Renal Artery Stenosis

BackgroundSpecialists have known for a long time that renal artery stenosis (RAS) is the major cause of renovascular hypertension and that it may account for 1-10% of the 50 million people in the United States who have hypertension. Apart from its role in the pathogenesis of hypertension, renal artery stenosis...

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Heart Transplantation

BackgroundHeart transplantation is the procedure by which the failing heart is replaced with another heart from a suitable donor.[1] It is generally reserved for patients with end-stage congestive heart failure (CHF) who are estimated to have less than 1 year to live without the transplant and who are not candidates...

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Cardiac Syndrome X

BackgroundCardiac syndrome X (CSX) is typical anginalike chest pain with evidence of myocardial ischemia in the absence of flow-limiting stenosis on coronary angiography. Cannon et al termed this entity, characterized by a decrease in coronary flow reserve without epicardial artery stenosis, microvascular angina.[1]...

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Eisenmenger Syndrome

BackgroundEisenmenger syndrome refers to any untreated congenital cardiac defect with intracardiac communication that leads to pulmonary hypertension, reversal of flow, and cyanosis.[1, 2, 3] The previous left-to-right shunt is converted into a right-to-left shunt secondary to elevated pulmonary artery pressures...

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Cor Triatriatum

BackgroundFirst reported in 1868,[1] cor triatriatum, that is, a heart with 3 atria (triatrial heart), is a congenital anomaly in which the left atrium (cor triatriatum sinistrum) or right atrium (cor triatriatum dextrum) is divided into 2 compartments by a fold of tissue, a membrane, or a fibromuscular band.[2,...

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Holt-Oram Syndrome

BackgroundHolt-Oram syndrome, also called heart-hand syndrome, is an inherited disorder characterized by abnormalities of the upper limbs and heart. Holt and Oram first described this condition in 1960 in a 4-generation family with atrial septal defects and thumb abnormalities.[1] NextPathophysiologyThe syndrome...

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Lutembacher Syndrome

BackgroundLutembacher syndrome is defined as a combination of mitral stenosis and a left-to-right shunt at the atrial level. Typically, the left-to-right shunt is an atrial septal defect (ASD) of the ostium secundum variety. Both these defects, ASD and mitral stenosis, can be either congenital or acquired. The...

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Tetralogy of Fallot

Practice EssentialsTetralogy of Fallot, which is one of the most common congenital heart disorders, comprises right ventricular (RV) outflow tract obstruction (RVOTO) (infundibular stenosis), ventricular septal defect (VSD), aorta dextroposition, and RV hypertrophy. The mortality rate in untreated patients reaches...

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Sinus of Valsalva Aneurysm

BackgroundJohn Thurnam first described sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) in 1840. Hope further described it in 1939. SVA is usually referred to as a rare congenital anomaly. A congenital SVA is usually clinically silent but may vary from a mild, asymptomatic dilatation detected in routine 2-dimensional echocardiography...

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Acute Coronary Syndrome

Practice EssentialsAcute coronary syndrome (ACS) refers to a spectrum of clinical presentations ranging from those for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to presentations found in non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) or in unstable angina. It is almost always associated with...

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Endocardial Cushion Defects

BackgroundEndocardial cushion defects, more commonly known as atrioventricular (AV) canal or septal defects, include a range of defects characterized by involvement of the atrial septum, the ventricular septum, and one or both of the AV valves. These defects can be classified by several methods. A distinction...

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Complications of Myocardial Infarction

Overview of MI ComplicationsMyocardial infarction (MI) due to coronary artery disease is a leading cause of death in the United States, where more than 1 million people have acute myocardial infarctions (AMIs) each year.[1] The advent of coronary care units and early reperfusion therapy (lytic or percutaneous...

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