Surgical management of a giant right atrial myxoma.

Cardiac tumours represent around 0.2% of tumours overall, and primary cardiac tumours are even more uncommon. We report the case of a 72-year-old female with a 7 cm × 4 cm right atrial mass which was prolapsing through the tricuspid valve.

The paravertebral panto: it's behind you!

Unlabelled: This case report highlights the utility of paravertebral (PV) imaging in the diagnosis of aortic dissection, the evaluation of left ventricular systolic function and drawing the distinction between pleural and pericardial effusions. In this case, less attenuation of the ultrasound beam, reduced lung viscosity due to pleural effusions and less impedance mismatch between media led to images of superior quality and high diagnostic value. This supports the use of paravertebral imaging as an adjunct to conventional echocardiography windows, particularly when conventional transthoracic imaging proves challenging.

The size of juxtaluminal hypoechoic area in ultrasound images of asymptomatic carotid plaques predicts the occurrence of stroke.

Objective: To test the hypothesis that the size of a juxtaluminal black (hypoechoic) area (JBA) in ultrasound images of asymptomatic carotid artery plaques predicts future ipsilateral ischemic stroke.

Methods: A JBA was defined as an area of pixels with a grayscale value <25 adjacent to the lumen without a visible echogenic cap after image normalization. The size of a JBA was measured in the carotid plaque images of 1121 patients with asymptomatic carotid stenosis 50% to 99% in relation to the bulb (Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis and Risk of Stroke study); the patients were followed for up to 8 years.

Ascending aorta thrombus adjacent to a cholesterol-rich plaque as the source of multiple emboli.

Ascending aortic thrombus causing thromboembolism in the absence of hyper-coagulable states is a rare occurrence. We present a case of a 40-year old healthy female smoker who presented with a 6-month history of three transient ischaemic attacks, hand pain and numbness despite being on dual anti-platelet therapy. Computed tomography revealed a mid-ascending aorta thrombus.

Computerized texture analysis of carotid plaque ultrasonic images can identify unstable plaques associated with ipsilateral neurological symptoms.

We estimated the value of objective, computerized texture analysis of ultrasonic images in distinguishing carotid plaques associated with neurological ipsilateral symptoms (amaurosis fugax [AmF; n = 30], transient ischemic attack [TIA; n = 52], and stroke [n = 55]) from asymptomatic plaques (n = 51). We performed 3 case-control studies (1/symptom with asymptomatic plaques as control). On logistic regression, AmF was independently associated with severity of stenosis, percentage of pixels with gray levels 0 to 10 (PPCS1; measure of echolucency), and spatial gray level dependence matrices (SGLDM) information measure of correlation (IMC-1; texture); TIAs with PPCS1 (echolucency), SGLDM correlation, and skewness (both texture); and stroke with PPCS1, SGLDM correlation, and percentage of pixels with gray levels 11 to 20 (PPCS2; echolucency).