Clonidine Overdose as an Unusual Cause of Heart Failure.

Clonidine is used as an antihypertensive medication due to its effect on decreasing peripheral vascular resistance and therefore lowering blood pressure. Alpha antagonism in the medulla and the posterior hypothalamus causing a reduction in sympathetic activation allows for clonidine to be used as an effective off-label treatment for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). This is a case of a 28-year-old female with hypertension, ADHD, and depression who developed acute heart failure with significant troponemia after ingesting 30 pills of clonidine.

Acute Pericarditis Leading to a Diagnosis of SLE: A Case Series of 3 Patients.

In systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), cardiac manifestations are known to be present in up to 50% of patients. However, it is rare for acute pericarditis to be the leading symptom at the time of diagnosis of SLE occurring in up to 1% of patients. We present a case series in which 3 patients with no prior history of SLE presented with acute pericarditis.

An Unusual Case of Paraquat-Induced Rhabdomyolysis and Hepatic Injury Presenting With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is a syndrome of reversible left ventricular systolic dysfunction that, at presentation, can be easily conflated with acute coronary syndrome. TCM has a clinical preponderance for older, postmenopausal females. We report on a patient's case who presented with complaints of upper and lower extremity weakness with evidence of rhabdomyolysis and hepatic injury.

Echocardiographic Findings in Heart Failure Patients With Methamphetamine Use: A Case-Control Study.

Background Methamphetamine use is associated with cardiovascular disease and significant morbidity and mortality. There is only one previous study performed on echocardiographic parameters in patients with methamphetamine cardiomyopathy. Methods We performed a retrospective review of medical records in a county hospital in Southern California with a high population of methamphetamine users.

A Giant Left Intraventricular Thrombus Associated With Apical Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy Mimics Cancer.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common disease that can be acquired due to chronic hypertension or via autosomal dominant inheritance. Several patterns of HCM have been described, of which a rare variant is apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (AHCM). Atrial thrombus is a well-recognized complication of HCM especially in the setting of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Quantifying changes in size of arrhythmic photoplethysmography waveforms during a Valsalva maneuver for assessing cardiac filling pressure.

Objective: We previously showed that the change in amplitude of a finger photoplethysmography waveform during the Valsalva maneuver reflects cardiac filling pressure. However, the automated determination of peaks and valleys to calculate amplitude is limited in significant arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation and premature ventricular complexes, which are common in heart failure. The purpose of this study was to assess the change in size of the waveform by calculating the change in root mean square (RMS) of the signal, thereby utilizing the entire cardiac cycle, and to compare it to change in size of peak-to-valley amplitude.

Successful Clozapine Re-Challenge After Suspected Clozapine-Induced Myocarditis.

BACKGROUND Clozapine plays a unique role in the management of treatment-resistant schizophrenia (TRS). Clozapine re-challenge following an episode of myocarditis is controversial, with a very limited literature, although it may be crucial in the recovery of certain patients. To date and to the best of our knowledge, only 10 of 22 studied cases reported successful clozapine retrial after myocarditis.

Isoproterenol Causing Coronary Vasospasm and ST Elevations During Tilt Table Testing.

Syncope is a sudden but reversible brief loss of consciousness secondary to an acute reduction of cerebral perfusion. Reflex syncope denotes neurologically mediated syncope, which includes vasovagal, carotid sinus syndrome, and other situational syncope. The most frequent form of syncope is vasovagal, which is triggered by emotional stress or prolonged standing, and may be diagnosed with the tilt table test.

Multivalvular Endocarditis Involving 3 Valves in a Nonsurgical Candidate.

Infective endocarditis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. Hence, early diagnosis and prompt intervention is crucial. Multivalvular endocarditis involving 3 or more valves is rarely reported with little information regarding best management or prognosis, particularly in nonsurgical patients.

Transesophageal Versus Transthoracic Echocardiography for Assessment of Left Ventricular Diastolic Function.

Background: Transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) has not been compared to transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for assessment of left ventricular diastolic function (LVDF). Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is common in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), a disease model of premature myocardial disease.

Methods: 66 patients with SLE (mean age 36±12 years, 91% women) and 26 age-and-sex matched healthy volunteers (mean age 34±11 years, 85% women) underwent TEE immediately followed by TTE.

