A 58 year old gentleman with complaints of palpitations and documented tachycardia was found to have a dilated right atrium, right ventricle and coronary sinus, which were due to partial unroofed coronary sinus without a left superior vena cava. He had upper septal ventricular tachycardia and atrio-ventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia, which was successfully treated by radiofrequency ablation.

OBJECTIVE Adiponectin, an adipocyte-derived protein, has been suggested to enhance insulin sensitivity and prevent atherosclerosis. Circulating adiponecin levels are reduced in states of insulin resistance such as type 2 diabetes. We examined transcardiac utilization of adiponectin in patients with and without type 2 diabetes. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS A total of 17 male type 2 diabetic pat...

During the routine dissection of a cadaver a left superior vena cava was noticed passing into the coronary sinus. This condition is not uncommon, but further dissection showed that the coronary sinus ended 1 cm. from the wall of the right atrium. Inspection of the right atrium showed no opening for the coronary sinus and the wall between the opening for the inferior vena cava and the tricuspid ...

We were very interested to read the article dealing with therapeutic options in patients with chronic refractory angina pectoris (RAP) signed by Cohen et al. 1 The authors presented an excellent review of the therapeutic options for such ''no-option'' patients suffering from chronic RAP caused by severe symptomatic and chronic coronary artery disease. May we quote Dr. Cohen and colleagues: ''Re...

BACKGROUND AND AIM OF THE STUDY Rupture of the sinus of Valsalva is rare, and there is a higher incidence of such rupture in Oriental countries than elsewhere. The objective of this study is to present the pathologic features and the clinical outcome after surgery in such patients. METHODS Between 1980 and 2001, a total of 17 patients (15 males and 2 females) with ruptured aneurysm of sinus o...

A diverticulum originating from the coronary sinus was diagnosed by echocardiography in a two day old baby with hypoplastic left heart. At necropsy the diverticulum was seen to arise from the coronary sinus and it penetrated the right ventricular posterior wall.

Background. The complement system and arachidonic acid metabolites are involved in severe myocardial ischemia such as myocardial infarction. Furthermore, there is experimental evidence for C5a participationin thromboxane production. Methods and Results. We examined whether C5a and thromboxane are produced during brief and reversible episodes of myocardial ischemia induced in patients with stabl...

The vasodilator 8-bromo-guanosine 3':5'-monophosphate (8-bromo-cGMP) effectively counteracts vasopressin-induced coronary artery constriction in a supported perfused working rabbit heart. In this preparation, the coronary arteries remain in contact with the beating heart. The obtuse marginal artery and portions of the left anterior descending coronary artery were deprived of endothelium. Perfus...

YSTEMIC venous anomalies, such as persistent left superior vena cava and absent inferior vena cava, are not so rare in various congenital heart diseases.1) Preoperative identification of these anomalous systemic venous connections is clinically important, because their presence necessitates modified technique for venous cannulation of cardiopulmonary bypass. In cases of persistent left superior...

OBJECTIVE To retrospectively determine the imaging features of coronary artery anomalies depicted at dual-source computed tomographic coronary angiography (DSCT-CA). METHODS We reviewed the case histories of 12,145 patients with suspected coronary arterial disease who underwent DSCT-CA at our institution. Multiplanar reformation, maximum-intensity projection, and volume-rendered imaging were ...