ABSTRACT
The use of ultrasound enhancing agents (UEA) during echocardiography helps to optimize visualization in technically difficult studies, with improved left ventricular opacification and endocardial border definition. The use of these agents may often unveil critical data that drastically alter clinical decision making. Despite the potential clinical benefits of UEA and known safety data, clinicians are still sometimes reluctant to take the time to use UEAs in unstable patients. Herein, we demonstrate a challenging case of a patient with late presentation myocardial infarction, complicated with cardiogenic shock and pseudoaneurysm formation that was not observed in non-contrast images, emblematically demonstrating the value of UEA in selected patients.
ABSTRACT
Among the many approaches for evaluating patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH), imaging plays a crucial role. The primary role of imaging is to identify the severity of PH based on noninvasive hemodynamic assessment and to evaluate right ventricular morphology and function. The major modalities used in current clinical practice for these purposes are echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. This review discusses the merits, limitations, and clinical utility of several echocardiographic and CMR techniques used in the evaluation of PH. It also includes a brief discussion of the role of computed tomography and radionuclide imaging.
Subject(s)
Hemodynamics , Hypertension, Pulmonary/diagnosis , Pulmonary Artery , Ventricular Function, Right , Diastole , Echocardiography, Doppler/methods , Humans , Hypertension, Pulmonary/diagnostic imaging , Hypertension, Pulmonary/pathology , Magnetic Resonance Imaging, Cine/methods , Mass Screening/methods , Systole , Tomography, X-Ray Computed/methodsABSTRACT
Cardiac valve injury after blunt chest trauma is rare. We present a case of blunt chest trauma resulting in an isolated aortic valve rupture treated with aortic valve replacement.
