Surgical embolectomy is widely used to treat massive or submassive pulmonary thromboembolism and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension [1]-[3]. However, recently a new minimally invasive transvenous approach to clot evacuation using the AngioVac aspiration system (Vortex Medical, Norwell, Massachusetts) such as AngioVac aspiration system has been successfully used for retrieval of right...

To the Editor: Anaplasmosis is a disease caused by bacteria of the genus Anaplasma. A. marginale, A. centrale, A. phagocytophilum, A. ovis, A. bovis, and A. platys are obligate intracellular bacteria that infect vertebrate and invertebrate host cells. A. ovis, which is transmitted primarily by Rhipicepha-lus bursa ticks, is an intraerythrocytic rickettsial pathogen of sheep, goats, and wild rum...

To the Editor: A 48-yr-old man with a persistent left bronchopleurocutaneous fistula (BPCF) and empyema thoracis following pneumonectomy presented for bronchial stump closure and left thoracoplasty. The patient refused any attempts at awake intubation. He was placed in semi-recumbent position with the left side down after topicalization and mask induction. Right-sided double-lumen tube (DLT) pl...

To cite: Padmanabhan C, Jagannathan R, Talluri K, et al. BMJ Innov Published Online First: [please include Day Month Year] doi:10.1136/bmjinnov-2016000115 ABSTRACT Background Heart failure is frequently associated with severely impaired ventricular function and manifests often with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR). This is a complex syndrome that is primarily due to abnormal function of th...

A 4-yr-old female was referred by her general practitioner with history of recurrent cough of 18 months duration. The cough was predominantly nocturnal with no associated wheeze, fever or systemic symptoms and no symptoms of gastrooesophageal reflux. There were no exercise-induced symptoms. Asthma was suspected and she had been treated with inhaled salbutamol with no significant improvement in ...

This pocket guide on perioperative echocardiography discusses various issues on echocardiography and Doppler imaging, a diagnostic and monitoring technique that is used increasingly in the perioperative and intensive care unit setting. The setup of the pocket guide is clear and straightforward. The sequence of the different topics is built up logically and step by step. Each chapter begins with...

Isolated congenital left ventricular diverticulum is a rare congenital heart malformation with an incidence ranging from 0.05% to 0.4%[1]. This lesion was defined by a protrusion of the threelayer left ventricular free walls, and was first described in 1838[1]. Multiple clinical phenotypes were presented in literature, such as chest pain, arrhythmia, systemic embolisation, valve regurgitation, ...

Myocardial noncompaction, namly isolated noncompaction of the left ventricular myocardium (NVM), is a rare congenital disease. It can be either seen in the absence of other cardiac anomalies, or associated with other congenital cardiac defects, mostly stenotic lesions of the left ventricular outflow tract. A myocardial bridge (MB) is thought being associated with coronary heart disease, such as...

Results During the five year period 1244 echocardiographs were recorded, 242 (19. 5%) of which had a structural cardiac defect. The most common defects were AVSD (n=36), VSD (n=26), transpositions (n=15), Hypoplastic Left Heart (n=27)and valvular defects (n=30). Abnormal anatomy scan was the best indicator for detecting the presence of cardiac defects, compared to all other indications (p<0. 00...