ABSTRACT
Valvular aortic stenosis is a relatively common disease among valvular heart diseases and can be rheumatic, degenerative or congenital. Evaluation of the severity of the disease is sometimes challenging and problematic. Besides, the use of more parameters of non-invasive methods for the assessment of valvular disease and its severity seems attractive and helpful. Transthoracic echocardiography [TTE] is an appropriate modality for the evaluation of the aortic valve. In this study, TTE was performed for 80 patients with valvular aortic stenosis. The goals were to assess the statistical relationships between ejection time [ET] and acceleration time [AT] and their ratio [AT/ET] with the four traditional parameters of the echocardiographic severity of aortic valvular stenosis [aortic jet velocity, aortic valve area, mean pressure gradient and LVOT VTI/aortic VTI ratio]. There was a meaningful relationship between adjusted ET with the four above-mentioned parameters, d. ET [ET-adjusted ET according to heart rate and stroke volume] was inversely related with the aortic valve area [calculated with continuity equation]. AT/ET was significantly correlated with the four mentioned parameters. The regression equations were calculated. The cut-off value of AT/ET for the echocardiographic diagnosis of severe valvular stenosis was 0.36 [with 95% level of confidence]
ABSTRACT
When a new left atrial mass is discovered by means of echocardiography, the differential diagnosis is usually between thrombus, vegetation, and tumor. In the past decade, however, the physicians were able to document another cause. Our aim is to introduce a case of postoperative inverted left atrial appendage which caused left ventricular inflow obstruction requiring reoperation. We report a 4- year old boy who had inverted left atrial appendage after atrial septal defect repair. He showed signs and symptoms of pulmonary edema postoperatively. We assessed him by echocardiography and discovered a mass in his left atrium necessitating re-operation. The surgeon found and restored inverted left atrial appendage intra-operatively. Because inverted left atrial appendage can cause severe and occasionally life threatening complications, we believe intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography is highly essential to diagnose this pathology and to avoid restorative reoperation
ABSTRACT
Multidetector computed tomography [MDCT] with or without ECG-synchronized images can successfully evaluate cardiac morphology and congenital heart diseases which mainly involve great vessels. In this pictorial essay, we present the great capability of MDCT for the evaluation of complex congenital heart disease