Improved survival of patients with coronary artery disease and low ejection fraction with ICD implantation versus conventional therapy in a real world survey.

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with an increased risk for sudden cardiac death. Randomized controlled trials have shown that implantable cardioverter defibrillators (ICD) improve life expectancy unless they are implanted within the first days after an acute myocardial infarction and guidelines recommend their use. We aimed to validate that these results also apply to patients of a typical community hospital in Germany.

[Complication of a complex heart failure: perforation of a sinus Valsalva [corrected] aneurysm].

A 68-year-old woman was admitted to hospital because of chronic heart failure. The cause was a left-right shunt between the left sinus of Valsalva and the right atrium. The patient underwent surgery with shunt closure.