Jesús Vargas-Barrón

OBJECTIVE. The presence of intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH) is frequent in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). We aim for the presence IMH using cMRI in patients who presented AMI and did not undergo PPCI or thrombolysis. Cardiac magnetic resonance has proven to be a highly sensitive method for detect its presence in the ischemic damaged tissue. MATERIAL AND METHODS. Patients admitted with diagnosis of ST elevation myocardial infarction > 24 h after initial presentation and without reperfusion therapy were enrolled in the study. All patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance for detecting edema, microvascular obstruction and intramyocardial hemorrhage, followed by coronary angiography. RESULTS. Seven male patients, with median age of 53 years, were enrolled. Cardiac magnetic resonance showed that all patients had microvascular obstruction and edema. Two of them had intramyocardial hemorrhage in association with spontaneous reperfusion demonstrated by angiography. CONCLUSION. The results of our study show that in patients with acute myocardial infarction, intramyocardial hemorrhage occurs not only after therapeutic, but also after spontaneous reperfusion. This is the first time that its presence is demonstrated by cardiac magnetic resonance.

Potentially fatal cardiac rupture is a complication of myocardial infarction (MI), which can appear in the first hours of the acute event and during the course of the first week. The intramyocardial dissecting hematoma might appear as a component of the rupture during the evolution process. The description of the myocardium as a helical muscular band facilitates the explanation of the fiber dissection. With echocardiography, it is possible to diagnose intramyocardial dissecting hematomas (IDH), determine its location, progression, potential complications, and in some cases its reabsorption. It is necessary to search for neocavitations in the infarcted myocardium and identify the intramyocardial edge that surrounds the defect, as well as the flow inside the myocardial dissection, the pathway of the dissection, and its communication with ventricular cavities, and also to look for the complete or partial reabsorption of the cavitary image. The greater the myocardial dissection is, the worse the prognosis. If the dissecting hematoma is confined to the apical segments, it is more likely to reabsorb spontaneously. Tissue characterization with magnetic resonance during an acute myocardial infarction allows identification of reperfusion injuries with altered microcirculation and intramyocardial hemorrhage (IMH). It is necessary to search for IMH in reperfused patients with ventricular arrhythmias, stunned myocardium, and no reflow. These patients may develop an increased stiffness in the infarcted wall and a major likelihood to develop a parietal rupture. Everything seems to indicate that we are facing the same physiopathological process which can be characterized by 2 complementary imaging methods, echocardiography and magnetic resonance.

Coronary artery aneurysms are a relatively infrequent finding with an incidence of 1% to 2% per year. Its cause can be atherosclerosis, congenital or due to other causes less common. Its initial manifestation can be myocardial infarction and sudden death as a result of rupture or distal embolization. The large coronary aneurysms, non-atherosclerotic, located in the common part of the left main coronary artery are exceptional. The diagnostic method of choice is the coronary angiography; however, non-invasive techniques such as transthoracic including tridimensional mode and transesophageal echocardiography, magnetic resonance imaging and computed tomography may have an important role in the detection and follow-up of these anomalies. The natural history of coronary aneurysm is not quite known. We present the case of a patient of 44 years, following an acute coronary event was diagnosed with an aneurysm in the left main and antiphospholipid syndrome. The patient received conservative treatment on the basis of antiplatelet and anticoagulant without presenting major cardiovascular events or other complications in 12 years of follow-up.

Heart failure is one of the most prevalent diseases in industrialized countries. Up to 30% of the patients with advanced heart failure present disturbances in intra-ventricular conduction, and this produce asynchrony of ventricular contractility, leading to further deterioration in heart function. Cardiac resynchronization (TRC) is an increasingly important therapeutic option for a subgroup of patients with heart failure. Several methods have been show to be useful in study the mechanical asynchrony. However, there are discrepancies between the results of the different methods. The echocardiography provides the best parameters in predicting a good response.

