Before 1955 blunt traumatic ruptures of the heart and pericardium were reported almost exclusively in autopsy reports. Since then, because of improved prehospital care and early triage, it has been demonstrated that injuries resulting in rupture of the heart and pericardium are no longer always fatal. We present a case of a patient who arrived at the hospital with increasing abdominal girth and...

Solitary fibrous tumour (SFT) occurs most commonly in the pleura and is extremely rare in the pericardium. The authors report a case of a 60-year-old man in whom a large mediastinal mass was accidentally discovered. Computed tomography showed involvement of the left anterosuperior mediastinum with displacement of the trachea, large vessels and oesophagus; histopathological findings after comple...

INTRODUCTION Heart perforation is a rare complication of pacemaker (PM)/implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) implantation. MATERIAL AND METHODS In our clinic in 2005-2010, 6 patients with heart perforation were hospitalized (3 women, 3 men), mean age 58.6 ±20.8 years (17 to 73 years). The indication to PM/ICD implantation was tachy-brady syndrome in 3 cases, second-degree atrioventric...

OBJECTIVE To determine cardiac manifestations in primary Sjögren's syndrome (SS). METHODS Echocardiographic examination was undertaken in 64 patients (62 women, two men) with primary SS (54 definite (DSS) and 10 probable (PSS)) who had systemic symptoms. Twenty one healthy women volunteers of similar age acted as controls. RESULTS Acute exudative pericarditis occurred in only one patient. A...

Pericardium is a biomaterial widely used for covering the outflow tubes of glaucoma drainage devices. Recently, glycerol preserved cornea has been introduced as an alternative that offers durability and improved cosmesis because of its clarity. We retrospectively reviewed 262 patients in the University of Alabama Birmingham Glaucoma Service who underwent shunt procedures using either cornea tis...

We studied the effects of the right ventricle (RV) and pericardium on left ventricular (LV) diastolic pressure-volume (P-V) relations in the normothermic isolated blood-perfused dog heart. Studies were performed at a constant heart rate (atrial pacing at 120 beats/min) with a coronary perfusion pressure of 100 mm Hg. LV volume was directly controlled by an intraventricular balloon, whereas RV f...