A Right Ventricular Mass With Intracavitary Obliteration: Tumor or Thrombus?

A 47-year-old woman was admitted to the hospital because of dyspnea for the past three months. She was previously diagnosed with pulmonary embolism. She had been operated on for a colon tumor five years ago and no residual cancer was detected on oncological follow-up.

Bivalirudin for cardiopulmonary bypass in a patient with heparin allergy.

Background: Hypersensitivity reactions to heparin are uncommon conditions but pose a serious clinical problem for patients requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. Bivalirudin is a reversible direct thrombin inhibitor that can be used instead of heparin.

Case Report: A 49-year-old male patient was admitted to our hospital for coronary artery bypass graft operation with mitral insufficiency and tricuspid valve insufficiency.

David's procedure for pulmonary artery aneurysm.

Pulmonary artery aneurysm (PAA) is a rare entity with fatal complications. Its silent course contributes to large aneurysms with compression symptoms. We present a 39-year-old female idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension patient with a giant PAA causing severe pulmonary regurgitation (PR) and symptomatic left main coronary artery compression (LMCA).

Direct approach to hydatid cyst of the interventricular septum.

A 37-year-old woman who had undergone an operation for hydatid cyst of the liver 10 years earlier decided to have a check-up for echinococcosis, because she had not been seen by a clinician for 4 years. The case is of particular interest not only because it enabled a rare preliminary diagnosis of cardiac echinococcosis by simple electrocardiographic analysis, but also because our technique of excision appears to be one never before reported in connection with interventricular hydatid cysts. In such an instance, we recommend a direct approach (if possible) through the interventricular septum without entering the cardiac chambers, in order to avoid dissemination; and we recommend enucleation of the germinative membrane without capitonnage, to avoid impairment of the atrioventricular conduction pathway or of myocardial contraction.

Surgical approaches in left anterior descending artery in-stent stenosis.

Background: In-stent stenosis remains the major disadvantage of coronary interventions. Extensive applications of the intracardiac devices especially involving long segments of coronary arteries have resulted in an increase in the number of cases of in-stent stenosis. That may require aggressive surgical approaches.

Electrocardiographic changes after coronary artery surgery.

The electrocardiographic changes early after uncomplicated coronary artery bypass with complete revascularization were examined preoperatively and on the 1st and 3rd postoperative days in 53 patients. Heart rate, PR index, corrected PR interval, corrected P dispersion, corrected duration of QRS complex, corrected QT dispersion, corrected QT interval, rhythm, QRS axis, ST-segment changes, and blocks were determined. Changes in new parameters obtained by different combinations of R, S, and T waves were also studied.