DESCRIPTION A 38-year-old patient presented with recurrent presyncope, extreme fatigue, facial oedema and weight loss. Physical examination revealed a palpable painless mass in the left supraclavicular region, facial oedema and a mild meso-systolic murmur audible at the right sternal border. An echocardiogram revealed a mass anterior to the heart compressing cardiac chambers and the aortic root...

BACKGROUND In autopsy, myocardial bridging is a common finding. With coronary angiography, a systolic compression, mainly of the left anterior descending coronary artery, is observed in 1% to 3% of the patients. Controversy exists concerning the functional importance of this finding. To obtain a functional insight into the myocardial bridging, intravascular ultrasound and intracoronary Doppler ...

AIM Orthostatic hypotension is common, especially in the elderly, and it is strongly associated with discomfort and falls. Physicians may sometimes prescribe compression therapy, but the beneficial effect of this treatment in orthostatic hypotension is unclear. The aim of this review was to summarise all available evidence on the effect of four different levels of compression therapy in the tre...

background: the nutcracker syndrome represents a clinical condition caused by compression of the left renal vein (lrv) between the superior mesenteric artery (sma) and the aorta. one of its manifestations is left-sided varicocele. the aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of nutcracker syndrome in patients with primary and recurrent high grade left-sided varicocele.   methods: fifty ...

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy can be divided in apical ballooning, mid-ventricular ballooning, and rarely in basal ballooning. The role of left anterior descending coronary artery is still in debate. Spasms, myocardial bridging and recurrent segment (wrap-around) LAD have been described in takotsubo cardiomyopathy. 8 patients (4 females, mean age 74.3 ± 9.7 years) with typical apical ballooning in 4...

Patients with repaired coarctation of the aorta are thought to have increased afterload due to abnormalities in vessel structure and function. We have developed a novel cardiovascular magnetic resonance protocol that allows assessment of central hemodynamics, including central aortic systolic blood pressure, resistance, total arterial compliance, pulse wave velocity, and wave reflections. The m...

Human myocardial bridging is a normal anatomic variation in which a coronary artery is bridged by a short segment of myocardium. It can cause variable degrees of systolic obstruction. The majority of patients are asymptomatic. A wide variety of syndromes can occur, including myocardial infarction and sudden death. All patients with myocardial bridges have systolic artery compression, but it is ...

Despite the widespread clinical appliciktion of cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), the mechanism responsible for blood flow during this maneuver remains undefined, although it has been assumed that blood is squeezed from the heart by direct compression of the sternum. We studied the hemodynamics of CPR in 15 arrested dogs. During chest compression, pressures in the left ventricle, aorta, righ...

Objective: To review the literature on the effects of expiratory rib cage compression on ventilatory mechanics, airway clearance, and oxygen and hemodynamic indices in mechanically ventilated adults. Methods: Systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials in the databases MEDLINE (via PubMed), EMBASE, Cochrane CENTRAL, PEDro, and LILACS. Studies on adult patients hospitali...

BACKGROUND Lesions to the axillary artery are reported in overhead athletes. One speculated cause is repeated transient compression by the humeral head due to excessive laxity at the glenohumeral joint. HYPOTHESES (1) Anterior translation of the glenohumeral joint alters axillary artery diameter and blood flow characteristics, and (2) individuals demonstrating inducible axillary artery compre...