[Right-left auricular shunt caused by patent foramen ovale at a multi-purpose intensive care unit. Apropos of 3 cases].

Three cases of symptomatic right-to-left interatrial shunt through a patent foramen ovale were detected in the course of a case of paradoxical embolism related to a massive pulmonary embolism, a case of refractory hypoxemia after cardiopulmonary bypass and a case of refractory hypoxemia in a patient with tricuspid endocarditis. According to anatomic studies, the incidence of patent foramen ovale is 25-30% in healthy people. In that case any pathological event generating an increase in the right atrial pressure higher than the left atrial pressure may induce a right-to-left shunt with systemic arterial desaturation and possible paradoxical embolization.

[Transesophageal stimulation in the treatment of atrial flutter and tachysystole. Factor influencing immediate results].

The effectiveness and safety of transoesophageal atrial pacing in the treatment of atrial flutter and tachycardia have been well demonstrated. The purpose of this study was to determine the factors that could influence the results of this method at the end of the procedure. Seventy-seven transoesophageal atrial pacings were performed in 62 unselected consecutive patients with either flutter or atrial tachycardia.

[Tolerance and prognostic value of Thallium 201 myocardial tomoscintigraphy with dipyridamole in the aged subject].

The authors present a retrospective study of 46 consecutive patients aged from 70 to 79 years (mean 73.3 +/- 2.5 years) with suspected coronary artery disease who, being unfit for exercise tests, were explored by myocardial scintigraphy with thallium 201 after coronary dilatation with intravenous dipyridamole.

[Coronarography in the study of myxoma. Apropos of a case diagnosed by this technic].

In a 59 years old woman presenting a rudimentary picture of myocardial infarction, ventriculograms confirm a limited necrosis and coronarography shows an abnormal vascular image, evoking an intracardiac tumor, while the arteries are free of atherosclerosis or thrombosis on angiography. Although auscultation and echography are normal, the diagnosis of myxoma will be confirmed by angiocardiography, then by surgery and pathology. The advantage of selective coronary angiography in myxomas is considered with 24 cases from the literature having undergone this examination, including 20 cases, among which ours, which present an aspect of "tumoral vascularisation".

[Unruptured aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva disclosed by syncopal disorders of cardiac excitability. Apropos of 2 cases].

Aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva are rarely diagnosed before rupture into the cardiac cavities which usually leads to the appearance of a continuous murmur and cardiac failure. In the two cases described, the presenting symptom of the aneurysm was syncope due to cardiac hyperexcitability: ventricular tachycardia in the first and paroxysmal tachyarrhythmia in the second case. The presenting symptoms of unruptured aneurysms of the sinus of Valsalva were analysed.

[Congenital paravertebral arteriovenous fistulae in children and adolescents].

These arteriovenous fistulae (AVF) situated in the paravertebral area present as a murmur which explains their cardiological orientation. They are characterised by the presence of one or more afferent paravertebral arteries giving rise to collateral vessels irrigating the bone marrow. The aim of this study of 13 cases was to study the diagnostic and therapeutic problems, and the evolution of this particular localisation of AVF.

[Pseudotumoral mitral endocarditis. Diagnostic and therapeutic problems apropos of a case report with review of the literature].

The authors report an observation of infectious endocarditis of the mitral valve with voluminous pseudo-tumoral growth. The developmental, symptomatic and etiological characteristics of this form of endocarditis were specified through a review of the literature. Echocardiography provides the best means of early detection of these large vegetations but it is not always easy to distinguish them from other left intra-auricular tumors, more especially as several cases of infectious myxoma have been described.

[Diagnosis of left proximal coronary stenosis using 2-dimensional echocardiography].

The value of two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE) in the diagnosis of proximal left main coronary artery disease was assessed in 63 patients in whom 2DE was performed and interpreted before coronary angiography. The diagnosis of coronary artery disease depended on two groups of criteria, one group based on the lumen of the artery and the other, on the arterial wall. Eighty three pre cent of the investigations were interpretable.

[Amiodarone and hyperthyroidism].

22 cases of hyperthyroidism occurring during or following treatment with amiodarone are reported and compared with more than 15 cases in the literature. The specific clinical features of these cases of hyperthyroidism are presented and the problems in interpretation of the laboratory thyroid function tests are discussed. A study of the course of these cases reveals a number of prognostic factors.

[Right coronary-cardiac fistulae. Anatomic and clinical study, course and therapy. Apropos of 3 new cases].

Three cases of coronary-cardiac fistulae diagnosed in the Cardiologic Unit of the Dijon University Hospital are reported. With reference to these cases current knowledge on this rare condition is reviewed. Symptomatology is variable, with sometimes only a systolic and diastolic murmur on the sternal border, usually with good functional tolerance.

[Aortic insufficiency associated with ventricular septal defect and a coronary-right ventricle fistula after bacterial endocarditis: surgical correction of 3 lesions].

The authors report a case of Staph-aureus endocarditis on preexisting aortic incompetence. Two complications were observed during the course of the infection: ventricular septal defect, rare but classical, and coronary-right ventricular fistula, a complication not previously described to the best of the author's knowledge. Before the onset of endocarditis a continuous murmur had not been detected clinically or by phonocardiography.

[Open study of bromapezan in ambulatory and psychiatric hospital patients (author's transl)].

Psychiatrists working in hospital and in private practice took part in co-operative trial aimed at evaluating the effectiveness and safety of bromazepam. The study was of the open type and involved 10 hospital patients and 20 ambulatory patients. The same protocole was followed for each patient.

[Fibroblastic constrictive endocarditis. Apropos of a form localized in the left ventricle].

The authors report a case of a localised form of this strange disorder which was confined to the left ventricle, and in which the diagnosis was tentative for a long time. In this case it was possible to carry out a removal of the fibrous plaque after opening the apex of the left ventricle, the mitral valve being preserved, as described by Dubost; the functional and haemodynamic results of this procedure were very satisfactory.