Prosthetic tricuspid valve dysfunction assessed by three-dimensional transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography.

A 39-year-old male who had undergone tricuspid valve replacement for severe tricuspid regurgitation was admitted with palpitation and general edema. Two-dimensional (2D) echocardiography showed tricuspid prosthetic valve dysfunction. Additional three-dimensional (3D) transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) could clearly demonstrate the disabilities of the mechanical tricuspid valve.

Atrial fibrillation-induced endothelial dysfunction improves after restoration of sinus rhythm.

Background: Recent evidence suggests that atrial fibrillation (AF) adversely affects endothelial function. The goal of this study was to assess endothelial function in patients with AF before and after restoration of sinus rhythm by catheter ablation (ABL).

Methods: Reactive hyperemia peripheral arterial tonometry (RH-PAT) measurements reflecting endothelial function were conducted with Endo-PAT2000 (Itamar Medical, Caesarea, Israel) in 27 patients with persistent AF before ABL and in 21 control subjects with sinus rhythm (SR).

Left ventricular dysfunction assessed by cardiac time interval analysis among different geometric patterns in untreated hypertension.

Background: Left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy is a powerful independent predictor of morbidity and mortality in hypertensive patients. Abnormal LV geometric patterns are also associated with hypertensive complications, and concentric hypertrophy is associated with the highest mortality in hypertensive patients. However, the relationship between geometric patterns and cardiac dysfunction is not fully established.

Different flow patterns between left and right internal thoracic artery grafts influence the evaluation of severe graft stenosis by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography.

Objective: An increase in the diastolic to systolic flow velocity ratio (D/S) in the proximal left internal thoracic artery (ITA) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) enables noninvasive assessment of graft patency by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE). The increase in the D/S can be less pronounced at a site distant from the anastomosis. We postulated that proximal ITA flow patterns differ between the left and right ITAs and that the increase in D/S is less pronounced in the right than in the left proximal ITA.

Left ventricular global systolic dysfunction has a significant role in the development of diastolic heart failure in patients with systemic hypertension.

Regional left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction has been identified in diastolic heart failure (DHF). However, the relationship between regional or global LV systolic function and heart failure symptoms in DHF has not been evaluated in detail. The present study evaluates such relationships in patients with systemic hypertension (HT) and DHF.

Left ventricular systolic function is abnormal in diastolic heart failure: re-assessment of systolic function using cardiac time interval analysis.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to re-assess the left ventricular (LV) systolic function in diastolic heart failure (DHF) using Doppler echocardiography.

Background: Systolic function in DHF is defined as the preserved LV ejection fraction (EF). EF may not fully reflect the systolic function in DHF, especially in the presence of abnormalities during the isovolumetric contraction time (ICT).