Cardiac Chamber Expansion

A coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) denotes a localized dilation of the coronary artery, while a coronary artery fistula signifies an aberrant connection between a coronary artery and a cardiac chamber or adjacent vessel. Here, we present a case study of a 68-year-old female with a previously diagnosed right coronary artery-to-right atrial fistula concomitant with multiple right coronary artery aneurysms. Initially asymptomatic, the patient subsequently manifested atrial fibrillation. Management involved augmenting the patient's home regimen with metoprolol tartrate, followed by successful cardioversion and restoration of sinus rhythm...

This paper presents a haptic actuator made of silicone rubber to provide both passive and active haptic forces for catheter simulations. The haptic actuator has a torus outer shape with an ellipse-shaped inside chamber which is actuated by hydraulic pressure. Expansion of the chamber by providing positive pressure can squeeze the inside passage to resist the catheter traveling through. Further expansion can hold and push back the catheter in the axial direction to render active haptic forces. The size of the catheter passage is increased by providing negative pressure to the chamber, allowing various diameters of the actual medical catheters to be used and exchanged during the simulation...

Cauterization of the root of the left coronary artery (LCA) in the neonatal heart at postnatal day 1 (P1) resulted in large reproducible lesions of the left ventricle (LV), and an attendant marked adaptive response in the right ventricle (RV). The response of both chambers to LV myocardial infarction involved enhanced cardiomyocyte (CM) division and binucleation, as well as LV re-vascularization, leading to restored heart function within 7 days post-surgery (7 dps). By contrast, infarction of P3 mice resulted in cardiac scarring without a significant regenerative and adaptive response of the LV and the RV leading to subsequent heart failure and death within 7 dps...

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE: Pleuropulmonary blastoma (PPB) is a rare primary malignant tumor in the chest that mainly occurs in children <6 years of age. Vascular extensions are even rarer, approximately 3 % of types II and III PPB, and have fatal complications. The patients of reported cases who had tumor extension to the heart are younger than three years old, whereas in this case, we reported an 11-year-old girl who was of school age. This case report aims to describe a rare case of a type III Pleuropulmonary Blastoma infiltrating the left heart of a school-age girl...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (PCWP) assessment is fundamental for managing dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) patients. Although cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) has become the gold-standard imaging technique for evaluating cardiac chamber volume and function, PCWP is not routinely assessed with CMR. Therefore, this study aimed to validate the left atrial expansion index (LAEI), a LA reservoir function parameter able to estimate filling pressure with echocardiography, as a novel CMR-measured parameter for non-invasive PCWP estimation in DCM patients...

BACKGROUND: A calcified amorphous tumour (CAT) is a non-neoplastic mass lesion arising within the cardiac chamber. CATs are rare but are a common cause of organ embolism. In the present study, we experienced a case of an intracardiac mass with calcification that, in contrast to a typical CAT, suddenly appeared and rapidly expanded without an inflammatory response based on pathological findings. CASE SUMMARY: A 58-year-old Japanese man undergoing peritoneal haemodialysis had a high-echoic mobile mass (15 × 6 mm), which was not visible on the transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) approximately a month earlier, in the left ventricular outflow tract noted on TTE performed during a close examination for fever...

BACKGROUND: Staphylococcus lugdunensis endocarditis is a rare but fulminant disease. CASE SUMMARY: A 74-year-old female with a history of asymptomatic severe aortic valve stenosis and permanent atrial fibrillation presented with acute onset of fever (39.0°C). Electrocardiogram showed diffuse ST-segment elevation. She was hospitalized for further analysis. All blood cultures were positive for Staphylococcus lugdunensis and antibiotic treatment was started. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) showed known aortic valve stenosis without clear signs of endocarditis...

BACKGROUND: Essential patterning processes transform the heart tube into a compartmentalized organ with distinct chambers separated by an atrioventricular canal (AVC). This transition involves the refinement of expression of genes that are first found broadly throughout the heart tube and then become restricted to the AVC. Despite the importance of cardiac patterning, we do not fully understand the mechanisms that limit gene expression to the AVC. RESULTS: We show that the zebrafish gene smarcc1a, encoding a BAF chromatin remodeling complex subunit homologous to mammalian BAF155, is critical for cardiac patterning...

INTRODUCTION: Obesity affects cardiac geometry, causing both eccentric (due to increased cardiac output) and concentric (due to insulin resistance) remodelling. Following bariatric surgery, reversal of both processes should occur. Furthermore, epicardial adipose tissue loss following bariatric surgery may reduce pericardial restraint, allowing further chamber expansion. We investigated these changes in a serial imaging study of adipose depots and cardiac geometry following bariatric surgery...

