cardiology

Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) allows cardiologists to visualize cardiac structures (aorta, valves, pulmonary veins, chambers, etc) from an ultrasound catheter usually threaded into the right atrium (RA) or right ventricle (RV) from…

The mitral valve (MV) separates the left atrium (LA) and left ventricle (LV). It's a bileaflet valve composed of an anterior and posterior leaflet, each with three "scallops" designated A1, A2, A3, P1, P2, and P3. The A3-P3 interface tapers…

Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) devices allow us to offload myocardial work from the heart, and for the purposes of this post, the left ventricle (LV). Referring to my previous post on the work of breathing, we can extrapolate the same…

Left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction is a potentially catastrophic etiology for hypotension due to several etiologies: idiopathic hypertrophic subaortic stenosis (IHSS), hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), systolic…

Impella® is a percutaneous axial heart pump placed retrograde across the aortic valve into the left ventricle (LV) utilizing fluoroscopy +/- echocardiography. Its indications include high risk percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI,…

This post outlines the steps in traditional, central cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). Depending on the nature of the surgery and patient's comorbidities, other sites are often cannulated (left heart bypass, femoral-femoral…

Heart muscle cells (cardiomyocytes) can undergo physiologic and pathologic remodeling when faced with differing hemodynamic loads and neurohormonal environments. 

The normal cardiac electrical conduction pathway propagates from the right atrium down towards the left ventricle. In other words, the cardiac conduction axis is normally downward and leftward. Bipolar limb lead I (points to the left) and…

Normal EKG morphology, segments, and intervals -