Optimizing Supportive Care in COVID-19 Patients: A Multidisciplinary Approach.

Within just a few months, SARS-CoV-2 has evolved from a virtually unknown pathogen to a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. As COVID-19 infection can affect multiple organ systems, treating many manifestations and complications requires clinical expertise across the healthcare professional spectrum. Therefore, interprofessional and multidisciplinary collaboration should form the cornerstone of every hospital's COVID-19 management approach.

Impact of antiplatelet therapy on clinical manifestations and outcomes of cardiovascular infections.

Despite advances in medical and surgical management, infective endocarditis remains associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Septic embolization to the brain and other organs is one of the most dreaded complications of infective endocarditis. Given the critical role of platelets in bacterial vegetation formation on cardiac valves or cardiac device leads, antiplatelet agents, including aspirin, have recently generated much interest as adjunctive therapies in cardiovascular infections.

Predictors of mortality in patients with cardiovascular implantable electronic device infections.

Infection reduces survival in cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) recipients. However, the clinical predictors of short- and long-term mortality in patients with CIED infection are not well understood. We retrospectively reviewed all patients with CIED infection who were admitted to Mayo Clinic from January 1991 to December 2008.

Impact of prior aspirin therapy on clinical manifestations of cardiovascular implantable electronic device infections.

Aims: Cardiovascular implantable electronic device (CIED) infection may present as pocket infection or as infective endocarditis (CIED-IE) with vegetation on device leads or heart valves. As aspirin has both anti-inflammatory properties and interferes with platelet aggregation, we hypothesized that ongoing anti-platelet therapy with aspirin may impact clinical and echocardiographic manifestations of CIED infection.

Methods And Results: We retrospectively reviewed 415 cases of CIED infection admitted to Mayo Clinic Rochester from 1991 to 2008.

[Permanent cardiac pacing: about 234 patients].

Background: Permanent cardiac pacing remains the only effective treatment for chronic, symptomatic bradycardia. In recent years, the role of implantable pacing devices has expanded substantially.

Aim: To compare the situation of patients with critical brady arrhythmias before and after pacing focusing on indication for pacemaker implantation, frequency of re intervention and early and late complications.

Correlative anatomy for the electrophysiologist, part II: cardiac ganglia, phrenic nerve, coronary venous system.

Cardiac Ganglia, Phrenic Nerve, Coronary Venous System. There is an increasing need for invasive electrophysiologists to appreciate the exact anatomy of the epicardial space and the coronary veins. The location of the epicardial fat, the complementary relationship with the main cardiac veins, and the location of sensitive structures (arteries, phrenic nerve, esophagus) have become required knowledge for electrophysiologists, and accessing the epicardial space with this thorough knowledge of the pericardial sinuses and recesses is essential to allow radiographic correlation during catheter manipulation.

Correlative anatomy for the electrophysiologist, Part I: the pericardial space, oblique sinus, transverse sinus.

There is an increasing need for invasive electrophysiologists to appreciate the exact anatomy of the epicardial space and the coronary veins. The location of the epicardial fat, the complementary relationship with the main cardiac veins, and the location of sensitive structures (arteries, phrenic nerve, esophagus) have become required knowledge for electrophysiologists, and accessing the epicardial space with this thorough knowledge of the pericardial sinuses and recesses is essential to allow radiographic correlation during catheter manipulation. In this review, we briefly describe the anatomy of the pericardial space and then discuss the specific correlation for the invasive electrophysiologist, highlighting epicardial access, catheter navigation, and avoidance of collateral injury with specific attention to the important recesses of the pericardial space, their regional anatomy, and radiographic correlation when navigating catheters to these locations.

Plasma C-terminal pro-endothelin-1 is associated with target-organ damage in African Americans with hypertension.

Background: Endothelin-1 (ET-1) is a vasoactive peptide with vasoconstrictor and mitogenic properties. We investigated whether plasma levels of C-terminal pro-ET-1 (CT-proET-1), a newly described stable fragment of the ET-1 precursor, are associated with target-organ damage in hypertension.

Methods: Participants included 981 African Americans (65 ± 9 years, 71% women) and 812 non-Hispanic whites (61 ± 9 years, 54% women) ascertained from sibships with hypertension.

The anatomy of the coronary sinus venous system for the cardiac electrophysiologist.

Cardiac electrophysiologists' use of the coronary sinus (CS) to map and ablate accessory pathways and implant left ventricular leads has emphasized the need for understanding CS anatomy. In this review, we briefly examine the developmental and radiological anatomy of the CS and discuss in detail the gross anatomy of this cardiac vein. We highlight the correlations of the acquired anatomical knowledge relevant to clinical electrophysiology practice.

Cardiac calcified amorphous tumor in a patient presenting for ventricular tachycardia ablation: intracardiac echocardiogram diagnosis and management.

