Cardiovascular adaptive response to training in elite athletes. Comparison between endurance and non-endurance athletes.

Introduction: The different structural modifications that have been described in the heart of the high-performance athlete depend on factors such as age, gender, type of sport, and the intensity and time dedicated to training.

Objectives: Evaluation of elite athletes through echocardiography for the description of cardiac structure and function, and the comparison between athletes with cardiorespiratory endurance and the rest of the athletes.

Methods: We performed the echocardiographic examination in 224 elite athletes, 96 women and 128 men aged 15 to 38 years (21.

Prevalence of papillary muscle hypertrophy in fabry disease.

Background And Aims: Fabry disease (FD) is an X-linked genetic lysosomal disease, in which a deficit in the alpha-galactosidase A enzyme results in lysosomal build-up of globotriaosylceramide in several organs, causing cardiac, renal and cerebrovascular complications. The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of papillary muscle hypertrophy (PMH) in patients with FD.

Methods: A group of 63 patients with FD and a positive genetic diagnosis were studied and were divided into two groups: one included 24 patients with FD and LVH and another group included 39 patients with FD and without LVH.

Subcostal right ventricular free wall strain in patients with pulmonary hypertension.

Unlabelled: Right ventricular longitudinal strain (RVLS) is frequently used as a measure of right ventricular systolic function. Abnormal RV strain is associated with poor prognosis in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH); however, the measure is not always easy to obtain in patients with poor apical acoustic windows.

Objective: This study aims to analyze the RVLS and determine if there is a difference when measured from the apical and subcostal views.

Value of Electrocardiography to Distinguish Fabry Disease from Sarcomeric Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy.

Fabry disease (FD) is a rare genetic disorder that leads to left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), frequently misdiagnosed as hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We sought to assess the value of electrocardiography for distinguishing FD from HCM. We retrospectively reviewed and compared standard electrocardiograms and echocardiograms from 26 patients with FD and LVH and 33 sarcomeric patients with HCM, matched for gender, age, and degree of LVH.

[Experience in infective endocarditis over 30 years in a hospital in Buenos Aires].

Infective endocarditis (IE) is a disease that in recent decades has shown changes in its presentation, diagnosis and treatment. This is a prospective study of 252 patients admitted at a reference hospital in Buenos Aires, Argentina, with a diagnosis of IE and they were grouped according to the decade of admission: Group A: from January 1988 to December 1997 (89 patients -35.3%-), Group B: from January 1998 to December 2007 (88 patients -34.

Hypothyroid cardiomyopathy: A reversible phenocopy of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

We present the case of a 46-year-old patient with hypothyroidism secondary to Hashimoto's thyroiditis who was admitted with decompensation in the form of myxedema. A 2-D echocardiogram shows a septal asymmetric hypertrophy, with low-voltage QRS complex in the ECG and a bull's-eye map of longitudinal strain with preserved apical strain with reduction of mid and basal strain that results in "cherry on the top" pattern, similar to the most frequent phenocopy of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, as is the cardiac amyloidosis, and that, unlike this pathology, reverted after the patient reached the euthyroid state.

[Cardiac metastasis from primary anaplastic thyroid carcinoma].

Cardiac neoplasms are rare entities in the clinical practice. Cardiac metastatic involvement is 20 to 40 times more frequent than the primary form, representing 95% of all cardiac tumors; however, they are frequently underdiagnosed because of their clinical and oncologic features. In this report, we present two cases of cardiac metastasis from primary anaplastic thyroid carcinoma: a 69-years-old woman with right ventricular metastasis and a 61-years-old man with right atrial metastasis.

Rapidly progressive aortic stenosis treated with transcatheter aortic valve implantation in a patient with Fabry disease: a case report.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) is a rare lysosomal storage disease, caused by mutations in the gene encoding the enzyme α-galactosidase A (α-Gal A). Cardiac involvement is one of the main causes of death and it is characterized by progressive concentric left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which in most cases is symmetric. Mild thickening of the left-sided valves is seen in as many as a quarter of patients.

Speckle Tracking Imaging in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension.

Background: Right ventricular (RV) systolic dysfunction is a strong predictor of mortality in pulmonary hypertension (PH). The goal of this study was to investigate whether right atrium (RA) and RV myocardial strain related to PH using speckle tracking echocardiography provide a superior estimation of RV systolic function than 2-dimensional (2D)-echo.

Methods: This cross-sectional study analyzed 22 patients with a diagnosis of PH stratified by right heart catheterization, and they were compared to a control group of 22 age- and sex-matched healthy subjects.

