serious outcome in 159 patients who presented to ED with syncope between August 2012 and August 2013 in two tertiary teaching medical centers.

A case of ascending aortic dissection mimicking acute myocardial infarction and complicated with pericardial tamponade.

Acute aortic dissection (AD) is the most common life-threatening disorder affecting the aorta with an incidence that ranges between 5 to 30 cases per million people per year. The symptoms of aortic dissection may be variable and can mimic other more common conditions such as myocardial ischemia. We report a case of a 60-year-old male who presented with inferior wall ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI).

Left atrial wall dissection: a rare sequela of native-valve endocarditis.

Left atrial wall dissection is a rare condition; most cases are iatrogenic after mitral valve surgery. A few have been reported as sequelae of blunt chest trauma, acute myocardial infarction, and invasive cardiac procedures. On occasion, infective endocarditis causes left atrial wall dissection.

Cavernous hemangioma of the mitral valve in an adult male patient successfully treated with surgical resection: a case report.

Cavernous hemangioma is a very rare benign primary cardiac tumor that commonly involves any part of the heart, having been found in the atria, ventricles, interventricular septum, pericardium, and epicardium. A predominant location in the avascular cardiac valves is extremely rare, however. The case is reported of a 48-year-old male with recurrent anginal chest pain who subsequently underwent coronary angiography that revealed a mobile, rounded mass at the mitral valve which was fed by the left circumflex artery.