Twelve cyclists and 12 long distance runners matched for age, height, and weight with two control groups of 12 non-athletes were studied echocardiographically to evaluate cardiac structure and function. Runners weighed 8 kg less than cyclists, but age and height were similar. Peak oxygen uptake per kg body weight was higher in athletes than in the control subjects but was similar in the cyclist...

prone to CHD than would be expected if activity had no influence." The absence of a gradient by physical activity is all the more telling because the incidence of coronary heart disease among these men is extremely high, in keeping with much other evidence from Finland, despite the fact that most did heavy physical work. Karvonen says: "Interviews at the entry examinations showed that 71% of th...

The echocardiographic findings from six patients with ruptured chordae tendineae from the posterial mitral valve leaflet and three with ruptured chordae from the anterior leaflet are reported; in all cases the diagnosis was later proven by openheart surgery. The constellation of echocardiographic findings suggesting iruptured chordae tendineae to the posterior leaflet are: (1) The appearance of...

quadricuspid aortic valve (qav) is an uncommon congenital anomaly which was an incidental finding during surgery or autopsy in the past. we present the case of a 44-year-old woman with moderately severe aortic regurgitation due to unequal cusp size qav diagnosed via transesophageal echocardiography. due to echocardiographic imaging improvement, the diagnosis of qav is now easier and earlier tha...

prone to CHD than would be expected if activity had no influence." The absence of a gradient by physical activity is all the more telling because the incidence of coronary heart disease among these men is extremely high, in keeping with much other evidence from Finland, despite the fact that most did heavy physical work. Karvonen says: "Interviews at the entry examinations showed that 71% of th...

The time course of left ventricular (LV) circumferential stress and fiber shortening velocity (VCF) were determined at 20 msec intervals in 30 patients from simultaneous recordings of LV pressure (micromanometer) and LV dimensions (echography). In 12 patients with normal LV function, endocardial and midwall maximal (max) VCF, VCF at peak stress, and endocardial mean VCF were significantly great...

Forty-seven echocardiograms were obtained in 32 patients with bacterial endocarditis. Preexistent abnormalities were found in 14 patients. In five of them thought to have bacterial endocarditis on normal valves, echocardiography showed mitral stenosis (one), bicuspid aortic valve (two), and prolapse of mitral valve (two). Definite vegetations were seen in 22 patients on the aortic valve in seve...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a clinical condition characterized by elevated vascular resistance, associated with a poor prognosis and usually diagnosed in late stage. Echocardiographic assessment of PAH includes early disease detection and functional heart evaluation, in order to introduce a more accurate surveillance at an early stage of the disease and to contribute to prognostic ...

We thank Drs Tsang and Seward for their interesting comments. The Mayo Clinic’s important experience in echoguided pericardiocentesis was cited in our paper. However, the approach we described is technically different. In Europe, the Marfan’s approach, or subxiphoid puncture proposed by Marfan, is routinely used in cardiac tamponade, in which a swinging heart is frequently present. The most com...

Andrew Maslow MD Department of Anesthesiology Rhode Island Hospital, Providence Rhode Island Introduction Cardiomyopathy is generally defined as a “disease of the myocardium associated with cardiac dysfunction”. 1 Primary cardiomyopathies are divided into three major classifications: a) dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM), b) hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), and c) restrictive (or infiltrative) card...