M Morjaria | PubMed Health

PubMed1980

Left ventricular function in sickle cell anemia: a noninvasive evaluation.

There is controversy in the medical literature regarding the significance of "sickle cell cardiomyopathy." In an attempt to clarify this, we studied 14 patients with sickle cell anemia (age range 16 to 36 years) using simultaneous echocardiography and phonocardiography. The values of systolic time intervals and echocardiographic indices of left ventricular performance were similar to those reported for normal subjects and those with comparable degrees of anemia. We confirm a previous report of normal left ventricular function at rest in patients with sickle cell anemia and concur with the suggestion that a concomitant heart disease be considered in these patients when cardiac failure supervenes.

Adolescent↗

PubMed1979

Right-sided infective endocarditis: an echocardiographic study.

Echocardiographic observations are described in 10 patients with right-sided bacterial endocarditis. Six of the nine patients with tricuspid regurgitation had shaggy echoes on the tricuspid valve, which were confirmed to be vegetations on autopsy in two patients. In six patients, right ventricular dilatation was present, and paradoxic septal motion was seen in four. In one of the patients with pulmonic valve endocarditis, the pulmonic valve and right ventricular outflow tract revealed the shaggy echoes in diastole, along with systolic fluttering of the pulmonic valve, right ventricular dilatation and paradoxic septal motion. When the findings are supplemented to the clinical picture, echocardiography is found to be a useful noninvasive adjunct in the diagnosis of acute vegetative bacterial endocarditis involving the right side of the heart, especially if other clinical features, e.g., fever, leukocytosis and positive blood cultures are absent.

Adult↗