Homograft implant for prosthetic aortic endocarditis with paravalvular abscess in a patient with persistent left superior vena cava.

We present a case report detailing the surgical intervention in a patient with prosthetic aortic valve endocarditis complicated by a paravalvular abscess extending to the mitral-aortic fibrosa. Urgent surgery was required due to severe detachment of the prosthetic aortic valve, marking her third cardiac surgical procedure. Notably, preoperative imaging revealed the presence of a persistent left superior vena cava, a rare vascular anomaly requiring specialized cannulation techniques.

Giant right coronary artery aneurysm: the saphenous vein bridge technique.

A giant coronary artery aneurysm is defined as an irreversible dilation that is 1.5-times more than the diameter of a healthy adjacent coronary artery. It is a rare disease with an incidence of 0.

[Simultaneous transcatheter transapical native mitral and aortic valve implantation].

Concomitant severe aortic and mitral stenosis in patients who are not candidates for traditional surgery is a complex scenario that becomes increasingly more common with population aging. While transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has emerged as a new lifeline for patients with severe aortic stenosis who are at intermediate or high risk for surgical aortic valve replacement, transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) is still in the early clinical phase. TMVR can be an alternative to surgical valve replacement for high surgical risk patients with bioprosthetic mitral valves, annuloplasty rings, or severe mitral annular calcification (MAC).

Primary hemangioma of the mitral valve: an unusual presentation.

Cardiac hemangiomas are rare tumors, the presence of these neoplasms in heart valves is an exceptional finding, mainly because of their histological features. Normally, transesophageal echocardiography is used to establish a diagnosis of cardiac tumor, though careful interpretation is needed to avoid diagnostic errors. Herein is described an unusual presentation of a primary hemangioma of the mitral valve which was diagnosed as a prolapsing left atrial myxoma.

Large left atrial myxoma with severe mitral regurgitation: the inverted T-shaped biatrial incision revisited.

Cardiac myxomas are primary cardiac tumors. In some cases of atrial myxoma, the standard left atriotomy alone does not enable safe tumor resection and easy access to the mitral valve. We report the cases of 2 patients with huge left atrial myxomas associated with severe mitral valve regurgitation who underwent an inverted T-shaped biatrial incision for tumor excision and mitral repair.

Double papillary fibroelastoma of the aortic valve.

A case of asymptomatic aortic valve fibroelastoma was diagnosed by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography in a 77-year-old man. A 2nd tumor was found at surgery. Both fibroelastomas were removed surgically without aortic valve replacement.

Spontaneous acute coronary dissection after cocaine abuse in a young woman.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an unusual trigger for acute coronary syndrome or sudden death, occurring more frequently in relatively young people and mainly in the female sex. The underlying mechanism is not completely understood, but predisposing factors may include metabolism and collagen synthesis disorders. The case of a 34-year-old woman who underwent coronary angiography for acute anterolateral myocardial ischemia after cocaine abuse is reported.