Challenges in Managing Acute Myocardial Infarction Associated With Infective Endocarditis: A Case Report.

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a rare but recognized and potentially serious complication of infective endocarditis (IE). This case describes the challenges surrounding the management of AMI in the setting of septic coronary embolism, brain, spleen, and kidney infarcts due to septic emboli from native mitral valve IE.

Case report: left atrial Myxoma causing elevated C-reactive protein, fatigue and fever, with literature review.

BACKGROUND: A cardiac myxoma in a young person may pose a diagnostic challenge as symptoms may be variable and the differential diagnosis is wide. The differential diagnosis can include rheumatic mitral valve disease, pulmonary hypertension, endocarditis, myocarditis and vasculitis. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report involves a 49 years old female with a 2.8 cm × 3.4 cm myxoma in the left atrium causing mitral valve obstruction. She presented with fatigue, fever of unknown origin, transient ischemic attack and shortness of breath. Prompt surgery is often recommended due to the risk of embolic complications or complete obstruction. Due to her symptoms, patient underwent successful cardiothoracic surgery to excise the myxoma within 2 weeks of confirmation by cardiac echocardiography. CONCLUSION: This case also emphasizes the diagnostic challenge as symptoms may be variable, ranging from fatigue, fever and shortness of breath to transient ischemic attack and at worst, sudden cardiac death. In conclusion, if a cardiac mass is suspected, echocardiography should be performed early. Surgical resection is curative and recurrence rate is very rare in sporadic isolated myxomas, however, recurrence can be higher in genetic diseases associated with increased frequency of myxomas such as Carney complex. This subpopulation of patients may present further research opportunity to learn more about the perioperative management of patients with myxomas such as determining the optimal time to surgical intervention and decision to anticoagulate.

Short-course of ranolazine prevents postoperative atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass grafting and valve surgeries.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is a common complication arising after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and valve replacement or repair surgeries. POAF has been associated with increased mortality, morbidity and cost. METHODS: The study was conducted to evaluate the incidence of POAF following CABG, valve or combination surgeries when perioperative ranolazine (1,000 mg preoperatively, then 1,000 mg twice daily for 7 days or until discharge) was or was not added to standard therapy. RESULTS: A total of 205 patients were evaluated for POAF after CABG, valve or combination surgeries. POAF occurred less frequently in the ranolazine group compared with the non-ranolazine group in unmatched analysis (10.1 vs. 41.9 %, p < 0.0001). After adjusting for potential sources of bias through propensity-score matched-pair analysis and conditional logistic regression, ranolazine was an independent predictor of preventing POAF (p < 0.0001). There were no differences in bradycardia, new renal failure or neurological events between the two groups. Early, symptomatic hypotension occurred more frequently in the ranolazine group (p = 0.0004) although this difference did not persist after 72 h. No significant difference was found in the length of stay in the intensive care unit following cardiac surgery. While a significant difference was found in the hospital readmission rate for a cardiac cause within 30 days in the unmatched analysis (p = 0.046), this difference was nonexistent after matching (p = 0.39). No difference was found in 30-day cardiovascular mortality. CONCLUSION: Adding ranolazine to standard therapy was independently associated with a significant decrease in POAF development after CABG, valve or combination surgeries.