A 20-year–old woman underwent a subaortic membrane resection due to the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. Two giant papillary muscles were found incidentally on intraoperative echocardiography that were distinct from the LV wall and did not contribute to the LVOT obstruction (Figs 1 and 2). Reports suggested similar masses as rare fibroelastomas, occasionally requiring surgical...

BACKGROUND Nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) has been regarded as the predominant hemodynamic form of the disease on the basis of assessment of outflow gradient under resting conditions. We sought to prospectively define the prevalence, clinical profile, and significance of left ventricular (LV) outflow tract obstruction under resting conditions and with physiological exercise in...

BACKGROUND Treatment of right ventricular outflow tract obstruction is possible with a bare metal stent (BMS), although this treatment causes pulmonary regurgitation. In this study, we assessed the acute physiological effects of BMS versus percutaneous pulmonary valve implantation (PPVI) using an x-ray/magnetic resonance hybrid laboratory. METHODS AND RESULTS Fourteen consecutive children (me...

Between 1976 and 1980, 26 patients aged 7 to 36 years had complete replacement of the aortic root with a valved homograft into which the coronary arteries were reimplanted. The main indication was the tunnel type of obstruction combining a hypoplastic valve ring, often with supra and subvalvar stenosis. Nineteen had previous operations for congenital left ventricular outflow obstructions. There...

One hundred and thiry-four patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy were evaluated by standard 12-lead electrocardiography. Normal electrocardiograms were extremely uncommon, occurring in less than 7% of each subgroup of patients (i.e., those with or without either symptoms or obstruction to left ventricular outflow), with the exception of those who were both asymptomatic and had no left ventr...

In this study we explored the use of continuous wave Doppler echocardiography guided by simultaneous two-dimensional echocardiographic imaging as a method for noninvasively estimating pressure gradients in patients with discrete forms of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction. We studied 16 children, ages 6 months to 17 years, with valvular aortic stenosis (n = 12) or with discrete subaorti...