ASD is a common congenital anomaly. A dehiscence of ASD patch closure is extremely rare complication. It can be suspected by the postoperative hemodynamic abnormality. Because of hemodynamic impact, it commonly needs re-operation. A 55-year-old woman with ASD was in hospitalized with partial patch closure dehiscence 7 days after open heart surgery, which was detected by transesophageal echocardiography.
Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal* ; Female ; Heart Septal Defects, Atrial* ; Hemodynamics ; Humans ; Middle Aged ; Postoperative Complications ; Thoracic Surgery

A 68 year-old woman was admitted due to chest pain with dyspnea. Transthoracic echocardiography showed isolated right ventricular dysfunction. Coronary angiogram was normal. Cardiac enzyme was elevated persistently. Under the supposed diagnosis of acute idiopathic myocarditis, she was treated with supportive care but symptom and cardiac enzyme was not improved. After steroid pulse therapy, symptom was improved and cardiac enzyme was normalized. She was discharged with improvement of symptoms.
Aged ; Chest Pain ; Diagnosis ; Dyspnea ; Echocardiography ; Female ; Humans ; Myocarditis* ; Ventricular Dysfunction, Right

Double coronary artery with coronary arteriovenous fistula is a very unusual anomaly and has not been reported in Korea. Coronary arteriovenous fistula consists of communication between one of the coronary arteries and a cardiac chamber or vein. It generally drains into the right ventricle, right atrium, coronary sinus, or pulmonary artery. It is being diagnosed with increasing frequency with combined use of coronary angiography and contrast echocardiography. In the present case, coronary angiography showed double right coronary artery with separated ostia. We confirmed that one of them drained into right ventricular chamber by contrast echocardiography performed after intraaortic contrast injection.
Arteriovenous Fistula ; Coronary Angiography ; Coronary Sinus ; Coronary Vessels* ; Echocardiography ; Heart Atria ; Heart Ventricles ; Korea ; Pulmonary Artery ; Veins

A 40-year-old man who underwent 2 times of operation for the graft interposition with aortic valve replacement because of aortic dissection was admitted due to high fever and multiple petechiae on extremities for several days. We performed Transthoracic echocardiogram and MRI, revealed vegetation in the aortic arch and descending aorta. Re-do operation of aortic segment replacement and vegetation removal was carried out. Histological evaluation of vegetatation found fungal mass of aspergillus fumigatus.
Adult ; Aorta, Thoracic ; Aortic Valve ; Aspergillus fumigatus ; Extremities ; Fever ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Purpura ; Transplants*

We report a case of partial anomalous pulmonary venous return where the right upper and lower pulmonary veins drain into the coronary sinus with right-to-left shunt via patent foramen ovale. To our knowledge, this is the uncommon case where the interatrial septum is intact. The diagnosis was initially made by transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography with the infusion of agitated saline and confirmed by pulmonary artery angiography. Curative operation could not be performed because of the irreversible pulmonary hypertension.
Angiography ; Atrial Septum* ; Coronary Sinus* ; Diagnosis ; Dihydroergotamine ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Foramen Ovale, Patent ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Pulmonary Artery ; Pulmonary Veins ; Scimitar Syndrome*

Isolated tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is rare. Generally, TR is caused by pulmonary hypertension secondary to mitral or aortic valve disease, commonly referred to as "functional" regurgitation. The causes of isolated TR in adults include trauma, endocarditis, carcinoid heart disease, and congenital malformation of the tricuspid valve apparatus. In addition, isolated TR should be distinguished from Ebstein anomaly. In the present case, the patient had no definite causes of TR, and neither mitral nor aortic valve disease. The tricuspid valve of this patient showed no abnormalities other than a severely dilated tricuspid annulus. Isolated TR caused by annular dilatation was diagnosed and then ring annuloplasty was perfomed. The subsequent clinical course was satisfactory.
Adult ; Aortic Valve ; Carcinoid Heart Disease ; Dilatation* ; Ebstein Anomaly ; Endocarditis ; Humans ; Hypertension, Pulmonary ; Tricuspid Valve ; Tricuspid Valve Insufficiency*

