Yutaka Matsumura

Coexistence of Left-Sided Atrioventricular Accessory Pathways With a Common Inferior Pulmonary Vein Ostium

Background—As the technique for radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation (AF) has progressed, so has our knowledge of both normal and abnormal anatomy of the left atrium and pulmonary veins (PV). We treated several AF patients with accessory conduction pathways (ACP) who were also found to have a common ostium of inferior PVs (CIPV), a relatively rare PV anomaly. No relation between ACP and PV anomalies has ever been reported, and the aim of our study was to study this association. Methods and Results—This study included 137 consecutive patients (104 men; mean age, 60±9 years) who underwent AF ablation for paroxysmal and persistent AF at our institution from March 2009 to August 2010. We analyzed coexisting supraventricular tachycardias and left atrium and PV morphology by multidetector row CT. Thirty-eight of 137 patients (27.7%) were found to have some PV anomaly, consisting of 13 with a common trunk of left PV, 19 with right additional PV, 3 with a common trunk of right PV, and 3 with CIPV. Thirty-one patients (22.6%) had supraventricular tachycardias. They were 26 cases of atrial flutter, 4 of Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and 3 of atrioventricular nodal reentrant tachycardia. The prevalence of a coexisting ACP was significantly higher in patients with CIPV than in those without CIPV (3 of 3 [100%] versus 1 in 134 [0.7%]; P<0.0001). All ACPs with CIPV were located in the left side. The other supraventricular tachycardias were not associated with any PV anomalies. Conclusions—There is a possible association between CIPV and left-sided ACP in AF patients. This suggests that there is a likelihood of developmental association between them.

Successful Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Atherosclerotic Coronary Lesion with Anomalous Origin of the Right Coronary Artery

Congenital coronary artery anomalies, including anomalous origin of a coronary artery, can manifest as life-threatening conditions, such as myocardial infarction or arrhythmia, and may even lead to sudden death associated with specific congenital anatomical features. Such arteries can also develop atherosclerotic lesions. This report describes the case of a 75-year-old man who was admitted to our hospital due to exertional dyspnea. The right coronary artery was found to originate from the left coronary sinus and exhibit tight stenosis due to atherosclerosis, causing effort angina pectoris. This case highlights the fact that coronary artery anomalies can cause angina pectoris via both atherosclerotic and nonatherosclerotic effects, and successful revascularization was achieved noninvasively via percutaneous coronary angioplasty.

Fatal outcome in a case of infective endocarditis due to delay in diagnosis and the autopsy findings

Introduction: Infective endocarditis is an infection of a heart valve or other cardiac structure at a site of endothelial damage. Infective endocarditis is associated with a broad array of complications and has a high fatality rate. Some autopsy case reports regarding causes of death have previously been published. These cases reported that the condition of patients with infective endocarditis worsened drastically, and they suddenly died from fatal complications, such as acute severe heart failure, cerebrovascular major embolism, and hemorrhage or acute coronary embolism. In these cases, early diagnosis did not necessarily have an important role because of the unpredictable and relatively rare situation. Case Report: A 47-year-old male was transferred to our hospital due to fever and severe fatigue. Although he had been experiencing symptoms for several months and visited doctors near his home several times, his condition was not diagnosed and he took antimicrobial drugs for a few days. On admission, he presented with typical clinical findings of infective endocarditis. Although intensive medical treatment was administered, his severe infection was not controlled, and it led to multi-organ failure. On day-15 of hospitalization, the patient succumbed to multi-organ failure. An autopsy also revealed multi-organ failure. Conclusion: This case illustrates the fatal outcome of undiagnosed infective endocarditis in a patient who did not have fatal complications, such as acute heart failure, cerebrovascular major embolism, and hemorrhage or acute coronary embolism, which have been reported in past cases. In this case, early diagnosis could have avoided the unfortunate outcome. We report this case to emphasize the importance of early diagnosis of infective endocarditis. (This page in not part of the published article.) International Journal of Case Reports and Images, Vol. 8 No. 10, October 2017. ISSN: 0976-3198 Int J Case Rep Images 2017;8(10):627–630. www.ijcasereportsandimages.com Matsuda et al. 627 CASE REPORT PEER REVIEWED | OPEN ACCESS Fatal outcome in a case of infective endocarditis due to delay in diagnosis and the autopsy findings Junji Matsuda, Ryo Kojima, Yutaka Matsumura, Junichi Nitta