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A 38-year-old woman suffered from syncopes due to torsades de pointes arrhythmias. Echocardiography showed a left ventricular mass that was resected. By immunohistochemical investigations, an organized thrombus was excluded and the diagnosis of a rare ventricular myxoma was confirmed. Postoperatively the arrhythmias resolved without recurrence. We conclude that left ventricular myxoma may cause life-threatening arrhythmias, possibly by irritation of cardiac mechanoreceptors. To our knowledge, this is the first case of a left ventricular myxoma associated with a torsades de pointes arrhythmia.

The inferior epigastric artery (IEA) is a new arterial graft for myocardial revascularization. We examined the inferior epigastric artery, the internal thoracic artery (ITA) and representative sections of the coronary arteries in 45 postmortem examinations, for microscopic signs of atherosclerosis. In addition, a morphometric evaluation of the intima and media of both conduits was performed. The intima of the ITA is significantly thicker, but atherosclerosis is absent. There are fewer fenestrations/mm in the internal elastic lamina (IEL) (4.00 +/- 1.60 versus 4.62 +/- 1.46) of the IEA and the combined thickness of media and intima is lower (0.20 +/- 0.04 mm versus 0.30 +/- 0.06 mm). However, 24% of IEAs showed medial calcification of variable degrees. We conclude that the IEA should not be used routinely for myocardial revascularization until the long-term patency of this graft has been explored.

We report a case of recurrent malignant fibrous histiocytoma (MFH) of the left atrium. The primary lesion was surgically removed after it had been diagnosed to be the cause of fulminant pulmonary edema in a 27-year-old male. The tumor recurred 15 weeks following surgery. It was excised completely, leaving a large left atrial defect that was reconstructed using a Dacron patch. Malignant fibrous histiocytoma constitutes 2% of all cardiac malignancies. The typical location is the left atrium. Surgical excision is the primary aim in treating this tumor. Adjuvant radiotherapy and chemotherapy have been suggested in the literature. The prognosis is poor.

The efficacy of acute hemodynamic support with intravenous enoximone (n = 10), (2 x bolus 0.5 mg/kg, infusion 5.0 mcg/kg/min), dopamine (n = 10), (3-4.0 mcg/kg/min) over a 18-h period was investigated in patients to be weaned off cardio-pulmonary bypass (CPB) (placebo-controlled trial). Under steady-state conditions enoximone produced a substantial increase in cardiac index (20.6 +/- 1.7%), but no change in heart rate. The improvement in cardiac index with time until constant values were reached (6 h) was not directly paralleled by the plasma concentration of enoximone. Pharmacodynamically relevant concentrations were already present after 1 h of infusion (480 +/- 68 ng/ml) and were comparable with the value determined after 6 h (442 +/- 31 ng/ml). After 18 h of infusion, plasma concentration had reached 742 +/- 47 ng/ml without a further improvement in cardiac function. The augmentation of stroke volume index (23.3 +/- 2.5%) occurred concomitant with a decrease in systemic vascular resistance (-23.1 +/- 0.6%), obviously due to a decrease in diastolic arterial pressure (-12.0 +/- 3.8%). The pulmonary capillary wedge pressure remained unaffected, and there was only a slight decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance (-9.3 +/- 3.2%). During enoximone, as well as dopamine infusion, an increase (10 +/- 3.1 and 9 +/- 1.8%) in right atrial pressure was observed in contrast to the untreated control group. This is contradictory to the described drugs effect in patients suffering from congestive heart failure. In a concentration usually not causing cardioacceleration, dopamine was of minor hemodynamic support in the post-CPB period.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

The efficacy of acute haemodynamic support with intravenous enoximone (2 X bolus 0.5 mg/kg; infusion 5.0 micrograms/kg/min) versus dopamine (3.0-4.0 micrograms/kg/min), over an 18-hour period, was investigated in patients to be weaned from cardiopulmonary bypass (placebo-controlled trial). Under steady-state conditions, enoximone produced a substantial increase in cardiac index (20.6 +/- 1.7%), but no change in heart rate. The improvement in cardiac index with time until constant values were reached (6 h) was not directly paralleled by the plasma concentration of enoximone. Pharmacodynamically relevant concentrations were already present after 1 h of infusion (480 +/- 68 ng/ml) and comparable with the value determined after 6 h (442 +/- 37 ng/ml). After 18 h of infusion, plasma concentration had reached 742 +/- 47 ng/ml without a further improvement in cardiac function. The augmentation of stroke volume index (23.3 +/- 2.5%) occurred concomitantly with a decrease in systemic vascular resistance (-23.1 +/- 0.6%), obviously due to a decrease in diastolic arterial pressure (-12.0 +/- 3.8%). The pulmonary capillary wedge pressure remained unaffected. There was only a slight decrease in pulmonary vascular resistance (-9.3 +/- 3.2%). During both enoximone infusion and dopamine infusion, right atrial pressure increased (10.0 +/- 3.1 and 9.0 +/- 1.8%, respectively), in contrast to the untreated control group. This is contradictory to the drugs' described effect in patients suffering from congestive heart failure. At a concentration which would not normally cause cardiac acceleration, dopamine provided minor haemodynamic support in the period after cardiopulmonary bypass.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)