Implantable cardioverter defibrillator patch erosion in a heart transplant patient.

A 57-year-old man who had received an automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator and subsequent orthotopic heart transplant presented to medical attention for hemoptysis. The hemoptysis was caused by the migration of the left ventricular patch of the automatic implantable cardioverter defibrillator, which had been left in place at the time of orthotopic heart transplant. The patch had eroded into the left lung.

Cardiac sarcoidosis: two cases with ventricular tachycardia and review of cardiac involvement in sarcoid.

Patients with significant cardiac sarcoidosis are at increased risk of sudden death from ventricular dysrhythmias or conduction disturbances. We report two patients whose initial manifestation of cardiac sarcoidosis was nonsustained ventricular tachycardia unresponsive to standard antiarrhythmic measures. Endomyocardial biopsy aided the diagnosis in each patient.

Carcinoid heart disease: a clinical pathologic, and therapeutic update.

The carcinoid syndrome is a rare clinical entity, the unique manifestations of which continue to excite the interest of physicians. Despite a common origin from neural crest tissue, the tumors are partially differentiated, as evidence by the different secretory products of foregut, midgut, and hindgut carcinoids. They also differ in their ability to metastasize, thus presenting an even more varied clinical picture.