Interchangeability of right ventricular longitudinal shortening fraction assessed by transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography in the perioperative setting: A prospective study.

Background: Conventional transthoracic (TTE) and transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) parameters assessing right ventricle (RV) systolic function are daily used assuming their clinical interchangeability. RV longitudinal shortening fraction (RV-LSF) is a two-dimensional speckle tracking parameter used to assess RV systolic function. RV-LSF is based on tricuspid annular displacement analysis and could be measured with TTE or TEE.

Prediction of symptomatic embolism in infective endocarditis: construction and validation of a risk calculator in a multicenter cohort.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to develop and validate a simple calculator to quantify the embolic risk (ER) at admission of patients with infective endocarditis.

Background: Early valve surgery reduces the incidence of embolism in high-risk patients with endocarditis, but the quantification of ER remains challenging.

Methods: From 1,022 consecutive patients presenting with definite diagnoses of infective endocarditis in a multicenter observational cohort study, 847 were randomized into derivation (n = 565) and validation (n = 282) samples.

Respiratory variations of R-wave amplitude in lead II are correlated with stroke volume variations evaluated by transesophageal Doppler echocardiography.

Objective: The authors hypothesized that variations in electrocardiographically derived R-wave amplitude might be correlated with mechanical ventilation-induced variations in stroke volume as determined by transesophageal echocardiography.

Design: Observational prospective study.

Setting: Single university hospital.

Predicting left ventricular dysfunction after valve repair for mitral regurgitation due to leaflet prolapse: additive value of left ventricular end-systolic dimension to ejection fraction.

Aims: Left ventricular (LV) dysfunction is the first cause of late mortality after mitral valve surgery. In this retrospective analysis, we studied the association between preoperative echocardiographic LV measures and occurrence of LV dysfunction after mitral valve repair (MVR).

Methods And Results: Between 1991 and 2009, 335 consecutive patients underwent MVR for severe mitral regurgitation due to leaflet prolapse in our institution.