Time to be more efficient: reducing wasted transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) diagnostic appointment slots at Guy's and St Thomas' NHS Trust.

Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is one of the most requested non-invasive cardiac imaging diagnostic modalities available in the National Health Service (NHS). There is persistently high demand, but nationally, activity has lagged, producing increasing numbers of breaches of the 6-week waiting time target. This delays patients' diagnosis and treatment.

Sex Differences in Right Ventricular Systolic Function and All-Cause Mortality in Tricuspid Regurgitation.

Introduction: Sex differences have been poorly studied in patients with right-sided heart valve disease. The principal aim of the current study was to explore the impact of sex differences on right ventricular (RV) hemodynamics and all-cause mortality in patients with moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR).

Methods: This is a retrospective study of 209 patients with significant TR.

Under Pressure: Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disease: A Case of Pulmonary Artery External Compression.

Post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder (PTLD) is an often fatal complication of cardiac transplantation that occurs in 2% to 6% of transplant recipients. We report a case in which PTLD led to pulmonary artery external compression and multimodality imaging showed key features in the diagnosis, management, and follow-up. ().

The clinical significance and prognostic value of right ventricular wall tension in moderate or severe tricuspid regurgitation.

We aim to explore the determinants of right ventricular wall tension (RV base-to-apex length multiplied by systolic pulmonary artery pressure [RV WT] and association with all-cause mortality in patients with moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation.  Of total, 180 patients (71 ± 15 years, 54% females) were included. An increased RV WT was defined as >3300 mmHg x mm.

A Kaleidoscope heart.

In the current manuscript, we report an unusual case of a young 18-year-old woman who survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest secondary to Bland-White-Garland syndrome. Her transthoracic echocardiogram showed an abnormal color Doppler flow-pattern within the myocardium indicative of coronary fistulous flow that prompted further evaluation with coronary CT angiography, which confirmed the diagnosis. Our case serves not only as a reminder to consider coronary artery anomalies as a cause of sudden cardiac death in young individuals but also as a prompt to investigate unusual echocardiographic findings with alternative imaging when the diagnosis may not be initially clear.

Increased intima-media thickness is independently associated with ischemic stroke.

Background: Stroke is one of the major causes of death worldwide. The importance of increased intima-media thickness in cardiovascular risk stratification has been recurrently studied. The relationship between them, however, is still controversial.