We report the case of a male patient with community-acquired quadruple-valve endocarditis on presumed normal native valves. This patient had originally presented elsewhere with generalized edema and malaise and had been diagnosed with suspicious endocarditis and renal dysfunction, for which he unfortunately received incomplete treatment. Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiographic exami...

BACTERIAL ENDOCARDITIS has been well recognized as an important complication of congenital heart disease, although its incidence has been represented by figures that lack authenticity. Since the ventricular septal defect is the most common form of congenital heart defect, it is important to assess the true incidence of bacterial endocarditis in this lesion. The need has become more urgent since...

OBJECTIVE To close perimembranous ventricular septal defects (PMVSDs) in children with the new Amplatzer asymmetric ventricular septal defect occluder (AAVSDO). PATIENTS AND DESIGN 10 children, aged 1.5-12 years, with PMVSDs underwent transcatheter closure with the AAVSDO. The device consists of two low profile disks made of Nitinol wire mesh with a 1.5 mm connecting waist. The left disk is 5...

A 37-year-old man was referred to our emergency department after 4 days of a spiking fever of up to 40°C, myalgia, and new development of multiple, small, nontender erythematous macular lesions on his palms and soles compatible with Janeway lesions (Figure 1). He had a history of a large secundum atrial septal defect for which he underwent transcatheter closure with a 24-mm Amplatzer septal occ...

BACKGROUND A variety of transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) occluders are currently in use around the world. Although for the most part effective, all of these devices lack features that would be desirable in a "perfect" device. The Helex septal occluder is a new type of device designed to improve the results of transcatheter ASD closure. This study was designed to examine the effectivenes...

A 54-year-old female patient with congenital heart disease had a persistent complete left bundle branch block three months after closure by an Amplatzer ventricular septal defect occluder. Nine months later, the patient suffered from chest distress, palpitation, and sweating at daily activities, and her 6-min walk distance decreased significantly (155 m). Her echocardiography showed increased l...

BACKGROUND The complexity of ventricular septal defects in early infancy led to development of new mini-invasive techniques based on collaboration of cardiac surgeons with interventional cardiologists, called hybrid procedures. Hybrid therapies aim to combine the advantages of surgical and interventional techniques in an effort to reduce the invasiveness. The aim of this study was to present ou...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine whether transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) can provide safety and efficacy equivalent to transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for assessment and guidance of transcatheter atrial septal defect (ASD) closure in pediatric patients. METHODS We performed a prospective randomized trial of ASD closure using the Amplatzer septal occluder (ASO) from March ...