Calcified amorphous tumors (CAT) of the heart are rare primary cardiac tumors characterized by heavy myocardial and valve apparatus calcification. The relationship of the entity with ventricular arrhythmia, if any, is unknown. We describe a case of cardiac CAT in a 58-year-old woman with prior cardiac arrest and recurrent ventricular tachycardia who presented for radiofrequency ablation.

Esthesioneuroblastoma metastatic to the thoracic intradural and extradural space.

Background Context: Ethesioneuroblastoma (ENB) is a rare tumor of the olfactory epithelium that has been shown to metastasize mostly to the cervical lymphatics, with only infrequent spread to other locations. We report a rare case of ENB characterized by recurrence and distant metastasis to the T7-T8 intradural and extradural space.

Purpose: To report a rare case of recurrent ENB metastatic to the thoracic intradural and extradural space.

Echinococcosis of the heart: clinical and echocardiographic features in 12 patients.

Unlabelled: We describe the clinical and echocardiographic features in 12 patients with hydatid cyst of the heart who were screened between 1985 and 2001. Presenting symptoms have a wide variability but the main symptom was precordial pain. The electrocardiogram was always abnormal and showed T wave inversion in 8 cases, ST depression in 5 cases, incomplete right bundle-branch block in one case and atrial fibrillation in one case.

[Epidemiologic features of myocardial infarction in young patients].

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in persons under the age of 45 years is uncommon. To determine the clinical features in young patients presenting with AMI, we include 38 patients with mean age 35 years who survive from myocardial infarction. This disease is almost associated with cardiovascular risk factors, the most common of which are tobacco abuse (90%) and diabetes (20%).

[Surgically treated chronic aortic insufficiency: prognostic value of preoperative echocardiography].

Between March 1979 and December 1998, 38 patients with isolated chronic aortic insufficiency underwent aortic valve replacement. The aim of this study is to determine whether preoperative echocardiography parameters are useful in predicting operative results in patients with aortic valve replacement for chronic aortic insufficiency. The global survival is 92% in one year and 89% in ten years.

The transesophageal echocardiographic diagnosis of left atrial myxoma simulating a left atrial thrombus in the setting of mitral stenosis.

We report the case of a 56-year-old woman with a history of rheumatic heart disease. The clinical, electrocardiographic, and radiologic findings suggested mitral stenosis. Left atrial obstructive myxoma simulating a thrombus was found by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE).

[Cardiopericardial echinococcosis].

Unlabelled: Cardiac hydatid cysts are rare and represent 0.5 to 2% off all hydatid cyst in human. We describe clinical and echographic features in 12 patients with cardiac echinococcosis, admitted between 1992 and 2001.

[Cardiac tamponade revealing systemic scleroderma].

The frequency of pericardial involvement in Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) is high but usually was asymptomatic and cardiac tamponnade was exceptional. We report a case of systemic sclerosis (scleroderma) revealed by cardiac tamponnade. This case illustrate the value of transthoracic echocardiography in the diagnosis of cardiac tamponnade in systémic sclerosis.

[Right atrium angiosarcoma disclosed by alveolar hemorrhage].

Unlabelled: Cardiac angiosarcoma represents a primary cardiac malignancy tumor whose early diagnosis is difficult because of its non specific clinical presentation. We present the case of a 57 years old patient with medium abundance hemoptysis. The chest X ray film and CT scan showed bilateral pulmonary infiltrate without cardiac anomaly.

[Cardiovascular manifestations of Kawasaki syndrome. Value of echocardiography in diagnosis and progression].

Seven children with suspected Kawasaki disease were studied by echocardiogram. Coronary abnormalities occurred in all patients, associated with: thrombosis (2 patients) small pericardial effusion (2 patients) poor ventricular function (2 patients), moderate mitral regurgitation (2 patients). Patients received treatment with intravenous gamma globulin, aspirin, and anticoagulant.

[Feasibility of transesophageal echocardiography during balloon mitral valvulotomy].

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the utility and feasibility of transesophageal echocardiography during percutaneous balloon mitral valvuloplasty (PBMV). 40 patients were included with symptomatic rheumatic mitral valve stenosis with mean age of 31 years. Transoesophageal echocardiographic monitoring allowed an immediate detection of mitral insufficiency in 10 patients.

[Value of early systematic transoesophageal ultrasonography after mitral valve replacement by Saint-Jude prosthesis].

The aim of this study was to assess the value of the routine multiplane transoesophageal echocardiography (TEE) in the early postoperative period after mitral valve replacement with a Saint Jude Médical (SJM) mechanical prosthesis. This prospective work enrolled 56 patients who have been operated between September 1999 and September 2001, all these patients had a multiplan TEE after 14.7 days (8-29 days) of post-operative.

[Candida albicans prosthetic valve endocarditis. Two cases].

TWO CASES: Candida albicans prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) is a rare entity with serious complications. We report two cases of Candida albicans PVE, confirmed by culture of the prosthetic valve. The first patient died twenty days after surgery with cerebral bleeding secondary to multiple mycotic aneurysms, the second patient was still alive eight months following a Saint-Jude aortic valve replacement and prolonged antifungal therapy.