A 72 year old woman with ALCAPA

ALCAPA syndrome (anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery), which causes the left coronary artery to grow with an anomalous origin from the pulmonary artery, is a rare disease which may result in myocardial infarction, congestive heart failure, and sometimes death during the early infantile period. A 72 year old woman with ALCAPA syndrome is presented. The asymptomatic patient presented with a cardiac murmur which was discovered during a routine check up for a gynaecological intervention. Coronary cineangiography established the diagnosis. Although surgical correction is the usual treatment for such cases, medical treatment was preferred for this patient because she was asymptomatic without clinical signs of heart failure.     

Cardiac computed tomography of an asymptomatic 48‐year‐old woman with ALCAPA syndrome

Untreated ALCAPA cases most often die in infancy. Adults with untreated ALCAPA commonly present with mitral regurgitation, severe left ventricular dysfunction, and sometimes myocardial infarction. Herein, we present an asymptomatic adult female with ALCAPA recognized through cardiac computed tomography (CT). In ALCAPA, like other coronary anomalies, cardiac CT is often instrumental in providing unique noninvasive and clinically relevant evaluation. Herein, we present an atypical presentation of an asymptomatic middle‐aged adult female with ALCAPA.     

Delayed post-traumatic tamponade together with rupture of the tricuspid valve in a 15 year old boy

With the increase in the number of high speed motor vehicle accidents, blunt, non-penetrating trauma to the heart has become an important health problem. An unusual case is reported of a 15 year old boy urgently referred with cardiac tamponade and a new systolic murmur four months after a car accident. The problems of the diagnosis and possible causes of late cardiac tamponade and tricuspid regurgitation following this type of accident are discussed.


Keywords: blunt cardiac trauma; delayed cardiac tamponade; traumatic tricuspid regurgitation     

A thirty-eight year old woman with overwhelming sepsis

Stenographic reports, edited by Richard Aach, M.D. and John Kissane, M.D. of weekly clinicopathologic conferences held in the Barnes and Wohl Hospitals, are published in each issue of the Journal. These conferences are participated in jointly by members of the Departments of Internal Medicine and Pathology of the Washington University School of Medicine and by Junior and Senior medical students.     

Age dependent efficacy of implantable cardioverter-defibrillator treatment: observations in 450 patients over an 11 year period

Objective—To determine whether implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) treatment is beneficial in elderly patients with life threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias.
Design—Since January 1984, ICDs were implanted in 450 patients to evaluate surgical risk, complications and mean survival in relation to patient age; 81 patients (18%) were  50 years at the time of ICD implant, 254 patients (56%) were between 51 and 64 years, and the remaining 115 (26%) were  65 years. Epicardial lead systems were implanted in 209 patients (46%), while transvenous lead systems were implanted in 241 (54%).
Results—13 patients (3%) died perioperatively, more often after epicardial (11 of 209 patients, 5%) than after transvenous ICD implantation (one of 241 patients, < 1%) (p < 0.05). During a mean (SD) follow up of 28 (24) months (range < 1 to 114 months), 90 patients (20%) died. Of these, nine (2%) died from sudden arrhythmic death; five (1%) died suddenly, probably as a result of non-arrhythmic causes; 55 (12%) died from other cardiac causes (congestive heart failure, myocardial infarction); and 21 (5%) died from non-cardiac causes. The three, five, and seven year survival for arrhythmic mortality was 95% in patients  50 years compared with a three year survival of 93% and a five and seven year survival of 91% in patients of 51 to 64 years, and a three, five, and seven year survival of 99% in patients  65 years. 362 patients (80%) received ICD discharges (21 (43) shocks per patient), with a similar incidence among all three patient groups ( 50 years, 80%; 51 to 64 years, 81%; 65 years, 79%). The time interval between ICD implant and the first ICD treatment was shorter in patients  65 years (8 (8) months) than in patients between 51 and 64 years (11 (14) months) or  50 years (11 (11) months) (p < 0.05). Survival time following first appropriate shock was 30 (24) months in patients  50 years, 30 (26) months in patients of 51 to 64 years, and 19 (20) months in patients  65 years.
Conclusions—Elderly patients benefit from ICD treatment, and survive for a considerable time after the first treatment. Therefore, elderly patients should be considered candidates for ICD implantation if life threatening ventricular tachyarrhythmias are present.

Keywords: cardioverter-defibrillator;  heart failure;  sudden death;  ICD discharges;  elderly patients     

Valgus deformity and proximal subluxation of the rheumatoid elbow: a radiographic 15 year follow up study of 148 elbows

OBJECTIVE—To evaluate the nature of positional changes of humeroulnar (HU) and humeroradial (HR) joints in a cohort of 74 patients with seropositive and erosive rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed up prospectively.
METHODS—At the 15 year follow up standard anteroposterior and lateral radiographs of 148 elbow joints were evaluated. The mediolateral HU angle of the elbow was measured from anteroposterior radiographs. The proximal subluxation of the HU joint was measured from lateral radiographs as the distance between the posterior aspect of the olecranon process and the posterior surface of the humerus. The anteroposterior subluxation of the HR joint was measured from lateral radiographs as the relation of the midpoint of head of the radius to the midpoint of the capitellum of the humerus. Destruction of the elbow joints was assessed with the Larsen method on a scale of 0 to 5 and compared with the measurements.
RESULTS—Mean HU angle in 148 elbows of patients with RA was 11.5° (SD 6.1), range −21° (varus) to 34° (valgus); 9.9° (SD 4.3) in men and 12.0° (SD 6.4) in women. The mean HU angle, 14.4° (SD 6.0) of the affected joints (Larsen grades 2-4), showed more valgus than the mean 9.8° (SD 2.5) of the non-affected (Larsen grades 0 to 1) joints; totally destroyed and unstable Larsen 5 joints were excluded. Mean HU and HR subluxations, 2.0 mm (SD 3.8) and 0.8 mm, of the affected joints (Larsen 2-5) were greater than the means, −1.1 mm (SD 1.5) and −0.4 mm (SD 0.9), of the non-affected joints. Both the HU proximal subluxation and the HR anterior subluxation correlated, r_s=0.64 (95% CI 0.53 to 0.73 ) and r_s=0.48 (95% CI 0.34 to 0.60), with the destruction of the elbow joint.
CONCLUSIONS—The elbow seems to turn into valgus during rheumatoid destruction and excision of the radial head may speed up this process. However, totally unstable Larsen grade 5 joints may also have varus deformity owing to mutilating bone destruction. The ulna subluxates proximally in relation to the humerus, whereas the radius moves slightly anteriorly as a consequence of elbow involvement.