A rare case of cardiac fibroma diagnosis in Gorlin-Goltz syndrome with information on management.

Gorlin-Goltz syndrome is a rare autosomal dominant disease characterized by odontogenic keratocysts and basal cell carcinoma as well as ophthalmic and neurological implications. The following article presents the case of a 20-year-old female with Gorlin-Goltz syndrome incidentally found to have a cardiac mass. An ECG showed diffuse T-wave inversions in the lateral leads despite a lack of any acute coronary symptoms in the patient.

Is symptom to balloon time a better predictor of outcomes in acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction than door to balloon time?

Introduction: Current guidelines for the treatment of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) recommend early revascularization with a door-to-balloon (D2B) time of 90 minutes or less in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). The focus of most studies has been D2B time. Because of the large variability in the time between symptom onset and presentation, we sought to determine the effect of symptom-to-balloon (S2B) time on presentation and outcomes as a potentially more clinically relevant parameter.

Long-term use of the wearable cardioverter defibrillator in patients with explanted ICD.

Objectives: To evaluate the effectiveness of wearable cardioverter defibrillator (WCD) use in protecting patients from sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) while they were treated in nonhospital settings until re-implantation of an Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) was feasible. We sought to determine whether the WCD could be successfully utilized long term (≥1 year) after ICD extraction in patients at continued risk of SCD in which ICD re-implantation was not practical.

Background: ICDs have proven to improve mortality in patients for both secondary and primary prevention of SCA.

Validating Left Ventricular Filling Pressure Measurements in Patients with Congestive Heart Failure: CardioMEMS™ Pulmonary Arterial Diastolic Pressure versus Left Atrial Pressure Measurement by Transthoracic Echocardiography.

Background: Routine ambulatory echocardiographic estimates of left ventricular (LV) filling pressures are not cost-effective and are occasionally fraught with anatomic, physiologic as well as logistical limitations. The use of implantable hemodynamic devices such as CardioMEMS Heart Failure (HF) System has been shown to reduce HF-related readmission rates by remote monitoring of LV filling pressures. Little is known about the correlation between CardioMEMS and echocardiography-derived estimates of central hemodynamics.

Effect of sacubitril/valsartan on cardiac filling pressures in patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Background: Sacubitril/valsartan is the newest neurohormonal agent approved for therapy in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). Little is known about its acute and incremental hemodynamic effects. We aimed to evaluate the change in hemodynamic profiles measured using an implanted monitoring device in HFrEF patients initiated on sacubitril/valsartan therapy.

Is there still a role for renal artery stenting in the management of renovascular hypertension - A single-center experience and where do we stand?

Background: Renal artery (RA) stenosis has been implicated in the pathophysiological mechanism for resistant hypertension. Despite the increasingly diagnosed frequency of hemodynamically significant lesions, the value of RA revascularization remains controversial. Our group had previously demonstrated significant blood pressure (BP) reduction in a retrospective cohort of appropriately selected patients undergoing RA stenting up to 18-months of follow-up.

Cannabis induced asystole.

Cannabis or marijuana is the most used recreational, and until recently illegal, drug in the United States. Although cannabis has medicinal use, its consumption has been linked to motor vehicle accidents in dose dependent fashion. Marijuana and other cannabinoids produce a multitude of effects on the human body that may result in these motor vehicle accidents.

Percutaneous closure of a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm in a high-risk surgical candidate.

Few cases of percutaneous device closure of a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm have been reported. We describe the case of a 67-year-old man with a history of coronary artery disease who presented with shortness of breath and chest pain. Computed tomographic angiography showed a left ventricular pseudoaneurysm that was filling from a small leak in the anterolateral aspect of the ventricle.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation with hemoconcentration: in a hypervolemic patient with critical aortic stenosis.

Herein, we describe the case of a 60-year-old man with severe nonischemic cardiomyopathy and hypervolemia. By means of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation at the bedside, along with hemoconcentration, the patient was resuscitated from severe cardiogenic shock and normal blood volume was restored. Within 24 hours, he was able to undergo a high-risk aortic valve replacement for severe aortic stenosis, with a successful outcome.

Left stellate ganglion block for continuous ventricular arrhythmias during percutaneous left ventricular assist device support.

A 58-year-old man presented with chest pain and tightness and was diagnosed with a Q-wave anterior myocardial infarction. He then developed pulseless ventricular arrhythmias, which were treated with repeated direct-current shocks and intravenous amiodarone. He underwent emergency cardiac catheterization: stents were deployed in the left anterior descending coronary artery and right coronary artery, and an intra-aortic balloon pump was inserted.