Hydatid disease is endemic in some parts of the world. This disease can occur in any organ. We present a 22-year-old farmer who was suffering from hydatidosis for 4 years. He was admitted to the hospital because of fever, cough, and chest pain in 2004. A chest radiograph revealed multiple nodules in both of lungs. A transthoracic echocardiogram showed cystic lesion in the apex of right ventr...

A percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy is a common procedure in the practice of pulmonology. An air embolism is a rare but potentially fatal complication of a percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy. We report four cases of a cerebral air embolism that developed after a percutaneous transthoracic needle biopsy. Early diagnosis and the rapid application of hyperbaric oxygen therapy is the m...

Background Transesophageal echocardiography is superior to transthoracic echocardiography in detecting left-sided valvular vegetations. There are no data on the value of transesophageal echocardiography in the diagnosis of infected transvenous permanent pacemakers. Methods and Results Transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography was performed in 10 patients for whom there was clinical sus...

OBJECTIVE To determine the pulmonary venous flow velocity (PVFV) values in a large normal population. DESIGN Prospective study in consecutive individuals. SETTING University hospital. METHODS Among 404 normal individuals, the flow velocity pattern in the right upper pulmonary vein was recorded in 315 subjects using transthoracic echocardiography, and in both upper pulmonary veins in 100 s...

Conceptually, transthoracic defibrillation threshold current can be considered a function of at least two quantities. It is directly proportional to the transcardiac threshold current and inversely proportional to the transcardiac current fraction (FC) or the ratio of transcardiac and transthoracic current. Although experimental and theoretical estimates of FC have been as high as 45%, previous...

Transthoracic image guided biopsy is now firmly established in the armamentarium of diagnostic tests to establish the nature of a mass in the lung, pleura, mediastinum or chest wall. It may be performed under computed tomographic, ultrasonic or fluoroscopic control, and provided a fine needle technique is employed, morbidity is low. Worldwide reports show a 90% true positive yield and a false p...

In recent years, murine models have become the primary avenue for studying the molecular mechanisms of cardiac dysfunction resulting from changes in gene expression. Transgenic and gene targeting methods can be used to generate mice with altered cardiac size and function, and as a result, in vivo techniques are needed to evaluate their cardiac phenotype. Transthoracic echocardiography, pulse wa...