cardiology

As a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist and intensivist, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) is a powerful cardiac imaging modality I perform in the OR during cardiac surgery and in the cardiovascular ICU when point-of-care ultrasound is not feasible...

Complete (3°) heart block (CHB) occurs when atrial signals do not reach the ventricle; therefore, the atria (P-waves) and ventricles (wide QRS complexes) pace themselves independently of each other. Symptoms can range from fatigue...

Cangrelor (Kengreal) is an intravenous P2Y12 platelet inhibitor which is run as a continuous infusion. Unlike clopidogrel (Plavix) which is a prodrug requiring conversion to an active metabolite, cangrelor is already active and has...

Myxomas are the most common primary, benign cardiac tumors occurring. They typically occur in middle-aged adults with a higher incidence in women. Most commonly, myxomas are located in the left atrium (LA). Large myxomas...

A left ventricular (LV) pseudoaneurysm is an LV outpouching devoid of myocardium/endocardium contained by the pericardium and adhesions. As one can imagine, this pathology carries a high risk of rupture and mortality. LV pseudoaneurysms...

Iodixanol (Visipaque) is an iodinated intravenous (IV) contrast agent which is iso-osmolar with plasma. Unlike the non-ionic monomer iohexol (Omnipaque), Visipaque is a non-ionic dimer; however, both agents are routinely utilized for angiography, venography,...

As a cardiothoracic anesthesiologist and intensivist, many of my patients receive ventricular pacing at some point during their hospital admission. In the OR, many patients have epicardial right ventricular (RV) pacing implanted following cardiac...

The "anatomical heart" was approved with Unicode 13.0 in 2020 and added to Emoji 13.0 the same year. Its appearance varies based on the platform (Apple, Google, Samsung, Facebook, etc), but below, I've labeled...