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Professor Stephen Westaby and colleagues describe the case of a patient who presented with cardiogenic shock that swiftly deteriorated to severe heart failure. CT revealed a large adrenal tumor that was subsequently indentified as pheochromocytoma. After the tumor was removed, the patient underwent left ventricular assist device implantation as a bridge to left ventricular recovery.
Prasad and colleagues report on the novel technique of11C hydroxyephedrine PET imaging for the measurement of myocardial sympathetic neuronal activity in a patient with stress (Takotsubo) cardiomyopathy.
Lindsay et al. present an interesting case of a patient with a ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm. The authors recommend the early use of imaging modalities for prompt diagnosis, as anticoagulation therapy might have detrimental effects on patient outcome. Reparative surgery is safe and successful in almost all noninfective cases.
Ramcharitar et al. describe the first case treated in the SECRITT I trial. The 63-year-old man presented with class II anginal symptoms and was diagnosed as having a culprit lesion in the left circumflex artery and a vulnerable plaque in the left anterior descending artery. The vulnerable plaque was treated with a self-expanding stent tailored to shield this type of plaque.
Dr Pasquale and colleagues demonstrate that dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction was the cause of exertional chest pain and dyspnea in a patient with no evidence of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy or ischemic heart disease.
In this month's Case Study, George and colleagues present a case of antiphospholipid syndrome. The IgG anti-β2GPI antibodies isolated from this patient enhanced experimental atherosclerosis and attenuated plaque stability in apolipoprotein-E-knockout mice.
In this month's Case Study, Versaci and colleagues present a case of congenital coronary artery fistula originating from the left anterior coronary artery and draining into right ventricle, in conjunction with an aneurysm of the left anterior descending artery. The high risk of rupture lead the authors to close the fistula surgically using normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass.
