Increasing importance of Doppler echocardiography.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to H Feigenbaum.
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Abnormal motion of the interventricular septum has been described as an echocardiographic feature of both right ventricular volume and pressure overload. To determine if two-dimensional echocardiography can separate these two entities and distinguish them from normal, geometry and motion of the interventricular septum in short-axis views of the left ventricle were evaluated in 12 normal subjects and 35 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization. Thirteen of the 35 patients had uncomplicated atrial septal defect with associated right ventricular volume overload, but no elevation in pulmonary artery pressure. The 22 remaining patients had a pulmonary artery systolic pressure greater than 40 mm Hg and, thus, constituted the group with right ventricular pressure overload. An eccentricity index, defined as the ratio of the length of two perpendicular minor-axis diameters, one of which bisected and was perpendicular to the interventricular septum, was obtained at end-systole and end-diastole. In all normal subjects, the eccentricity index at both end-systole and end-diastole was essentially 1.0, as would be expected if the left ventricular cavity was circular in the short-axis view. In patients with right ventricular volume overload, the eccentricity index was approximately 1.0 at end-systole, but was significantly increased at end-diastole (mean eccentricity index = 1.26 +/- 0.12) (p less than 0.001). In patients with right ventricular pressure overload, the eccentricity index was significantly greater than 1.0 at both end-systole and end-diastole (1.44 +/- 0.16 and 1.26 +/- 0.11, respectively) (p less than 0.001). These results suggest that an index of eccentric left ventricular shape which reflects abnormal motion of the interventricular septum can be defined.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
Transient hypoxemia is not uncommon after major cardiac or thoracic surgery. The differential diagnosis includes atelectasis, pulmonary embolus, pneumonitis, congestive heart failure and several other diverse cardiovascular and pulmonary problems. Less well recognized is transient right to left intracardiac shunting through a patient foramen ovale or previously unsuspected atrial septal defect. Three cases of clinically important hypoxemia associated with right to left shunting after aortocoronary bypass surgery are presented. The right to left shunting was documented with contrast-enhanced echocardiography, which is a simple, inexpensive and accurate means of screening patients for intracardiac right to left shunts and may play a valuable role in the postoperative management of patients.
Deep venous thrombosis may result in the clinical syndrome of pulmonary embolus. In rare instances, embolization has occurred, not directly to the pulmonary arterial tree, but to the right atrium or right ventricle. We report herein two cases of right atrial thromboembolization detected by two-dimensional echocardiography, and we review recently reported similar cases. The echocardiographic appearance of right-sided cardiac thromboembolism may be unique and allow precise noninvasive diagnosis. Mortality was five of five in patients receiving no specific therapy, four of eight in medically treated patients, and one of seven in surgically treated patients. From this review, it appears that there is a high mortality associated with this entity, which may be improved by rapid recognition and institution of specific therapy with anticoagulants, thrombolytic agents, or surgery. In select patients with low surgical risk, prompt exploration and removal of the mass may be indicated.
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Serial M mode and cross-sectional echocardiograms were obtained from six patients who had been treated with antibiotic drugs for infectious endocarditis. Three to six M mode echocardiograms and one to six cross-sectional echocardiograms were obtained from each patient over a follow-up period averaging 50 weeks (range 10 to 108 weeks). On echocardiography, vegetations were observed to have become smaller and more echo-reflective with healing. A dramatic change was seen in two patients after peripheral embolization. M mode echocardiography was particularly helpful in determining the quality of echo reflection by vegetations; cross-sectional echocardiography was more helpful in judging the size and shape of a vegetation. Echocardiography is ideally suited for the serial visualization of healing vegetations in patients who do not require early valve replacement. It may prove helpful to examine serially valve vegetations with both M mode and cross-sectional echocardiography when following up patients with infectious endocarditis treated with antibiotic agents.
In a patient with idiopathic dilatation of the pulmonary artery the pulmonary valve echogram showed a prominent mid systolic closing motion or notching indistinguishable from that seen in pulmonary hypertension. Normal right ventricular and pulmonary arterial pressures were recorded simultaneously with echocardiograms of the pulmonary valve.
Cross-sectional echocardiographic (CSE) studies were obtained in 29 children with tetralogy of Fallot. In this study we evaluated the capability of CSE to record the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) and compared the severity of infundibular obstruction determined by CSE with cineangiographic (cine) determinations. In addition, we examined capabilities of CSE and M-mode echocardiography (M-mode) to record the diagnostic features of tetralogy of Fallot, including RVOT obstruction, aortic overriding, ventricular septal defect, and presence of the pulmonary valve. An excellent correlation (r = 0.925) was found for the combined pre- and post-repair patients studied by CSE vs cine, while the correlation (r = 0.805) for M-mode was not as good. The difference was even more striking for the unrepaired patients, in which the correlation (r = 0.746) for CSE was much better than for M-mode (r = 0.374). In the unrepaired patients, CSE allowed easier detection of the ventricular septal defect than M-mode (95% for CSE vs 76% for M-mode). The pulmonary valve was recorded in 90% by CSE, but in only 26% by M-mode. Aortic overriding was recorded in all unrepaired patients both by CSE and M-mode. These data indicate that CSE is better than M-mode for recording the RVOT dimensions, ventricular septal defect, and the pulmonary valve in unrepaired patients with tetralogy of Fallot.
