1/267. Gaucher's disease with valve calcification: possible role of Gaucher cells, bone matrix proteins and integrins.Gaucher's disease, an autosomal recessive storage disease, leads to deposition of glucocerebrosides in various organs, especially those of the reticuloendothelial system. The heart is not thought to be frequently involved and studies of patients with cardiac involvement have concentrated on myocardial involvement. Despite careful prior investigation Gaucher cells have never been detected in the valves of these patients. Pathological findings of a patient with Gaucher's disease, type IIIc, with prominent cardiac valvular involvement are reported and, for the first time, the presence of Gaucher cells in the valve tissue is documented. There is evidence that the pathogenesis of the valvular injury may be by way of a cell-mediated mechanism involving bone matrix proteins and integrins.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
2/267. Cardiac Whipple's disease without digestive symptoms.Whipple's disease is a systemic illness that can affect the heart, causing pericarditis, myocarditis, and valvular endocarditis. We describe a 43-year-old man without gastrointestinal symptoms who underwent mitral and aortic valve replacement for endocarditis, in whom a diagnosis of Whipple's disease was made at operation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
3/267. Chordal rupture: a common complication of myxomatous degeneration of the mitral valve.In two patients with a clinical picture of acute mitral insufficiency, the presence of chordal rupture secondary to myxomatous degeneration of the mitral valve was disclosed during surgery. There was no evidence of previous rheumatic valvulitis, subacute bacterial endocarditis or other etiologies. It appears from the literature and from the cases described that ruptured chorda tendinea is a not uncommon complication of myxomatous transformation of the mitral valve. While this fact has been mentioned in anatomophological reports, clinicians are less aware of the association. In the absence of supportive evidence for a rheumatic or arteriosclerotic etiology, a clinical picture of acute mitral insufficiency should suggest ruptured chorda tendinea secondary to myxomatous degeneration of the mitral apparatus. This is particularly true in older patients, especially among those followed for a midsystolic click-late systolic murmur or an apical pansystolic murmur of pure mitral regurgitation.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 0.86560359009815keywords = murmur (Clic here for more details about this article) |
4/267. osteogenesis imperfecta with mitral insufficiency due to ballooning of the mitral valve. A case report.A further case of osteogenesis imperfecta with valvular heart disease is added to the 12 already reported in the literature. The presence of a dilated mitral annulus and a ballooned mitral leaflet in this case together with the findings reported in the literature leave little doubt as to the relationship between the valvular lesion and the underlying connective tissue disorder.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
5/267. carcinoid heart disease and carcinoid syndrome: successful surgical treatment.Tumor debulking can greatly improve quality of life for patients with malignant carcinoid syndrome, but hepatic cytoreduction is confounded by carcinoid heart disease, which can cause postsinusoidal portal hypertension, thereby increasing the risk of death from hemorrhage during hepatic resection. We describe a patient with metastatic carcinoid syndrome and carcinoid heart disease who had repair of his carcinoid heart disease and, after improvement of right-sided heart function, had successful hepatic debulking of carcinoid metastases.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 8keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
6/267. Spontaneous native aortic valve thrombosis.Spontaneous thrombosis of a native aortic valve is an uncommon event that usually follows local trauma, such as cardiac surgery or left heart catheterization, or occurs as a complication of bacterial endocarditis. We report the case of a 65-year-old woman with a history of retinal artery occlusion and severe aortic valve stenosis, in whom transesophageal echocardiography revealed a mobile mass attached to the ventricular surface of the aortic valve. There was no evidence of any hypercoagulable state or infection process. Surgery was performed and a severely stenotic valve resected; a partially organized and firmly adherent free-floating thrombotic mass was observed on the ventricular surface of the aortic valve. Histologic examination demonstrated an organized thrombus. Eleven months after surgery the patient is doing well.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
7/267. Echocardiographic features of an unusual case of aortic valve endocarditis.In a patient with aortic valve endocarditis a myocardial abscess, complete heart block and acute aortic regurgitation developed. echocardiography gave evidence of large aortic valve vegetations, and at operation vegetations were found to have destroyed the right coronary cusp and part of the noncoronary cusp. Following surgery the patient recovered. echocardiography may prove to be a useful noninvasive technique to aid in the timing of surgical therapy in patients with valvular vegetations.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
8/267. Localized intraoperative cardiac tamponade.A 65-year-old lady had undergone mitral and aortic valve replacement following an open mitral valvotomy and aortic valve exploration 5 years earlier. At reoperation, following sternotomy, extensive adhesions were encountered and it was decided to perform minimal dissection of the heart. Both the aortic and mitral valves were replaced using 23 mm and 29 mm St. Jude bileaflet valves, respectively. At the end of the procedure it was difficult to wean the patient off bypass as her mean arterial pressure dropped and the heart became dilated. It was found that a tamponade had developed, as a result of bleeding from the vent site in the pulmonary artery, and dissected a plane between the heart and the adherent pericardium. Her condition improved dramatically as the tamponade was released and she came off cardiopulmonary bypass with no inotropic support.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 3keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
9/267. staphylococcus capitis endocarditis: two cases and review of the literature.coagulase negative staphylococci are the principal cause of prosthetic valve endocarditis but are a rare cause of native valve infections. However, the incidence of native valve endocarditis is increasing. staphylococcus capitis is a coagulase negative staphylococcus with the capacity to cause endocarditis on native heart valves. Two cases of native valve endocarditis caused by S capitis are presented; both in patients with aortic valve disease. The patients were cured with prolonged intravenous vancomycin and rifampicin and did not need surgery during the acute phase of the illness. Five of the six previously described cases of endocarditis caused by this organism occurred on native valves and responded to medical treatment alone.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 1keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
10/267. Whipple's disease presenting as sarcoidosis and valvular heart disease.Whipple's disease is a rare systemic disorder that can present in a variety of ways and is often difficult to diagnose. It can involve almost any organ system and can mimic other diseases both in its symptoms and pathologic appearance. We present a case initially diagnosed as sarcoidosis that was found to be Whipple's disease after pathologic examination of the patient's mitral and aortic valves.- - - - - - - - - - ranking = 4keywords = heart (Clic here for more details about this article) |
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