A large asymptomatic portal vein aneurysm in an old man.

Ultrasound (US) is a useful tool in diagnosis and follow-up of portal vein aneurysms (PVA). In the absence of international surgical guidelines on PVAs, US can be effectively used in follow-up of asymptomatic patients not suitable for surgery.

Coronary Atherosclerosis Assessment by Coronary CT Angiography in Asymptomatic Diabetic Population: A Critical Systematic Review of the Literature and Future Perspectives.

The prognostic impact of diabetes mellitus (DM) on cardiovascular outcomes is well known. As a consequence of previous studies showing the high incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in diabetic patients and the relatively poor outcome compared to nondiabetic populations, DM is considered as CAD equivalent which means that diabetic patients are labeled as asymptomatic individuals at high cardiovascular risk. Lessons learned from the analysis of prognostic studies over the past decade have challenged this dogma and now support the idea that diabetic population is not uniformly distributed in the highest risk box.

Dolichocarotids: echo-color Doppler evaluation and clinical role.

Aims: Dolichocarotids(DCs) represent a rare(2-6%) carotid imaging finding in the general population that may be free of clinical significance or be associated with cerebrovascular events. Their detection is traditionally assigned to carotid echo-color Doppler(ECD) and selective angiography(the standard method). The primary aim of this study was to estimate the sensitivity, specificity and accuracy of ECD in detecting DCs.

Subacute stent thrombosis and stress-induced cardiomyopathy: trigger or consequence?

Stress-induced cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a unique syndrome, characterized by transient left ventricular (LV) apical ballooning without significant coronary arteries stenosis, affecting mainly menopausal women. We present the case of a 70 year old woman with subacute stent thrombosis (ST) at the level of the right coronary artery and transient apical ballooning with normal flow of left and circumflex coronary arteries. TCM is frequently associated with emotional stress, but to date no case of ST triggering TCM have been reported.