[Dissection of aorta after aortic valve replacement]. / Dissections de l'aorte après remplacement valvulaire aortique.

The authors report 4 cases of aortic dissection after aortic valve replacement. The aorta was dilated in all four cases before surgery. Two patients died within hours of the dissection, illustrating the poor prognosis of this complication and the difficulties of surgical management. The features of these four cases were compared to those of 29 other cases reported in the last ten years. The initial surgical indication for valve replacement was equally divided between aortic stenosis and regurgitation. The onset of dissection after surgery was very variable, ranging from a few hours to several years after valve replacement. Abnormalities of the aortic wall and peroperative trauma play an important role in the pathogenesis of this complication. The prognosis is very poor, which underlines the importance of preventive measures and regular follow-up of these patients.

Serum digoxin levels related to plasma propafenone levels during concomitant treatment.

Nine patients with supraventricular rhythm disorders were treated during 5-day periods with different oral doses (300, 450, 600, and 900 mg daily) of propafenone concomitantly to long-term digoxin treatment. A poor correlation (r = .398; P less than .05) was obtained when the difference between the mean digoxin serum level (calculated with the Cmin data determined each of the 5 days) observed during a given propafenone dose and the mean digoxin serum level observed before propafenone treatment, was correlated with the dose of propafenone; but an evident correlation (r = .778; P less than .01) was found when the difference in digoxin level was correlated with the plasma propafenone concentration. The propafenone effect of increasing digoxin blood levels was thus concluded to be poorly dose dependent but strongly concentration dependent. The association of propafenone to a long-term digoxin treatment can be considered with a low risk of toxicity when plasma propafenone concentration does not exceed about 1000 ng/mL. Propafenone plasma levels are unpredictable in view of their wide interindividual variation for a given dose, so their measurement is advised to detect high levels and consequently to prevent a rise in digoxin serum concentrations with the possibility of toxicity. In clinical practice, when propafenone concentration determinations are not readily available, digoxin serum levels at least have to be carefully monitored.

[Late myocardial infarction after closure of coronary artery fistula]. / Infarctus myocardique tardif après fermeture d'une fistule coronaro-cardiaque.

Congenital coronary cardiac fistulae are rare conditions for which surgery is the usual indication. The authors report on the case of one female patient of 28 years with a coronary cardiac fistula responsible for exertional dyspnoea and relapsing pulmonary infections. The diagnosis was suggested by a continuous murmur and was confirmed by Doppler echocardiography and catheterization which showed a dilated, sinuous circumflex artery (2 cm) leading into the right atrium. Surgical closure of the fistula was complicated by an early myocardial infarction and a relapse in the same area with resulting mitral insufficiency. The surgical treatment of coronary cardiac fistulae is widely documented in the literature and recent series demonstrate that good results are usually obtained: however, a late infarction has not been described. The constitution of thrombi in the collateral vessels deriving from the distended vessel probably accounts for the particular evolution noted in this specific case.

[Immediate or delayed angioplasty during the acute phase of myocardial infarction. Apropos of 118 cases]. / Angioplastie immédiate ou différée à la phase aiguë de l'infarctus du myocarde. A propos de 118 cas.

The results of immediate percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) (260 +/- 167 minutes after onset of pain and an average of 56 minutes after thrombolysis) and deferred PTCA (average 9.6 days, range 1 to 30 days after infarction) were compared in 118 consecutive patients with acute myocardial infarction. The overall primary success rate of PTCA was 82.2 per cent; it was higher in those patients undergoing deferred angioplasty (96% vs 78%; p less than 0.05). The primary success rate of immediate PTCA was related to the severity of the stenosis before dilatation: 75 per cent success in occluded compared to 84 per cent in suboccluded vessels (over 90% stenosis) and 100 per cent success in vessels with under 90 per cent stenosis. Eighty one per cent of failed angioplasties occurred in patients with occluded arteries, the majority being left anterior descending (LAD) arteries (71.4%). The incidence of restenosis was 13.4 per cent. This complication was diagnosed at coronary arteriography performed 40 days after PTCA in 1 case, 47 days after PTCA in another case and at the 6 month control in 11 cases. Reocclusion was observed in 21 patients (21.7% of immediate successes). The occlusion was diagnosed at the first control after an average of 8 days in 15 cases. The interval between the onset of pain and thrombolysis and dilatation was significantly longer in the group with reocclusion compared with patients without reocclusion (314 minutes vs 193 minutes for thrombolysis, p less than 0.01; and 356 minutes vs 204 minutes fort PTCA, p less than 0.001).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

[Congenital ventricular septal defect with late detection. Apropos of a case in an adult]. / Communication interventriculaire congénitale de découverte tardive. A propos d'une observation chez l'adulte.

The authors report the case of a congenital interventricular communication discovered in a 75 year-old female patient. The shunt was identified on the cardiac Doppler and confirmed by catheterization. It was a type IIa interventricular communication which decompensated in the course of a pulmonary embolism. This case points out how rare is the diagnosis of congenital interventricular communication made during adulthood, and emphasizes the advantage of the Doppler in the diagnosis of ventricular shunts.