Transient symptomatic severe mitral regurgitation after electric cardioversion of atrial fibrillation.

Introduction: After electric cardioversion (EC), several cases of cardiac stunning with cardiogenic shock have been reported. Several hypotheses have been proposed, including stunning of the left ventricle (LV) and modifications in the LV conformation that could lead to severe mitral regurgitation (MR). We report 2 cases of cardiogenic shock with severe MR after EC for atrial fibrillation (AF).

[Percutaneous left atrial appendage closure: an alternative in patients with atrial fibrillation and high bleeding risk?].

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and its prevalence increases with age. AF increases the risk of stroke by a factor of 5 and strokes related to AF are associated with higher mortality and morbidity when compared with strokes in patients with sinus rhythm. Oral anticoagulation is efficient to reduce the risk of stroke in AF patients, but with a substantial risk of bleeding.

Diagnostic accuracy of pocket-size handheld echocardiographs used by cardiologists in the acute care setting.

Aims: Pocket-size echographs may be useful for bedside diagnosis in acute cardiac care, but their diagnostic accuracy in this setting has not been well tested. Our aim was to evaluate this tool in patients requiring an urgent echocardiogram.

Methods: Trained cardiologists performed echocardiograms with a pocket-size echograph (Vscan) in consecutive patients requiring urgent echocardiography.