Cardiac sarcoidosis: recurrent disease in a heart transplant patient following pulmonary tuberculosis infection.

Cardiac transplantation is indicated for patients with end-stage cardiomyopathy secondary to cardiac sarcoidosis. Although rare, recurrent disease has been reported in two cases. The current report presents a case of recurrent cardiac sarcoidosis in a patient 45 months postorthotopic heart transplantation and 40 months following reactivation of latent Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection.

Cocaine cardiotoxicity: a review of the pathophysiology, pathology, and treatment options.

Cocaine is a powerful stimulant that gives users a temporary sense of euphoria, mental alertness, talkativeness, and a decreased need for food and sleep. Cocaine intoxication is the most frequent cause of drug-related death reported by medical examiners in the US, and these events are most often related to the cardiovascular manifestations of the drug. Once playing a vital role in medicine as a local anesthetic, decades of research have established that cocaine has the ability to cause irreversible structural damage to the heart, greatly accelerate cardiovascular disease, and initiate sudden cardiac death.

Pulmonary site bioprostheses: morphologic findings in 40 cases.

Context: From January 1995 to June 2003, there were 514 patients who underwent pulmonary valve replacements at either the Hospital for Sick Children or Toronto General Hospital. Fifty-four (10.5%) of these adults returned for replacement of their prostheses because of failure.

Prenatal intrapericardial teratomas: diagnosis and management.

We present a 21-week gestation fetus, who upon routine investigation was noted to have a left-sided pleural effusion. The pregnancy was terminated, and at autopsy, a diagnosis of intrapericardial teratoma was confirmed. Primary cardiac tumors in infants and children are rare, and intrapericardial teratomas are even more so.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy presenting as restrictive cardiomyopathy: a case complicated by biventricular apical aneurysms and papillary fibroelastoma.

This report describes a 45-year-old male patient with nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, biventricular apical aneurysms, and papillary fibroelastoma. Histology revealed muscle fiber disarray, interstitial fibrosis, and mural vessel changes. The wall of the aneurysms showed fat infiltration, and loss and replacement of muscle fibers with fibrous tissues.

Peripheral vascular disease: who gets it and why? A histomorphological analysis of 261 arterial segments from 58 cases.

Aims: This retrospective study aimed to document and illustrate the histomorphological changes underlying peripheral vascular disease (PVD). More specifically, it aimed to analyse and quantify those changes that lead to lower limb amputations. Histological changes were assessed in relation to various clinical pathologies, and significant correlations were sought thereafter.

Pericardial patch repair of the left atrioventricular valve in atrioventricular septal defect: long-term changes in the patch.

A 31-year-old woman with partial atrioventricular septal defect underwent left atrioventricular valve (LAVV) replacement. Her initial repair was at 8 years of age. At 23 years of age, she underwent reoperation due to a combination of severe left ventricular outlet obstruction and moderate LAVV regurgitation.

Infective endocarditis of the tricuspid valve.

Infective endocarditis (IE) usually involves the left-sided valves, and IE involving the tricuspid valve (TV) is rare, often developing in intravenous drug users (IDU). We present a case of a 32-year-old male, an intravenous drug abuser (IDA), who presented with nonspecific septic symptoms, and was treated with TV conserving surgery. Pathological examination confirmed tissue destruction, friable thrombotic vegetations, and microorganisms in the leaflet tissue.

Morphological findings in 192 surgically excised native mitral valves.

Introduction: Mitral valve disease (MVD) is a significant clinical problem that is becoming more common in the 21st century. The pathogenesis of MVD seems to be changing and is not well understood.

Patients And Methods: The present study details the morphological findings in 192 native mitral valves excised over a one-year period at the Toronto General Hospital, Toronto, Ontario.