[Acute autoimmune myocarditis secondary to Graves' disease: a case report].

Introduction: Interactions between heart and thyroid are strong. Main cardiac complications of Graves' disease are supra-ventricular tachycardia or high output cardiac failure, without real myocardial involvement.

Observation: A 40-year-old man with history of refractory Graves' disease was hospitalized for an acute chest pain with elevated cardiac biomarkers and normal coronarography.

Factors associated with unfavorable outcome in a multicenter audit of 100 infective endocarditis.

We aimed to identify factors associated with unfavorable outcome in patients treated for infective endocarditis (IE), with a focus on departure from European guidelines. We conducted a retrospective audit of all adult patients treated for endocarditis during a 1-year period across a regional network of nine care centers in the south-east of France. Medical records were reviewed regarding patient and infection characteristics, antibiotic therapy, outcome, and compliance to the European Society of Cardiology guidelines.

Echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular systolic function in a population of unselected patients before cardiac surgery: a multiparametric approach is necessary.

Background: According to recent USA guidelines, right ventricular (RV) dysfunction can be diagnosed on the basis of a single parameter, such as tricuspid lateral annular systolic velocity (S')<10 cm/s or RV fractional area change (RVFAC)<35%.

Aims: To assess these recommendations in a large unselected cohort of patients awaiting cardiac surgery and evaluate less validated RV function criteria.

Methods: Among the consecutive patients, 413 were prospectively enrolled and underwent comprehensive echocardiography, including S', RVFAC and other RV parameters (right myocardial performance index; acceleration time, isovolumic velocity and isovolumic acceleration [IVA]; RV dP/dt; isovolumic relaxation time; two-dimensional [2D] strain).

Diagnostic and prognostic value of cardiovascular magnetic resonance in non-ischaemic cardiomyopathies.

Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (CMR) is recognised as a valuable clinical tool which in a single scan setting can assess ventricular volumes and function, myocardial fibrosis, iron loading, flow quantification, tissue characterisation and myocardial perfusion imaging. The advent of CMR using extrinsic and intrinsic contrast-enhanced protocols for tissue characterisation have dramatically changed the non-invasive work-up of patients with suspected or known cardiomyopathy. Although the technique initially focused on the in vivo identification of myocardial necrosis through the late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) technique, recent work highlighted the ability of CMR to provide more detailed in vivo tissue characterisation to help establish a differential diagnosis of the underlying aetiology, to exclude an ischaemic substrate and to provide important prognostic markers.