Echinococcosis is a rare infectious disease in human being that occurs by the larval stages of taeniid cestodes of the genus Echinococcus. Human cystic echinococcosis is the most common presentation. The liver is the most common site of echinococcal cyst, followed by the lungs. The symptoms of lung infestation lead to sudden onset of chest pain, cough, fever, and hemoptysis after a cyst rupture. The diagnosis is confirmed by radiology supplemented with serology. Chest X-ray and computer tomography of chest is the principal investigation for pulmonary hydatid cyst (PHC). The treatment of PHCs is either pharmacotherapy and/or surgery. Surgical intervention is the most preferred treatment of choice; pharmacotherapy is useful in selected patients. Pharmacotherapy includes oral administration of benzimidazoles group of drugs like mebendazole or albendazole.
Accidental and iatrogenic foreign body injuries to heart require immediate attention and its timely management is cornerstone to the life of an individual. We describe in detail five cases of Accidental and iatrogenic foreign body injuries to heart encountered between January 2013 and July 2016. Our series included the following: needle stick injury to the right atrium (1 case) retained catheter fragments in the distal main pulmonary artery (1 case), right ventricle injury during catheterisation study (1 case), right ventricle injury during permanent pacemaker lead placement (1 case), device migration in atrial septal defect closure (1 case). Foreign bodies were removed from the cardiac cavities when the patient presented with features of infection (1 case), cardiac tamponade (2 case), anxiety (1 case), and haemodynamic instability (1 case). The management of accidental and iatrogenic foreign body injuries to heart requires immediate attention. Foreign bodies in the heart should be removed irrespective of their location and symptomatology. Asymptomatic foreign bodies diagnosed immediately after the injury with associated risk factors should be removed; asymptomatic foreign bodies without associated risks factors or diagnosed accidentally after the injury also need surgical intervention to allay fears of anxiety in patient and their relatives, to prevent any late complications and also for medico-legal purpose.
Holt-Oram syndrome is a rare inherited disorder involving the hands, arms, and the heart. The defects involve carpal bones of the wrist and the thumb and the associated cardiac anomalies like atrial or ventricular septal defects. Congenital cardiac and upper-limb malformations frequently occur together and are classified as heart-hand syndromes. The most common amongst the heart-hand disorders is the Holt-Oram syndrome, which is characterized by septal defects of the heart and preaxial radial ray abnormalities. Its incidence is one in 100,000 live births. Approximately three out of four patients have some cardiac abnormality with common associations being either an atrial septal defect or ventricular septal defect. Herein, we report a rare sporadic case of Holt-Oram syndrome with atrial septal defect with symptoms of heart failure in a forty-five-year-old lady who underwent emergency cardiac surgery for the symptoms.
Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious condition leading to heart failure, persistent sepsis. The management of IE involving valve is mainly excision of the infected valve and replacement with a heart valve; which are also at the risk of prosthetic valve endocarditis. Hence repair of the valve with autologous pericardium is much more physiological. We had a 20‐year‐old male presented with features of heart failure and high‐grade fever not responding to optimum medical management. Two‐dimensional echocardiogram revealed vegetation on pulmonary valve cusps with the erosion of the left and right cusps. Neo cusps with autologous pericardium offered good hemodynamics with trivial regurgitation. The patient is doing well with normal pulmonary valve function 3 months after surgery. This technique is reliable, economic, and easily reproducible.
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