Vegetative electrode infection after implantation of permanent pacemaker or defibrillator is an uncommon but a serious complication. Diagnosis of the lead infection is particularly important since surgical manipulation is usually required for its treatment. We present 3 cases of electrodes related infective endocarditis among the 154 patients who implanted pacemaker or defibrillator between 2001 and 2004 in Korea university hospital. These complications were difficult to diagnose because of ambiguous clinical manifestations and indeterminate transthoracic echocardiographic (TTE) findings and were finally confirmed by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE).
Defibrillators ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal* ; Electrodes* ; Endocarditis* ; Humans ; Korea ; Pacemaker, Artificial

Antemortem diagnosis of inferior vena cava (IVC) and cardiac metastasis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is difficult but important to decide on treatment strategy. There are only a few cases of cardiac metastasis of HCC which have been diagnosed antemortem by echocardiography. We experienced 3 cases of IVC and Right atrial metastasis and 1 case of Left atrial metastasis of HCC. The tumor was discovered during computed tomography scanning. The patients had exhibited no signs of cardiac involvement. In this case, transesophageal echocardiography was valuable in providing information regarding the exact location of the tumor and its relation to surrounding anatomical structures. Left atrial metastasis of HCC is unusual patterns and probably related to tumor growth from the pulmonary veins following massive metastasis to the lung.
Carcinoma, Hepatocellular* ; Diagnosis ; Echocardiography ; Echocardiography, Transesophageal ; Humans ; Lung ; Neoplasm Metastasis* ; Pulmonary Veins ; Vena Cava, Inferior

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Vitamin C, water-soluble antioxidant, has been reported to restore coronary microcirculatory responsiveness and impaired coronary flow reserve in smokers. However, the effect of high dose of vitamin C on coronary circulation is unclear in nonsmokers. METHODS: We used transthoracic echocardiography to measure the coronary flow reserve, an integrated measure of coronary flow in 20 male healthy nonsmokers (26+/-3 years) before and after administration of the high dose of vitamin C. RESULTS: The coronary peak diastolic velocity was increased by 14.8% after administration of antioxidant vitamin C, whereas the coronary flow reserve did not changed. CONCLUSION: High dose of vitamin C acutely increases the coronary flow velocity without restoration of coronary flow reserve in male healthy nonsmokers.
Ascorbic Acid* ; Coronary Circulation ; Echocardiography ; Humans ; Lobeline ; Male ; Vitamins*

BACKGROUND: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction is often observed in hypertensive patients with normal left ventricular systolic function and can cause heart failure symptoms. Doppler echocardiography has become a standard tool for examining left ventricular diastolic function. This study was performed to evaluate the left ventricular diastolic function in hypertensive patients with normal left ventricular systolic function and to determine the changes in left ventricular diastolic function after antihypertensive treatment. METHODS: Mitral inflow and pulmonary venous Row velocities were evaluated by transthoracic pulsed-wave Doppler study in patients with hypertension before antihypertensive treatment(n= 50) and after antihypertensive treatment for 4 months(n=24). The patients were randomly assigned to group I to receive ACE inhibitor or group II to receive other antihypertensive drugs. RESULTS: Before antihypertensive treatment, mitral inflow E/A ratio was 0.94+/-0.27, decele- ration time was 222+/-47 msec, and pulmonary venous flow S/D ratio was 1.62+/-0.42. Follow- up Doppler study was completed in 24 patients after 4 months of antihypertensive treatment. Mitral inflow E/A ratio was significantly increased(0.96+/-0.24 vs. 1.16+/-0.25, p<0.001), but deceleration time showed no significant changes. Pulmonary venous flow S/D ratio was signi- ficantly decreased(1.75+/-0.27 vs. 1.50+/-0.24, p<0.001). There was no significant difference in changes in mitral inflow E/A ratio, deceleration time and pulmonary venous flow S/D ratio between ACE inhibitor group and other antihypertensive group. CONCLUSION: There was some improvement in left ventricular diastolic function in patients with hypertension after 4 months of antihypertensive treatrnent. But, there was no significant difference in changes in diastolic parameters between ACE inhibitor group and other antihy- pertensive group.
Antihypertensive Agents ; Deceleration ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; Heart Failure ; Humans ; Hypertension*