Huge left atrial thrombus and valve degeneration in a patient with a bioprosthetic, porcine, mitral valve.

A 43 year old man with a Hancock porcine bioprosthetic valve in the mitral position developed a huge thrombus filling the entire left atrium and chronic degeneration of the bioprosthetic mitral valve. The effective valve orifice was less than 2 mm. These severe findings leading to the patient's death remained undetected while he was alive.

Noninvasive cardiac evaluation in chronic alcoholic patients with alcohol withdrawal syndrome.

Cardiac function was evaluated by noninvasive techniques in 50 patients hospitalized during acute alcohol withdrawal treatment. All patients had ingested large amounts of alcohol for at least five years, but discontinued alcohol intake 24 to 72 hours prior to admission. There was no clinical history of heart disease in any of the patients.

Wolff-Parkinson-White bigeminal pattern after administration of tensilon.

A rare case of WPW bigeminal pattern was recorded in a 53-year-old man. This electrocardiographic pattern occurred after 10 mg tensilon was given intravenously to suppress a supraventricular tachycardia. WPW bigeminal pattern was terminated after intravenous administration of 100 mg lidocaine and the occurrence of a PVB.

Uncomplicated sinus of Valsalva aneurysm detected by echocardiography in an asymptomatic patient: case report.

Echocardiography was extremely useful in detecting a distinctive echographic pattern with uncomplicated right sinus of Valsalva aneurysm. The patient was clinically asymptomatic. The chest x-ray showed a normal cardiac silhouette.