Cardiac prostaglandin release was studied in closed-chest dogs during acute coronary occlusion. Aortic and coronary sinus blood was obtained before, and at intervals after, balloon occlusion of the left anterior descending artery in seven dogs. Samples were assayed for prostaglandins F, E, and A by randioimmunoassay. All dogs demonstrated prostaglandin F release, Mean +/- SE postocclusion aorti...

Aneurysmal circumflex coronary artery fistula connected to the coronary sinus is a rare clinical entity that usually remains asymptomatic until later in life. The timing of surgical treatment for asymptomatic patients is crucial. The decision to leave or exclude the aneurysmatic coronary artery following ligation of the fistula is controversial. Herein, we report the successful management of a ...

BACKGROUND Radiofrequency catheter ablation of left-sided accessory pathways is becoming the first line of therapy for patients with symptomatic Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome. Nevertheless, alternative ablation techniques merit development, at least as supplementary modalities for cases in which conventional ablation approaches may prove unsuccessful. We recently reported the short-term result...

Bicuspid aortic valve is traditionally considered an innocuous congenital anomaly. Due to a better and widespread availability of non-invasive imaging techniques, it has come to the fore that 30% of these cases develop complications, viz., valve abnormality (aortic regurgitation and stenosis), and aneurysm of aortic root and ascending aorta. Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm is an uncommon complicatio...

Coronary artery fistula is a rare organic heart disease. Its incidence rate is approximately 0.002%. Right coronary artery (RCA)–coronary sinus fistula is rare and most likely accounts for 7% of all coronary artery fistulas (1, 2). Most patients may present with chest pain, palpitations, syncope, and a continuous murmur at the precordium, accompanied by local thrill or a systolic and diastolic ...

Retrograde coronary sinus perfusion to maintain viability during cardiac surgery means that a connection via the capillary system to the coronary arteries, and potentially bypass grafts, may be possible. Coronary sinus (CS) venography prior to resynchronisation therapy in this patient with previous bypass grafting was associated with visualisation of these grafts.

A 45-year-old male with no significant medical history or risk factors for coronary disease presented with a 1-year history of intermittent, exertional chest pain radiating to the neck. Physical examination was unremarkable. An EKG was normal. A chest X-ray, however, revealed a 4-cm round focus with peripheral calcification overlying the left side of the heart. A computed tomography (CT) of the...

Effects of H1-receptor stimulation on coronary arterial diameter and coronary hemodynamics were examined in 11 patients with angiographically normal coronary arteries and without variant angina or resting angina. Selective H1-receptor stimulation was achieved by infusing histamine into the left coronary artery at a rate of 2.0 micrograms/min for 5 minutes after pretreatment with cimetidine (25 ...

The images presented here are from a 44-year-old asymptomatic man. At age 36 years, he experienced nonsustained atrial fibrillation. A year later, a transthoracic echocardiogram disclosed an enlarged left ventricle (diastolic dimension, 7.4 cm; ejection fraction, 56%) and a very large coronary sinus with Doppler color flow evidence of diastolic and systolic turbulence consistent with entry of a...