Stunned myocardium is often observed after unstable angina, myocardial infarction, thrombolysis, angioplasty, and bypass surgery but rarely after coronary vasospasm. A case of stunned myocardium caused by diffuse coronary artery vasospasm and mimicking myocardial infarction is reported. The patient had an emergency coronary angiography, which showed no pathological coronary disease, but the lef...

A woman with coronary artery disease underwent a new imaging technique: dobutamine-stress electrocardiography (ECG)-gated tetrofosmin-single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT). Dobutamine-stress ECG-gated tetrofosmin-SPECT with automatic left ventricular function analysis software programs detected improvement and a biphasic response of dysfunctional myocardium during dobutamine infusi...

Endomyocardial biopsies in heart transplant patients offer the opportunity to study the myocardial interstitium in the context of myocardial function. For that purpose endomyocardial biopsies should reliably reflect the composition of the entire myocardium. We determined whether the collagen content in the subendocardial region of the right side of the interventricular septum (site of right ven...

T he differentiation of viable from nonviable myocardium in patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction is an issue of increasing clinical relevance in the current era of myocardial revascularization. It is now well established that impaired left ventricular function does not always represent an irreversible process. However, until recently, determining whether impair...

T he differentiation of viable from nonviable myocardium in patients with coronary artery disease and left ventricular dysfunction is an issue of increasing clinical relevance in the current era of myocardial revascularization. It is now well established that impaired left ventricular function does not always represent an irreversible process. However, until recently, determining whether impair...

Noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium (NVM) is a rare congenital cardiomyopathy characterized by multiple prominent trabeculations with deep intertrabecular recesses resulting from an arrest in normal embryogenesis of the endocardium and myocardium. The major clinical manifestations are depressed left ventricular systolic and diastolic function, systemic embolism, ventricular tachyarrhyth...

A 33-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with chest pain and exertional dyspnea. Two-dimensional echocardiography showed prominent trabeculations and deep intertrabecular recesses, findings consistent with noncompaction of the ventricular myocardium. Thoracoabdominal CT and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) revealed situs ambiguous with polysplenia and noncompaction of the left ven...

Two-dimensional echocardiography is an excellent technique for detecting left ventricular thrombi, however, acute clot is sometimes difficult to differentiate from adjacent myocardium and intracavitary signals. We hypothesized that quantitative assessment of the acoustic properties of acute left ventricular thrombi using a quantitative backscatter imaging system would permit the differentiation...

30 patients with delayed contrast enhancement in patterns suggestive of myocardial infarctions were reviewed. Infarct mass was quantitatively measured using short axis images obtained in the delayed phase of gadopentetate administration. Left ventricular mass and ejection fraction were measured using short axis, steady state free precession images. A relationship is drawn between increased mass...