Case report: Posterior myocardial infarction in presence of right bundle branch block: an old concept with new findings.

Background: The diagnosis of acute ischaemic coronary syndromes in presence of an intra-ventricular conduction disturbance represents a clinical challenge. In the cardiac segmentation model the posterior wall is replaced by the basal inferior segment. However, in the clinical scenario of acute coronary syndrome the concept of posterior myocardial infarction (PMI) endures.

Atypical ischemic repolarization in right bundle branch block.

A 70-year-old male presented to emergency room 16 h after the onset of acute chest pain. Initial ECG showed sinus rhythm with a wide QRS and right bundle branch block (RBBB) with concordant and symmetric T waves in V1-V2. A plausible explanation for the atypical positive T waves in leads V1-V2 in conjunction with RBBB could be non-reperfused lateral MI (LMI) as a "mirror-image" of inverted T waves in the posterior leads V7-V9.

Function and mechanics of the left ventricle: from tissue Doppler imaging to three dimensional speckle tracking.

One of the most common indications in echocardiography is the evaluation of left ventricular function. The traditional measurement of ejection fraction is based upon tracing the left ventricular borders and calculating left ventricular volumes using geometric assumptions. Now, with the introduction of three-dimensional echocardiography, the evaluation of left ventricular function is easier to carry out and with superior accuracy and reproducibility.

[Left posterolateral extensive myocardial infarct. An electroanatomical comparison].

A complete ECG thoracic circle allows exploring some heart structures not explored by the conventional electrocardiogram. It provides a direct indication on the location of the damaged myocardium. In fact, posterolateral infarctions can be limited to the inferior third of the left ventricle or can cover the entire free left ventricular wall from the base up to the heart apex and can be univentricular or biventricular.

[Non invasive quantification of the parietal systolic stress of the left ventricle in patients with heart failure and its clinical application].

The purpose of this study is to calculate non invasivelly left ventricular systolic wall stress by echocardiography in patients with primary heart failure, and compare the results with those obtained in parients with overloaded heart failure, diastolic dysfunction by Inapropiatte hypertrophy, with normal ejection fraction and people with normal heart, there stablish the value of the results in clinical settings. We studied 33 patients with heart failure by dilated cardiomyopathy. There was no significant association between the systolic wall stress and the ejection fraction, fractional shortening, dp/dt or left ventricular mass in this group of study.

[Understanding heart failure].

Heart failure is a disease with several definitions. The term "heart failure" is used by has brougth about confusion in the terminology. For this reason, the value of the ejection fraction (< 0.

[Estimate of the systolic parietal stress of the left ventricle by magnetic resonance imaging. A new approach to the study of the overload].

Objective: To determine the systolic parietal stress of the left ventricle by image of magnetic resonance in healthy subjects.

Material And Methods: 21 healthy subjects studied: 11 male and 10 female: the ages among 26 and 31 years (29.33).

[Does diastolic heart failure exist?].

This paper reviews the concepts of systolic function, diastolic function, heart failure, diastolic dysfunction, and diastolic heart failure. We refer to the historic evolution of the concept of heart failure and the origin of the term diastolic heart failure. Based on the current concepts of the physiology of the heart and its pathophysiology, we discuss the inappropriateness of the term and to the confusion it has generated in clinical practice, treatment, and prognosis, as well as in numerous research papers (of which some examples are given) when terming as "heart failure" the diastolic dysfunction and using both terms indistinctively.

[Echocardiographic evaluation of heart failure].

The echocardiogram is an easily accessible procedure to study patients with heart disease. It is very useful specifically to establish a diagnosis of heart failure and to distinguish this condition from other diseases with similar clinical manifestations, which require different treatment and with distinct prognosis. Once the diagnosis has been established with certainty, other parameters must be obtained, such as ejection fraction, ventricular mass, mass/volume ratio, thickness/radius ratio (h/r), dP/dT of the left ventricle, and a recording of transmitral blood flow can be obtained by means of pulsed and continuous Doppler blood flow.