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Copyright of Revista Argentina de Residentes de Cirugía is the property of Asociacion Argentina de Medicos Residentes de Cirugia General and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In patients with a wide QRS, drug-resistant heart failure, and a coronary sinus that is unsuitable for transvenous biventricular pacing (BVP), a transseptal approach from the right to left atrium can allow endocardial left ventricular (LV) pacing (with permanent anticoagulant therapy) instead of epicardial pacing via the coronary sinus branches. We sought to compare the effects of endocardial pacing with those of epicardial LV pacing on regional LV electromechanical delay (EMD) and contractility. Twenty-three patients (68 +/- 8 years) with severe heart failure and QRS > or =130 ms received a pacemaker for BVP. Fifteen patients underwent epicardial LV pacing, and 8 underwent endocardial LV pacing because of an unsuitable coronary sinus. All LV leads were placed at the anterolateral LV wall. Six months after implant, echocardiography and Doppler tissue imaging were performed. LV wall velocities and regional EMDs (time interval between the onset of the QRS and local ventricular systolic motion) were calculated for the 4 LV walls and compared for each patient between right ventricular (RV) and BVP. The amplitude of regional LV contractility was also assessed. Epicardial BVP reduced the septal wall EMD by 11% versus RV pacing (p = 0.05) and the lateral wall EMD by 41% versus RV pacing (p <0.01). With endocardial BVP, the septal and lateral EMDs were 21.3% and 54%, respectively (p <0.01, compared with epicardial BVP). The mitral time-velocity integral increased by 40% with endocardial BVP versus 2% with epicardial BVP (p <0.01). The amplitude of the lateral LV wall systolic motion increased by 14% with epicardial BVP versus 31% with endocardial BVP (p = 0.01). This resulted in a LV shortening fraction increase of 25% in patients with endocardial BVP (p = 0.05). However, all patients were clinically improved at the end of follow-up. Thus, in heart failure patients with BVP, endocardial BVP provides more homogenous intraventricular resynchronization than epicardial BVP and is associated with better LV filling and systolic performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The solitary fibrous tumor is uncommon. Even though it frequently locates in the pleura, a few cases have been reported in the retroperitoneum. Differentiation from other neoplasms is difficult, and therefore the diagnosis is always attained through histological examination. Although solitary fibrous tumors have variable clinical behaviors, a better comprehension of the location and its imaging characteristics would help to decrease the list of differential diagnoses. We report a solitary fibrous tumor located in the retroperitoneum whose diagnosis was confirmed by histological examination.

Congenital ectopic junctional tachycardia (EJT) is a rare arrhythmia presenting in the first 6 months of life. It is often resistant to antiarrhythmic drugs and its poor prognosis (35% mortality) explains its often complex management. The authors report two cases which illustrate its unpredictability with a potential to degenerate to serious ventricular arrhythmias. The possibility of progression to atrioventricular block, increased by antiarrhythmic therapy, may lead to implantation of a cardiac pacemaker. The poor outcome of the two babies underlines the severity of these arrhythmias.

Since Ebstein's first description in 1866 and the first surgical attempts at treatment in the 1950's, the natural history of this condition remains obscure. The anatomical description contrasts with the clinical and prognostic variability of this malformation. The form observed in the foetal or prenatal periods has a very different prognosis to that observed in adults. The risk factors are not the same even though the anatomical entity is comparable. The difficulty in managing these patients is due to the problems of diagnosis and determination of these prognostic factors. Advances in echocardiography, the key investigation which facilitates diagnosis, and in surgical and ablation techniques, have improved our understanding of this condition and its prognosis.

