Left ventricular to left atrial communication secondary to a paraaortic abscess: color flow Doppler documentation.

Aortic root abscess occurs frequently in aortic prosthetic valve infective endocarditis. The present echocardiographic report documents a ruptured abscess that led to a direct communication between the left ventricular outflow tract and the left atrium confirmed by real-time (color flow) Doppler imaging.

Myopotential interference with DDD pacemakers: endocardial electrographic telemetry in the diagnosis of pacemaker-related arrhythmias.

Skeletal myopotentials may inhibit the output of unipolar demand ventricular pacemakers, resulting in protracted episodes of asystole in susceptible patients. The new DDD-mode pacemakers have, in addition to a unipolar ventricular lead, a unipolar atrial lead to enable atrioventricular sequential or atrial synchronous function. During clinical investigation of a new dual-unipolar cardiac pacing system programmed to operate in the DDD mode (Pacesetter AFP models 281 and 283), 6 patients were noted (5 men and 1 woman, aged 22 to 68 years) who manifested paroxysmal acceleration of ventricular pacing rate approaching the maximal tracking rate. Two patients also had abrupt slowing or cessation of ventricular output. With the use of atrial electrographic recordings (obtained with telemetry), the following mechanisms of rate change were found: myopotential tracking, myopotential inhibition, interference-mode asynchronous operation, sudden increases in sinus rate, and pacemaker-mediated reentrant tachycardia. In all patients, reprogramming of the implanted devices, based on telemetered atrial electrography, resulted in disappearance of the arrhythmias and loss of symptoms while maintaining the DDD pacing mode. Thus, several mechanisms of rhythm disturbances are peculiar to dual-chamber cardiac pacing systems that use unipolar electrodes. Endocardial telemetry combined with extensive programming capability offers the best opportunity for proper diagnosis and management of these problems.

Ostial left main stenosis following repair of a ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm.

A patient complained of angina pectoris nine months after surgical repair of an aortic right atrial fistula and mitral valve replacement. Subsequently, he was shown to have a new obstruction of the ostium of the left main coronary artery. This case illustrates the need to consider this syndrome in the differential diagnosis of postoperative complaints of chest pain, especially following an operation which involves direct cannulation of the coronary arteries.

Reoperation, emergency and urgent open cardiac surgery in Jehovah's Witnesses.

Progressive advances in perfusion technology and perioperative supportive management have made it possible for members of the Jehovah's Witnesses religious group to undergo open cardiac operations with remarkable safety. However, hospital mortality remains high in (1) patients requiring reoperation (in whom both technical and bleeding problems tend to be more frequent) and (2) patients with significantly compromised cardiac performance requiring urgent or emergency operation. Employing a number of perioperative measures designed to minimize blood loss and maintain hematocrit levels (including use of the recently available recombinant human erythropoietin in two patients whose cases are reported herein), 13 reoperations and five urgent or emergency operations were performed. The one death in the entire series occurred in a patient (reoperation group) who died of a cerebrovascular accident of presumed embolic etiology, having undergone combined debridement of a stenotic heavily calcified aortic valve and a second coronary artery revascularization procedure. None of the patients required surgical exploration for bleeding. We suggest that currently available methodology permits Jehovah's Witnesses to undergo reoperation, emergency surgery, or urgent open cardiac operation at a level of risk not dissimilar to that seen in patients who permit use of homologous blood and products in their treatment.

Administering cold cardioplegia in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

In patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), use of hypothermic cardioplegia for myocardial protection may not always achieve even cooling in the areas distal to a severely obstructed artery. Employing simultaneous myocardial temperature measurements, we documented "warm" areas in some patients having CABG. We then devised a technique of combined aortic root and intracoronary cardioplegic infusion. This has achieved prompt cooling of the warm areas and has resulted in uniform myocardial temperatures of 5 degrees to 8 degrees C.

Accidental placement of the Greenfield filter in the heart: report of two cases.

The Greenfield filter has become the most popular device for interruption of the inferior vena cava; however, a potential for lethal complications exists. We report two cases in which this filter was accidentally released in the heart. To avoid this problem, it is recommended that the guide wire be positioned in the inferior vena cava before the introducer is inserted into the venous system.

Aortic valve tumor: an unusual cause of coronary obstruction during cardiac catheterization.

Coronary artery obstruction during cardiac catheterization is a rare but serious complication that has been reported to occur in 0.15 to 0.5% of cases. The most common causes of intraprocedural coronary occlusion include thromboembolism, air embolism, and coronary dissection. This report describes the angiographic findings of a patient who developed chest pain with electrocardiographic evidence of myocardial ischemia due to obstruction of the right coronary artery by an aortic valve tumor.

Intralobar pulmonary sequestration: MR evaluation.

This report documents the use of magnetic resonance (MR) in evaluation of intralobar pulmonary sequestration. Because of its distinctive multiplanar capabilities and nonreliance on contrast media to visualize blood vessels, MR can be used to define and characterize the size and course of anomalous arterial feeding vessels. Furthermore, MR can be of value in detecting the presence of mucoid-impacted bronchi within abnormal segments of the lung. It is concluded that in select cases MR may obviate the need for more invasive procedures to establish the diagnosis of pulmonary sequestration.