[Clinical course of patients treated with partial left ventriculectomy]. / Evolução clínica de pacientes submetidos à ventriculectomia esquerda parcial.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the efficacy of partial left ventriculectomy as a treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure. METHODS: From February to June 1995, 7 patients with end-stage heart failure underwent partial left ventriculectomy. Subsequently, patients underwent clinical evaluation every 2 months, and 2-dimensional echocardiography at the 6th and 12th months after cardiac surgery. All patients were given digitalis and diuretics at conventional doses, and captopril or enalapril at maximal tolerated doses. RESULTS: Two (28%) patients died; 1 from cardiac arrhythmia associated with gastrointestinal hemorrhage, and the other suddenly. One (14%) patient developed an embolic cerebrovascular accident. Four (57%) patients were hospitalized for congestive heart failure; all of them had either decreased the daily dose of captopril or enalapril or discontinued the drugs by themselves. Twelve months after ventriculectomy, left ventricular ejection fraction values were greater and left ventricular diastolic dimension and functional class values lower than those found before cardiac operation. CONCLUSION: Beneficial effects of partial left ventriculectomy are observed one year after the surgical procedure. This technique, therefore, can be useful for the treatment of patients with end-stage heart failure.

[Initial experience with partial left ventriculectomy as a treatment for end-stage heart failure]. / Experiência inicial com a ventriculectomia parcial esquerda no tratamento da insuficiência cardíaca terminal.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the efficacy of left ventriculectomy, on a short term basis, as a treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure. METHODS: From February to June 1995, 7 patients with end-stage heart failure underwent partial left ventriculectomy. Before the surgical procedure, 7 (100%) patients were in functional class IV. Three (42%) patients needed inotropic support for hemodynamic stability. The mean daily dose of furosemide was l48.67 +/- 128.27 mg, of captopril 87.50 +/- 95.20 mg and of digoxin 0.23 +/- 0.04. Mean left ventricular diastolic dimension determined by 2-D echocardiography was 78.29 +/- 12.63 mm, mean left ventricular ejection fraction, determined by radionuclide ventriculography, was 0.15 +/- 0.05 whereas mean transpulmonary gradient and pulmonary vascular resistance in Wood units, determined by right heart catheterization, were 16.80 +/- 8.80 and 6.57 +/- 3.22, respectively. RESULTS: Sixty days after the surgery, the mean functional class was 1.71 +/- 0.48 (p = 0.009), the mean left ventricular diastolic dimension 64.67 +/- 11.41 mm (p = 0.02) and the mean left ventricular ejection fraction 0.22 +/- 0.04 (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: The left ventriculectomy is a promising treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure.

[Aortic coarctation associated with a large aneurysm]. / Coarctação da aorta associada a grande aneurisma.

The case of a symptomatic 16-year-old girl, referred with the diagnosis of coarctation of the aorta is presented. Aortography showed a severe coarctation and a huge aneurysm distal to the coarctation. Successful operation was performed with resection of the coarctation and aneurysm and interposition of a tube of bovine pericardium for the anastomosis. Two months after the operation the blood pressure was normal and a 10 mm/Hg gradient was detected by doppler-echocardiography.

Impending myocardial infarction in a patient with marked left ventricular hypertrophy and normal coronary arteriogram--a case report.

A middle-aged woman with long-term uncontrolled arterial hypertension developed a clinical picture of impending myocardial infarction. A normal coronary arteriogram was obtained. However, left heart catheterization showed a marked increase in left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, while left angiocardiography revealed marked left ventricular hypertrophy. She was successfully treated with a beta-blocking and calcium-antagonist agent. The present case shows that an impending myocardial infarction may occur in patients having normal coronary arteriogram but with left ventricular hypertrophy secondary to arterial hypertension.

Chronic Chagas' heart disease presenting as an impending myocardial infarction: a case favoring the neurogenic pathogenesis concept.

A 55-year-old Caucasian woman suddenly developed substernal chest pain at rest accompanied by pallor, diaphoresis, nausea, and vomiting. Physical examination was otherwise unremarkable. The resting ECG showed T-wave inversion in all anterior leads which returned to normal 24 h after the onset of the symptoms. The pain was eliminated promptly by sublingual isosorbide dinitrate. "Impending" acute myocardial infarction was diagnosed. Coronary arteriography, however, failed to reveal any change in any major coronary artery but an apical aneurysm of the left ventricle was detected. As the complement-fixation test for Chagas' disease was positive, the diagnosis of chronic Chagas' heart disease was then established. This unusual clinical manifestation of Chagas' disease is thought to be the consequence of a transient imbalance in the cardiac autonomic nervous system, which is considered to play a central role in the pathogenesis of chronic Chagas' heart disease. In addition, the present case may alert clinicians to the thus far neglected atypical chest pain, which is frequently seen in chagasic patients but whose etiology remains obscure.

Myocardial reperfusion by thrombolysis after acute total left main artery occlusion--a case report.

Coronary recanalization with thrombolytic agents is a new therapeutic approach to the treatment of acute myocardial infarction that can be beneficial even to patients in cardiogenic shock. Although few cases have been reported in the literature, treatment of acute occlusion of the left main coronary artery (LMCA) has been made possible by myocardial reperfusion. This communication concerns a patient with acute LMCA occlusion who was successfully treated by thrombolytic therapy with streptokinase followed by revascularization of the myocardium seventy-two hours after reperfusion was achieved.

Myocardial bridging of coronary arteries associated with an impending acute myocardial infarction.

A 57-year-old woman developed severe substernal chest pain radiating to the left arm accompanied by pallor and marked diaphoresis. These symptoms appeared at rest, lasted 45 minutes, and terminated spontaneously. The patient had been treated for mild hypertension during the last 6 months. An ECG tracing obtained at the beginning of treatment was unremarkable. However, an ECG tracing recorded shortly after the end of the symptoms showed T-wave inversion in all anterior leads. Coronary arteriography was then performed and showed no fixed obstructive coronary artery disease. Nonetheless, a lengthened and constricted myocardial bridging of both the left anterior descending coronary artery and its major diagonal branch was detected. Also, the left anterior descending coronary artery was observed to be very short, terminating before the cardiac apex. The left ventricle was hypertrophied. The patient was treated with a beta-blocking agent which eliminated all symptoms. An ECG tracing obtained about three months after the onset of the clinical picture was normal. Our findings suggest that marked myocardial ischemia at rest does occur in patients having myocardial bridges under special circumstances, such as lengthened and constricted myocardial bridging of a short coronary artery which supplies a hypertrophied ventricle. This anomaly should be taken into account as a possible cause of a threatened myocardial infarction, which may be successfully treated with a beta-blocking agent.