Systemic-to-pulmonary artery shunts using polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) (modified Blalock-Taussig shunt) are being used successfully in palliation of cyanotic congenital heart diseases. Graft thrombosis is by far the most common complication of the procedure. Persistant serum leakage through PTFE graft causing perigraft seroma is a rare but devastating complication resulting in increased durat...

A 39-year-old male was admitted for recurrent ischemic strokes. TEE was performed to detect the potential intra-cardiac thrombi and right-to-left shunts. A large hypermobile, echodense, irregular mass was found in the right atrium, which looked like a cluster of grapes. The motion of the components of the mass was synchronized, prolapsing into right ventricle in an octopus-like fashion during d...

a higher N20 concentration and an earlier sampling period result in a larger arteriovenous N20 difference that increases the sensitivity of the test and further minimizes the importance of possible analytic errors. In addition, a method is described of determining the magnitude of the shunt from the results of a N20 test. The results of 150 N20 tests performed with the improved technic are pres...

Cerebral A rteriovenous Shunts Re-examined • Cerebral arteriovenous (A-V) shunts have been described in some histological studies, but their existence has been denied in others. Previous attempts to detect the presence and amount of A-V shunting using radioactive microspheres have suggested that large amounts of blood could bypass cerebral capillaries in this fashion. A reappraisal seemed indic...

Paradoxical embolism is an important clinical entity among patients with venous thromboembolism in the presence of intracardiac or pulmonary shunts. The clinical presentation is diverse and potentially life-threatening. Although the serious nature and complications of paradoxical embolism are recognized, the disease entity is still rarely considered and remains under-reported. This paper provid...

The most common procedure to deal with hydrocephalus is ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt. The purpose of the shunt is to drain cerebrospinal fluid from cerebral ventricles to abdominal cavity. Many complications of VP shunts have been reported such as infection, obstruction, overdrainage. Abdominal complications occur in ~15-25% of VP shunts in pediatric patients, such as peritonitis, hernia, ab...