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Although asymptomatic pericardial effusions are relatively common in pregnancy, their true incidence is not known. Symptomatic effusions are, however, rare in pregnancy. The authors present a rare case of pericardial tamponade complicating pregnancy with resulting diagnosis of angiosarcoma. They review the literature involving pericardial disease in pregnancy and discuss important issues in management and include a discussion of angiosarcoma.

Background: Decision-support information technology is often adopted to improve clinical decision making, but it is rarely rigorously evaluated. Congress mandated the evaluation of Problem-Knowledge Couplers (PKC Corp, Burlington, Vt), a decision-support tool proposed for the Department of Defense's new health information network., Methods: This was a patient-level randomized trial conducted at 2 military practices. A total of 936 patients were allocated to the intervention group and 966 to usual care. Couplers were applied before routine ambulatory clinic visits. The primary outcome was quality of care, which was assessed based on the total percentage of any of 24 health care quality process measures (opportunities to provide evidence-based care) that were fulfilled. Secondary outcomes included medical resources consumed within 60 days of enrollment and patient and provider satisfaction., Results: There were 4639 health care opportunities (2374 in the Coupler group and 2265 in the usual-care group), with no difference in the proportion of opportunities fulfilled (33.9% vs 30.7%; P = .12). Although there was a modest improvement in performance on screening/preventive measures, it was offset by poorer performance on some measures of acute care. Coupler patients used more laboratory and pharmacy resources than usual-care patients (logarithmic mean difference, 71 dollars). No difference in patient satisfaction was observed between groups, and provider satisfaction was mixed., Conclusion: This study provides no strong evidence to support the utility of this decision-support tool, but it demonstrates the value of rigorous evaluation of decision-support information technology.

Background: In the general population, obesity is associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes. However, studies of patients with chronic disease suggest that overweight and obese patients may paradoxically have better outcomes than lean patients. We sought to examine the association of body mass index (BMI) and outcomes in stable outpatients with heart failure (HF)., Methods: We analyzed data from 7767 patients with stable HF enrolled in the Digitalis Investigation Group trial. Patients were categorized using baseline BMI (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by the square of height in meters) as underweight (BMI <18.5), healthy weight (BMI, 18.5-24.9, overweight (BMI, 25.0-29.9), and obese (BMI > or =30.0). Risks associated with BMI groups were evaluated using multivariable Cox proportional hazards models over a mean follow-up of 37 months., Results: Crude all-cause mortality rates decreased in a near linear fashion across successively higher BMI groups, from 45.0% in the underweight group to 28.4% in the obese group (P for trend <.001). After multivariable adjustment, overweight and obese patients were at lower risk for death (hazard ratio [HR], 0.88; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.80-0.96, and HR, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.72-0.92, respectively), compared with patients at a healthy weight (referent). In contrast, underweight patients with stable HF were at increased risk for death (HR 1.21; 95% CI, 0.95-1.53)., Conclusions: In a cohort of outpatients with established HF, higher BMIs were associated with lower mortality risks; overweight and obese patients had lower risk of death compared with those at a healthy weight. Understanding the mechanisms and impact of the "obesity paradox" in patients with HF is necessary before recommendations are made concerning weight and weight control in this population.

Pheochromocytomas classically present with paroxysms of hypertension and adrenergic symptoms including headaches, palpitations, tremor, and anxiety. However, these tumors can be clinically silent and occasionally present only when catecholamine release is up-regulated by exogenous stimuli. In addition, the clinical presentation of pheochromocytoma can mimic a number of more common medical conditions, including migraine headaches, cardiac arrhythmias, and myocardial infarction, making diagnosis difficult. In this report, we present the case of a young woman who, while receiving oral corticosteroid therapy for presumed migraine headaches, suffered a myocardial infarction and ultimately hemorrhaged into a previously undiagnosed pheochromocytoma. Our patient exhibited severe, labile hypertension after the administration of iv beta-blockade for presumed myocardial ischemia, raising our initial clinical suspicion for pheochromocytoma. In this paper we review some of the key clinical issues related to this complex case, including steroid-induced stimulation of catecholamine synthesis and release, the role of pheochromocytoma in myocardial ischemia and electrocardiographic changes, and the rare complication of tumor hemorrhage. We then briefly review the essential diagnostic and management strategies for this rare but potentially lethal tumor, with specific emphasis on pheochromocytoma-related cardiovascular emergencies and the surgical management of tumor hemorrhage.

Background: Diagnosis of acute rejection remains a major concern in heart transplant recipients. Currently, endomyocardial biopsy is the gold standard for detecting rejection. Given the risks and cost of endomyocardial biopsy, a noninvasive marker for rejection would be ideal. Cardiac troponin T (cTnT) is an established marker of myocyte damage, and a rat transplantation model of heart transplant rejection has suggested that cTnT may be of value in detecting rejection., Methods: The cTnT levels were measured in 90 transplant recipients (67 men and 23 women) at the time of endomyocardial biopsy. There were a total of 256 cTnT levels and 256 biopsy samples. The cTnT levels were compared by use of International Society of Heart and Lung Transplantation rejection grades., Results: Only one of the 12 grade 3 biopsy specimens had a corresponding elevated cTnT level. Of the 29 biopsy specimens with myocyte necrosis (grade 2 or grade 3), three had a corresponding elevated cTnT. The cTnT levels were elevated during the first 1 to 2 months after transplantation. There was no correlation between ischemic time and cTnT levels., Conclusion: CTnT is an insensitive marker of acute rejection, both early and late after heart transplantation. Elevation of cTnT after transplantation does not seem to be directly related to ischemic time.