Though the radial artery is an ideal site of access for coronary percutaneous interventions (PCI), anatomical variations may render this procedure more challenging. An aberrant right subclavian artery (arteria lusoria) arising from the descending aorta is an uncommon congenital variant that occurs in about 0.2–1.7% of the population. In such cases, the angulated retroesophageal course of this a...

diagnosis of cardiac tamponade has been mainly based on clinical features and echocardiography. however, ct may be an initial tool for the evaluation of cardiac tamponade because cutting edge ct is increasingly being installed in the emergency room, and presentation of cardiac tamponade can be nonspecific. importantly, ct has better spatial resolution compared with echocardiography. thus, ident...

mitral regurgitation (mr) is a common valvular lesion in the general population with considerable impact on mortality and morbidity. the mitraclip system (abbot laboratories, abbot park, il, usa) is a novel percutaneous approach for treating mr which involves mechanical edge-to-edge coaptation of the mitral leaflets. we present our initial experience with the mitraclip system in 5 patients. in ...

Reprint requests to: Dr. I-Chen Tsai Department of Radiology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital. No. 160, Sec. 3, Taichung Harbor Road, Taichung 407, Taiwan, R.O.C. Many studies have shown that multi-detector row CT (MDCT) can accurately evaluate coronary artery bypass grafts. When compared with cardiac catheterization, the diagnostic accuracy of MDCT for coronary artery bypass graft is promis...

total anomalous pulmonary venous connection (tapvc) is an anomaly in which the pulmonary veins are directly connected to one of the systemic veins or drain into the right atrium. management of pulmonary hypertension after the total correction of this congenital cardiac anomaly is very important. unligation of the vertical vein in the supracardiac type of this anomaly can be a draining pathway f...

introduction: aortic dissection is a rare condition in young women and usually related with congenital anomalies of aorta and connective tissue disorders. we reported a 34-year-old postpartum woman with aortic dissection. case presentation: the patient complained of respiratory distress and weakness with no abdominal pain or chest pain 20 days after delivery and had no history of hypertension d...