Use of echocardiography as an essential tool for targeted transcatheter biopsy of cardiac masses.

Echocardiography has emerged as an essential tool to guide targeted, transcatheter biopsy of cardiac masses. Options for imaging include transthoracic or transesophageal echocardiography and intracardiac echocardiography, with appropriate use being dictated by specific patient characteristics and institutional experience. The authors present a case of three-dimensional (3-D) transesophageal echocardiography-guided transcatheter biopsy of a right ventricular mass and review the current use of echocardiography to guide these procedures.

Usefulness of right ventricular strain assessment in submassive pulmonary thromboembolism undergoing ultrasound-facilitated thrombolysis.

Massive and submassive pulmonary thromboembolism carry significant morbidity and mortality. We present an elderly female who was diagnosed with a submassive pulmonary embolism by computed tomographic angiography and treated with ultrasound-facilitated thrombolysis (UFT). This case demonstrates the usefulness of right ventricular longitudinal strain measurements by two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography in the evaluation of right ventricular function before and after UFT. Evaluation of right ventricle longitudinal strain by speckle tracking echocardiography may supplement other parameters in the assessment of right ventricular function in these patients.

Incremental value of three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography over the two-dimensional modality in the assessment of right heart compression and dysfunction produced by pectus excavatum.

The usefulness of two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (2DTTE) in the assessment of right heart compression and dysfunction produced by pectus excavatum chest wall deformity has been well described in the literature by several investigators. However, there is a paucity of reports describing incremental value of live/real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3DTTE) over the two-dimensional technique in the evaluation of right heart function in these patients. We present a severe case of pectus excavatum chest wall deformity in a young male, in whom 3DTTE provided incremental value over standard 2DTTE in assessing compression of the right heart before surgery and marked improvement in right heart function parameters following surgical repair. In addition, an updated summary of salient features of this deformity, including 2D and 3DTTE findings as well as right heart echocardiographic parameters by both 2D and 3DTTE in normal/healthy subjects summarized from the literature have been provided in a tabular form for comparison.

Assessment of tricuspid valve by two- and three-dimensional echocardiography with special reference to percutaneous repair and prosthetic valve implantation procedures.

Moderate-to-severe tricuspid regurgitation affects approximately 1.6 million people in the United States. An estimated 8000 patients will undergo tricuspid surgery annually, leaving a large number of patients with this condition untreated. Many of these individuals who are not referred for surgery engender a large unmet clinical need; this may be primarily due to the surgical risk involved. In persons who are categorized as high-risk surgical candidates, percutaneous procedures present a viable alternative. The majority of developmental attention as regards percutaneous approaches has been focused on the aortic and mitral valves recently, but few data are available about the feasibility and efficacy of minimally invasive tricuspid valve treatment. We review the usefulness of two- and three-dimensional echocardiography in the assessment of the tricuspid valve with special reference to recent interest in percutaneous repair and prosthetic valve implantation procedures for severe functional tricuspid regurgitation.

Incremental benefit of three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography in the assessment of left atrial appendage aneurysm leading to severe extrinsic compression of a coronary artery.

Left atrial appendage aneurysm (LAA AN) is a rare disease entity, which can be congenital or acquired in nature. We report an adult patient with LAA AN presenting with anginal chest pain in whom live/real time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (3DTTE) provided incremental value over the two-dimensional (2D) technique in providing a more comprehensive assessment of the lesion. A literature review of the salient features of LAA AN is also provided in a tabular form.

Prominent pulmonary venous flow mimicking mitral regurgitation.

The present case highlights a potential pitfall in assessing mitral regurgitation severity due to the presence of similar colored prominent pulmonary vein signals in the left atrium during color Doppler examination.

Prosthetic mitral inflow mimicking severe aortic regurgitation (revisited). An echocardiographic challenge.

Assessing aortic regurgitation (AR) severity in patients with mitral valve prosthesis may pose an echocardiographic challenge. We present a case of mild AR in whom difficulty occurred in judging its severity due to eccentric mitral prosthetic inflow signals filling practically completely the proximal left ventricular outflow tract in diastole mimicking severe AR. Frame-by-frame analysis of two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic images using a small sector depth and width was helpful in clarifying the true severity of AR.