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A patient with a history of bronchial carcinoma was admitted to the coronary care unit with chest pain suggestive of infarction and an ECG showing changes compatible with acute lateral wall infarction. The coronary arteries were shown to be normal and echocardiography revealed an intracardiac mass which MRI confirmed to be a direct extension of the pulmonary tumour. Echocardiography should be performed systematically in patients with chest pain and ECG changes of ischaemia who also have progressive oncological disease.

Atrial septal defects usually give rise to left-to right in the absence of obstruction of the pulmonary outflow tract or pulmonary hypertension. The authors report a case of atrial septal defect with a right-to-left shunt despite normal pulmonary pressures at catheterisation in a 56 year-old-man who had undergone left pneumonectomy 6 months previously. The shunt was responsible for major arterial desaturation aggravated by the left lateral or dorsal decubitus position. Surgical closure of the defect resulted in cure with disappearance of cyanosis and normalisation of blood gases. The physiopathological mechanisms of these right-to-left shunts with normal pulmonary pressures are discussed with reference to previously reported cases in the literature.

The authors report a case of cardiac arrest occurring in a patient who had just entered the catheter laboratory for coronary angioplasty. Opacification of the left coronary artery revealed a proximal occluding double spasm unrelated to the distal stenoses for which angioplasty had been requested. Resuscitation and antispastic therapy with intracoronary injection of a nitrate derivative resulted in a complete recovery without any sequellae. The role of coronary spasm in sudden death and the value of the ergometrine test in patients with coronary stenosis are discussed.

The authors report the medico-surgical experience of Marie Lannelongue hospital of a rare condition: accessory mitral valve tissue. Seven patients aged 2 to 28 years (average: 8.7 years) had left ventricular outflow obstruction due to accessory mitral valve tissue. The diagnostic was not obvious clinically and was based on the association of echocardiographic and angiographic data. This condition was associated with another intra-cardiac malformation in 6 of the 7 patients. Surgical treatment included resection of the accessory mitral valve tissue by an aortic or combined aorto-left atrial approach, together with correction of the associated intracardiac abnormality. The postoperative results were excellent with the regression of the ventriculo-aortic pressure gradient and the physiological integrity of the mitral valve.

The authors, who have successfully performed thrombectomy of the pulmonary artery under extracorporeal circulation and deep hypothermia in three patients, wish to draw attention to the principal factors of success. The decision to operate, as accepted by most surgeons, rests on the patient's functional status (stage III or IV) and on the presence of a systolic pulmonary arterial pressure exceeding 50 mmHg. Deep hypothermia combined with circulatory arrest seems to be the best method, as it improves visual control, thereby avoiding damage to the endothelium or fracture of the distal thrombi during thrombectomy. Finally, a new approach route (severing of the superior pulmonary vein, opening of the pulmonary artery and use of Volmar-Sisteron strippers) makes it possible to remove the entire thrombus, thus obtaining an almost normal pressure in the pulmonary artery. In all three patients, the complications that are mostly due to intrabronchial haemorrhage by disruption of the endothelium, fracture of the distal thrombus or pulmonary artery contusion were avoided.