Prosthetic mitral valve thrombosis,malfunction, and paroxysmal mitral regurgitation

Intermittent dysfunction of mechanical mitral valve prosthesis is an uncommon condition. It carries serious clinical implications if unrecognized. Here, we present a case of a 28‐year‐old female with a history of rheumatic multivalvular disease, for which she had undergone double valve replacement and tricuspid annuloplasty. Six months later, she presented with heart failure. Clinical examination revealed intermittent loss of closing clicks followed by a pansystolic murmur at the apex, suggestive of mitral prosthetic valve dysfunction. We highlight the echocardiographic findings of paroxysmal mitral valvular regurgitation secondary to prosthetic valve malfunction secondary to prosthetic valve thrombosis.     

False positive retroaortic left circumflex coronary artery in a patient with atrial septal defect

Retroaortic course of coronary artery is a relative contraindication for device closure of an atrial septal defect. In this brief report, we demonstrate, for the first time, inferior aortic recess mimicking retroaortic left circumflex coronary artery in a patient with atrial septal defect. This distinction is important to avoid spurious diagnosis of anomalous coronary artery denying patient a chance of nonsurgical closure of atrial septal defect.     

Unruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm mimicking as right atrial tumor

Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm is a rare congenital cardiac abnormality and is usually diagnosed when it ruptures. An asymptomatic 55‐year‐old male of unruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysm of noncoronary cusp was on medical follow‐up. At 2‐year follow‐up, there was thrombus formation in the aneurysm, mimicking right atrium tumor on 2D transthoracic echocardiography. Cardiac computed tomography showed filling defect in the aneurysm suggestive of thrombus. Considering the high risk of systemic emboli surgery was performed, and aneurysm was repaired with Dacron patch.     

The current role and limitations of surrogate endpoints in advanced prostate cancer

ObjectivesThe identification of appropriate surrogate endpoints for evaluating cancer therapeutics has been of ongoing interest across various tumor types. Metastatic castrate-resistant prostate cancer (mCRPC) has been a particularly challenging area. As more targeted and novel therapies are being developed in this disease space, an urgent need exists to identify surrogate endpoints in mCRPC. The ability to discern patient benefit in the absence of patient death or other complications would facilitate both drug development and more appropriate patient care.Methods and materialsWe reviewed the available literature and guidelines used in the development and approval of recent agents for mCRPC.ResultsThe majority of regulatory approvals of new medications have relied on overall survival (OS) or prevention of complications such as skeletal related events (SRE’s). Progression-free survival measures, such as bone scans, computed tomography scans, and prostate-specific antigen related changes, have not been validated nor uniformly accepted as outcome surrogates. All of the successful recent pivotal Phase III trials designed to achieve regulatory approval in mCRPC have used either OS or SRE’s as the primary endpoint.ConclusionsThere are significant problematic issues that exist associated with defining and implementing surrogate markers in mCRPC beyond survival and complications. Suggestions are made as to how the current situation might be improved.     

Saline contrast echocardiography for the detection of anomalous origin of pulmonary artery from aorta

Saline contrast echocardiography is a well‐established modality for the diagnosis of right‐to‐left shunt lesions. In this brief report, we demonstrate, for the first time, its usefulness in the diagnosis of anomalous origin of right pulmonary artery from aorta.