Biomedical subjects

Asha Mahilmaran

Publications and source records attributed to Asha Mahilmaran.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2003

Familial cardiac myxoma: Carney's complex.

We report a case of Carney's complex in a 12-year-old boy who had the characteristic features of multiple cutaneous tumors, pigmentation, and biatrial myxoma. His large right atrial myxoma almost occluded the tricuspid valve and presented a life-threatening emergency. Surgery saved his life, but recurrence of myxoma was noted on follow-up. The familial nature of the condition is highlighted by the case of the patient's 44-year-old mother, who also presented with features of Carney's complex: multiple cutaneous tumors and a tiny, asymptomatic, left atrial myxoma, which was detected during routine echocardiographic screening.

Child↗

PubMed2002

Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm caused by coronary spasm, myocardial infarction, and myocardial rupture.

We report a very rare case of a 47-year-old man who had coronary spasm that resulted in a silent myocardial infarction, a ruptured myocardial wall, and a nonruptured left ventricular pseudoaneurysm. The patient presented with a 6-month history of dyspnea on exertion, without evidence of fixed coronary artery stenosis. Coronary angiography showed severe coronary spasm of the left anterior descending and left circumflex arteries; the spasm was relieved promptly by nitroglycerin. Echocardiography and left ventricular angiography revealed the large left ventricular pseudoaneurysm posterolateral to the left ventricle. We performed surgical resection of the pseudoaneurysm and patch repair of the ruptured left ventricular wall, with excellent results. We present this case because of the highly unusual sequence of events. Early surgical intervention resulted in the patient's recovery.

Coronary Vasospasm↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Relationship of left atrial appendage function to left ventricular function.

BACKGROUND: The study was conducted to evaluate the relationship of left atrial appendage function to left ventricular function and to analyze, if left ventricular dysfunction predisposed to left atrial appendage thrombus formation even in the presence of sinus rhythm. METHODS AND RESULTS: The study was conducted in 78 patients with a mean age of 53+/-8.5 years, all of whom were in sinus rhythm. Transesophageal echocardiography was performed to record the left atrial appendage emptying and filling velocity and to look for the presence of spontaneous echo contrast and thrombus. Patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction (Group I--left ventricular ejection fraction < 35%) and patients with moderate left ventricular dysfunction (Group II--left ventricular ejection fraction 35-45%) had lower left atrial appendage emptying velocity (33.6+/-16 and 39.7+/-19.5 cm/s, respectively) and filling velocity (41+/-14.7 and 41+/-17 cm/s, respectively) when compared to patients with preserved systolic function (Group II--left ventricular ejection fraction >45%), who had emptying and filling velocity of 55+/-16 and 56+/-15 cm/s, respectively (p <0.05). Twelve out of 32 (38%) patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction (Group I) and 7 out of 25 (28%) patients with moderate left ventricular dysfunction (Group II) had presence of left atrial appendage thrombus as compared to none of the patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (Group III) (p <0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with left ventricular dysfunction also had left atrial appendage dysfunction as evidenced by lower emptying and filling velocities and had increased incidence of thrombus formation.

Atrial Appendage↗