Mitral aneurysm: a rare complication of subaortic diaphragm infective endocarditis / Aneurisma mitral: una complicación poco frecuente de la endocarditis infecciosa del diafragma subaórtico

Abstract Mitral valve aneurysm is a rare and uncommon complication of infective endocarditis leading to a weakened mitral tissue. The most feared mitral valve aneurysm's complications are: perforation and severe mitral regurgitation. Multiple mechanisms have been suggested to explain the development of mitral valve aneurysm in aortic infective endocarditis including: local extension of the infection, the mitral kissing vegetation and aortic regurgitation. We report the case of a 29-year-old man who had infective endocarditis of a native aortic valve and the sub-aortic diaphragm complicated by a perforated mitral valve aneurysm diagnosed only by transesophageal echocardiogram. The patient had no sign of heart failure. We hypothesized that all those mechanisms lead to the developing of the mitral valve aneurysm in this case, but also the presence of the diaphragm favored the spread of the infection.

Resumen Una de las complicaciones poco comunes e inusuales de la endocarditis infecciosa son los aneurismas de la válvula mitral. Las complicaciones más temidas de estos últimos son la perforación y la insuficiencia mitral severa. Diferentes mecanismos pueden explicar el desarrollo de dicha insuficiencia en el contexto de una endocarditis infecciosa, incluyendo una extensión local, una vegetación sobre la válvula mitral y una insuficiencia aórtica. Nuestro caso clínico es el de un joven de 29 años diagnosticado de endocarditis infecciosa sobre su válvula aortica nativa con un diafragma subaortico complicado con un aneurisma de la válvula mitral perforado. El paciente no presentaba signos de insuficiencia cardíaca. Hemos supuesto que todos los mecanismos que hemos evocado anteriormente han llevado al desarrollo de dicho aneurisma, junto con la presencia del diafragma, elemento en favor de la diseminación de la infección.

Coronary fistulas: a case series

Coronary artery fistula is an uncommon finding during angiographic exams. We report a case series of five patients with congenital coronary fistulas. The first patient was 56 years old and had a coronary fistula associated with a partial atrio ventricular defect, the second patient was 54 years old and had two fistulas originating from the right coronary artery with a severe atherosclerotic coronary disease, the third patient was 57 years old with a fistula originating from the circumflex artery associated with a rheumatic mitral stenosis, the fourth patient was 50 years old and had a fistulous communication between the right coronary artery and the right bronchial artery, and the last patient was 12 years old who had bilateral coronary fistulas draining into the right ventricle with an aneurismal dilatation of the coronary arteries. Angiographic aspects of coronary fistulas are various; management is controversial and depends on the presence of symptoms