Acute Chest Pain and Broad Complex Tachycardia. A Non-typical Case of Pre-excited Atrial Fibrillation.

Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome is a common condition in the emergency department. A case is presented of a 76-year-old patient with acute chest pain and broad complex tachycardia. Despite the fact that previous and post cardioversion ECG tracings in sinus rhythm showed no signs of pre-excitation, the characteristic pattern of pre-excited atrial fibrillation (AF) is recognized and after successful DC cardioversion the patient is referred for catheter ablation of the accessory pathway.

Familial restrictive cardiomyopathy with atrioventricular block without skeletal myopathy.

Familial restrictive cardiomyopathy is an autosomal dominant cardiomyopathy histologically characterized by myocyte hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis. The case of a 54-year-old man diagnosed with restrictive cardiomyopathy is reported. The patient had been implanted with a two-chambered pacemaker for a complete atrioventricular block 12 years before.

Mitral heart disease due to cabergoline.

The case of a restrictive valve disease associated with cabergoline, an ergot alkaloid agonist used in the treatment of Parkinson's disease, is described. Cardiovascular and periodical follow-up assessment may be required when these drugs are prescribed.

Pericardial effusion: clinical and analytical parameters clues.

Prospectively, clinical and biochemical data of 83 patients with a diagnosis of pericardial effusion were studied. The etiologies were as follows: Idiopathic: 42 cases (50%); Tuberculous: 18 cases (22%); Neoplastic: 14 cases (17%); Other: 9 cases (11%) with a miscellaneous etiology. Sedimentation rate resulted significantly higher in Tuberculous group (67-102), p<0.