[Primary isolated dissection of the left anterior descending coronary artery].

The authors report the case of a 30 year old Senegalese man admitted with an acute antero-septo-apical myocardial infarction which was fibrinolysed at the 5th hour. Coronary angiography showed dissection of the left anterior descending artery. This young patient with no previous medical history or cardiovascular risk factors had an abnormal skin biopsy showing proliferation of the elastic tissues.

[The intracardial hemopump. A new technique of left ventricle assist device].

A new left ventricular assist device consisting of a canula containing a turbine introduced by retrograde catheterisation was evaluated in the prevention of complications in 9 patients undergoing high risk coronary angioplasty. The good clinical and hemodynamic status during and after coronary dilatation confirmed the system's innocuity and its efficacy each time it could be correctly positioned in the ventricle (6 patients). These extremely encouraging preliminary results suggest that an additional simplification but reducing the size of the canula and increasing turbine flow, allowing percutaneously introduction would constitute a significant development.

Noninvasive estimation of systolic pulmonary artery pressure using Doppler echocardiography in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

In patients with acquired or congenital heart diseases, the systolic pulmonary artery pressure (PAPs) can be predicted using continuous-wave Doppler ultrasound (CWD) measurement of the peak velocity of a tricuspid regurgitation (TR) jet. The aim of this study was to determine whether CWD could be used to accurately estimate PAP in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In 41 patients with stable COPD, we prospectively performed CWD and right heart catheterization.