Items tagged “cardiac”

The right ventricle (RV) is the most anterior of the four heart chambers. It receives deoxygenated blood from the right atrium (RA) and pumps it into the pulmonary circulation. During diastole, blood enters the right ventricle through the atrioventricular orifice through an open tricuspid valve ...

Syphilitic aortitis is a form of aortitis which occurs due to syphilis. It usually occurs in tertiary syphilis often 10-30 years after initial infection. Complications progression into a luetic aneurysm aortic valvular insufficiency coronary ostial involvement with coronary ostial stenosis ...

Aorto-ventricular tunnel (AVT) is an extremely rare form of congenital heart disease, representing an anomalous extracardiac communication between the ascending aorta and the left or right ventricles. Terminology In most cases the anomalous communication is between the aorta and the left ventr...

Atrial septal occlusion devices are implantable cardiac devices used in patients with certain types of atrial septal defects or patent foramen ovale 4. They are used in cases of atrial septal defects with right atrial or ventricle enlargement, to prevent paradoxical embolism, left-to-right shun...

Right ventricular function is often measured in point-of-care ultrasonography as a composite of the right ventricular size, wall measurements, and contractile efforts.  Terminology The right ventricle (RV) can be anatomically divided into an inflow portion, an outflow portion, and an apex. Con...

Athlete heart syndrome refers to adaptations in both cardiac structure and function seen in people engaged in high-performance and endurance physical exercise. Epidemiology The prevalence of the condition has increased due to the increased popularity of recreational exercise, approx 3.6/100,00...

A standard transesophageal echocardiography (TOE, or TEE in US English) is a type of echocardiography using an endoscopic transducer, which is advanced into the thoracic esophagus, offering generally superior visualization of the great vessels and posterior cardiac structures than the standard t...

A cardiac "channelopathy" resulting from mutations in genes coding for cardiac sodium (Na+) channels, the Brugada syndrome is a common cardiac cause of sudden death in patients with structurally normal hearts. Epidemiology Age of diagnosis ranges from 2 days to 84 years old. It is estimated to...

An electrocardiographic finding suggestive of impending myocardial infarction, the de Winter's pattern (or "de Winter's T-waves") describes an abnormality thought to be indicative of acute occlusion of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) 2. Timely recognition of this patt...

The Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome describes paroxysmal tachydysrhythmias in the presence of a specific accessory pathway which allows direct electrical connection between the atria and ventricles, which usually exclusively occurs via the atrioventricular (AV) node. The accessory pathway is usua...

A form of interventricular conduction defect most often diagnosed on the electrocardiogram, the presence of a left bundle branch block (LBBB) disrupts the normal sequence of ventricular depolarization.  Epidemiology Aberrant conduction in the left bundle branch producing a conduction block is ...

Single chamber cardiac pacemakers are cardiac conduction devices with one lead terminating in (most commonly) the right ventricular apex or the right atrium.  Components Includes one of the following:  lead in the right atrium  lead in the right ventricle Function Single chamber atrial pac...

Calculation of the left ventricular wall motion score index (WMSI) with transthoracic echocardiography allows the semi-quantification of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Calculation of the LVEF with a WMSI demonstrates stronger agreement with measures obtained by cardiac MRI, the gold ...

Effusive-constrictive pericarditis is a rare constrictive pericardial syndrome of a constellation of findings in which a fibrotic visceral pericardium and a pericardial effusion contribute to cardiac tamponade pathophysiology. It is most often encountered after the performance of a pericardiocen...

A Chiari network refers to a filamentous, weblike structure in the right atrium that results from incomplete resorption of the embryonic sinus venosus. It is an uncommon anatomical variant. Epidemiology Prevalence estimates for the general population vary widely, ranging from 2%-10% of randoml...

Left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is present when the left ventricular mass is increased. It is a common condition, typically due to systemic hypertension, and it increases with age, obesity and severity of hypertension. Epidemiology Studies have demonstrated a prevalence on echocardiography ...