Ankur Lodha

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection: case report and review of literature.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a deadly cause of myocardial infarction (MI) that mainly affects otherwise healthy, young females. We examine the case of a young female who presented with chest pain. She developed ST elevations in anterolateral leads mimicking ST elevation MI. Cardiac catheterization was done and showed a proximal left anterior descending (LAD) dissection. The patient underwent primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty with four paclitaxel-eluting coronary stents placed in the LAD. Diagnosis and management of SCAD have remained a challenge and no guidelines have yet been proposed due to the rarity and uncertain etiology of this condition. We review the medical literature on spontaneous coronary artery dissection and discuss its pathogenesis.

Celiac disease associated with dilated cardiomyopathy.

Celiac disease is an intestinal disorder caused by an immunologic response to gluten, which results in diffuse damage to the proximal small intestinal mucosa with malabsorption of nutrients. An association between celiac disease and nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy has been noted. Cardiomyopathy has been shown to improve in some patients on a gluten-free diet. We report a case of progressively worsening dilated cardiomyopathy in a patient with documented celiac disease.

Complete heart block in takotsubo cardiomyopathy.

Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy is a relatively recently recognized clinical entity, which presents similar to an acute myocardial infarction but there is no evidence of obstructive coronary artery disease on cardiac catheterization. It mostly affects postmenopausal women and an episode of acute illness or stress can often be identified preceding the presentation. Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) usually has a favorable outcome and an excellent prognosis but, in rare instances, it can be associated with life threatening complications. We report a unique case of TCM where the patient presented with a transient complete heart block.

Thyrotoxicosis Causing Arterial and Venous Thrombosis

We present an interesting case of a patient with thyrotoxicosis who developed both arterial and venous thrombosis. Although there have been reports of thrombosis in such patients, there has been no case reporting arterial and venous thrombosis in the same patient. We describe the case and discuss the medical literature. We feel that any patient with unexplained hypercoagulability should be thoroughly evaluated for thyroid dysfunction.

Sinus of Valsalva aneurysm: a rare presentation with ventricular tachycardia.

![Figure][1] [![Graphic][3] ][3][![Graphic][4] ][4][![Graphic][5] ][5] An 82-year-old male with of a history of hypertension presented to the emergency department with complaints of intermittent palpitations. Electrocardiogram results showed monomorphic ventricular

Unusual Endocarditis: “Rare Bug, Rare Site”

A 27-year-old man was diagnosed with infective endocarditis due to Streptococcus agalactiae. Large vegetations were seen on the anterior mitral valve leaflet and also on the right ventricular side of a membranous ventricular septal defect. Streptococcus agalactiae is a rare cause of endocarditis, and it is very rare to find large vegetations around ventricular septal defect. The authors present this interesting case of unusual endocarditis with vegetations in both the right and left heart. This case is the first reported case of infective endocarditis involving the left and the right sides of the heart at the same time in a nonintravenous drug user.

Systolic aortic regurgitation: A rare phenomenon

We describe a case of an elderly man admitted to our hospital with syncope and a slow pulse rate. An echocardiogram showed both diastolic as well as systolic aortic regurgitation. Careful analysis of the clinical data, electrocardiogram and echocardiogram revealed that systolic aortic regurgitation was related to syncope in a very interesting fashion.

Troponins in Tako-tsubo Cardiomyopathy

Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy was first described in Japan in 1990. The clinical presentation of Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM) is similar to an acute myocardial infarction with patients having chest pain, ST segment elevations on EKG and elevated cardiac biomarkers. In TCM, however, the elevation in cardiac enzymes is usually mild. We report a case of TCM where the patient had Troponin I elevation up to 42.3 ng/ml. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case in which such high troponins have been reported in a patient with Tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy.

Platypnea-Orthodeoxia syndrome after repair of a paraesophageal hernia

The Platypnea-Orthodeoxia syndrome is characterised by dyspnoea and deoxygenation accompanying a change from the recumbent to the upright position. An 81-year-old woman had an elective paraesophageal hernia repair. She developed dyspnoea and hypoxemia post-operatively that was worse when upright. An agitated saline echocardiogram revealed a right-to-left shunt through a patent foramen ovale that increased when the patient was upright. Over 3 weeks the patients’ shunt, dyspnoea and hypoxemia improved and she was discharged home.

Bacterial pericarditis caused by infected trichilemmal cyst

Bacterial pericarditis is a well-known although rare complication of Staphylococcus aureus infection in modern practice. We present a rare case of Staphylococcus pericarditis caused by an infected trichilemmal cyst present on patient’s scalp. Our case emphasizes that all cases of bacterial pericarditis should be thoroughly investigated for a source of infection. Constrictive changes can be seen in the pericardium postinfection, as in our patient, and should be treated aggressively. To our knowledge, a case of an infected cyst causing bacterial pericarditis has never been reported previously in the literature.