introduction: infective endocarditis is well known to produce neurologic complications from septic emboli, which mandates a multidisciplinary approach between neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. however, literature is not clear as to the optimal interval length between neurosurgery and cardiac surgery.presentation of cases: the first case involves a 60-year-old woman with significant past medical...

BACKGROUND To quantify mitral regurgitation (MR) with CMR, the regurgitant volume can be calculated as the difference between the left ventricular (LV) stroke volume (SV) measured with the Simpson's method and the reference SV, i.e. the right ventricular SV (RVSV) in patients without tricuspid regurgitation. However, for patients with prominent mitral valve prolapse (MVP), the Simpson's method ...

BACKGROUND Little is known about the pathophysiology of myxomatous degeneration of the mitral valve, the pathological hallmark of mitral valve prolapse, associated with symptomatic mitral regurgitation, heart failure, and death. Excess transforming growth factor (TGF)-β signaling is known to cause mitral valve degeneration and regurgitation in a mouse model of Marfan syndrome. We examined if TG...

Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome (mucopolysaccharidosis type VI) is a rare lysosomal storage disorder in which the pathologic storage of glycosaminoglycans in various tissues can lead to severe symptoms, including cardiomyopathy. We report on a child with Maroteaux-Lamy syndrome whose cardiac condition deteriorated and eventually led to cardiac failure at the age of 7 years due to severe mitral regurgit...

The pathogenesis of the floppy valve syndrome is not fully solved. An almost invariable histological finding is the great accumulation of mucinous material in the valve leaflets and constitutes the basis of the valvular theory of the syndrome. The presence of a mucinous layer in normal valves-- the zona spongiosa--is not well recognised. To establish the normal range of the extent of this zone,...

Between 1980 and 1993, 20 patients less than 1 year of age underwent operations for congenital mitral valve disease. Ten patients had congenital mitral incompetence and 10 had congenital mitral stenosis. Mean age was 6.6 +/- 3.4 months and mean weight was 5.6 +/- 1.5 kg. Atrioventricular canal defects, univentricular heart, class III/IV hypoplastic left heart syndrome, discordant atrioventricul...

In patients with mitral valve prolapse syndrome various disturbances of cardiac rhythm can be observed such as atrial arrhythmias, ventricular tachycardias and conduction disturbances. Of timely interest are the questions of which etiology is at the basis of the arrhythmias, what is their relevance with respect to sudden cardiac death, what are the indications for treatment and which therapeuti...

Echocardiography was used to evaluate mitral and tricuspid valve closure in patients 1 day to 20 years of age. When possible, simultaneous phonocardiograms were obtained. The difference in time between the Q wave of the electrocardiogram and mitral closure and between Q and tricuspid closure was designated the delta value (A). Four groups of patients were assessed: 1) normals (40), secundum atr...

Cardiac involvement is well recognised in most forms of the mucopolysaccharidoses but there is poor documentation of abnormalities specific to Morquio's syndrome (type IV mucopolysaccharidosis). Ten patients with the classic form or type A Morquio's syndrome with a median age of 12.5 years underwent echocardiographic assessment. Abnormalities were detected in six (60%) cases with mitral valve i...