Pleura, Chest Wall, and Diaphragm
Pleura, Chest Wall, and Diaphragm Very early in its development, the value of computed tomography (CT) was recognized in assessing pleural and chest-wall diseases (1,2). This reflects in part the…
Diffuse Lung Disease
Diffuse Lung Disease Despite the well-established role of chest radiography in accurately and inexpensively displaying a wide range of pulmonary parenchymal pathology, equally well established limitations have been documented (1,…
Pulmonary Hypertension
Pulmonary Hypertension François Haddad Ramona L. Doyle Juliana C. Liu Roham T. Zamanian BACKGROUND Pulmonary hypertension (PH) refers to a state in which pulmonary artery pressure is elevated. By expert…
Atrial Fibrillation
Atrial Fibrillation Anurag Gupta Paul J. Wang BACKGROUND Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common chronic cardiac dysrhythmia. The estimated prevalence of atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter is greater than…
Valvular Diseases
Valvular Diseases Shriram Nallamshetty Stanley G. Rockson AORTIC STENOSIS Background The normal aortic valve orifice area (AVA) is 3 to 4 cm2; clinically significant gradients occur when AVA is reduced…
Pericardial Disease
Pericardial Disease Todd L. Kiefer Randall Vagelos ACUTE PERICARDITIS1,2 Etiologies: Idiopathic, viral, tuberculosis (TB), coccidiomycosis, uremia, collagen vascular diseases, neoplasm, trauma, post-myocardial infarction—two types: 1 to 3 days post-transmural infarct…
Endocarditis
Endocarditis Todd L. Kiefer Fred A. Lopez Randall Vagelos NATIVE VALVE ENDOCARDITIS Etiologies1,2 Staphylococcus aureus: Increasing prevalence; Streptococcus viridans; Streptococcus species: S. mitis, S. mutans, S. bovis, S. sanguis; Coagulase-negative…
Transplant Medicine
Transplant Medicine Michael Pham BACKGROUND The first human heart transplant was performed in South Africa in 1967, followed by the first U.S. procedure in 1968 by Dr. Norman Shumway at…
Heart Failure
Heart Failure David Kao David V. Daniels Euan Ashley BACKGROUND AND APPROACH Approximately 5 million people throughout the United States have heart failure (HF); 550,000 are diagnosed each year, and…
