Journal of Cardiology Cases

UNLABELLED: Dystrophic calcification is a rare but fatal complication associated with severe myocarditis. Detecting calcified lesions and evaluating ventricular function are essential for the management of myocarditis. We report a case of neonatal acute myocarditis with dystrophic calcification successfully assessed by two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. The calcification spontaneously resolved, and the recovery of myocardial function was evaluated by speckle-tracking echocardiography...

UNLABELLED: Although debulking devices are very useful in modifying calcified plaques, their effectiveness is highly dependent on wire bias. In particular, in eccentric calcified bifurcation lesions, wire bias tends to be poor and needs to be corrected for adequate lesion preparation. A 67-year-old man was diagnosed with exertional angina pectoris. Coronary angiography showed a highly calcified eccentric lesion from the left main trunk to the left anterior descending artery. The patient refused coronary artery bypass surgery, therefore we decided to treat this complex bifurcation lesion with percutaneous coronary intervention...

UNLABELLED: A 78-year-old woman with hypertension was admitted to our hospital with palpitation and chest discomfort. She had been nervous since she learned about a severe earthquake on the news. An electrocardiogram showed ST-segment elevation in leads I, aVL, and V2-6. Emergency coronary angiography demonstrated no significant coronary stenosis and left ventriculography revealed marked akinesis of apical left ventricle with hyperkinesis of the basal segments, indicating typical takotsubo cardiomyopathy...

UNLABELLED: Papillary muscle rupture is usually caused by myocardial infarction although rare cases of non-ischemic etiology have also been described. Among these, infective endocarditis represents an important cause. Herein, we report a case due to Streptococcus agalactiae involving the posteromedial papillary muscle. LEARNING OBJECTIVE: Non-ischemic papillary muscle rupture should be suspected when there is no evidence of atherosclerotic coronary artery disease...

UNLABELLED: Impella (Abiomed Inc., Danvers, MA, USA) assisted off-pump coronary artery bypass has been increasingly reported in recent years. However, there have been no reports of the procedures performed for acute myocardial infarction in which the patient is hemodynamically unstable. We report a case of a 73-year-old man with cardiogenic shock due to extensive ST elevation acute myocardial infarction that worsened despite Impella CP® support. Because of the fragile myocardium in the acute phase of myocardial infarction, Impella assisted off-pump coronary artery bypass graft causes a high risk of myocardial injury, but we were able to safely perform the procedure by ingenious techniques...

UNLABELLED: Myocardial complications in the setting of inflammatory myopathy associated with anti-mitochondrial antibody (AMA) cause various cardiovascular complications. A 64-year-old Japanese man was diagnosed with inflammatory myopathy associated with AMA, and three years after diagnosis, the patient was referred to our hospital with leg edema and dyspnea on exertion. Right ventricular endomyocardial biopsy showed no disease-specific findings, with neither inflammatory cell infiltration nor non-caseating epithelioid cell granuloma, and only mild fibrosis; therefore, we finally diagnosed this patient with cardiac involvement in inflammatory myopathy associated with AMA...

UNLABELLED: Idiopathic renal hypouricemia is an autosomal recessive hereditary disease, characterized by hypouricemia and high renal fractional excretion of uric acid, and can be complicated by acute kidney injury after anaerobic exercise. However, no report has suggested tachycardia-induced acute kidney injury complicated with renal hypouricemia. We herein report the case of a 12-year-old female with tachycardia-induced acute kidney injury complicated with renal hypouricemia. It is an important issue that the tachycardias and acute kidney injury due to renal hypouricemia can be deteriorating factors for each other through the reactive oxygen species...

UNLABELLED: A 66-year-old female was diagnosed with combined post- and pre-capillary pulmonary hypertension due to heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (47 %) and functional mitral regurgitation [mean pulmonary arterial wedge pressure: 27 mmHg; pulmonary arterial pressure: 91/30 (56) mmHg; pulmonary vascular resistance: 12.9 Wood units; and cardiac index: 1.77 L/min/m2 ]. Following treatment with vericiguat (a novel oral soluble guanylate cyclase stimulator), hemodynamics improved [mean pulmonary arterial wedge pressure: 27 mmHg; pulmonary arterial pressure: 54/26 (35) mmHg; pulmonary vascular resistance: 2...

UNLABELLED: Prompt termination of pregnancy in patients with decompensated pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is imperative for improvement of maternal hemodynamics, but such termination may also result in maternal death due to further deterioration of PAH immediately after delivery. However, there have been limited reports on whether implementation of PAH therapy with continuation of pregnancy improves the maternal outcome, especially in treatment-naïve patients with PAH. A 24-year-old woman was admitted to our hospital with a chief complaint of dyspnea (WHO functional class IV) at 22 weeks and 3 days of gestation...

