Early detection of anthracycline- and trastuzumab-induced cardiotoxicity: value and optimal timing of serum biomarkers and echocardiographic parameters.

Aims: To evaluate echocardiographic and biomarker changes during chemotherapy, assess their ability to early detect and predict cardiotoxicity and to define the best time for their evaluation.

Methods And Results: Seventy-two women with breast cancer (52 ± 9.8 years) treated with anthracyclines (26 also with trastuzumab), were evaluated for 14 months (6 echocardiograms/12 laboratory tests).

Incremental value of three-dimensional echocardiography over the two-dimensional technique in the assessment of combined sinus of valsalva rupture into the right ventricle and adjacent perimembranous ventricular septal defect.

We describe the incremental value of live/real time three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography over the 2D technique in the assessment of ruptured right sinus of Valsalva into the right ventricle associated with an adjacent perimembranous ventricular septal defect in an elderly patient.

Utility of live/real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in the assessment and percutaneous intervention of bioprosthetic pulmonary valve stenosis.

Accurate echocardiographic evaluation of the pulmonary valve is technically difficult because of its close proximity to the left lung, which often limits decision making. Pulmonary valvotomy is the intervention of choice for symptomatic pulmonary valve stenosis, but fluoroscopy lacks appropriate real time anatomic detail. In this report, we present a case where direct imaging of the pulmonary valve with live/real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3DTEE) aided in accurate evaluation and was then used to help guide and monitor successful valvuloplasty of a stenotic pulmonary valve bioprosthesis.

Transthoracic echocardiographic assessment of spindle cell sarcoma of the pulmonary artery in a child.

In this report, we present a case of spindle cell sarcoma of the pulmonary artery diagnosed by transthoracic echocardiography. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the youngest reported case of pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) to date. PAS is frequently confused for pulmonary embolism; in this case, echocardiographic findings allowed for differentiation between pulmonary embolism and solid tumor.