Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a highly prevalent valve disorder in the US, with prevalence increasing with age. Without treatment, severe TR carries a poor prognosis. Tricuspid valve (TV) surgery is recommended for patients with severe TR undergoing left-sided valve surgery.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFKey Clinical Message: Mitral valve aneurysm is a rare imaging finding most caused by infective endocarditis. The concurrent presence of an aortic valve aneurysm is unique and foretells a severe presentation that would require valve replacement during the same admission.
Abstract: A 42-year-old male patient presented with intermittent fever, night sweats, and weight loss for 2 months.
Background: Cardiogenic shock (CS) associated with severe mitral regurgitation (MR) forebodes a high risk of morbidity and mortality. Transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) is a rapidly evolving technique for severe MR in haemodynamically stable patients. However, the safety and efficacy of TEER for severe MR in CS are not well established.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: The aim of this study was to assess the association between the presence of a right-to-left shunt (RLS) and neurological decompression sickness (NDCS) and asymptomatic brain lesions among otherwise healthy divers.
Background: Next to drowning, NDCS is the most severe phenotype of diving-related disease and may cause permanent damage to the brain and spinal cord. Several observational reports have described the presence of an RLS as a significant risk factor for neurological complications in divers, ranging from asymptomatic brain lesions to NDCS.
Left atrial spontaneous echo contrast is an echocardiographic finding associated with hypercoagulable states and stasis and can be clinically correlated with a thromboembolism in patients with atrial fibrillation, mitral stenosis, or mitral valve repair. Black blood double inversion recovery cardiac magnetic resonance is used to map out cardiac anatomy and demonstrates higher signal in blood flowing at a slower rate, such as at the sites of aortic aneurysms, aortic dissections and vessel occlusions. Here, we present the case of a 66-year-old woman with persistent atrial fibrillation and left atrial findings of spontaneous echo contrast and high signal on black blood double inversion recovery cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, raising concern for a thrombus.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose Of Review: The unique pathophysiological changes of constrictive pericarditis (CP) can now be identified with better imaging modalities, thereby helping in its early diagnosis. Through this review, we outline the pathophysiology of CP and its translation into symptomology and various imaging findings which then are used for both diagnosis and guiding treatment options for CP.
Recent Findings: Multimodality imaging has provided us with the capability to recognize early stages of the disease and identify patients with a potential for reversibility and can be treated with medical management.
Objective: There is paucity of data on the epidemiological, microbiological, and clinical characteristics of patients admitted with infective endocarditis (IE) in the Bronx, New York.
Patient And Methods: We conducted a retrospective study at Jacobi Medical Center, a tertiary care hospital in the Bronx. All adult patients who were hospitalized with a primary diagnosis of new-onset IE between January 1st, 2010 and September 30th, 2020 were included.
The role of coronary computed tomography angiography (CCTA) in evaluating the etiology of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is unclear. This is a meta-analysis assessing the pooled diagnostic accuracy of CCTA in diagnosing significant coronary artery disease in HFrEF. Electronic databases were searched for studies comparing CCTA with invasive coronary angiography in HFrEF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: Amiodarone is commonly used in atrial fibrillation (AF). Long-term use of amiodarone is associated with significant toxicities especially in elderly patients. However, in the short term after hospitalization of AF, it remains uncertain whether the use of amiodarone will increase mortality.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The incidence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in Liver transplant (LT) patients is much higher than prior estimates and the morbidity and mortality are significant in this group of patients. Coronary angiography is the gold standard for detection of CAD, a non-invasive test that allows appropriate risk stratification would be preferred. In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we sought to assess the pooled diagnostic accuracy of various noninvasive cardiac imaging tests in detecting CAD in patients listed for LT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Limited data are available on performance of the left ventricular (LV) mass equation when there is a dynamic change to LV load. We aimed to test this equation in the immediate post-operative period following aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic regurgitation (AR) to see if it would reliably demonstrate stable LV mass before and after surgery. Since LV mass would be unlikely to change in the immediate postoperative period, we hypothesized that a decrease in LV diameter postoperatively would be accompanied by concomitant increases in LV wall thickness as predicted by the LV mass equation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntegr Blood Press Control
November 2018
Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common valvular heart disease in the elderly and it causes significant morbidity and mortality. Hypertension is also highly prevalent in elderly patients with AS, and AS patients with hypertension have worse outcomes. Accurate assessment of AS severity and understanding its relationship with arterial compliance has become increasingly important as the options for valve management, particularly transcatheter interventions, have grown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIncreasing life expectancy is expected to lead to a corresponding increase in the prevalence of aortic valve disease (AVD). Further, the number of indications for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) as a treatment option for AVD is expanding, with a growing role for echocardiography in its management. In this review we summarize the current literature on some newer echocardiographic modalities and the parameters they generate, with a particular focus on their prognostic and clinical value beyond conventional methods in the management of aortic stenosis, TAVR, and aortic regurgitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Patients with chronic kidney disease are at increased risk of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Even after kidney transplant, the rate of CVD events and death remain elevated. Early detection of patients at risk would be helpful for guiding aggressive preventive therapy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCardiovascular toxicity in the form of cardiac dysfunction continues to be an obstacle for patients with cancer. Survival and quality of life of cancer survivors are frequently affected by increased incidence of cardiovascular disease. The involvement of the cardiovascular system by primary or secondary malignancies, as well as its dysfunction secondary to the administration of antineoplastics, has led to the development of a new discipline called Cardio-Oncology, an exciting cardiology subspecialty with more questions than answers and as a result an enormous opportunity for research in the field.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypothyroidism may cause several cardiac manifestations including conduction abnormalities, pericardial effusion, decreased myocardial contractility and accelerated coronary atherosclerosis. Although cardiac output is reduced in hypothyroidism, frank heart failure (HF) is relatively rare because of the low peripheral oxygen demand. Several mechanisms have been postulated in hypothyroid-induced HF, including genomic as well as non-genomic actions of thyroid hormone.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPurpose: The impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) on recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) after catheter ablation remains uncertain. We conducted a meta-analysis to summarize the relative risks (RR) of AF recurrence after catheter ablation in patients with vs. without MetS and its components.
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