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Background Left ventricular (LV) apical aneurysm associated with aortic valve stenosis (AS) is very rare. We herein report two cases of this entity. Case presentation Case 1 was a 75-year-old woman admitted for surgery for severe AS and enlargement of the ascending aorta. Preoperative routine echocardiography and cardiac computed tomography (CT) revealed an unexpected local aneurysm of the LV apex. The patient underwent aortic valve replacement (AVR), LV aneurysm resection, and ascending aorta replacement. Case 2 was a 71-year-old woman diagnosed with severe AS. Preoperative cardiac CT detected LV apical aneurysm that could not be detected by echocardiography. Cardiac catheterization showed a coronary ventricular fistula. The patient underwent AVR and LV aneurysm resection. Given that neither of the two cases had a history of myocardial infarction or obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the cause of the local aneurysm of the LV apex was thought to be relative ischemia at the apex due to myocardial hypertrophy and LV pressure overload due to long-term AS. In addition, a coronary artery fistula was suggested to be involved in the relative ischemia of the apex in Case 2. Conclusions Echocardiography alone is not sufficient to exclude apical aneurysm, and cardiac CT may be useful. Regarding the surgical indication, it is necessary to consider further cases in the future.

Objective Thrombocytopenia is common after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and is associated with mortality and major complications, although the underlying mechanisms are unclear. This retrospective single-center study aimed to identify factors associated with the decrease in platelet count (DPC) after TAVI in Japanese patients. Patients with severe aortic valve stenosis who underwent transfemoral TAVI between March 2014 and August 2019 were grouped according to DPC values of Results Among the 131 patients who underwent transfemoral TAVI, 74 patients (56%) had a DPC of ≥ 50%, and 57 patients (44%) had a DPC of P = 0.039) and BEV use (adjusted odds ratio: 3.014, 95% confidence interval: 1.003–9.056; P = 0.045). Platelet count monitoring after TAVI, especially when using BEV devices, is essential for Japanese patients with low BMI.

Background Primary cardiac tumors, which are only detected in 0.001–0.03% of autopsies, are rare. Only 25% of primary cardiac tumors are malignant, of which 95% are sarcomas. Ewing’s sarcoma, one of the Ewing’s sarcoma of family tumors, is thought to be derived from neural crest cells. While Ewing’s sarcoma usually presents in the bone of children, Ewing’s sarcoma of cardiac origin is rare, with only a few reports described in the literature. The prognosis is unpredictable because of the scarcity and unestablished treatment. We herein report an extremely rare case of primary cardiac Ewing’s sarcoma in the right atrium of a 64-year-old man. Case presentation The patient is a 64-year-old Japanese male who was referred to our hospital to treat a floating mass of the right atrium (RA). Although the patient was asymptomatic, we performed an operation to urgently resect the floating mass on the next day of admission due to the risk of pulmonary embolism. The operation was performed under cardiopulmonary bypass and cardiac arrest. We resected the tumor with at least 1.5 cm of the RA wall as a margin. The postoperative pathological diagnosis of the mass was compatible with a primitive neuroectodermal tumor (PNET, a form of Ewing’s sarcoma). The cells were positive for CD56, CD99, and Vimentin and negative for S-100 and Desmin. Although no malignant cells were observed in the margin of the resected RA wall and the sarcoma was completely resected, he was transferred to another hospital to receive adjuvant postoperative chemotherapy to improve the prognosis by preventing subclinical micrometastasis. Conclusions We experienced an extremely rare case of primary cardiac Ewing’s sarcoma in the right atrium of a 64-year-old man, which was successfully resected under cardiac arrest. Although the sarcoma was completely resected, postoperative chemotherapy and long-term follow-up are recommended for patients with primary cardiac sarcoma because of the high rates of metastasis and recurrence.

We report a case of a 66-year-old man who was diagnosed with severe aortic regurgitation, moderate tricuspid regurgitation and chronic atrial fibrillation. Preoperative computed tomography showed left lung agenesis. We performed aortic valve replacement, tricuspid valve annuloplasty and right pulmonary vein isolation via a left thoracotomy. This approach provided an adequate field of view.