We tested the hypotheses that Doppler echocardiography has a higher accuracy than clinical evaluation in the detection of significant aortic and mitral valvular heart disease and that Doppler echocardiography is highly accurate as compared with cardiac catheterization for the assessment of valvular disease severity. Thus, cardiac catheterization for the assessment of valve lesion severity may b...

Radiation to the mediastinum is a key component of treatment with curative intent for a range of cancers including Hodgkin's lymphoma and breast cancer. Exposure to radiation is associated with a risk of radiation-induced heart valve damage characterised by valve fibrosis and calcification. There is a latent interval of 10-20 years between radiation exposure and development of clinically signif...

A large number of prosthetic heart valves (PHV) are being implanted in patients with both congenital and acquired valvular disease. Many of the recipients of such valves are women of childbearing age who desire to have children. The main issues involved with pregnancy in a patient with PHV include the selection of PHV in women during their childbearing age, risks to both the mother and the fetu...

BACKGROUND Cardiovascular disease has been linked to endothelial progenitor cell (EPC) depletion and functional impairment in atherosclerosis and aortic stenosis. EPCs may play a pivotal role in vascular grafting. However, the EPC depletion in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients has not been compared to coronary artery disease-free valvular replacement patients with aortic stenosis....

Valvular heart lesions have deleterious effects on hemodynamics in parturients during pregnancy. Cesarean section with an opioid-based general anesthesia is used to alleviate the adverse effects. We described a case of a 28-year-old primigravida at 37 weeks’ gestation with a diagnosis of severe mitral regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation, and pulmonary hypertension in active labor. Cesarean s...

Patients who have valvular heart disease coming for surgery present many challenges to the anesthesiologist. Over the past 3 decades there has been a persistent improvement in our understanding of the pathophysiology of valvular heart disease and in the surgical techniques for correcting it. With the development of efficient and safe noninvasive monitoring of cardiac function, new surgical tech...

background: we sought to determine the frequency of the risk factors for congestive cardiac failure (ccf) in a tertiary care hospital in peshawar, pakistan. methods: this retrospective, observational study was conducted in the department of cardiology, postgraduate medical institute, lady reading hospital peshawar, from march 2005 to september 2007. relevant information regarding the risk facto...

Patient 1. A. H. (J. H. H. 714094), a 31-year-old male school teacher, was first told he had a heart murmur when he was 15 years old. There was no history suggestive of rheumatic fever. The patient was completely asymptomatic and engaged actively in athletics. He remained well until the spring of 1953, when he had an attack of severe substernal pain lasting 10 to 12 hours. A roentgenogram of th...

Valvular regurgitation represents an important cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography has become the primary non-invasive imaging method for the evaluation of valvular regurgitation. The echocardiographic assessment of valvular regurgitation should integrate the quantification of the regurgitation, assessment of the valve anatomy and function, as well as the consequen...