functional echocardiography in staging of ductal severity

OBJECTIVES: We established a policy to restore disconnected pulmonary arteries (PAs), regardless of aetiology or cardiac pathology, using a protocol-based strategy. There are conflicting reports of the need to restore disconnected PA especially if severely hypoplastic with some groups advocating surgical repair of cardiac defects to single lung with moderate to high risk. METHODS: All patients referred to our PA reconstruction programme (2007-14) with complete separation of one branch PA were included...

We report a 54-year-old woman with an stage IIA (T2N0M0) RE and RP negative and HER2-positive ductal invasive breast cancer who developed a reversible cardiotoxicity associated with chemotherapy. After surgery, she received four cycles of doxorubicin and cyclophosfamide. Later, she used paclitaxel and trastuzumab. At the 7th cycle of trastuzumab, she had symptoms of heart failure with left ventricle ejection fraction = 59%. Trastuzumab dosage was reduced in 25%, and heart function progressively improved. Two years after her discharge, the patient remains asymptomatic...

UNLABELLED: Equipoise persists as to the issue of assigning haemodynamic and clinical significance to a patent ductus arteriosus (PDA). The objective was to ascertain whether echocardiographic scoring of a PDA correlates with outcomes. Unit electronic data base was accessed to identify infants less than 32 weeks' gestation who received ibuprofen for medical closure of the PDA during the period June 2010-June 2012. Echocardiographic score was assigned on the day of therapy and the infants were prospectively followed up to ascertain the occurrence of chronic lung disease (CLD)...