Calcified amorphous tumor of the left ventricular outflow tract.

We report a very rare case of a calcified amorphous tumor presenting atypically as a mobile left ventricular outflow tract mass in a 69-year-old female who was admitted for shortness of breath.

Neurogenic stress cardiomyopathy in heart donors.

Cardiac transplantation is severely restricted by donor availability. Left ventricular dysfunction due to neurogenic stress cardiomyopathy is often seen during donor evaluation and often presents a clinical dilemma for procurement. We report a case of a 23-year-old man with severe left ventricular dysfunction whose heart was successfully procured for transplantation.

Utilizing three-dimensional echocardiography in cardioscopic left ventricular myxoma resection.

A 31-year-old female presented with right-sided stroke symptoms. She was found to have a left ventricular (LV) mass on transthoracic echocardiogram. Subsequent transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) with concurrent three-dimensional (3D) imaging revealed a 2-cm mobile mass, suspicious for a myxoma, attached to the anteroseptal LV wall.

Pneumococcal endocarditis with extremely rapid valve destruction in a splenectomized host.

A 45-year-old patient presented with fever and pneumococcal bacteremia. Transthoracic echocardiography, performed on the second day of admission, was unremarkable; however, repeat imaging performed only 60 h later showed destruction of posterior mitral valve leaflet with severe mitral regurgitation, and large, newly developed vegetations appearing on the mitral valve and the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). The patient underwent successful mitral valve replacement, with debridement of the LVOT vegetation.

When an unidentified foreign object appears in the inferior vena cava: recognizing the presence of TIPS stent on transthoracic echocardiographic imaging.

We describe the case of 65-year-old female with a history of hypertension, diabetes, and cirrhosis. In the subcostal view on a routine transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE), she is found to have an unidentified round prosthetic appearing object in the inferior vena cava (IVC). Upon further investigation, the object was identified as a transjugular intrahepatic portosystemic shunt (TIPS) stent, which was seen in cross section in a hepatic vein draining into the IVC.

"Flap valve phenomenon" limiting aortic regurgitation in prosthetic valve dehiscence.

The authors describe the case of a 52-year-old man with a history of supra-annular mechanical aortic valve replacement who presented with fever and abdominal pain. He was found to have an abdominal wall abscess. Subsequent transesophageal echocardiography revealed dehiscence of his mechanical aortic valve, supporting a diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Massive aortic thrombus in patient with mechanical prosthetic valve supported with left ventricular assist device.

A 54-year-old left ventricular assist device (LVAD)-supported patient with mechanical prosthetic valves was planned for LVAD exchange using cardiac computed tomography(CCT) for preoperative evaluation. The CCT revealed massive thrombus in the ascending aorta. The surgery was done without thromboembolic complications.

Thrombotic "ghosts": echocardiographic appearance of thrombi with hollow cores and implications regarding mechanism of spontaneous clot lysis.

We present a case of a patient whose transesophageal echocardiogram revealed multiple thrombi in different stages of central lysis. This produced the appearance of undulating thin outer shells and lucent central cores resembling "ghosts." Although most thrombi appear to resolve by a lytic process that produces reduction in size from the exterior surface inward, the thrombi illustrated in this case appear to lyse from the interior outward.

Effect of atorvastatin on left ventricular diastolic function and ability of coenzyme Q10 to reverse that dysfunction.

This study evaluated left ventricular diastolic function with Doppler echocardiography before and after statin therapy. Statin therapy worsened diastolic parameters in most patients; coenzyme Q(10) supplementation in patients with worsening diastolic function with statin therapy improved parameters of diastolic function.

Efficacy of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications for prevention of atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

This study was designed to test whether nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medications could reduce the frequency of atrial fibrillation after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The study was designed as an open-label, randomized trial. Patients undergoing first-time coronary artery bypass graft surgery were considered eligible.

Statin cardiomyopathy? A potential role for Co-Enzyme Q10 therapy for statin-induced changes in diastolic LV performance: description of a clinical protocol.

Unlabelled: Lipid-lowering statins are thought to have a favorable safety profile. Statins inhibit 3-hydroxy-3-methylglutaryl coenzyme A (HMG-CoA) reductase, the rate-limiting step of mevalonate synthesis. Mevalonate is the substrate for further synthesis of cholesterol and Co Enzyme Q10 (CoQ10).

High coronary artery calcium scores pose an extremely elevated risk for hard events.

Objectives: We sought to assess the natural history of a cohort of asymptomatic individuals with very high (> or = 1,000) calcium scores (CSs) on a screening electron beam tomography (EBT) not submitted to further testing after the initial scan. We also compared the outcome of our prospective cohort with that of historical controls with severe abnormalities on myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI).

Background: Coronary calcium detected on EBT imaging has been shown to correlate with the total plaque burden.