Extended septal myectomy versus alcohol septal ablation: clinical results at a national referral centre.

Objectives: Extended septal myectomy and alcohol septal ablation are 2 invasive treatments for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy. Our goal was to compare which of these techniques achieved a higher reduction in gradients, improvement in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class and reduction in medical treatment.

Methods: It is a single-centre observational and retrospective analysis.

First report of Brevundimonas aurantiaca human infection: infective endocarditis on aortic bioprostheses and supracoronary aortic graft acquired by water dispenser of domestic refrigerator.

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a feared life-threatening complication that requires a multidisciplinary approach. Although a variety of microorganisms have caused IE, Brevundimonas aurantiaca human infection has never been reported previously. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of endocarditis and human infection due to B.

Cardiac paraganglioma: stent in right coronary artery prior to surgery resection.

Cardiac paragangliomas are extremely rare. Sometimes surgical resection is a challenge owing to the proximity of vital structures and coronary arteries involvement. We report a case of a 34-year-old man with cardiac paragangliomas located between right atrium and right ventricle with a feeding blood supply from collaterals of the right coronary artery.

Are 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography results reliable in patients with ascending aortic grafts? A prospective study in non-infected patients.

Objectives: Our goal was to define characteristic patterns of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose in non-infected patients with ascending aortic prosthetic grafts during the first year after surgery.

Methods: 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (PET)/computed tomography (CT) was performed at 3, 6 and 12 months postoperatively in 26 uninfected patients. Clinical, analytical and microbiological (blood culture) assessments were performed to confirm the absence of infection.

Early acute aortic dissection of the donor aorta after orthotopic heart transplantation.

Acute type A aortic dissection is an uncommon complication after orthotopic heart transplantation and usually affects the native aorta. Seven cases reported in the literature describe an aortic dissection confined to the donor aorta and only in two of them were they detected during the early postoperative period. We describe the case of a 58-year-old man, the recipient of a cardiac allograft for ischemic cardiomyopathy 20 days earlier, who presented an acute type A aortic dissection limited to the donor aorta.