Detection of retained surgical sponge by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography.

We describe an unusual case of extracardiac mass in a patient who was assymptomatic and submitted to an open-chest coronary artery bypass operation 5 years previously. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography revealed a rounded mass compressing the right atrium with a thick contour surrounding a heterogeneous center, suggestive of foreign body. Magnetic resonance imaging identified the mass as a pericardial cyst.

Coronary blood flow reserve response to left anterior descending coronary artery stenting and its value in predicting coronary restenosis.

Background: Heterogeneous results of coronary flow velocity reserve (CFVR) to percutaneous procedures have been reported and the impact of transesophageal echocardiographic evaluation of CFVR in predicting restenosis has not been completely established.

Methods And Results: We studied 20 control volunteers and 51 patients with left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis to determine the CFVR response to left anterior descending coronary artery stenting, the clinical markers of persistent CFVR impairment, and its value in predicting restenosis. Prestent CFVR was lower in the stenosis group than in control volunteers (1.

Anomalous subaortic course of the left brachiocephalic (innominate) vein: echocardiographic diagnosis and report of an unusual association.

Subaortic left brachiocephalic, or innominate, vein is an uncommon finding in congenital heart disease, usually associated with obstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract. We describe our experience with 14 patients in whom the lesion was identified echocardiographically, 12 of them with right ventricular obstruction, one with totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection in the absence of obstruction to the right ventricular outflow tract, and the final one with a normal heart. A precise diagnosis of this venous anomaly is of great importance, since it needs to be differentiated from a central pulmonary artery, a pulmonary venous confluence, or an ascending vertical vein in totally anomalous pulmonary venous connection.