Seasonal diagnosis of echocardiographically demonstrated endocarditis.

Background: Many cardiac and infectious diseases have a seasonal incidence. It is not known whether similar variations exist for endocarditis.

Methods: As echocardiography plays a key role in diagnosing endocarditis, patients referred for echocardiography with suspected endocarditis from 1993 through 2001 were identified.

Unexplained pulmonary hypertension is associated with systolic arterial hypertension in patients undergoing routine Doppler echocardiography.

Study Objective: To determine the validity of the association between systemic hypertension (HTN) and unexplained pulmonary hypertension (PHTN) as identified with Doppler echocardiography.

Methods: All patients with a reported systolic pulmonary artery pressure (SPAP) on routine Doppler echocardiography from our 1997 echocardiographic database were identified. Exclusions included all diseases known to be associated with PHTN.