A routine abdominal sonography study detected a round mass in the right atrium of a 66-year-old man, who was then transferred to our hospital for further evaluation. On physical examination, the patient appeared healthy, with no signs of discomfort or heart failure. Cardiac auscultation revealed normal heart sounds with a mild respiratory-dependant systolic murmur at the apex. Laboratory studie...

Atrial septal defect (ASD) is one of the most common types congenital heart defects. Percutaneous closure ASD relatively safe and accepted as an alternative to surgery. However, device-related complications can occur rarely. Embolization Amplatzer atrial occluder (ASO) major complication percutaneous device closure. The author presents a case early embolization ASO into left atrium, which remov...

Noradrenaline uptake was studied using heart muscle from 102 patients undergoing cardiac surgery. Slices of right atrium were incubated in Krebs-Henseleit solution containing 1.3 x 10(-7) M 3H-noradrenaline. Uptake was lower in failing heart muscle and was inhibited not only by increasing the noradrenaline concentration in the incubating medium but also by adding the drugs desmethylimipramine, ...

Voltage-dependent sodium (Na(+)) channels are heterogeneously distributed through the pacemaker of the heart, the sinoatrial node (SA node). The measured sodium channel current (i(Na)) density is higher in the periphery but low or zero in the center of the SA node. The functional roles of i(Na) in initiation and conduction of cardiac pacemaker activity remain uncertain. We evaluated the functio...

In the embryonic heart, the primitive atrium is considered to receive the bilateral sinus horns including the upper terminal of the inferior vena cava (IVC). To reveal topographical anatomy of the embryonic venous pole of the heart, we examined horizontal serial paraffin sections of 15 human embryos with crown-rump length 9-31 mm, corresponding to a gestational age of 6-7 weeks or Carnegie stag...

Cardiac myxomas are the most common neoplasms of the heart. They can be located in any chamber of the heart but frequently in the left atrium. In this report we present a patient who had been treated for a right ventricular myxoma originating from the interventricular septum and leading to right ventricular outflow tract obstruction.

Introduction Congenital heart block (CHB) has long been associated with maternal anti-SSA/Ro antibodies. Injury to the conduction system is presumed to be a consequence of the transplacental passage of maternal IgG autoantibodies into the fetal circulation. Within the heart, a spectrum of phenotypes has been described, including structural defects, functional abnormalities, and electrical distu...

A rare presentation with rapidly progressive right heart failure due to tricuspid inflow obstruction (simulating right-sided valvular heart disease) caused by a non-coronary cusp sinus of Valsalva aneurysm with small perforation is reported. The aneurysm was causing ball valve obstruction at the tricuspid valve, leading to dilated right atrium and back pressure changes which were relieved after...