Unroofed Coronary Sinus Associated with Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava : Detection by Agitated Saline Contrast Echocardiography

Unroofed coronary sinus with persistent left superior vena cava is an extremely rare congenital anomaly. It can be suspected by the presence of a markedly dilated coronary sinus and can be confirmed by injection of agitated saline into the left antecubital vein during echocardiography. Agitated saline contrast echocardiography can easily visualize the flow in the persistent left superior vena cava communicating with the unroofed coronary sinus hereby creating a shunt into the left atrium. An agitated saline contrast echocardiography may be performed with a low risk of transient complication. We demonstrate the case of a 32-year-old pregnant woman with unroofed coronary sinus and persistent left superior vena cava, confirmed by agitated saline contrast echocardiography.

A Case of Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection during Exercise Treated with Stenting

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare disease that occurs most commonly in young people, especially in peripartum or postpartum women. It is usually catastrophic and fatal. The etiology of dissection is still under discussion. Possible factors are inflammation, changes of flow dynamics, and preexisting intima lesions. The treatment of choice for spontaneous coronary artery dissection is still not settled. The authors report a twenty-nine year-old woman with coronary lesions diagnosed as spontaneous coronary artery dissection which developed during exercise and was treated with intracoronary stenting.

Stenting of an Anomalous Coronary Artery in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Single coronary artery is rare and the application of coronary angioplasty to these arteies presents unique technical challenge. As technical advances in the guiding catheter and balloon system occur, more challenging lesions including anomalous coronary artery are able to be treated. Correct guiding catheter selection is important to ensure adequate access to the anomalous vessel and provide support to cross the lesion. This report describes successful angioplasty with stent in right coronary artery of single ostium coronary anomaly in a patient presenting with an acute myocardial infaction.

Meningitis due to Listeria Monocytogenes Following Orthotopic Heart Transplantation

We report a first case of meningitis due to listeria monocytogenes after cardiac transplantation in Korea. This patient is a 40-year-old man with Dilated cardiomyopathy, he presented with intermittent dyspnea and abdominal distension for about 1 year. After cardiac transplantation, he was treated with azathioprine, cyclosporine and prednisolone for graft rejection. He was presented with intermittent fever, headache and lethargy for about 10days after cardiac transplantation. Listeria monocytogenes was isolated from blood culture and CSF culture. He was treated with intravenous penicillin G for 10days successfully and changed with ampicillin for 10days, took oral ampicillin for 10days without any complication after discharge.

A Case of Partial Left Ventriculectomy in a Patient with End-stage Dilated Cardiomyopathy

The end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy is usually treated with cardiac transplantation although some limited success have also been obtained in selected patients using dynamic cardiomyoplasty or medical assist devices. Recently, a new surgical alternatives, called partial left ventriculectomy (PLV) was introduced by Randas J. V Batista in 1995. A 40-year-old man who had end-stage dilated cardiomyopathy refractory to optimal doses of medicines underwent partial left ventriculectomy (Batista's operation), which reduces ventricular volume to improve left ventricular function. The left ventricular ejection fraction increased from 20 % to 58 % at 4 month after operation.

A Case of Transcatheter Alcohol Ablation of the Septum in a Patient of Hypertrophic Obstructive Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) is characterized by inappropriate myocardial hypertrophy that occurred in the absence of an obvious cause for the hypertrophy and dynamic left ventricular outflow tract obstruction, caused by asymmetrical septal hypertrophy and systolic anterior motion of the anterior mitral leaflet. The pathophysiological abnormality in HOCM is diastolic dysfunction, abnormal stiffness of the left ventricle with resultant impaired ventricular filling and impaired vasodilator reserve (perhaps related to the thickened and narrowed small intramural coronary arteries found in HOCM). During the early course of this progressive disease, treatment consists of negative inotropic drugs. Surgery has been the only therapeutic option in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who are resistant to drug treatment and sequential pacemaker therapy. We describe a novel catheter-based technique that may replace surgical myocardial reduction. The technique is interventional infarction of a portion of the interventricular septum by the infusion of alcohol into a selectively catheterized septal artery.