Intracardiac masses: Single center experience within 12 years: I-MASS Study.

Objective: The aim of this cross-sectional, retrospective, descriptive study was to review and classify cardiac masses systematically and to determine their frequencies. Methods: The medical records of 64,862 consecutive patients were investigated within 12 years. Every patient with a cardiac mass imaged by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and confirmed with an advanced imaging modality such as transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), computed tomography (CT) and/or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) was included. Acute coronary syndromes triggering thrombus formation, vegetations, intracardiac device and catheter related thrombi were excluded. Results: Data demonstrated 127 (0.195%) intracardiac masses consisting of 33 (0.050%) primary benign, 3 (0.004%) primary malignant, 20 (0.030%) secondary tumors, 3 (0.004%) hydatid cysts and 68 (0.104%) thrombi respectively. The majority of primary cardiac tumors were benign (91.67%), predominantly myxomas (78.79%), and the less malignant (8.33%). Secondary cardiac tumors were common than the primary malignant tumors (20:3), with male dominancy (55%), lymphoma and lung cancers were the most frequent. Intracardiac thrombi was the majority of the cardiac masses, thrombi accompanying malignancies were in the first range (n = 17, 25%), followed by autoimmune diseases (n = 13, 19.12%) and ischemic heart disease with low ejection fraction (n = 12, 17.65%). Conclusions: This retrospective analysis identified 127 patients with cardiac masses. The majority of benign tumors were myxoma, the most common tumors that metastasized to the heart were lymphoma and lung cancers, and the thrombi associated with malignancies and autoimmune diseases were the most frequent.

Treatment of Libman-Sacks endocarditis by combination of warfarin and immunosuppressive therapy.

Antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) is a clinical disorder that creates an increased risk of arterial or venous thrombotic events or pregnancy-associated complications and includes the presence of autoantibodies against negatively charged phospholipids. This syndrome is often associated with systemic autoimmune diseases, such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). Libman-Sacks endocarditis is a form of non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis and is infrequently seen in APS. There are few data documenting the echocardiographic response of APS valve disease to medical treatment. This is an unusual case of a young female patient with SLE and APS who had chorea and non-bacterial thrombotic aortic valve endocarditis. Echocardiography revealed that the vegetation had receded after a combination of warfarin and immunosuppressive therapy.

Assessment of longitudinal left ventricular systolic function by different echocardiographic modalities in patients with newly diagnosed mild-to-moderate hypertension.

OBJECTIVE: Standard echocardiographic methods reflect chamber dynamics and do not provide a direct measure of myocardial fiber shortening. Therefore we evaluated longitudinal left ventricular myocardial function by tissue Doppler echocardiography; strain (S), strain rate (SR), tissue Doppler velocity (TDV) in newly diagnosed mild to moderate hypertensive patients. METHODS: Our cross-sectional and observational study population consisted of 57 patients and 48 normotensive control subjects. Patients with obesity, diabetes mellitus, regional wall motion abnormality, secondary hypertension and a history or clinical evidence of cardiovascular disease, arrhythmias or conduction abnormalities were excluded from the study. Ejection fraction, endocardial fractional shortening (eFS), meridional end-systolic stress (mESS), stress-adjusted eFS (observed /predicted eFS) were measured by M-mode echocardiography. Relationship between the left ventricular mass index and mESS was assessed by Pearson's linear regression model. RESULTS: Hypertensive patients had significantly decreased longitudinal myocardial function compared to control subjects determined by septal (-1.25+/-0.30 vs. -1.02+/-0.33, p<0.001) and lateral (-1.20+/-0.28 vs. 1.02+/-0.41, p<0.01) SR (1/s) measurements. However, there was no significant correlation between the mESS and strain-strain rate measurements in both normal and hypertensive subjects. CONCLUSIONS: Early impairment in longitudinal left ventricular systolic function can be expected despite normal endocardial left ventricular function indicated by M-mode echocardiography in patients with newly diagnosed and never treated mild to moderate hypertension.

Relationship between left ventricular hypertrophy, hypertensive retinopathy, microalbuminuria and echocardiographic modalities in newly diagnosed hypertensive patients.

Longitudinal myocardial function (LMF) may be impaired while systolic function is still normal. We investigated relationship between LMF and hypertensive organ damage in newly diagnosed stage I hypertensive patients. A total of 57 patient with never treated stage I hypertension and 48 matched healthy control subject were enrolled in the study. Conventional 2-D, Doppler and tissue wave Doppler imaging (TDI) echocardiography were used. LMF was evaluated by the septal and lateral strain (S) and strain rate (SR) measurements. Hypertensive complications were evaluated by the urine microalbumin levels and retinal examination. A multivariate regression analysis was perfomed to assess the relation between the variables. Ejection fraction, mid-wall fractional shortenning, systolic movement rates (TDs) in TDI were similar both in hypertensive and control groups. In patients with left ventricular hypertrophy, septal TDs (7.29 +/- 1.28 vs. 8.06 +/- 1.19 cm, P = 0.03), lateral TDs (8.46 +/- 1.83 vs. 9.87 +/- 2.42 cm, P = 0.01) and lateral S (-13.02 +/- 7.83 vs. -18.86 +/- 8.60%, P = 0.01) values were significantly lower. Septal S (-13.67 +/- 3.52 vs. -19.09 +/- 5.96%, P < 0.01) and SR (-0.83 +/- 0.29 vs. -1.22 +/- 0.28 1/S, P < 0.01) were significantly decreased in hypertensive patients with microalbuminuria. Septal S value was also significantly decreased in patients with retinopathy (-14.76 +/- 5.55 vs. -20.20 +/- 5.44%, P = 0.01). Multivariate analysis showed that only septal and lateral S values were independent factors for the retinopathy and left ventricular hypertrophy, respectively. In hypertensive patients, LMF established by the measurement of S and SR, might be impaired and also related with end organ damage while global circumferential function is preserved.

