cardiothoracic

My Littmann Cardiology III black edition served me well for all of medical school and residency, and over eight years later, I'm now replacing it for my second stethoscope - the Littmann Master Cardiology black...

Our thoracic ICU rotation is perhaps the most difficult rotation we have as anesthesia critical care fellows. For two weeks, we're q2 call (meaning on call every other day). The patients are super sick,...

As a critical care fellow, I'll spend a total of two months (four, 2-week rotations) in the cardiac intensive care unit (ICU). I just finished my first rotation there and got to befriend many...

It's possible to utilize transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), a noninvasive technique, to estimate a patient's cardiac output. I'll use some images from an echo I performed on a patient with a depressed left ventricular ejection...

Due to the right ventricle's (RV) unique geometry and cylindrical contraction pattern, assessing its function on echocardiography can be difficult. One of the more simple and reproducible techniques used to determine RV function is...

It's important for me to consider the surgical steps and potential areas of difficulty/complications which may arise intraoperatively. Although each procedure must be tailored to a patient's unique set of comorbidities and surgical factors,...

The intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) is a form of mechanical circulatory support used in cardiogenic shock, facilitating separation from cardiopulmonary bypass, percutaneous coronary interventions, unstable angina, and thrombolytic therapy following myocardial infarction. The device...

The Frank-Starling law of the heart is one of the most important intrinsic properties of cardiac muscle. It states that a change in venous return (preload) confers a change in the force of cardiac contraction (stroke...