Fifty years after the beginning of cardiac surgery, a large percentage of operated congenital heart disease patients attain adulthood. The tetralogy of Fallot is one of the malformations in which the natural outcome was unfortunately nearly fatal in the long-term. Open heart surgery has radically transformed the prognosis of this, the most common of all cyanotic congenital cardiac malformations. Nowadays, most operated patients lead normal professional and family lives. Lonf-term survival after correction is between 90-95% after 30-35 years. Although surgical repair is satisfactory, the operated heart is not anatomically normal. The patients have a variable degree of devalvulation of the pulmonary outflow tract, a scar on the right ventricle, a patch repairing the ventricular septal defect and scars on the atrium (cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass). These sequellae expose the patients to a number of complications, notably arrhythmic and sometimes haemodynamic, affecting the right ventricle. The late mortality rate varies from 5 to 13% in the literature. The main causes of death are sudden death and reoperation. Sudden death is the most severe long-term complication but it is uncommon, affecting less than 5% of the population. It is mainly due to ventricular arrhythmias. Certain predisposing factors should be identified during long-term follow-up, among them the presence of haemodynamic abnormalities: systolic overload (residual pulmonary stenosis) or diastolic overload of the right ventricle (pulmonary regurgitation), infundibular aneurysm, right ventricular dysfunction. It would appear to be important to prevent pulmonary regurgitation by preserving the pulmonary valve even if it means persistence of a mild transvalvular pressure gradient. When pulmonary regurgitation is inevitable, follow-up is essential to evaluate the timing of valvulation of the pulmonary orifice. Despite these different complications which must be understood for proper follow-up of these patients, the long-term outcome of operated tetralogy of Fallot remains very good.

We report the observation of a female 45 year old patient presenting with a post-surgery complex congenital cardiopathy, associated with serious ventricular rhythm disorders necessitating the placement of an implantable defibrillator. The palliative surgery performed (cavo-pulmonary Glenn anastomosis) does not allow the usual access to the right ventricle via the superior vena cava. The different possibilities for defibrillator implantation are discussed. These include associating a surgical approach to introduce the bipolar probe with subcutaneous tunnelling to connect the probe to the box.

Unlabelled: Between 1980 and 1995, we observed twenty-five patients (22 males, 3 females) at the mean age of 50.6 +/- 13 years, without previous myocardial infarction who presented exercise induced ST elevation on a bicycle stress test., Methods: Significant ST elevation was defined as a > or = 1 mm change present in > or = 1 lead measured 0.08 sec after the J point and in 3 consecutive beats. All patients have undergone coronary angiography in the days following the exercise test., Results: Most of patients (56%) presented a history of typical angina that was either purely exertional (8 pts) or also occurred at rest (6 pts). Others (36%) had non typical angina or no angina (8%); 78% of pts were smokers. Sixteen patients (group I) had ST elevation during exercise (exercise duration: 7.6 +/- 4 min; peak heart rate: 135.5 +/- 29 batt/min; ST = 3.5 +/- 1.5 mm) and nine (group II) during the recovery phase (exercise duration 16.3 +/- 1.6 min; p < 0.05; peak heart rate 168 +/- 22 batt/min; p < 0.05; ST: 5.8 +/- 3 mm; p < 0.05). In group I, 1 patient had no vessel disease, 12 had one vessel disease, 3 had multivessel disease with 6 cases of hypersevere coronary stenose (> 90%). In group II, 4 patients had normal coronary arteries, there was one vessel coronary artery disease in 4 patients and multivessel in one subject, without hypersevere coronary stenosis. Correlation between anatomic location of stenosis and electrocardiographic ST elevation was excellent, particularly in case of single vessel disease (100%). All patients underwent one or more new exercise tests after therapeutic intervention (surgery n = 3; angioplasty n = 7; medical treatment n = 15), only 2 patients had persistent exercise induced ST elevation. During follow-up (5 +/- 3 years), 3 patients died (2 cardiac deaths) and 3 had recurrent angina controlled by new treatment., Conclusion: Exercise-induced ST elevation is a rare phenomenon in patients without prior myocardial infarction. When occurring purely during exercise, coronary lesions are frequent and often servere, in the other hand ST elevation of the recovery phase is frequently associate with normal arteries or less severe lesions. In most cases, revascularisation or medical therapy can abolish clinical and electrocardiographic abnormalities.