Management of patients with infectious intracranial aneurysms (IIAs) who require valve replacement remains a challenge. Although there is potential risk of aneurysmal rupture associated with cardiac surgery, there have been few reported ruptures of IIAs during the perioperative period of valve replacement. We present a unique patient who suffered intracerebral hemorrhage due to rupture of an II...

A 66-year-old woman with hypertension and systemic lupus erythematosus presented with intermittent interscapular and chest pain, progressive dyspnea and presyncope episodes since the previous week. On physical examination she was hemodynamically stable, but jugular venous distension and diminished cardiac sounds were detected. Transthoracic echocardiography showed a pseudoaneurysm of the ascend...

Blunt cardiac rupture is a characteristic of high death rates and rapid death process. But sometimes it is hard to find out the cause of cardiac rupture of traumatized patients, especially when it relates the relationship between injury and disease. In the 2 cases reported herein, both of the 2 patients had pre-existent cardiac pathological changes when suffered from traumatic injury. Our aim i...

A 73-year-old man was admitted to the emergency room because of shock and loss of consciousness. Electrocardiography and echocardiography revealed myocardial infarction of the inferoposterior wall and cardiac tamponade. However, laboratory data showed mild inflammation without elevation of any cardiac enzymes. Under percutaneous cardiopulmonary support, coronary angiography showed stenosis of o...

Aorto-right atrial fistula: a rare complication of aortic dissection type A. A report of 2 cases. I read with great interest the paper by Pagni et al. concerning the management of a 69-year old female patient with acute type A aortic dissection complicated by a fistula to the right atrium [1]. This article has two interesting features that could be of use to all of us when faced with a similar ...