Journal of the American Society of Echocardiography : official publication of the American Society of Echocardiography
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jul 2008
Comparative StudyE/Ea is the major determinant of pulmonary artery pressure in moderate to severe aortic stenosis.
Our aim was to determine echocardiographic Doppler predictors of pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) in patients with moderate to severe aortic stenosis (AS). ⋯ Our findings suggest that in moderate to severe AS, diastolic function, not AS severity, determines PASP. Superimposed diastolic dysfunction likely contributes to clinical symptoms of moderate to severe AS.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jul 2008
Case ReportsAortic valve thrombus presenting as a non-ST elevation myocardial infarction.
Thrombosis of prosthetic heart valves is well known; however it rarely occurs on native heart valves. To our knowledge there are no reports of native aortic valve thrombus in the absence of blood dyscrasia or prior valve pathology. We describe a patient who presented with a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) caused by a large aortic valve thrombus.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jul 2008
Comparative StudyUsefulness of the evaluation of left ventricular diastolic function changes during stress echocardiography in predicting exercise capacity in patients with ischemic heart failure.
Diastolic dysfunction and elevated left ventricular (LV) filling pressure at rest are key factors of exercise intolerance in patients with heart failure (HF). There are few studies, however, that have addressed the issue of changes of LV diastolic function and filling pressure during exercise in patients with HF with severe systolic dysfunction. The ratio of early diastolic velocity of mitral inflow (E) and early myocardial diastolic velocity (E') strongly correlates with invasively obtained LV filling pressure. ⋯ The evaluation of hemodynamic response of diastolic function, including LV filling pressure, during exercise is feasible during stress echocardiography and provides valuable information in predicting exercise capacity in patients with ischemic HF.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jun 2008
Comparative StudyOptimal noninvasive assessment of diastolic heart failure in patients with atrial fibrillation: comparison of tissue doppler echocardiography, left atrium size, and brain natriuretic peptide.
The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the ratio of early diastolic transmitral velocity to early diastolic mitral annular velocity (E/E') can be applied to identify diastolic heart failure (HF) noninvasively rather than using brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) or enlargement of left atrium (LA) in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) by comparing the severity of HF symptoms. Moreover, we investigated the relationship between the changes in E/E' and the severity of HF or LA remodeling in the follow-up period. ⋯ E/E' could be useful in identifying symptomatic diastolic HF and evaluating the functional state in the process of HF in patients with AF. Moreover, E/E' is able to assess the improvement of diastolic HF in AF.
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J Am Soc Echocardiogr · Jun 2008
Case ReportsTransesophageal echocardiography diagnosis of extracardiac left ventricular assist device inflow cannula obstruction in a patient with thoratec intracorporeal ventricular assist device biventricular support.
Ventricular assist device support for heart failure has gained popularity as both a bridge to heart transplantation and as destination therapy. Early device malfunction is unusual and can be caused by several distinct mechanisms. We present the first reported case of echocardiographic diagnosis of extracardiac cannula obstruction leading to biventricular assist device failure.