[Recurrent cardiac tamponade secondary to postpericardiotomy syndrome].

A 22-year-old woman underwent surgical repair of a secondary atrial septal defect. Thirty-five days after surgery, she developed fever, systemic venous congestion, and respiratory symptoms and chest pain. The echocardiogram demonstrated pericardial effusion (PE) quantified at approximately 3,500 cc, with signs of cardiac tamponade (CT).

[Nutritional evaluation and functional class in hospitalized cardiopathy patients].

The nutritional state evaluation of any patient with heart disease must include the anthropometric measures, organic metabolic and cellular immunity test. We evaluated the nutritional state of 75 hospitalized patients with heart disease, and its correlation with New York Heart Association class and heart disease type. There was 36 patients (48%) with normal nutritional state, 24 (32%) with grade I malnutrition, 12 (16%) with grade II malnutrition, and 3 (4%) with grade III malnutrition.

[Preoperative evaluation of severe aortic stenosis by Doppler echocardiography and hemodynamics].

Unlabelled: Several diagnostic tools have been used in the evaluation of the severity transvalvular gradient and aortic valve area. The advances in cardiac catheterization and Doppler echocardiographic measure these items accurately. We designed a retrospective, observational open and transversal survey that included patients with severe aortic stenosis that required transseptal cardiac catheterization.

[Stents in aortic coarctation. Immediate results].

From September 1996 to March 1997 we implanted stents Palmaz (P-308 Johnson & Johnson) in six patients with aortic coarctation. Age ranged from 13 to 30 years (mean = 20), 3 female and 3 male. We implanted the stent without predilation.

[Intravascular ultrasound. Initial experience and review of the literature].

Unlabelled: From February 1995 to February 1996, 52 patients underwent intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) imaging: three with aortic coarctation (AoCo), one with persistent ductus arteriosus (PDA), 5 with rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and normal coronary arteries by angiography, one with muscular bridge in anterior descending artery, 20 with percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty PTCA (Group I), one of them with eximer laser and 22 stents (Group II). In patients with AoCo was possible to observe obstruction mechanism and the effect of dilation. In patient with PDA we measured the diameter of ductus.

[Rescue thrombolysis with repeated doses of streptokinase in acute myocardial infarct. A preliminary report].

In patients with persistent acute ischemia and early reocclusion after thrombolytic therapy, the available therapeutic options are optimum drug pharmacologic treatment or a mechanical revascularization. Recently, repeated doses of the same thrombolytic agent used (rescue thrombolysis) have been considered. We report our experience in seven patients with acute myocardial infarction treated with conventional streptokinase dose, within the first 6 hs after onset of the symptoms, and whom due to persistent myocardial ischemia or early reocclusion, hemodynamic instability, significative area of myocardium at risk, failure of maximal doses of conventional therapeutic and inaccessibility for performed mechanical revascularization, a second dose of streptokinase was successfully employed in the early (1:45 to 2:30 hs) and late (48 to 50:00 hs) phase, without hemorrhagic complications and without hypersensitivity effects.