We read with a great interest the manuscript by Benedik et al. [1] published in the recent issue of European Journal of CardioThoracic Surgery. Benedik et al. should be congratulated for prospectively addressing the issue of proximal aortic disease in aortic valve stenosis vs aortic valve insufficiency in a reasonable number of consecutively enrolled patients. The background of this study is of...

We report a case of acute mitral insufficiency due to anterolateral papillary muscle rupture secondary to chest trauma. In our case, mitral valve repair was performed as an alternative to valve replacement, with good results during the immediate postoperative period and follow-up. The patient was a 41-year-old man with nothing remarkable in his medical history. He presented with high-energy fro...

we report two cases of tetralogy of fallot with pulmonary valve bacterial endocarditis where one extended to the branch of pulmonary artery (pa). this is a rare occurrence. aggressive supportive care plus early and radical surgery can be life saving.

Background: Direct re-implantation of an anomalous left coronary artery into the aorta is the preferred surgical option for creating a dual coronary arterial system in patients in whom the anomalous artery originated from the pulmonary trunk. This technique, however, is applicable only when the anomalous artery arises from the left posterior pulmonary sinus. We report the successfully late foll...

To determine prospectively the prevalence of mitral, aortic, tricuspid, and pulmonary regurgitation in normal persons, 211 consecutive, apparently healthy volunteers were examined with a color Doppler flow imaging system. The subjects were divided into five age groups (group 1, 6-9 years old; group 2, 10-19 years old, group 3, 20-29 years old, group 4, 30-39 years old, and group 5, 40-49 years ...

When discussing myxomatous valve disease in dogs, one has in mind atrioventricular valves, in particular the mitral valve, which is affected the most commonly and followed by the tricuspid, aortic valve and pulmonic valve, the last being seldom degenerated. Myxomatous mitral valve disease (MVD) is the most common cause of heart failure in dogs (1). In literature it can be found under various na...

OBJECTIVES To determine the prevalence of echocardiographic abnormalities and identify associated clinical and laboratory features in a large systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) cohort. METHODS Patients fulfilling ACR criteria for SLE underwent a transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) between January 2005 and June 2006. Variables used as potential correlates included age, sex, ethnicity, lupus dur...

STUDY DESIGN Retrospective study. PURPOSE To identify the incidence of congenital cardiac abnormalities in patients who had scoliosis and underwent surgical treatment for scoliosis. OVERVIEW OF LITERATURE Congenital and idiopathic scoliosis (IS) are associated with cardiac abnormalities. We sought to establish and compare the incidence of congenital cardiac abnormalities in patients with id...

In pediatric heart transplantation, the size of the donor organ is an important criterion for organ allocation. Oversized donor hearts are often accepted with good results, but some complications in relation to a high donor-recipient ratio have been described. Our patient was transplanted for progressive heart failure in dilated cardiomyopathy. The donor-to-recipient weight ratio was 3 (donor w...

Goals for treating congenital heart defects are becoming increasingly focused on the long-term, targeting solutions that last into adulthood. Although this shift has motivated the modification of many current surgical procedures, there remains a great deal of room for improvement. We present a new methodological component for tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) repair that aims to improve long-term outco...