Percutaneous mitral commissurotomy (PMC) has emerged as an effective nonsurgical technique for the treatment of patients with symptomatic mitral stenosis. This report highlights the immediate and long-term follow-up results of this procedure in an unselected cohort of patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis from a single center. PMC with Inoue balloon was performed in 70 patients in a 2-year period (1993-1994). Age of patients ranged from 18 to 67 years (mean 38 +/- 11). Atrial fibrillation was present in 18 (30%) patients. A detailed clinical and echocardiographic (two-dimensional, continuous-wave Doppler and color-flow imaging) assessment was done at follow-up. The procedure was technically successful in 61 (85%) patients with an increase in mitral valve area (MVA) from 0.96 +/- 0.2 to 1.7 +/- 0.28 cm2 (P < .001) and a reduction in mean trans-mitral gradient from 14.3 +/- 4.8 to 6.0 +/- 2.8 mmHg (P < .01). Mitral regurgitation appeared or worsened in 25 (30%) patients, of which 3 (4%) developed severe mitral regurgitation. Urgent mitral valve replacement was performed in these 3 patients. Data of 52 patients followed over a period of 105 +/- 10 months revealed MVA of 1.4 +/- 0.4 cm. Elective mitral valve replacement was done in 14 (23%) patients. Mitral restenosis diagnosed with echocardiography was seen in 24 (50%) patients, of which 14 were having recurrence of class III or more symptoms and were treated with surgery. Thus, percutaneous mitral commissurotomy is an effective and safe procedure and over 2/3 of the patients were event-free at the end of follow-up. The benefits are sustained in most of these patients on long-term follow-up.

Background: In large necropsy studies dissecting intramyocardial hematoma (DIH) with serpiginous tracts across the myocardial fibers has been reported in both the septum and the left ventricle free wall. Methods: We studied 15 patients admitted to the hospital with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in which DIH was demonstrated by either transthoracic and/or transesophageal and confirmed intraoperatively or by necropsy. Results: In nine patients the hemorrhagic dissection was predominantly in the septum and in the remaining it was in the free wall of the left ventricle (LV). Myocardial infarction involved the left ventricular inferior wall in two, and the anterior wall in 13 patients. The overall mortality was 47%, and in the group with septal hematoma it reached to 78%. Echocardiography disclosed the various acoustic densities of the evolving intramyocardial hematoma, its extension through the hemorrhagic dissection, its spontaneous reabsorption, as well as its communication with the ventricular cavities. Conclusions: Echocardiography is the method of choice for the noninvasive diagnosis of patients with suspected myocardial rupture and intramyocardial dissection postmyocardial infarction.

Echocardiography occupies an excellent place in the field of valvular heart disease study. Its presence is being increased in the catheterism and surgery rooms as well as in the intensive cares units. The ultrasound machines development has improved its technology and echocardiographic diagnoses has a greater repercussion in clinical decisions every time. The greater challenge than appears to us is to be able to have prepared enough professionals that know the tool, the physiopathology, the therapeutics modalities, and who can apply and take advantage of the new technological developments for a better cardiological practice.

Transesophageal echocardiography has advantages over transthoracic technique in defining morphology of atrial structures. Even though real time three-dimensional echocardiographic imaging is a reality, the off-line reconstruction technique usually allows to obtain higher spatial resolution images. The purpose of this study was to explore the accuracy of off-line three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in a spectrum of atrial septal defects by comparing them with representative anatomic specimens.

It has been postulated that there is a morphogenetic relation between the atrioventricular septal defect (AVSD) type A of Rastelli and the type of two separated orifices, this so called partial forms, existent between both types a spectrum of anatomical forms in which interchordal spaces determinate the ventricular septal defects (VSD) size to forms in which the VSD is closed by fusion of the left septal valves to the crest of ventricular septum. We present five patients which illustrates the variability of the atrioventricular defect by means of two dimensional and three-dimensional echocardiography. In each case was made a transesophagic echocardiogram using three-dimensional reconstruction with an Echo-Scan system (4.0 TomTec Gmb version, Munich, Germany). It was observed the following spectrum of atrioventricular defect: one patient had a complete closure of the VSD by the insertion of the left septal valves to the interventricular septal crest. One patient has a partially closed VSD. The last 3 patients had a large VSD with a large shunt and high pulmonary pressure. In those patients in whom the VSD was completely or partially closed, the hemodynamic behavior depended of the interatrial shunt and the regurgitation of the atrioventricular valve. They didn't present pulmonary hypertension, what allowed them to be less symptomatic. The three-dimensional echocardiographic study of the spectrum of AVSD type A of Rastelli, defines accurately the valve components and septal structures, so we can understand the transition between complete and partial forms. This difference determines the clinical evolution of the patients.