Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common cardiac disorder associated with sudden cardiac death, characterised by an unexplained increase in left ventricular wall thickness or mass. The prevalence is about one in 500 of the general population, aff ecting men and women of all ages and ethnic backgrounds who present with ventricular hypertrophy, leftventricular outfl ow tract obstruction, hea...

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The mitral valve is a complex structure composed of the leaflets, annulus, chordae tendineae, and papillary muscles. Competency of the mitral valve is dependent on the proper function of each of these component structures. The pathophysiological triad of mitral regurgitation (MR) was originally described by Carpentier in 1983.1 It included the etiology of the valve lesion, the valve lesion itse...

Mitral incompetence appearing in connexion with acute coronary heart disease without papillary muscle rupture has not received much attention until recently. Castex (1933) presented eight patients with electrocardiographic findings of inferior myocardial infarction and with an apical murmur of mitral incompetence as a distinct clinical syndrome. Nezlin and Shamesova (1951) paid attention to the...

AIMS To evaluate the feasibility of papillary muscle shortening in a specific group of high risk patients with ischaemic mitral regurgitation undergoing mitral valve reconstruction. BACKGROUND From January 1996 to December 1997, 712 (10.1%) out of a total of 7042 open heart patients underwent mitral valve surgery in our hospital. Mitral valve reconstruction was performed in 408 of these patie...

We describe the case of a 59-year-old man who presented with chest pain and ST-segment elevation in the inferior leads, R>S in V1 and ST depression in the anterior leads due to proximal occlusion of the first obtuse marginal. Primary coronary angioplasty and stenting of this artery were performed. Twelve hours later the patient became hemodynamically unstable and severe mitral regurgitation due...

The effects of chronic respiratory failure (hypoxia and hypercapnia) on the contractile properties of cardiac muscle are not established. A study was performed of the isometric contractile properties of isolated papillary muscle removed from rats exposed in a normobaric environmental chamber to 28 days of hypoxia (fractional inspired oxygen (FIO2) 10%, fractional inspired carbon dioxide (FICO2)...