Relationship of TAPSE Normalized by Right Ventricular Area With Pulmonary Compliance, Exercise Capacity, and Clinical Outcomes.

Background: While tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) captures the predominant longitudinal motion of the right ventricle (RV), it does not account for ventricular morphology and radial motion changes in various forms of pulmonary hypertension. This study aims to account for both longitudinal and radial motions by dividing TAPSE by RV area and to assess its clinical significance.

Methods: We performed a retrospective analysis of 71 subjects with New York Heart Association class II to III dyspnea who underwent echocardiogram and invasive cardiopulmonary exercise testing (which defined 4 hemodynamic groups: control, isolated postcapillary pulmonary hypertension, combined postcapillary pulmonary hypertension, and pulmonary arterial hypertension).

Evaluation of inter-observer variability regarding aortic and mitral valve findings on transesophageal echocardiograms ordered for suspected endocarditis.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is the gold standard for the detection of valvular vegetations (VV). Differentiating small VV from degenerative changes is challenging and prone to inter-observer variability. We evaluated inter-observer agreement regarding aortic (AV) and mitral valve (MV) findings on TEEs ordered for suspected infective endocarditis (IE).

A Rare Case of Primary Pericardial Schwannoma.

Schwannomas are typically benign, indolent neoplasms. Primary pericardial schwannomas are extremely rare and arise from the cardiac plexus and vagus nerve innervating the heart. Few case reports have been documented to date.