Echocardiography
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Submaximal stress testing or achieving <85% maximum predicted heart rate (MPHR) may lead to nondiagnostic results and indeterminate outcomes. High exercise capacity (≥ 10 metabolic equivalents, METS) is a predictor of favorable prognosis. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic value of submaximal or high exercise capacity stress echocardiography. ⋯ Despite normal stress echocardiography, the inability to achieve 85% MPHR conferred a higher, intermediate cardiac event rate of 2.9%/year. The ability to achieve 9 minutes (≥ 10 metabolic equivalents, METS) conferred an overall low cardiac event rate of 0.4%/year. However, the absence or presence of ischemia by stress echocardiography was able to further risk stratify patients with either submaximal or high exercise capacity studies.
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Case Reports
Transthoracic echocardiographic assessment of spindle cell sarcoma of the pulmonary artery in a child.
In this report, we present a case of spindle cell sarcoma of the pulmonary artery diagnosed by transthoracic echocardiography. To the best of our knowledge, this case is the youngest reported case of pulmonary artery sarcoma (PAS) to date. PAS is frequently confused for pulmonary embolism; in this case, echocardiographic findings allowed for differentiation between pulmonary embolism and solid tumor.
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Ruptured aneurysm of the anterior mitral leaflet is a rare but a devastating complication secondary to aortic valve infective endocarditis. We report a case of 30-year-old male with native aortic valve endocarditis who was referred to us for evaluation of worsening of heart failure after an initial period of responsiveness to antibiotics. Detailed evaluation with two-dimensional and three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography revealed ruptured anterior mitral leaflet aneurysm with severe eccentric mitral regurgitation along with a large vegetation on the aortic valve. The patient underwent successful surgical closure of the defect along with aortic valve replacement.