Muscle carnitine deficiency and fatal cardiomyopathy.

A 23-month-old boy with progressive muscle weakness and severe cardiomyopathy was found to have oil red O positive vacuoles predominantly in type 1 muscle fibers. Serum carnitine was normal, but muscle carnitine content was decreased. Both parents were clinically normal, but the muscle carnitine level was low in the father.

Echocardiographic differentiation of a cystic and a solid tumor of the heart.

A hydatid cyst in the ventricular septum was diagnosed with echocardiography in a child with abdominal echinococcosis. The finding was confirmed with cardiac catheterization, cineangiography and surgical removal and pathologic examination of the cyst. The echocardiographic features of the fluid-filled hydatid cyst are contrasted with those of solid left ventricular tumor (rhabdomyoma) in a newborn.