Thoracic Key

The authors report two cases of unexplained active inflammatory endocarditis with totally different clinical presentations. The patients had undergone previous mitral repair surgery and were referred for multiple soft mobile…

A 22-month-old boy was referred to pediatric cardiology for evaluation of a heart murmur. He was asymptomatic except for occasional wheezing with activity. On evaluation, he was found to have…

A right aortic arch with a left descending aorta and an aberrant left innominate artery is a rare but recognized vascular anomaly that can result in compression of the trachea…

Vera Rigolin, MD, FASE Roberto M. Lang, MD, FASE Plan now to attend the most comprehensive cardiovascular ultrasound conference, the ASE 2010 Scientific Sessions, on June 12–15 in sunny San…

Background Left atrial (LA) strain (ϵ) and ϵ rate (SR) analysis by two-dimensional speckle tracking can represent a new tool to evaluate LA function. To assess its potential value, the…

Background Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by myocardial hypertrophy, fiber disarray, and fibrosis interfering with myocardial force generation and relaxation. Because conventional Doppler echocardiographic methods inadequately assess diastolic function in…

Patient safety is such an important topic that when I received an e-mail from James Teixeira, a sonographer from Tennessee, asking to submit an editorial on the topic; I honestly…

Robert T. Eberhardt, MD As major debates continue regarding local and national health care legislation, including the Affordable Health Care for America Act, several issues affecting vascular imaging have arisen….