Speckle tracking echocardiography in the indeterminate form of Chagas disease.

Background: Chagas disease is one of the most common diseases in Latin-America, and cardiac involvement is a significant cause of death. Assessment of myocardial strain may detect early myocardial damage.

Objectives: To determine differences in longitudinal strain using speckle tracking to assess regional and global left ventricular function in patients with the indeterminate form of Chagas disease, in comparison with a control group.

Clinical significance of tissue Doppler imaging in chronic Chagas disease.

Introduction: Chagas disease (ChD) is one of the main parasitic diseases in Latin-America. Its heart involvement is the most important cause of death. The aim of this study is to evaluate if Doppler Tissue Imaging (DTI) may have a predictive value for later events in subjects with chronic ChD.

Use of tissue doppler imaging for the early detection of myocardial dysfunction in patients with the indeterminate form of Chagas disease.

Introduction: Chagas disease is one of the most common diseases in Latin America and heart involvement is the main cause of death. This study aimed to determine differences in tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) parameters in the assessment left and right ventricular function in patients with the indeterminate form of Chagas disease compared to those in healthy controls.

Methods: We compared 194 patients with the indeterminate form of Chagas disease to 72 age-matched healthy individuals.

Mechanical dispersion in Fabry disease assessed with speckle tracking echocardiography.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) is a rare X-linked storage disorder caused by deficiency of the lysosomal enzyme α-galactosidase A, and it typically causes multiorgan dysfunction. The main cause of death is heart disease resulting from left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction, LV systolic dysfunction, severe LV hypertrophy (LVH), and sudden death. In several cardiac disorders, LV systolic dysfunction and ventricular arrhythmias are associated with mechanical dispersion (MD).

Papillary Fibroelastoma of the Left Ventricle in a Radiation-treated Cancer Patient.

We present the case of a 69-year-old female patient with a history of endometrial carcinoma in 1996, who underwent a total hysterectomy and bilateral adnexectomy. The patient also received chemotherapy and mediastinal radiotherapy followed by cancer remission. Ten years later she presented with heart failure and her Doppler-echocardiogram showed severe mitral regurgitation with pulmonary hypertension and a papillary fibroelastoma in the left ventricle.

Twenty Years of Clinical Experience with Cardiac Myxomas: Diagnosis, Treatment, and Follow Up.

Background: Cardiac myxomas are the most frequent cardiac tumors. Although histologically benign, in some cases myxomas may be lethal, due to impairment of cardiac dynamics and their thromboembolic potential. The study aimed to assess the clinical presentation of cardiac myxomas and their correlation with echocardiographic features and to describe the perioperative results and long-term outcome of surgically treated patients.

[Clinical examination and the Valsalva maneuver in heart failure].

Congestion in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is relevant and closely linked to the clinical course. Bedside blood pressure measurement during the Valsalva maneuver (Val) added to clinical examination may improve the assessment of congestion when compared to NT-proBNP levels and left atrial pressure (LAP) estimation by Doppler echocardiography, as surrogate markers of congestion in HFrEF. A clinical examination, LAP and blood tests were performed in 69 HFrEF ambulatory patients with left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 40% and sinus rhythm.

Comparison of left atrial size and function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and in Fabry disease with left ventricular hypertrophy.

Background: Fabry disease (FD) and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) are two diseases with a different pathophysiology, both cause left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and myocardial fibrosis. Although remodeling and systolic dysfunction of the left atrium (LA) are associated with atrial fibrillation and stroke in HCM, changes in the size and function of the LA have not been well studied in FD with LVH.

Methods: The following groups were studied prospectively, and their respective findings compared: 19 patients with non-obstructive HCM (Group I), 20 patients with a diagnosis of Fabry cardiomyopathy (Group II), and 20 normal subjects matched for sex and age (Group III).

Detection of angiographically significant coronary obstruction using resting transthoracic coronary Doppler echocardiography.

Background: Transesophageal Doppler echocardiography has shown that significant stenosis can be detected based on the presence of aliasing with color Doppler in the stenotic area. The study aimed to assess the detection of angiographically significant coronary stenosis (ASCS) by analyzing the characteristics and velocities of resting coronary artery flow (RCF) using transthoracic coronary Doppler echocardiography (TCDE).

Methods: TCDE was performed before diagnostic coronary angiography (CA).

Bone cement cardiac and pulmonary embolism.

This case describes a complication of bone cement use. A 65-year-old male patient with back spine trauma caused by a fall, underwent a percutaneous vertebroplasty. Five years later, he consulted for palpitations, and the electrocardiogram showed supraventricular arrhythmia.