Reduced left ventricular dimension and normalized atrial natriuretic hormone level after repair of aortic coarctation in an adult.

Although unusual in the older patient, coarctation of the aorta can be an occult cause of cardiomyopathy. This report describes a 53-year-old man with new-onset heart failure symptoms, global left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, and underlying aortic coarctation. Surgical correction resulted in reduced LV size, resolution of symptoms, and normalization of atrial natriuretic hormone levels.

Differential expression of the cell adhesion molecules ICAM-1, VCAM-1, and E-selectin in normal and posttransplantation myocardium. Cell adhesion molecule expression in human cardiac allografts.

Background: Cell adhesion molecules (CAMs) have been implicated in cardiac allograft rejection. However, previous studies have used qualitative analysis of immunohistochemical data and did not exclude patients with infection or malignancy.

Methods And Results: We analyzed 40 endomyocardial biopsy specimens from 25 cardiac transplant patients and 8 specimens from patients undergoing cardiac surgery.