Aims: Strain rate imaging techniques have been proposed for the detection of ischemic or viable myocardium in coronary artery disease, which is still a challenge in clinical cardiology. This retrospective comparative study analyzed regional left ventricular function and scaring with two-dimensional strain (2DS) in the first 4 to 10 days after acute anterior myocardial infarction (AMI).Methods and results: The study population consisted of 32 AMI patients with an LAD occlusion and successful reperfusion. The assessment of peak systolic 2DS and peak systolic strain rate (SR) was performed segment-oriented with the angle-independent speckle tracking algorithm Velocity Vector Imaging (VVI). The infarcted, adjacent and non-infarcted segments were revealed by late enhancement MRI (LE-MRI), which was used as reference for the comparison with 2DS. The infarcted segments showed a significant decrease of tissue velocities, 2DS and SR in comparison to the non-affected segments.Conclusion: 2DS and SR as assessed by VVI seem to be a suitable approach for echocardiographic quantification of global and regional myocardial function as well as a promising tool for multimodal risk stratification after anterior AMI.
Background: In the past two decades vascular closure devices (VCD) have been increasingly utilized as an alternative to manual compression after percutaneous femoral artery access. However, there is a lack of data confirming a significant reduction of vascular complication in a routine interventional setting. Systematic assessment of puncture sites with ultrasound was hardly performed.Methods: 620 consecutive patients undergoing elective or urgent percutaneous coronary intervention were randomly allocated to either Angioseal (AS; n = 210), or Starclose (SC; n = 196) or manual compression (MC; n = 214). As an adjunct to clinical evaluation vascular ultrasonography was used to assess the safety of each hemostatic method in terms of major and minor vascular complications. The efficacy of VCDs was assessed by achievement of puncture site hemostasis.Results: No major complications needing transfusion or vascular surgery were observed. Furthermore, the overall incidence of clinical and subclinical minor complications was similar among the three groups. There was no differences in the occurrence of pseudoaneurysmata (AS = 10; SC = 6; MC = 10), arteriovenous fistula (AS = 1; SC = 4; MC = 2) and large hematoma (AS = 11; SC = 10; MC = 14). The choice of access site treatment had no impact in the duration of hospital stay (AS = 6.7; SC = 7.4; MS = 6.4 days).Conclusions: In the setting of routine coronary intervention AS and SC provide a similar efficacy and safety as manual compression. Subclinical vascular injuries are rare and not related to VCD use.
A 71-year-old woman with a history of childhood pulmonary tuberculosis was admitted to our hospital for exertional dyspnoea (NYHA functional class II). Transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography demonstrated moderate to severe mixed mitral valve disease due to massive mitral annular calcification (MAC) and extensive infiltrative calcification of the atrioventricular groove. In addition, a very uncommon intramyocardial calcification of the ventricular septum and the lateral free wall was diagnosed. This case demonstrates a rare combination of mitral valve disease secondary to MAC, and a small hypertrophied left ventricle, as well as epipericardial and myocardial calcification likely due either to the massive MAC with myocardial extension or to former tuberculous perimyocarditis. The multidimensional imaging approach, which has been used in this particularly case, provided an excellent visualization and clinical evaluation of this rare finding.
A 40-year-old man was admitted with a massive pericarditis constrictiva calcarea. Transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography demonstrated a double-layered pericardial calcification with interspacial effusion, a massive compression of the right ventricle, and a thrombus formation in the ventricle. In addition, severe pulmonary embolism due to this right ventricular thrombus formation was diagnosed by CT. This case demonstrates the importance of a multimodal imaging approach (echocardiography, TDI, MRI, CT) in the diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis and pericardial masses. In respect to the severe pericardial calcification with the massive interspacial mass, and the compression of the right ventricle with thrombus formation and consecutive pulmonary embolism, this case appears to be a very rare and uncommon clinical finding.
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