Lead-dependent infective endocarditis (LDIE) has emerged as a serious complication of electrotherapy in the era of advanced medical technology and is a growing problem due to greater patient longevity, limited electrode life-time, an increasing number of abandoned leads, and subclinical symptoms. We present a case of dramatic course of LDIE in a 26 year-old patient in whom standard management h...

A 12-lead ECG was obtained from a 59-year-old man experiencing chest pain on his first postoperative day following a triple-vessel coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). Is this a single-lead ischaemia? (Fig. 1). The ST-segment elevation in V6 does not represent ischaemia. In fact, lead V6 was inadvertently connected to an epicardial pacing wire, recording a unipolar signal (Fig. 2). www.elsevier...

At the 2011 European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery (EACTS) meeting in Lisbon, the chairman, Juan Comas was able to thank the past chairman (Fig. 1) for developing the congenital domain and organising the annual meetings and education programmes. Since the inception of the congenital domain, there has been increasing involvement of the domain with the Association of European Paediatric...

Comprehensive information on the characteristics of surgical heart valves (SHVs) is essential for optimal valve selection. Such also important in assessing SHV function after replacement. Despite existing regulatory framework sizing and labelling, this challenging to obtain a uniform manner various SHVs. To ensure that clinicians are adequately informed, European Association Cardio-Thoracic Sur...

Radical mastectomy is routinely performed under general anaesthesia, but geriatric patients with compromised cardio-pulmonary function are at increased risk of morbidity and mortality. We report successful perioperative management of radical mastectomy with sole paravertebral block in a 92 years old female with compromised cardio-pulmonary function and kyphoscoliotic spine. Single needle thorac...