Successful management of hemopericardium and cardiac tamponade secondary to occult malignancy and anticoagulation.

In patients presenting with pericarditis or pericardial effusion without known malignancy, the likelihood of finding previously undiagnosed cancer in different publications typically ranges from 4% to 7%. Cardiac tamponade due to malignant pericardial effusion is thus a rare clinical entity and often acutely life threatening. The present report describes an unusual case of large pericardial bleeding causing tamponade in the setting of fondaparinux anticoagulation, heterozygous factor V Leiden mutation and eventual discovery of meta-static adenocarcinoma.

A 29-year-old Harken disk mitral valve: long-term follow-up by echocardiographic and cineradiographic imaging.

An 81-year-old woman was evaluated for prosthetic mitral valve function. She had received a Harken disk mitral valve 29 years earlier due to severe mitral valve disease. This particular valve prosthesis is known for premature disk edge wear and erosion.

Large aneurysms of the ascending aorta and major coronary arteries in a patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

We describe a 50-year-old man with a history of hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (Osler-Weber-Rendu disease) who presented with chest pain, atrial fibrillation, and congestive heart failure. Echocardiography revealed a large ascending aortic aneurysm accompanied by severe aortic regurgitation and giant coronary artery aneurysms involving the right, left main, left anterior descending, and circumflex coronary arteries. Coronary angiography clearly defined multiple aneurysms involving the aorta and coronary arteries.