Introduction In the electrically nonisolated pulmonary veins, the cardiac autonomic system has been shown to play an important role in initiating pulmonary vein (PV) ectopy and triggering atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the effects of the cardiac autonomic system on the isolated PV are not currently known. We present the observations from a case where opportunistic stimulation of the autonom...

OBJECTIVE To verify the hypothesis that the pulmonary vein pulsatility index is higher in fetuses of diabetic mothers than it is in normal fetuses of nondiabetic mothers. METHODS Twenty-four fetuses of mothers with either gestational or previous diabetes (cases), and 25 normal fetuses of mothers without systemic disease (control) were examined. Fetuses were examined through prenatal Doppler a...

Blood viscosity, haematocrit and plasma protein concentrations were determined simultaneously in five different vessels of the systemic and pulmonary circulations, before and immediately after cardiopulmonary bypass and again after surgery. There was a reduction in all these measurements after bypass and a lesser reduction one day after operation. At any one stage, however, values in the pulmon...

Isolation of the pulmonary vein antrum can terminate atrial fibrillation, but the rationale has not been elucidated. In the present study, we show that sheep atrial effective refractory period (ERP) was heterogeneously shortened by acetylcholine administration. After perfusion with 15 muM acetylcholine, the shortest ERP occurred in the pulmonary vein antrum, which was recorded with the standard...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary embolism occurs when a blood thrombus forms and travels from a vein in the body to an artery in the lung. Thrombi often develop in one of the deep veins of the legs, thighs, or pelvis, a condition known as deep vein thrombosis. In this report, we describe a rare instance of a patient who developed deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism secondary to urinary retention, a...