Cardiac hazard associated with eating habits. A case of infected intrapericardial foreign body due to an ingested toothpick.

An unusual case of a toothpick perforating the distal one-third of the duodenum, penetrating the inferior vena cava and thereafter migrating to the right atrium with extensive pericardial fibrosis is reported. A 60-year-old man was admitted to the emergency department because of epigastric pain, which had progressively worsened. After partial recovery, he was discharged. However, after four episodes of different gastrointestinal bacteria septicemias of unknown origin over a period of five months, the patient was transferred to Laval Hospital (Laval, Quebec) for clinical investigation. Cardiac echocardiography demonstrated a right atrial mass, suggestive of the presence of a thrombus. Thus, after exploratory thoracotomy was performed to remove the so-called thrombus, a toothpick was found in the right atrium.

The Quebec Heart Institute: 50 years of excellence in cardiology.

The Quebec Heart Institute was established in 1957 at the Laval Hospital in Sainte-Foy, Quebec. Since then, clinical and research activities have made this Institute one of the largest tertiary care cardiology centres in Canada. With its vast catchment area of more than 3,000,000 people, the Institute has developed a strong collaboration with referral physicians centred on clinical, teaching and research interests. The Institute pioneered several aspects of cardiac surgery, invasive cardiology, echocardiography, basic research and, more recently, a network of researchers and clinicians working in the field of 'metabolic cardiology'. The first 50 years of the Quebec Heart Institute are depicted in this overview, which will also introduce this special supplement to The Canadian Journal of Cardiology.