References Values for Left Atrial Volumes, Emptying Fractions, Strains, and Strain Rates and Their Determinants by Age, Gender, and Ethnicity: The Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA).

Rationale And Objectives: Left Atrial (LA) adverse remodeling is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality in several cardiovascular (CV) diseases. Our goals were to quantify and provide reference ranges for LA structure and function using feature tracking cine cardiac magnetic resonance.

Materials And Methods: 2526 participants of the Multiethnic Study of Atherosclerosis study who had feature tracking cine cardiac magnetic resonance derived LA data and were free of atrial fibrillation/flutter and prior CV events at year five follow-up examination (2010-2012) were included in this study.

Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava: Implications of Surgical Management.

Persistent left superior vena cava is the most common congenital anomaly of thoracic venous return, which results when the left anterior cardinal vein fails to regress. A 41-year-old African American male with a history of an unspecified childhood cardiac murmur presented to the emergency department with congestive heart failure exacerbation revealing an incidental finding of a persistent left superior vena cava. Ultimately, he required implantable cardioverter defibrillator placement and cardiac transplantation assessment.

Apixaban versus warfarin in evaluation of progression of atherosclerotic and calcified plaques (prospective randomized trial).

Warfarin has been showed to increase vascular calcification. Apixaban, a direct factor Xa inhibitor, has no interaction with vitamin K and its effect on coronary plaques is unknown. We randomized and compared warfarin and apixaban on progression of coronary atherosclerotic plaques measured by coronary computed tomographic angiography in 66 subjects with non-valvular atrial fibrillation over the period of one-year follow up.

Embolizing Massive Right Atrial Thrombus in a HIV-Infected Patient.

The risk of thromboembolism is increased when associated with the human immunodeficiency viral (HIV) infection. Various factors are involved in promoting thrombosis, and the presence of a patent foramen ovale augments the potential for a paradoxical embolism. We describe the case of a 56-year-old man receiving antiretroviral therapy with features of right heart failure and pulmonary embolism.

Rationale and design of a randomized trial of apixaban vs warfarin to evaluate atherosclerotic calcification and vulnerable plaque progression.

Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) are known to increase vascular calcification, suggesting increased cardiovascular disease events. Apixaban is an oral direct factor Xa inhibitor superior to warfarin at preventing stroke or systemic embolism and may stabilize coronary atherosclerosis. The potential benefits of avoiding VKA therapy and the favorable effects of factor Xa inhibitors could contribute to cardiovascular disease event reduction.

Usefulness of a Noninvasive Device to Identify Elevated Left Ventricular Filling Pressure Using Finger Photoplethysmography During a Valsalva Maneuver.

The high rate of re-hospitalization for heart failure might be reduced by improving noninvasive techniques for identifying elevated left ventricular (LV) filling pressure. We previously showed that changes in a finger photoplethysmography (PPG) waveform during the Valsalva maneuver (VM) reflect invasively measured LV end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP). We have since developed a hand-held device that analyzes PPG while guiding the expiratory effort of a VM.

Extensive biatrial thrombus straddling the patent foramen ovale and traversing into the left and right ventricle.

We report an extremely rare case of an extensive biatrial thrombus straddling a patent foramen ovale (PFO) extending into the bilateral ventricles in a patient presenting with an acute embolic stroke. Our patient further developed a massive saddle pulmonary embolus (PE) with haemodynamic instability during the course of his hospitalisation. The risks of pharmacological thrombolysis or surgical thrombectomy for PE in a haemodynamically unstable patient with recent embolic stroke posed a significant therapeutic dilemma.

Mortality Among Patients Hospitalized With Heart Failure and Diabetes Mellitus: Results From the National Inpatient Sample 2000 to 2010.

Background: Case fatality and hospitalization rates for US patients with heart failure (HF) have steadily decreased during the past several decades. Diabetes mellitus (DM), a risk factor for, and frequent coexisting condition with, HF continues to increase in the general population.

Methods And Results: We used the National Inpatient Sample to estimate overall as well as age-, sex-, and race/ethnicity-specific trends in HF hospitalizations, DM prevalence, and in-hospital mortality among 2.