Primary cardiac leiomyosarcomas of the heart are rare tumors usually diagnosed post-mortem. Like other sarcomas located in the heart, it causes symptoms by obstruction or occlusion of cardiac cavities, local invasion, embolization or by systemic manifestations. We present an unusual case of a previously healthy young female patient who was accidentally diagnosed with a cardiac tumor of unknown ...

The decision to stop or continue resuscitation in a patient with blunt trauma and cardiac arrest arriving pulseless to the hospital has always been controversial. While many authors still believe that it is a futile effort, with no chance of success for complete neurological recovery, some recent reports have challenged the idea. Here we report complete recovery of a severely injured patient fo...

Left atrial myxomas are the most common type of benign primary cardiac tumor. Patients can present with generalized symptoms, such as fatigue, symptoms from obstruction of the myxoma, or even embolization of the myxoma causing distal thrombosis. We describe a case with several-month duration of syncopal episodes that occurred after coughing and with exertion. Computed tomography of the chest sh...

A50-year-old woman was admitted for a mild left hemispheric stroke with right-sided hemiparesis and motor aphasia. In the previous 3 months, she had suffered from several transient ischemic attacks in all cerebrovascular territories, as revealed by MRI, which was suggestive of recurrent cardiac embolization. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed an atrial septum aneurysm; spiral computed to...

OBJECTIVES This study aims to assess the mid- to long-term follow-up of patients after valve embolization at the time of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). BACKGROUND Transcatheter heart valve (THV) embolization is a rare but serious complication during TAVI. Although various techniques have been developed to manage acute complications and reduce periprocedural morbidity/mortalit...

Coronary artery fistulae (CAF) represent the most frequent congenital anomalies influencing hemodynamic parameters of coronary arteries. However, CAF complicated with a huge aneurysm does not frequently occur. Determining the optimal management of symptomatic patients with CAF and aneurysm still remains a challenging problem, and has been traditionally considered as an indication for cardiac su...

Bronchiectasis is characterized by the abnormal and permanent dilatation of bronchi. Clinical manifestations of bronchiectasis include persistent or recurrent cough, purulent sputum, hemosputum, and hemoptysis. A 75-year-old man with bronchiectasis required coronary bypass grafting for unstable angina pectoris with severe stenosis of the left main trunk. Computed tomography showed fistulae betw...

We describe 2 children with cerebrovascular events caused by emboli from left atrial myxomas and review 7 other pediatric cases from the literature. Transient cutaneous eruptions involving the extremities preceded the cerebrovascular events and were most likely attributable to fragmentation of the atrial tumor with peripheral embolization. Our first case demonstrates the more common presentatio...

Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Boramae Hospital Received June 24, 2006 ; Accepted November 17, 2006 Address reprint requests to : Young Ho Choi, M.D., Department of Radiology, Seoul National University Boramae Hospital 425 Shindaebang-2-dong, Dongjak-gu, Seoul 156-707, Korea Tel. 82-2-840-2671 Fax. 82-2-831-2826 E-mail: [email protected] Purpose: Various embolic age...

Cardiac calcified amorphous tumor (CAT) is an extremely rare benign intracavitary tumor of the heart. It may mimic other cardiac tumors and can present with signs or symptoms of systemic embolization. There are limited data regarding CAT in the literature. We report a case of a 68-year-old woman with a cardiac CAT and mitral annular calcification (MAC), who presented with acute ST-elevation myo...