UNLABELLED: A sigmoid septum is associated with sharp angulation and aging of the aortic root; however, it does not affect the pressure gradient in the left ventricular outflow tract and is generally asymptomatic. This report describes a 73-year-old woman who presented with syncope after exertion. Echocardiography revealed that the cause was left ventricular outflow tract stenosis associated with a sigmoid septum; her symptoms improved with beta-blocker therapy. Exercise stress echocardiography was performed to determine treatment efficacy...

UNLABELLED: Insertable cardiac monitors (ICMs) are small electrocardiographs implanted subcutaneously to automatically record electrocardiograms when arrhythmia is detected in patients with syncope. If the ICM misses a significant arrhythmia, it may delay the diagnosis of arrhythmogenic syncope and put the patient at risk. Herein, we describe a case of undetected cardiac arrest in a patient with ICM. An 87-year-old man with syncope was admitted to the hospital. After 8 days of monitoring, the cause could not be determined, and an ICM was implanted...

UNLABELLED: The VIZIGO sheath (Biosense Webster, Irvine, CA, USA) is used for catheter ablation (CA) of atrial arrhythmia. In this case report, we describe a complication associated with the VIZIGO sheath and present a successful bailout method. An 82-year-old woman with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (AF) and atrial tachycardia (AT) was referred to our hospital after experiencing palpitations for 6 months. She underwent CA using the VIZIGO sheath and a fixed Swartz sheath (St...

UNLABELLED: Ventricular septal perforation is a rare complication of pacemaker implantation. Here, we describe the case of a 69-year-old man with complete atrioventricular block and heart failure. The right ventricular pacemaker was implanted with a long pre-shaped delivery sheath. A new systolic murmur appeared after the procedure. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a ventricular septal perforation, with a Qp/Qs of 1.09, which was a small shunt rate and required no intervention...

UNLABELLED: A 45-year-old male with anteroseptal myocardial infarction was referred to our hospital. The patient was previously admitted to another hospital with coronavirus disease-2019 pneumonia for 2 weeks; he was discharged 2 weeks before presentation to our institution. He received conventional treatment for coronavirus disease-2019, including administration of heparin. A moderate decrease in platelet count was observed on admission, and emergent angiography was performed under a definitive diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome...

UNLABELLED: Although a high-resolution three-dimensional mapping system has made it possible to treat complicated atrial tachyarrhythmia (AT), there remain cases that are difficult to diagnose and treat. However, when multiple different ATs alternately appear, mapping and diagnosis of those are more difficult. Parallel mapping module is well known as a good option to simultaneously map two or more different ATs when they alternately appear. When performing parallel mapping of two different ATs, one bipolar signal of the reference catheter is used as a timing reference and a cycle length filter is used for differentiating AT1, AT2, and others, including sinus rhythm, fusion beats, or catheter-induced premature atrial complex...

UNLABELLED: Coronary obstruction is a rare but life-threatening complication of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). This article describes the case of a patient with severe aortic valve stenosis treated with TAVI, during which preventive coronary wiring using a pressure wire was performed for coronary protection. After the deployment of the transcatheter heart valve (THV), the values of the fractional flow reserve (FFR) and resting full-cycle ratio (RFR) remarkably decreased, although the findings of transesophageal echocardiography and coronary angiography did not suggest coronary obstruction...

UNLABELLED: Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm (SVA) is a rare cardiac anomaly that commonly originates from the right or noncoronary sinuses and rarely from the left sinus. SVA is usually diagnosed in the setting of clinical sequelae of a rupture. We herein report a case of an unruptured left SVA presenting as acute myocardial infarction. A 54-year-old woman with a history of radical operation for patent ductus arteriosus in childhood was transferred to our hospital. An electrocardiogram indicated extensive myocardial ischemia with ST elevation...

Biatrial tachycardia (BiAT) is a rare arrhythmia, and identification of the re-entry circuit is often complicated. By creating an activation map of the right atrium, left atrium, and coronary sinus as a single chamber, the LUMIPOINT module of the Rhythmia mapping system (Boston Scientific, Marlborough, MA, USA) can be used in real time to make an accurate diagnosis. Ablation of the Bachmann bundle is a feasible way to terminate BiAT, but might cause interatrial conduction delay and electrical isolation of the left atrial appendage...

UNLABELLED: We report the case of a 16-year-old female patient with protein-losing enteropathy that was suspected to be caused by thoracic duct congestion associated with postural compression of right subclavian vein. Non-contrast magnetic resonance lymphangiography showed that the thoracic duct connected to the right-sided venous angle of the right subclavian vein which was obstructed when her right arm was lifted. In this case, comprehensive screening of the lymphatics using non-contrast magnetic resonance lymphangiography, which is a minimally invasive tool with high spatial resolution, was helpful for the recognition of the specific pathophysiology...

UNLABELLED: Right ventricular failure (RVF) is a serious complication after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation. In this report, a case of RVF that developed over two years after LVAD implantation is presented. The patient was a 12-year-old male with dilated phase of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. He had no risk factors for early or late-onset RVF. However, his right ventricular function worsened after he developed ventricular arrhythmia (VA), and right ventricular dysfunction became exacerbated with an increasing frequency of VAs...