Pulmonary artery dissection and conservative medical management.

Pulmonary artery dissection is a rare clinical entity, which has been related to pulmonary arterial hypertension. It is frequently presented as cardiogenic shock or sudden death, so diagnosis is often made at autopsy. The management with best results is surgery. We report a case of pulmonary artery dissection associated with previous aortic valve replacement with a favourable outcome, using conservative medical therapy.

[Effective long-term noninvasive ventilation of a woman with kyphoscoliosis and sinus venosus atrial septal defect]. / Eficacia de la ventilación no invasiva a largo plazo en una paciente con cifoscoliosis asociada a comunicación interauricular tipo seno venoso.

Atrial septal defects comprise one of the most common congenital cardiac malformations in adults and adolescents. However, such septal defects are rarely associated with chest wall diseases. When they are, respiratory failure soon develops and is severe. Cases in which the long-term course of disease is favorable with noninvasive ventilation have not been reported in the literature. We present the case of a 71-year-old woman with kyphoscoliosis, sinus venosus atrial septal defect, severe pulmonary hypertension, respiratory failure, and heart failure. We describe her response to treatment with noninvasive mechanical ventilation.