[Congenital heart diseases in clinical practice].

Congenital heart diseases are abnormalities in the heart's structure that are present at birth. Some are known to be associated with genetic disorders. They affect 8 out of every 1,000 newborns.

[Prevalence of congenital heart disease in a suburban hospital].

We describe the prevalence of congenital heart disease in a suburban hospital. In fifteen months we visited 270 infants and we diagnosed 59 congenital heart disease (21.9% of examined population).

[Acute myocardial infarction following persistent atrial fibrillation. Consequence, common etiology or a case?].

We describe the case of a patient with persistent atrial fibrillation who subsequently developed an acute myocardial infarction. We discuss the hypothetical reasons that can explain the correlation between the two events: coronary embolism, inflammation, endothelial dysfunction.

Survival into sixth decade of untreated pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and major aorto-pulmonary collaterals: a magnetic resonance imaging study.

A 56-year-old male with a history of untreated pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect diagnosed during childhood was referred to our institution for congestive heart failure. We describe the MR imaging findings that documented the presence of multiple aorto-pulmonary collaterals arising from the abdominal aorta and from the internal mammary artery supplying both pulmonary arteries. This is the oldest known surviving case documented in medical literature.

[Coronary calcifications in a subgroup of post-menopausal women with metabolic syndrome].

Background: The aim of this study was to evaluate the burden of coronary calcifications in a subgroup of post-menopausal women with metabolic syndrome (MS) in agreement with the National Cholesterol Educational Program-Third Report of the Expert Panel on Detection, Evaluation, and Treatment of High Blood Cholesterol in Adults (NCEP-ATP III) definition.

Methods: We studied 81 women (43 control subjects and 38 women with MS) in agreement with the NCEP-ATP III definition undergoing multislice computed tomography for evaluation of coronary calcifications. The patients were similar for Framingham risk score.

[Prolonged angina after the administration of a synthetic PGE2 derivative].

We describe the case of a 39-year-old woman, heavy smoker, who received 500 micrograms i.m. of Sulprostone, a synthetic PGE2-derivative, to induce pregnancy termination.

[Possibility of evaluation of chest pain at the time of hospitalization].

A series of 140 patients admitted to an Internal Medicine or a Cardiology Department for an acute chest pain is examined in order to evaluate the possibility of reaching a quick diagnosis, particularly for coronaric heart diseases, according with history, physical examination, electrocardiogram. In most of cases it was possible an immediate, correct evaluation of the patients, but in some cases a right diagnosis was achieved only after a period of observation and different investigations.