We examined the long-term effects of closed instrumental mitral commissurotomy on mitral valve area (MVA) in 18 patients, followed for as long as 14 years after successful operation. Each patient had preoperative and early postoperative cardiac catheterization; late postoperative determination of MVA was obtained 10-14 years (mean 12.2 years) after commissurotomy. In 17 patients, the MVA was determined by cross-sectional echocardiography and in one patient by repeat cardiac catheterization. Thirteen of 18 patients had no change in MVA between early postoperative study (mean MVA = 2.7 cm2) and late postoperative study (mean MVA = 2.9 CM2). MVA in five patients decreased 0.7-2.2 cm2 (mean 1.4 cm2) during the follow-up period. In these five patients, the mean MVA at early postoperative study was 2.7 cm2 and at late postoperative study was 1.3 cm2 (p less than 0.001). At late postoperative evaluation, cardiac symptoms were associated with severity of mitral stenosis but did not predict restenosis. A successful, closed, instrumental mitral commisurotomy can provide substantial long-term improvement in MVA.
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Cross-sectional and M-mode echocardiograms were performed on 23 consecutive patients with infective endocarditis. Both M-mode and cross-sectional echocardiography identified vegetations in 18 patients, 10 of whom required valve replacement within 1 month of presentation. Cross-sectional echocardiography alone identified a vegetation in one patient with a prosthetic valve. Neither technique identified vegetations in five instances. The size and shape of a vegetation on cross-sectional echocardiography did not accurately predict the need for early valve replacement of the incidence of major peripheral emboli.
We performed cross-sectional echocardiograms at rest, during supine bicycle exercise, and after sublingual nitroglycerin administration in 28 patients suspected of having ischemic heart disease. Technically adequate exercise cross-sectional echocardiograms were obtained in 20 patients (71%). Ten patients had new areas of reversible segmental dysynergy, and all 10 had significant stenoses of coronary arteries supplying areas of the heart corresponding to the location of reversible dysynergy. Six of these 10 patients also underwent exercise thallium-201 perfusion scanning, and all six had reversible perfusion defects in the area that demonstrated reversible dysynergy on exercise cross-sectional echocardiography. At least two of the remaining 10 patients who did not have reversible segmental dysynergy on exercise cross-sectional echocardiography probably experienced myocardial ischemia that we did not detect. We conclude that exercise cross-sectional echocardiography is technically difficult but feasible. The mechanical consequences of exercise-induced regional myocardial ischemia can be detected noninvasively by real-time, two-dimensional, cross-sectional echocardiography.
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Wall thicknesses were measured and echo densities were evaluated from the left ventricular echograms of 182 patients. The echogram was considered to reflect scar tissue when 1) either the interventricular septum, the posterior left ventricular wall or the anterior left ventricular wall was less than 7 mm thick in mid-diastole and was more echo-producing than its opposing wall or another area of the same wall in a sector scan, or 2) an area of myocardium was 30% less thick than an adjacent area within a sector scan. Myocardial scarring was diagnosed by echocardiography in 52 of the 182 patients. The echocardiographic presence or absence of scarring was confirmed in 95% (173 of 182) of cases, 34 cases by microscopic examination and 139 by surgical appearance. This study shows that M-mode echocardiography is both a sensitive and specfic method for detecting myocardial scar tissue.
Cross-sectional echocardiographic and cineangiographic studies of the left ventricular outflow tract and ascending aorta were performed in five patients with supravalvular aortic stenosis (four hourglass and one hypoplastic). Visualization of the area of obstruction was possible in each patient using the cross-sectional system. In each case the echocardiographically determined diameter at the level of obstruction was within 3 mm of the similar angiographic value. Assessment of the extent of the lesion was possible in four of five cases. In three of these four cases the echocardiographic measurement was within 5 mm of the angiographic measurement while in the fourth the obstruction was felt to involve the total ascending aorta by both techniques. Determination of percent decrease in LVOT diameter from the aortic anulus to the level of obstruction was useful in defining obstruction and estimating severity. Cross-sectional echocardiography is a valuable noninvasive method for evaluating the ascending aorta in patients with supravalvular aortic stenosis.
Cross-sectional echocardiographic studies of the aortic arch and proximal descending aorta were performed in 18 patients with coarctation of the aorta and 20 normal subjects. In normals the aortic arch and proximal descending aorta appeared as an arcuate, echo-free structure curving across the plane of the scan. There were no localized changes in aortic diameter and the amplitude of aortic systolic pulsation was symmetrically maintained throughout the scan plane. Visualization of this region was possible in 16 of 18 patients with coarctation. In each of these cases there was a localized area of decrease in aortic diameter in the region of the left subclavian artery which corresponded to the angiographic appearance of the coarctation. In addition prominent systolic pulsation of the aortic arch proximal to the region of obstruction was evident. Cross-sectional echocardiography may offer a useful noninvasive method for direct visualization of aortic coarctation.