Metastatic Ewing's sarcoma involving the right ventricle.

Cardiac metastasis of Ewing's sarcoma is rare. A 22-year-old woman was admitted with complaints of palpitation and fatigue on exertion. She had a seven-year history of radical right tibial resection for Ewing's sarcoma and was also receiving chemotherapy for lung metastasis of Ewing's sarcoma. Both transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography demonstrated a single, large (3x3.5 cm) inhomogeneous mass located in the free wall of the right ventricle. To differentiate the mass from a massive thrombus, contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging was performed. The mass showed partial contrast enhancement, suggesting a malignant metastatic mass. Surgical resection was not considered due to accompanying lung metastasis and potentially poor outcome of the operation.

Effect of diurnal variability of heart rate on development of arrhythmia in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

We examined the possible effect of diurnal variability of heart rate on the development of arrhythmias in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Forty-one COPD patients (M/F: 39/2, mean age: 59+/-8.5 years) and 32 (M/F: 27/5, mean age: 57+/-11 years) healthy controls were included. Twenty-four hour ECG recordings were analyzed for atrial fibrillation (AF) or ventricular premature beats (VPB), and circadian changes in heart rate variability (HRV) were assessed by dividing the 24-h period into day-time (08:00-24:00 h) and night-time (24:00-08:00 h) periods. Night-time total (TP), low frequency (LF) and high frequency (HF) powers were similarly lower from day-time parameters in AF(-) COPD patients (HF 3.91+/-1 vs. 4.43+/-1.04 ms(2), P=0.001) and controls (HF 3.95+/-0.72 vs. 4.82+/-0.66 ms(2), P<0.001). The LF/HF ratios were also significantly reduced in the same patient groups (AF(-) COPD 1.35+/-0.21 vs. 1.27+/-0.19, P=0.04, controls 1.43+/-0.14 vs. 1.24+/-0.09, P<0.001). Night-time TP and LF were increased, HF unchanged and LF/HF significantly increased (1.11+/-0.25 vs. 1.19+/-0.27, P<0.05) in AF(+) COPD patients. Frequency of VPB was correlated with corrected QT dispersion (QTc(d)) (r=0.52, P=0.001) and the day-time/night-time HF ratio (r=0.43, P=0.02). Patients with QTc(d)>or=60 ms did not have the expected increase in night-time HF and had a statistically insignificant increase in LF/HF ratio. In COPD patients with QTc(d)<60 ms, circadian changes in HRV parameters were parallel with the controls. We concluded that COPD patients with arrhythmia had circadian HRV disturbances such as unchanged night-time parasympathetic tone and disturbed sympatho-vagal balance in favor of the sympathetic system all day long, which may explain the increased frequency of arrhythmia.

Factors associated with the development of atrial fibrillation in COPD patients: the role of P-wave dispersion.

BACKGROUND: Supraventricular tachyarrhythmia is a common problem in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients. The purpose of this study is to analyze the factors associated with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) in COPD patients. METHODS: Forty COPD patients (38 male, 2 female, mean age 60 +/- 9 years) and 33 healthy controls (29 male, 4 female, mean age: 58 +/- 10 years) were included in this study. Echocardiography, 24-hour ambulatory and 12-lead ECG, pulmonary function tests, arterial blood gases, and serum electrolytes were measured. On ECG, maximum (P(max)) and minimum (P(min)) duration of P wave and its difference, P-wave dispersion (PWd), were measured. RESULTS: On echocardiography, diastolic dysfunction was found in 14 of the 40 (35%) COPD patients. Heart rate variability analysis revealed that COPD patients had decreased SDANN, SDNN, SDNNIDX in time-domain, and decreased LF in frequency domain parameters. Fourteen of the 40 COPD patients (35%) had AF. Patients with AF were older (57 +/- 10 vs 64 +/- 5 years, P = 0.03) and had lower SDANN, SDNN, and LF/HF ratio as compared to patients without AF in univariate analysis. All P-wave intervals (P(max), P(min,) and PWd) were increased in COPD patients compared to controls. P-wave dispersion was significantly increased in COPD patients with AF, as compared to patients without AF (57 +/- 11 vs 44 +/- 7 ms, P = 0.001). In logistic regression analysis PWd was found to be the only factor associated with the development of AF (P = 0.04). CONCLUSIONS: The presence of AF was significantly related to the prolongation of PWd, but not with pulmonary function, arterial blood gasses, and left and right atrial function.

Role of transesophageal echocardiography in diagnosis and management of cardiac hydatid cyst: report of three cases and review of the literature.

Although diagnostic value of transthoracic echocardiography in cardiac echinococcus is well established, the role of transesophageal echocardiography in both the diagnosis and the management of this entity is not well known. We present 3 unusual cases of cardiac hydatid cyst in which transesophageal echocardiography was used. A review of the literature on the subject is also presented.