Micronodular Thymoma with Lymphoid Stroma: A Mediastinal Mass Masquerading as a Pericardial Mass.

A 61-year-old man presented to the emergency room with lower extremity edema. Physical exam was only remarkable for a diastolic murmur in the right carotid area and left lower extremity edema. Venous Doppler revealed a deep venous thrombosis in the left lower extremity.

Mechanical Mitral Valve Thrombosis in a Patient With Prior Nonbacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis.

A 54-year-old woman with a mechanical mitral valve replacement presented with recurrent admissions for pneumonia and pulmonary edema. Multimodality imaging revealed mobile masses on the prosthesis and discrepant point of care and inpatient international normalized ratio levels owing to antiphospholipid antibody cross-reactivity on the outpatient assay. The prosthetic valve thromboses resolved with therapeutic anticoagulation.

Noninvasive Evaluation of Symptomatic Women with Suspected Coronary Artery Disease.

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the leading cause of death in the United States, yet several factors make it challenging to diagnose in women. Although women have more frequent chest pain than men, atypical symptoms such as nausea, dyspnea, and fatigue make it difficult to determine their risk of coronary artery disease (CAD) before testing. Current guidelines recommend exercise electrocardiography (ex-ECG) as the initial test in symptomatic women with intermediate pretest probability who can exercise and have a normal resting ECG; however, treadmill ex-ECG testing has a significantly lower positive predictive value in women.

Effects of spironolactone treatment in elderly women with heart failure and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Background: Although spironolactone has been shown to decrease morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, its role in patients with heart failure and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (HFpEF) is not well defined. In this study we investigated the mechanisms involved when elderly women with HFpEF are treated with spironolactone.

Methods And Results: Forty-eight women with HFpEF were enrolled in a randomized placebo-controlled trial and were assigned to 25 mg spironolactone daily (n = 24) or placebo (n = 24) for 6 months.

Impact of contrast echocardiography on evaluation of ventricular function and clinical management in a large prospective cohort.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of echocardiographic contrast utilization on patient diagnosis and management.

Background: Contrast echocardiography (CE) has improved visualization of endocardial borders. However, its impact on patient management has not been evaluated previously.

Systolic and diastolic dyssynchrony in patients with diastolic heart failure and the effect of medical therapy.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of systolic and diastolic dyssynchrony in diastolic heart failure (DHF) patients and identify the effects of medical therapy.

Background: The prevalence of systolic and diastolic dyssynchrony in DHF patients is unknown with no data on the effects of medical therapy on dyssynchrony.

Methods: Patients presenting with DHF (n = 60; 61 +/- 9 years old, 35 women) underwent echocardiographic imaging simultaneous with invasive measurements.

Noninvasive evaluation of women with coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) is the leading cause of death in women. More women than men die of CAD each year, and unlike men, the death rate has not declined for women but has remained stable over the last 20 years. Despite these statistics, much less is known about the prevention, diagnosis, or treatment of CAD in women.