[Comparison between definite endocarditis and possible endocarditis according to the Duke Criteria, in a monocentric study of 45 patients].

Aim Of The Study: To compare definite endocarditis (DE) and possible endocarditis (PE) according to the Duke criteria, in a monocentric cohort of 45 patients.

Method: From the registers of the Cardiology Department and medical database of the hospital informatic department, 45 cases of endocarditis are colliged, 29DE and 16PE.

Results: DE age is 66 years, PE age is 74 years, (p<0,02), 17 male (59%) in DE, eight in PE, 21 (72%) DE have a preexisting cardiopathy versus 15 (94%) PE, seven native valve and six prosthetic valve in PE, 11 native valve and nine prosthetic valve in DE.

[Myocardial infarction revealing an antiphospholipid syndrome in a 27-year-old woman].

We report the case of a 27 year old woman, with no vascular risk factors other than moderate smoking, admitted for a first acute anterior myocardial infarction. Emergency coronarography detected an isolated thrombosis, localised at the level of the middle section of the anterior inter-ventricular artery in an otherwise normal coronary network. Angioplasty of the artery with direct stenting was performed successfully and the follow up was uncomplicated.

[Aorta-left ventricular relationship evaluated by Doppler echocardiography and ambulatory arterial prsesure monitoring].

Unlabelled: Arterial distensibility is one of the components of afterload. Arterial distensibility, left ventricular (LV) mass and LV function are closely linked. The aim of this study is to describe the relations between LV mass LV function and arterial distensibility evaluated by echography Doppler (échography Doppler) and ambulatory monitoring pressure.

[Doppler echocardiographic study of arterial distensibility. Comparison with ambulatory arterial pressure monitoring].

Unlabelled: Echocardiography Doppler (ED) is a common tool in hypertension to assess left ventricular (LV) mass or LV function. Echography doppler is also available to assess some arterial distensibility (AD) indexes, but it is less frequently used. The aim of this study is to compare AD indexes obtained from échographie doppler with timing of Korotkoff sound (QKd interval), obtained from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (APM).

[Comparison of two indices of arterial distensibility: temporal apparitions of Korotkoff sounds and pulse wave velocy. A Doppler echocardiography and ambulatory blood pressure monitoring study].

Arterial distensibility, one of the factors influencing afterload, plays a role in the development of left ventricular hypertrophy. The QKd, the delay before the perception of the Korotkoff sounds, is an index of arterial distensibility available from ambulatory blood pressure monitoring. The pulse wave velocity (PWV), another index of arterial distensibility, can be measured by Doppler echocardiography.

[Aneurysm of the interatrial septum and right-to-left shunt during biventricular infarction. Diagnosis by transesophageal echocardiography].

A right-to-left shunt during infarction with right ventricular extension is a rare and recently described complication. It results from opening of a foramen ovale due to increased right heart pressures. The authors describe another case occurring in a patient with an interatrial septal aneurysm, the diagnosis of which was made by transoesophageal echocardiography.

[Campylobacter fetus subspecies fetus endoaortitis on a Bentall tube prosthesis. Apropos of a case].

Campylobacter fetus is a rare cause of endocarditis and endoaortitis: the authors believe this to be the second reported case of infection of an intracardiac prosthesis. The patient was a man who had already undergone replacement of the aortic valve and ascending aorta, and a gastrectomy, which were predisposing factors. The portal of entry was not found.

[Effects of sublingual nifedipine on the velocity of pulse wave evaluated by Doppler echocardiography of the thoracic aorta].

Sublingual nifedipine has a rapid and powerful hypotensive effect. Its action on arterial distensibility can be assessed by measurement of pulse wave velocity (PWV) by Doppler echocardiography (DE). Ten patients were used to evaluate intra-observer reproducibility (Group 1).

[Changes in plasma atrial natriuretic factor, plasma and urinary cyclic GMP during exercise in coronary patients and healthy subjects].

