[Evaluation of left ventricular function by systolic time intervals].

Background: Evaluation of left ventricular systolic function, usually based on the assessment of the ejection fraction, is increasingly supplemented by other more sophisticated techniques such as 3D echocardiography and speckle tracking. However these methods require a high technicity and a good echogenicity. As heart failure leads to lengthening of aortic pre-ejectional time (PET) and shortening of left ventricular ejection time (ET), systolic time intervals (STI) were proposed for the evaluation of systolic myocardial performance.

Cardiac anomalies in Cantrell's pentalogy: From ventricular diverticulum to complete thoracic ectopia cordis.

Cantrell's pentalogy is a very rare syndrome associating varying degrees of midline wall defects and congenital cardiac anomalies. It is characterized by a combination of five anomalies that are: a midline supra umbilical abdominal wall defect, a sternal defect, an anterior diaphragmatic defect, a diaphragmatic pericardial defect and a congenital intra cardiac defect. Ectopia cordis, defined as a developmental defect in which the heart is abnormally located partially or totally outside the thorax, is in some cases a part of this syndrome.