Feud, Flower, and Fatal Electrocardiograms.

Oleander is a prevalent tropical plant used in many parts of India for deliberate self-harm. The active ingredients act in a mechanism similar to cardiac glycosides; hence, the toxicological profile is similar to digoxin toxicity. Cardiac toxicity occurs in the form of a heart block with concomitant ventricular arrhythmia. Identifying the distinct electrocardiographic pattern for early diagnosis and initiating emergency management is imperative. Here, we present two such interesting cases of oleander intoxication, one with Nerium oleander and the other with Thevetia peruviana.

Diligence diverts a daymare.

A 73-year-old woman with diabetes, hypertension, and non-ST elevation myocardial infarction underwent optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided angioplasty for calcific stenosis of the mid-left anterior descending artery (LAD) and mid-segment of a tortuous obtuse marginal (OM).

A unique location of the accessory pathway in a child with permanent junctional reciprocating tachycardia.

Permanent junctional reciprocating tachycardia (PJRT) is a rare supra ventricular tachycardia (SVT) due to an accessory pathway (AP), characterized by slow and decremental retrograde conduction, which is predominantly seen in infants and children. Although the typical site of AP in PJRT is a right posteroseptal region around or just within the coronary sinus (CS), atypical sites of AP have been described. We report a rare case of PJRT in a 7-year-old girl with an AP located in the superio-paraseptal (Para-Hsian) region that was successfully ablated through a non-coronary sinus.

'Size it and fix it': pulsatile abdomen and presyncope post pacemaker implantation.

A 69-year-old obese man who had undergone permanent pacemaker implantation (VVIR, Medtronic) 3 weeks prior presented with a one-day history of experiencing continued, forceful pulsations in his abdomen followed by presyncope.

Never fail to surveil! Transcatheter closure of recurrent atrial septal defect secondary to patch degradation in a young boy.

We report a case of a 16-year-old boy with symptomatic recurrent atrial septal defect due to patch degradation of an autologous pericardial patch, done 10 years back. He successfully underwent transcatheter closure of the recurrent defect after meticulous assessment of patch rims for stability.

Wandering ST-Segment in Acute Coronary Syndrome: The Einthoven's Twist.

Interpretation of the ST-segment axis in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) plays a crucial role in identifying the culprit artery and optimizing revascularization strategies. In certain conditions, the ST-segment axis may abruptly change during management, creating diagnostic confusion, provoking unnecessary workups, and causing treatment delays. Some reported causes of wandering ST-segment include lead misplacement, progressive injury, coronary vasospasm, migration of the thrombus, and aortic dissection. Here we describe two exciting cases of wandering ST-segment axis in acute coronary syndrome and its management.

Is the use of high-intensity atorvastatin associated with memory impairment?

High-intensity statins are the cornerstone of medical management in Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS). However, their effect on neurocognition are less clear. In this prospective observational study, we gave guideline-directed high-intensity atorvastatin 40 mg to middle-aged statin-naïve ACS patients. Memory assessments were performed before and 6 months after statin therapy using 2 validated scales-the Post-Graduate Institute Memory Scale (PGI-MS), and the Logical Memory Passage Test (LMPT). There was no significant difference in the mean PGI-MS test scores (baseline 75.4 ± 7.9, 6months 76.5 ± 8.2;p = 0.26) or the overall composite scores (baseline 32.02 ± 3.2, 6months 32.8 ± 3.1; p = 0.20), after 6 months of statin use. There was a small improvement in immediate recall (baseline score 8.5 ± 2.5, 6 months 9.04 ± 1.8; p = 0.05), and delayed recall (baseline 6.1 ± 2.6, 6 months 6.9 ± 1.9, p = 0.002). High-intensity atorvastatin use did not affect memory at 6 months among statin-naïve middle-aged patients with ACS.

Challenging Case of Balloon Mitral Valvuloplasty: Coronary Balloon to the Rescue.

Owing to the demonstrated safety and cost-effectiveness, balloon mitral valvuloplasty is frequently performed using reused hardware. However, chances of hardware malfunction are higher in such settings, making it pertinent for operators to be adept at recognition and management of such complications. This case illustrates that when the rent is small, a coronary balloon may be used to tackle the inflation failure.