Tag: echocardiography

Second-hand tobacco smoke has been associated with cardiopulmonary dysfunction. We sought to examine the residual effects of remote second-hand smoke exposure on resting and exercise cardiopulmonary hemodynamics. We hypothesized that remote secondhand smoke exposure results in persistent cardiopulmonary hemodynamic abnormalities...

The evaluation of the left ventricular (LV) function is one of the most important elements of diagnosis in patients  with cardiovascular (CV) diseases. A low LV ejection fraction (LVEF) is a strong and independent predictor of CV events. Traditionally,  echocardiography characterises the LV systolic function by the estimation of LVEF with use of the Simpson method,  supported by the wall motion score index (WMSI)...

Diagnosis of a hiatal hernia (HH) is typically made using an upper gastro-intestinal barium X-ray. A complementary test is gastroscopy or upper-intestinal endoscopy. There are reports in which HH has been diagnosed by echocardiography. We here describe a case of a HH visible on an echocardiogram in a female with palpitations...

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is well-established as an effective means of managing patients with drug-refractory chronic heart failure (CHF) [1]. Nonetheless, despite the clinical advantages of improved physical capacity and quality of life, and decreased morbidity and mortality related to CHF elicited by CRT, a marked percentage of individuals do not benefit from this novel therapy [2]...

Aortic atresia is usually associated with hypoplasia of the left ventricle (LV) and mitral valve [1, 2]. However 4–7% of patients with aortic atresia have a ventricular septal defect (VSD) at the same time which may allow for the development of a normal mitral apparatus and LV (Fig. 1) [3]...

Persistent left sided superior vena cava (PLSVC) is a rare but clinically relevant congenital anomaly. First described by Edwards and Dushane in 1950, it is the commonest congenital venous anomaly of the thorax with a 0.5–2% incidence in the general population, and approximately 10% incidence in patients with congenital abnormalities of the heart [1]...

The study was set out to assess feasibility and diagnostic value of the echocardiographic quantitativeanalysis of the resting regional systolic function (i.e. strain and strain rate) with use of the speckle tracking (2D strain) formyocardial viability assessment in patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI) treated with primary angioplasty. The reference method was the late enhancement magnetic resonance imaging (LE MRI)...

We present a case of 68 year-old woman with previously diagnosed hypertrophic cardiomyopathy complaining of progressive dyspnoe after the acute coronary syndrome. The echocardiogram confirmed hypertrophic hypertrophy and revealed an aneurysm in the apical portion of the left ventricle (LV). The Doppler-echocardiography showed two intra-LV gradients: midventricular and subaortic, with systolic anterior motion of anterior mitral leaflet...

Coarctation of the aorta was once viewed as a simple discrete narrowing of the aortic isthmus that could be ‘cured’ by surgical intervention. It is now clear that this condition may: (1) affect the aortic arch in a highly variable manner; (2) be associated with a host of other left sided heart lesions...

We present a rare case of a patient with severe, symptomatic degenerative calcific mitral stenosis (MS). Calcification of mitral valve annulus (MVA) is a frequent finding in elderly patients. It can be isolated or associated more often with mitral valve insufficiency than MS. In rare cases, it results in severe MS. An accurate measurement of MVA in degenerative calcific MS is problematic because the limiting orifice is near the annulus and not at the leaflet tips as in rheumatic MS...