Acute Decompensated Heart Failure Due to Combined Ischemic Cardiomyopathy and Cardiac Amyloidosis.

There are no established guidelines for the management of concurrent ischemic cardiomyopathy and cardiac amyloidosis due to the rarity of this phenomenon. We present the case of an African American woman in her 70s who was found to be in acute decompensated heart failure after she presented with progressive dyspnea. Initial workup revealed severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction with an ejection fraction of 20% and severe multivessel coronary artery disease, including severe left main disease.

Taking the time to get it bright: Use of ultrasound enhancing agent redirects clinical course of an unstable patient.

The use of ultrasound enhancing agents (UEA) during echocardiography helps to optimize visualization in technically difficult studies, with improved left ventricular opacification and endocardial border definition. The use of these agents may often unveil critical data that drastically alter clinical decision making. Despite the potential clinical benefits of UEA and known safety data, clinicians are still sometimes reluctant to take the time to use UEAs in unstable patients.

Myocardial bridging in the era of a drug epidemic: a case report addressing the need to revisit donor organ assessment.

Background: Myocardial bridging (MB), though typically a benign finding, may occasionally lead to syncope, myocardial infarction, arrhythmia, or sudden death. Surgical denervation of transplanted hearts complicates the management of such incidentally detected post-transplant coronary anomalies due to the lack of classic ischaemic symptoms.

Case Summary: A middle-aged female underwent an uncomplicated cardiac transplantation from a healthy male donor in his early 20s who had suffered a cardiac arrest while using cocaine.

Sex-Based Differences in Left Ventricular Assist Device Utilization: Insights From the Nationwide Inpatient Sample 2004 to 2016.

Background: Women comprise approximately one-third of the advanced heart failure population but may receive fewer advanced heart failure therapies including left ventricular assist devices (LVADs). During the early pulsatile-flow device era, women had higher post-LVAD mortality and increased complications. However, knowledge about these differences in the continuous-flow device era is limited.