Archives of Cardiovascular Imaging

Research Article

12/1/2023

Echocardiographic Abnormalities in Patients with Sleep Apnea Syndrome

Maryam Moshkani Farahani, Ensieh Vahedi, Iman Lotfian, Mahdi Motashaker-Arani

Results: The mean age of the study population was 51.16 ± 12.88 years old and 36 (65.5%) patients were male. Right Tei index mean was 0.383 ± 0.213, which was abnormal in 19.1% of the patients. Left Tei index mean was 0.378 ± 0.230 and was abnormal in 52.9% of the patients. Pulmonary artery pressure mean was 18.32 ± 8.91 and was normal in 39 (70.9%) patients. Only basal septum strain (P = 0.015) and basal septum strain rate (P = 0.005) changes were associated with OSA severity.

Case Report

22/1/2023

Left Atrial and Left Atrial Appendage Mass Diagnosed by Cardiac Imaging: A Case Report

Marija Kotevska-Angjushev, Menka Lazarevska

Introduction: Left atrial thrombi are present in one third of patients with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis and atrial fibrillation. A left atrial mass can be diagnosed as a thrombus by transthoracic echocardiography in the presence of the predisposing factors for a thrombus such as mitral stenosis and atrial fibrillation. The sensitivity of transthoracic echocardiography for detecting left atrial appendage thrombi is low, and only a few case reports have been described in the literature.

Case Presentation: This report describes the case of a 65-year-old female with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis and chronic atrial fibrillation presenting with congestive heart failure. This patient was shown, by means of transthoracic echocardiography, to have a large immobile left atrium cavity mass (6.5 × 3.4 × 2.3 cm) and a large left atrial appendage mass (1.7 cm) identified as a thrombus. Contrast computed tomography of the chest confirmed the diagnosis.

Case Report

25/1/2023

Tuberculous Effusive-Constrictive Pericarditis

Majid Kyavar, Nehzat Akiash

Discussion: Transthoracic echocardiography disclosed massive pericardial effusion, respiratory variation in mitral and tricuspid inflow E velocity, increased diastolic flow reversal with expiration in the hepatic vein, septum deviation in inspiration toward the left ventricle (LV), preserved LV function, and inferior vena caval (IVC) dilation without any collapse in inspiration. Chest computed tomography (CT) revealed a large amount of pericardial effusion and bilateral pleural effusion.

Research Article

16/2/2023

Comparison of Left Atrial Function between Hypertensive Patients with Normal Atrial Size and Normotensive Subjects Using Strain Rate Imaging Technique

Mohammad Sahebjam, Asghar Mazareei, Masoumeh Lotfi-Tokaldany, Neda Ghaffari, Arezoo Zoroufian, Mahmood Sheikhfatollahi

Patients and Methods: One hundred twenty-four subjects with normal angiography (mean age = 56.28 ± 8.91 years, 46% male), who were referred to the Echocardiography Laboratory of our institution, were enrolled in this study. These subjects were categorized into two groups: hypertensive (75 cases) and age-matched normotensive (49 cases) groups. All the cases of the patient and control groups had a normal LA size. SRI parameters included strain (ST, %) and strain rate (SR, s^-1), and tissue imaging parameters such as peak systolic velocity (Sm, m/s) were measured in four septal, lateral, anterior, and inferior LA walls at the mid-level.

Results: Compared with the controls, the patients with a history of hypertension showed significantly lower values of Sm, ST, and SR in each segment of the LA. There was no effect of age on these indices. Also, no differences regarding Sm, ST, and SR were found between the septal, lateral, anterior, and inferior LA walls in each group. By multivariate linear regression analysis, a history of hypertension was the only independent determinant of average LA strain rate in the all the individuals (P < 0.001). When this analysis was repeated in the patients with a history of hypertension, the only independent determinant of average LA strain rate was heart rate (P = 0.026).

Letter

4/1/2024

Ethnicity: A Missing Variable When Defining Normative Values for Reporting Echocardiographic Studies

Luigi P Badano

Research Article

7/2/2023

Tissue Doppler Imaging Findings Including Prominent S Wave in Patients With Mitral Valve Prolapse Syndrome

Azin Alizadehasl, Rasoul Azarfarin

Background: Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is allied to a variety of echocardiographic and pathologic findings, not least courtesy of the advent of novel and stringent echocardiographic criteria. MVP enjoys definite and clear-cut characteristics and is, as such, a fertile ground for research. Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) is a relatively new imaging technique, and there is currently a dearth of information on this modality in patients with MVP syndrome.

Results: Seventy-five patients (48 females) at a mean age of 26.5 ± 9.4 years and 50 individuals (32 females) at a mean age of 27.1 ± 8.3 years were enrolled in the study. As the important results of our study, Sm wave was much more prominent and much higher in the MVP group (P = 0.00); Em was lower (P = 0.00) and Am was slightly higher (P = 0.12). Furthermore, the E waves of MV inflow for the MVP and control groups were similar and E/Em was significantly higher in the MVP group (P = 0.00); taken together with a higher left atrial volume in this group, this finding revealed a relatively higher left ventricular end-diastolic pressure.

Editorial

27/1/2023

Efficacy and Safety of Sedation in Cardiac Imaging

Mohsen Ziyaeifard, Rasoul Azarfarin

Archives of Cardiovascular Imaging: Feb 2014, 2 (1), 7 articles.