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is distinguished by ventricular chamber expansion, systolic dysfunction, and normal left ventricular (LV) wall thickness, and is mainly caused due to genetic or environmental factors; however, its aetiology is undetermined in the majority of patients. The focus of this work is on pathogenesis, small animal models, as well as the herbal medicinal approach, and the most recent advances in imaging modalities for patients with dilated cardiomyopathy. Several small animal models have been proposed over the last few years to mimic various pathomechanisms that contribute to dilated cardiomyopathy...

BACKGROUND: Tissue organoids generated from human pluripotent stem cells are valuable tools for disease modelling and to understand developmental processes. While recent progress in human cardiac organoids revealed the ability of these stem cell-derived organoids to self-organize and intrinsically formed chamber-like structure containing a central cavity, it remained unclear the processes involved that enabled such chamber formation. METHODS: Chambered cardiac organoids (CCOs) differentiated from human embryonic stem cells (H7) were generated by modulation of Wnt/ß-catenin signalling under fully defined conditions, and several growth factors essential for cardiac progenitor expansion...

Background: In young athletes, exercise causes changes in the heart that include growth in wall thickness and mass of the left ventricle and expansion of the heart's chambers. The heart's function is either preserved or enhanced, but this may change to the opposite over time. Objective: This study aimed to assess structural and functional cardiac adaptations in relation to exercise training time, intensity, and performance in young competitive athletes. Methods: A total of 404 children and adolescents (14...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES: This document includes cardiac pacing activity performed in Spain in 2021: figures for implanted devices, demographic and clinical factors, characteristics of the implanted material, and remote monitoring data. METHODS: The European Pacemaker Patient Card, the CardioDispositivos.es online platform, the centers' own databases and the data provided by the supplier companies are used as sources of information. RESULTS: 17...

PURPOSE: The passive leg raising test (PLR) produces a reversible increase in venous return and, if the patient's ventricles are preload dependent, in the cardiac output. As this effect occurs in seconds, the transthoracic echocardiography is optimal for its real time assessment. The utility of the PLR for monitoring fluid responsiveness through the measurement of the left ventricle outflow tract velocity-time integral (LVOT VTI) in an apical 5-chamber view is well stablished. To achieve this view in critically ill patients is often challenging...

Background: Mediastinal mass is an entity with variable pathology and clinical spectrum. Anterior mediastinal mass can result in severe symptoms due to involvement of surrounding vital structures such as the great vessels, trachea-bronchial tree, and heart. We highlight a case of cardiac tamponade in a patient with an anterior mediastinal mass that was paradoxically worsened after decompressive pericardiocentesis. Case summary: A 21-year-old male presented to the emergency department (ED) with breathlessness and hypotension...

Context: Intermittent short-duration re-oxygenation attenuates cardiac changes in response to hypoxia. Objective: To see if intermittent short-duration re-oxygenation may protect the heart muscle from hypoxia damage. Materials and Methods: Eighteen albino rats were used to carry out the study. Rats divided into: (normoxia); rats exposed to room air as a control, second (hypoxic) group; rats subjected to a pressure of 405 mmHg in a hypobaric chamber to simulate hypoxia at 5,000 m, and third (intermittent short-duration re-oxygenation); rats exposed to room air three times per day...

Emerging innovations have led to the development of tools and techniques to perform mechanical aspiration of right-sided endocarditis vegetations. However, blood loss during aspiration, the need for veno-veno bypass, and nonsteerable catheters have limited expansion of these treatment options to more patients. We present a case of pacemaker lead endocarditis treated with the Inari mechanical aspiration system utilizing the new T20 curved catheter (Inari Medical).

OBJECTIVE: Different types of preclinical research tools used in the field of diagnostic imaging such as dynamic flow circulation phantoms have built the foundation for optimization and advancement of clinical procedures including new imaging techniques. The objective was to introduce a third-generation phantom, building on the limitations of earlier versions and unlocking new opportunities for preclinical investigation. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A third-generation phantom was designed and constructed comprising physiological vascular models from head to toe, including a 4-chamber heart with embedded heart valves and a controllable electromechanical pump...

BACKGROUND: Abscess of the mitral-aortic intervalvular fibrosa (MAIVF) is a rare occurrence, with its most frequently described causative associations being active or prior endocarditis, prosthetic valves, or native valves with anomalies. We report a case of infective endocarditis (IE) complicated by an abscess of the MAIVF without valvular involvement. This case highlights the importance of this rare clinical entity and of the multimodality imaging approach in reaching an accurate diagnosis and differential diagnosis...

BACKGROUND: Extracellular matrix expansion is a key pathophysiologic feature in heart failure and can be quantified noninvasively by cardiac magnetic resonance T1 -mapping. Free water within the interstitial space of the myocardium, however, may also alter T1 -mapping results. PURPOSE: To investigate the association between systemic fluid status and T1 -mapping by cardiac magnetic resonance. STUDY TYPE: Prospective, observational single-center study...