Amparo Martínez

Diverticulum of the left ventricle associated with subvalvar aortic stenosis

Diverticula of the left ventricle are rare and only a few cases have been documented in adults. They may be asymptomatic or may present with embolization, pain, endocarditis, or sudden death. We report the case of a 34-year-old woman who presented a cardiac arrest with ventricular fibrillation which required electrical cardioversion. She was found to have a left ventricular diverticulum associated with a subvalvar aortic stenosis. The diverticulum arose from the apex with a narrow connection to the ventricular cavity. A subvalvar fibrous ridge stenosis with a systolic pressure gradient of 115 mmHg was observed. Coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries. The diverticulum and the subvalvar fibrous ridge were resected. Histologic examination of the diverticulum wall demonstrated the presence of the three normal layers with marked muscle cell hypertrophy, atypical plexiform structure and fibrous endocardium. The pathophysioloy of diverticula associated with subvalvar aortic stenosis are discussed.

Endocardial Injury During Ventricular Assistance with an Intracardiac Microaxial Pump

We report the case of a patient unweanable from cardiopulmonary bypass who underwent transaortic implanta- tion of an Impella Recover LD blood pump. The ventricular assistance afforded an adequate flow but the patient died 48 hours after due to severe ischemia of the lower limbs. Chronic atherosclerotic occlusion of the abdominal aorta could be observed during the necropsy study as well as a subendocardial hematoma of the left ventricular wall. Some aspects con- cerning the pathologic finding observed in the heart are discussed.

Characterization of single crystalline ZnTe and ZnSe grown by vapor phase transport.

Tubular furnaces were designed and built to obtain single crystalline ZnTe and ZnSe ingots using respectively physical and chemical transport methods. Different temperature profiles and growth rates were analyzed in order to optimize the necessary crystalline quality for device development. Optical and scanning electron micrographs of the corrosion figures produced by chemical etching were used to obtain the dislocation density and the misorientation between adjacent subgrains in ZnTe and ZnSe wafers. Structural quality of the single crystalline material was determined by transmission electronic microscopy. Optical transmittance was measured by infrared transmission spectrometry and the resulting values were compared to commercial samples.