The concentrations of plasma ANF and plasma and urinary cyclic GMP were measured at rest and during exercise in 12 normal subjects (reference group) and 20 patients with coronary artery disease (coronary group). In both groups, plasma ANF and c GMP increased during exercise and fell one hour after (F = 3.8, p = 0.

[Jejunal perforation by cholesterol embolus: a case treated surgically].

A case of ischaemic jejunal perforation which could be attributed to mesenteric cholesterol emboli is reported. The jejunal pathology had been preceded by other, more classical sites of systemic cholesterol embolization that occurred immediately after arterial catheterization in this male patient with aneurysm of the abdominal aorta. Emergency segmental resection of the jejunum was performed with satisfactory immediate results.

[Incidence of cholesterol embolisms in 70 atheromatous patients hospitalized for cardiovascular evaluation].

Cholesterol crystal embolization must be considered in all atheromatous patients hospitalized for cardiovascular evaluation. Because this is a difficult and often belated diagnosis, between June 1989 and June 1990 a prospective study was conducted on 70 patients. Clinical monitoring, including examination of the fundus oculi, was performed before, and on the 5th day of cardiovascular investigations.

[Spontaneous complete rupture of the thoracic aorta. Apropos of a case surgically treated with success].

The authors report the case of a 74-year-old hypertensive man hospitalised with chest pain accompanied by shock and hemo-mediastinum. The diagnosis of spontaneous rupture of the thoracic aorta, suspected by aortic arteriography, was confirmed by thoracic CT scan with injection of contrast medium. Emergency surgery revealed a 4 cm longitudinal linear tear of the horizontal aorta, with neither dissection nor aneurysm.

[Evaluation of urinary excretion of cyclic guanosine monophosphate in clinical cardiology].

The prognostic importance of levels of urinary excretion of cyclic GMP (cGMPu), the second messenger of the atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) was studied in different cardiac pathologies in 31 patients (19 males and 12 females, average age 66 +/- 15 years) and compared with 31 control subjects of the same age (+/- 4 years) and sex. In the control group, the average cGMPu was 0.35 +/- 0.

[Bilateral renal embolism during thrombolytic therapy with tissue-type plasminogen activator in a patient with thrombosis of the left ventricle].

The authors report a case of bilateral renal embolism during thrombolytic treatment in the acute phase of myocardial infarction in a 77 year old patient in whom echocardiography had shown a left ventricular thrombus. After reviewing the literature, the risk of embolic complications of thrombolytic therapy would seem difficult to evaluate because of the difficulty of diagnosis, but they exist irrespective of the type of thrombolytic agent used.

[The left ventricular diastolic function in patients with hypertension and calcium inhibitors].

One of the first detectable signs of hypertensive heart disease is impairment of left ventricular filling. This filling defect depends, although not exclusively, on left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), load factors and ischemic factors. LVH is an adaptive phenomenon triggered by the dysfunction of various parameters, such as increased in peripheral resistance, reduced arterial elasticity and increased sodium reserve.

[Evaluation of the myocardial ischemic and arrhythmogenic risk of digitalized angiography by venous route. Apropos of a comparative trial of ioxaglate and iopamidol].

Cardiac tolerance to digital subtraction angiography by venous route (DSAV) was evaluated during a prospective study of a continuous series of 100 patients of both sexes investigated for various arterial diseases, and classified previously as "cardiac" and "non-cardiac". A permanent 12 lead ECE recording by sequences of 3 allowed study of ischemic and rhythmic changes provoked by randomly allocated injections of contrast media, Ioxaglate or Iopamidol. Major cardiac complications were not observed in the 98 patients studied (2 excluded), but in 32.

[An unusual complication of percutaneous aortic valvuloplasty: rupture of an aberrant mitral chorda].

The case of a 77-year old woman who died of refractory pulmonary oedema 36 hours after percutaneous valvuloplasty for tight calcified aortic valve stenosis is reported. Post-mortem examination showed satisfactory opening of the aortic orifice but also rupture of an aberrant chorda which crossed the outflow tract below the aortic sigmoid valves, between the mitral valve and the interventricular septum. This case suggests that before all aortic valvuloplasties the absence of aberrant chorda or suspicious subaortic acceleration should be confirmed by Doppler echocardiography; moreover, during the procedure the balloon should not be inserted too deeply into the left ventricle.

