A 34-year-old male presented with acute onset of searing chest pain and was preoperatively diagnosed with a Type A dissection limited to the ascending aorta and arch. His preoperative troponin levels were not elevated. The patient was scheduled for urgent repair of a Type A ascending aorta and transverse arch dissection under hypothermic circulatory arrest using selective antegrade cerebral per...

STUDY OBJECTIVE The purpose of the present study was to establish the accuracy of transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) in diagnosis of acute type A aortic dissection in comparison to computed tomography (CT), with reference to the intraoperative image. METHODS The retrospective analysis included 178 patients referred to the cardiac surgery unit in our center due to acute type A dissection bet...

The Donkey Sanctuary (DS) owns 3500-4000 donkeys, estimated to be about 35 per cent of the UK population. Although postmortem surveys suggest a high prevalence of cardiovascular disease in donkeys, there is sparse clinical information about cardiovascular examination findings and echocardiographic findings in health and disease. In this cross-sectional study, auscultation findings were recorded...

RECENTLY we observed an infant with severe aortic insufficiency and progressive left ventricular failure. Postmortem studies revealed aneurysmal dilatation of the base of the aorta and a large communication with the left ventricle. The aneurysm involved the right sinus of Valsalva but was not limited to that region. The rarity of congenital aortic insufficiency in general and of this lesion in ...

The case of a 33-year-old male suffering from left sinus Valsalva aneurysm into anterior right ventricle and severe aortic valve regurgitation is presented. Diagnosis of this association was achieved before surgery by cardiac catheterization and Echocardiography. The patient was submitted to surgical repair by closing the orifice of the aneurysm using a bovine pericardium patch. The aortic valv...

Fig. 1. Transverse midesophageal plane at 458, demonstrating the short axis of the aortic valve in diastole. The ruptured aneurysm of the right coronary sinus protrudes into the right atrium just above the tricuspid valve producing the characteristic ‘windsock’ appearance described in textbooks. Colour-flow Successful surgical repair of a ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm was performed in a 3...

Classically, ascending aortic dissection (AD) presents as sudden, severe chest pain that is tearing type and radiates to the back. Herein, we present a rare case of severe aortic regurgitation with silent ascending AD, which had no chest pain symptoms. The aortic valve apparatus probably masked this AD; therefore, it was not detected by echocardiography and during the surgery.

Background Previous studies establish a link between bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) morphology and aortic shape. Anteroposterior (AP) leaflets with right left (RL) fusion was found more often associated with dilatation of VS than left-right (LR) leaflets with either fusion between right and noncoronary(R-NC) cusps or between left and noncoronary cusps(L-NC). However, most of these studies were per...

The case of a 22-year old male patient who presented with a congenital coronary arterial fistula from the right coronary artery to the right ventricle is described. The arterial fistula had led to an aneurysm of the right sinus of Valsalva and the proximal right coronary artery. The aneurysm was incised from the aorta and the fistula closed with a pericardial patch. The diameter of the aneurysm...

A 57-year-old man was referred for exertional chest pain and a mediastinal mass. Computed tomographic angiography (CTA) revealed a huge aneurysm arising from the left sinus of Valsalva (Figure 1, Video I in the online-only Data Supplement). The opening of aneurysm was 18 mm in its largest diameter. Because the left coronary arteries were stretched and narrowed, the chest pain was considered to ...