OBJECTIVES This study was undertaken to evaluate the ability of myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE) to guide the targeted delivery of ethanol during nonsurgical septal reduction therapy (NSRT) and to assess the relation between the MCE risk area and infarct size determined by enzymatic and radionuclide methods. BACKGROUND NSRT with intracoronary ethanol is a new promising treatment for...

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: Public grant(s) – National budget only. Main source(s): - Spanish Ministry Economy and Competitiveness through the Carlos III Institute Health-Fondo de Investigación Sanitaria. Post-residency research contract. Medical Research Hospital La Fe (IIS Fe), Valencia, Spain. Introduction Aortic valve area (AVA) calculation by continuity equat...

To study the genesis of the systolic murmur of idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS), phonocardiograms, echocardiograms, and pulsed Doppler echocardiography were done in 11 patients with IHSS. Seven had marked systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve (SAM) at rest (group 1); four had small SAM at rest but marked SAM was noted after amyl nitrite inhalation, (group 2). In all grou...

AIMS Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) causes complex flow patterns in the ascending aorta (AAo), which may compromise the accuracy of flow measurement by phase-contrast magnetic resonance (PC-MR). Therefore, we aimed to assess and compare the accuracy of forward flow measurement in the AAo, where complex flow is more dominant in BAV patients, with flow quantification in the left ventricular outflow ...

Recent studies have suggested that hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is associated with increased stiffness of the aorta. However, a potential relationship between HCM and aortic dilation has not been established. Aorta size was characterized in 223 consecutive patients diagnosed with HCM. Aorta size was measured at the level of the sinuses (n = 223) and ascending aorta (n = 115) using the para...

OBJECTIVE This study analyzed the clinical and echocardiographic late outcomes of surgical septal myectomy in patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (OHCM). METHODS We examined, retrospectively, 34 consecutive adult patients (age 55.7±15.2 years) with OHCM operated on in our institution from 1988 to 2008. Only four (11.8%) patients had family history of OHCM. Nine (26.5%) patie...

Dynamic left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction is classically seen in hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). This can also be seen in cardiac amyloidosis. We describe a rare case of senile systemic amyloidosis with dynamic LVOT obstruction and concomitant three vessel coronary artery disease presenting with clinical and echocardiographic findings similar to those seen in HOC...

A 53-year-old postmenopausal woman presented at the emergency department shortly after an episode of intense emotional stress. She was experiencing angina-like chest pain. An electrocardiogram (ECG) showed ST-segment elevation in the anterolateral and inferior leads (Fig. 1). Immediate coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries. Two-dimensional echocardiography showed extensive mid-...

BACKGROUND Few therapeutic options exist for patients with severe heart failure due to obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who are at unacceptable surgical risk. We hypothesized that percutaneous plication of the mitral valve could reduce left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction and associated mitral regurgitation, thereby leading to amelioration of heart failure symptoms. ...