[Evaluation of cardiac tolerance of intravenous digital angiography].

Cardiac tolerance to intravenous digital subtraction angiography (ANVV) was evaluated by a prospective study in a continuous series of patients of both sexes investigated for various arterial diseases and classified initially into "cardiac" and "non-cardiac" cases. Ischemic and rhythmic electrocardiographic modifications were monitored, the contrast medium (PC) used being randomly selected between Ioxaglate and Iopamidol. Of the first 46 patients studied, 40% had had more than one auricular and/or ventricular extrasystole (ES), 18% had painless depression of the ST segment (greater than or equal to 0.

[Adiastole caused by a secondary cardiac hemochromatosis. Successful treatment with an iron chelating agent].

Severe congestive cardiac failure developed in a few weeks in a 44 year old man who had undergone porto-caval anastamosis for post-hepatitis cirrhosis one year previously and then treated for anaemia by repeated blood transfusion and chronic daily oral iron therapy. Infiltrative, congestive and restrictive cardiomyopathy was diagnosed in the presence of global cardiomegaly, electrocardiographic changes (microvoltage, diffuse ST-T wave changes), echocardiographic appearances (dilatation of the left ventricle, with hypertrophic and hypokinetic walls), and hemodynamic signs of adiastole with equalisation of filling pressures at 15 mmHg and a cardiac index of 1,88 l/min/m2. Cardiac haemochromatosis was confirmed by the laboratory (serum iron: 35 mumol/l; siderophilin saturation: 100 p.

[Acute rupture of the left ventricle 12 hours after an anteroseptal myocardial infarct. Successful surgical repair].

Acute rupture of the left ventricular free wall was suspected in a 53 year old hypertensive patient at the 12th hour of primary antero-septo-apical myocardial infarction. He developed acute tamponade with severe cardiogenic shock during his transfer to hospital. Cardiac compression due to hemopericardium was confirmed by M mode echocardiography (pericardial effusion), right heart catheterisation (adiastole and low cardiac output) and pericardial puncture during which several ccs of blood were aspirated leading to a slight improvement in the patient's condition.

[Gonococcal endocarditis. A new case].

The authors report the case of a 35 year old female hospitalised for gonococcal endocarditis with mitral valve vegetations infecting pre-existing asymptomatic rheumatic mitral incompetence. Apyrexia was rapidly obtained with antibiotic therapy; the valvulopathy was well tolerated from the hemodynamic viewpoint; the echocardiographic appearances of the vegetations were stable. However, the patient died during the third week of a cerebral haemorrhage, probably due to rupture of a mycotic arterial aneurysm.

Acute left ventricular rupture secondary to myocardial infarction. Report of long-term survival after early surgical repair.

The case of a 53-year-old male patient is presented who experienced acute left ventricular rupture 12 hours after a myocardial infarct. Immediately following emergency right heart catheterization and pericardiocentesis the patient was operated upon after preliminary institution of femoro-femoral partial heart-lung bypass. Left ventricular rupture in the area of an apical infarct was found which was successfully treated by direct closure.

[Late recurrence of atrioventricular block in acute anterior and/or septal myocardial infarcts. Discussion of the implantation of a permanent pacemaker. Apropos of 2 cases].

Does the high incidence of post hospital sudden death in patients surviving acute anterior and or septal infarction complicated by transient intraventricular or atrioventricular block have any relation to a late recurrence of the conduction defect and is prophylactic permanent pacing justified from the outset? These questions remain controversial and, to illustrate the problem, two cases of infarction, one an extensive anterior infarct and the other a deep septal infarct are reported. Both developed late recurrences of atrioventricular block without recurrent myocardial infarction requiring permanent pacing. In practice, the usual poor prognosis of these infarcts make comparative survival studies very difficult.