Impact of Cumulative Smoking Exposure on Subclinical Degenerative Aortic Valve Disease in Apparently Healthy Male Workers.

Background: Little is known regarding the impact of cumulative smoking exposure and smoking cessation on subclinical degenerative aortic valve (DAV) disease.

Methods: We examined associations of smoking status, cigarette-years of smoking, and years since quitting smoking with subclinical DAV disease defined by echocardiography.

Results: Of 756 apparently healthy male workers, 154 had DAV including 63 with DAV with ≥2 leaflets calcification (DAV ≥2 cal).

Implications of hepatic dysfunction in Kawasaki disease: Time-related changes in aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, total bilirubin, and C-reactive protein levels.

Importance: The cause of the hepatic dysfunction that commonly accompanies Kawasaki disease (KD) remains unclear.

Objective: We tried to clarify the cause of the hepatic dysfunction.

Methods: A total of 381 consecutive patients with acute KD, who had undergone inpatient treatment with intravenous immunoglobulin until the 7th day of illness, were divided into a group of 199 patients with an alanine aminotransferase (ALT) level ≥ 40 IU/L on admission (group I), a group of 52 patients with an ALT level ≥ 40 IU/L at some point after admission (group II), and a group of 130 patients with ALT levels consistently < 40 IU/L throughout hospitalization (group III).

Kawasaki disease: Epidemiological differences between past and recent periods, and implications of distribution dynamism.

Background: Epidemiological findings suggest that Kawasaki disease (KD) is mediated by infection, which triggers its onset. Although the mechanism of onset seems to involve preconditioning factors and triggering factors, the details remain unclarified.

Methods: Data for 330 662 patients reported in KD nationwide surveys in Japan implemented between 1961 and 2014 were chronologically compared in terms of patient age distribution, estimated mean onset age, and male-to-female ratio during four periods: pre-epidemic (P1), epidemic (P2), stable (P3), and recent (P4): 1961-1978, 1979-1986, 1987-1997, and 1998-2014, respectively.

A rare case of impending paradoxical embolism with a complex patent foramen ovale.

A 68-year-old woman, who presented with pulmonary embolism, was diagnosed as having an impending paradoxical thromboembolism by transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography, which revealed an entrapped thrombus in the atrial septum. The patient underwent surgery for thromboembolectomy. A patent foramen ovale (PFO) appeared as a tunnel with three openings into the left atrium; one opening located close to the antero-superior left atrial wall and two small atrial septal defects of a septum primum.

Relation between progression of aortic valve sclerosis and carotid intima-media thickening in asymptomatic subjects with cardiovascular risk factors.

Background: Aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) is the early lesion of calcific aortic valve disease and may subsequently progress toward valvular stenosis. Histopathological and clinical evidence has suggested that AVS and atherosclerosis share similar mechanisms. However, little is known regarding the relation between the early AVS progression and the early atherosclerosis progression.

Three-dimensional quantitation of mitral valve coaptation by a novel software system with transthoracic real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.

We investigated the degree of mitral valve coaptation with a custom quantitation software system using transthoracic three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography. With real-time 3D echocardiography, we obtained transthoracic volumetric images in 20 healthy subjects and 20 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. With our novel software system, the surface area of mitral valve tenting in the onset of mitral leaflet closure [O] and the timing of maximum closure of mitral leaflet [M] were reconstructed for quantitative measurement.

Geometric changes of tricuspid valve tenting in tricuspid regurgitation secondary to pulmonary hypertension quantified by novel system with transthoracic real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography.

Geometric changes of tricuspid valve, particularly leaflets configuration, in functional tricuspid regurgitation (TR) remain to be defined. We sought to investigate geometric changes of tricuspid valve tenting in functional TR secondary to pulmonary hypertension by transthoracic real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography (3DE). Real-time 3DE was performed in 30 individuals (17 patients with TR and 13 control subjects).

Geometric differences of the mitral valve tenting between anterior and inferior myocardial infarction with significant ischemic mitral regurgitation: quantitation by novel software system with transthoracic real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.

We sought to investigate the 3-dimensional geometric differences of mitral leaflet tenting in ischemic mitral regurgitation, comparing inferior and anterior myocardial infarction (MI). Using real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography, we obtained transthoracic volumetric images for patients with significant ischemic mitral regurgitation (9 inferior and 7 anterior). With our novel software system, 3-dimensional images of the leaflets were reconstructed for quantitation.

Comparison of high-frequency two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography versus intravascular ultrasound for evaluation of the left anterior descending coronary artery.

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of high-frequency transthoracic echocardiography for measuring the wall thickness and luminal area of the left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD). Fifteen patients underwent simultaneous high-frequency transthoracic echocardiography and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) examinations. There were good agreements for wall thickness (0.

Mitral annulus flattens in ischemic mitral regurgitation: geometric differences between inferior and anterior myocardial infarction: a real-time 3-dimensional echocardiographic study.

Background: New surgical strategies to restore the saddle shape of the mitral annulus are expected to increase annuloplasty effectiveness. Preoperative and postoperative configuration of the curved annulus, however, is difficult to quantify with 2-dimensional echocardiography. We sought to investigate the geometric deformity in the mitral annulus in ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR), comparing inferior and anterior myocardial infarction (MI) with the use of a custom quantitation software system with transthoracic 3-dimensional echocardiography.

Geometric deformity of the mitral annulus in patients with ischemic mitral regurgitation: a real-time three-dimensional echocardiographic study.

Background And Aim Of The Study: Saddle-shaped non-planarity of the mitral annulus has been investigated previously. The study aim was to further clarify the configuration of the mitral annulus in ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) by using transthoracic real-time three-dimensional (3-D) echocardiography.

Methods: Twenty-five patients with previous myocardial infarction and left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction < 50%), and 10 healthy control subjects, were examined using real-time 3-D transthoracic echocardiography.

Quantitation of mitral valve tenting in ischemic mitral regurgitation by transthoracic real-time three-dimensional echocardiography.

Objectives: We sought to investigate the geometric changes of the mitral leaflets and annulus, clarify the maximum tenting site of the leaflets, and quantify the valve tenting in ischemic mitral regurgitation (MR) using three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography.

Background: Although the understanding of the mechanisms of ischemic MR has advanced recently, the geometric changes of the mitral leaflets and annulus have been assessed by two-dimensional echocardiography in the clinical setting, despite the unique configuration of the leaflets and annulus.

Methods: Utilizing real-time 3D echocardiography, we obtained transthoracic volumetric images in 12 patients with ischemic MR presenting with global left ventricular dysfunction and in 10 controls.

Relation of aortic valve sclerosis to carotid artery intima-media thickening in healthy subjects.

We studied 252 healthy adults by echocardiography and carotid ultrasonography to determine the relation between early subclinical aortic valve sclerosis (AVS) and carotid intima-media thickness (IMT). Carotid IMT was significantly greater in subjects with AVS than in those without AVS. There was a significant correlation between the grade of AVS and carotid IMT.

Noninvasive assessment of great cardiac vein flow by Doppler echocardiography: a validation study.

The objectives of this study were (1) to compare great cardiac vein (GCV) flow velocity detected by pulsed Doppler echocardiography (PDE) with Doppler guide wire (DGW) in the experimental setting and (2) to clarify whether transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTDE) can detect GCV flow in humans. Using opened-chest dogs, we detected GCV flow by PDE under the guidance of color flow Doppler mapping. GCV flow velocity was recorded by PDE and DGW, simultaneously.