[Aortic atheroma: not a sensitive indicators for coronary artery disease in patients with mitral valve disease].

Aortic atheroma detected by transoesophageal echocardiography has been reported to be a good prognostic marker for coronary disease on angiography. The value of this detection in valvular heart disease would be to avoid preoperative coronary angiography in asymptomatic patients. The aim of this study was to assess the prognostic value of aortic atheroma in a population with a low prevalence of coronary artery disease in whom transoesophageal echocardiography was systematically performed.

Feasibility and reliability of ankle/arm blood pressure index in preventive medicine.

Despite its potential usefulness for assessing preclinical atherosclerosis and cardiovascular risk, the ankle/arm blood pressure index (AAI) has not yet been the matter of study evaluating its feasibility and reliability by nonspecialist doctors in a general population. This study was planned for two steps. In step 1, the measurement of AAI, (ratio between Doppler systolic pressure at the ankle for each lower limb and the highest value of Doppler systolic pressure of the two upper limbs), should be performed by 50 general practitioners (GPs), 50 social security center physicians, and 50 occupational health physicians in 3,000 male smokers, 40 to 59 years, without clinical cardiovascular disease.

[Double stenosing valve disease after mediastinal radiotherapy: a case report of a 31 year-old man].

Cardiac complications of radiotherapy for cancer, especially lymphoma and breast cancer, are well documented. The three tunics of the heart can be affected. However, valvular disease is rare and, when present, is usually regurgitant.

[Aneurysms of the atrial septum].

Aneurysms of the atrial septum (ASA) frequently diagnosed since the introduction of transoesophageal echocardiography are implicated in the aetiology of cerebral and systemic embolic events. This update was undertaken to resume recent data on this pathology and its relationship with embolic events. The diagnostic criteria are described together with the morphological features (size, movements, thickness) and associated abnormalities (interatrial shunts, valvular prolapse).

[Systemic embolism and thrombosis of the left atrium in a patient in sinus rhythm with cardiac amyloidosis].

The authors report the case of a female patient admitted for complete heart failure with a diagnosis of type AL amyloidosis associated with dysglobulinaemia. While in hospital, she developed femoral embolism found to be secondary to atrial thrombosis in the absence of any supraventricular arrhythmia. The frequency and mechanism of intracardiac thrombosis and embolic accidents in cardiac amyloidosis are discussed in the light of this case.