Background: Diastolic heart failure is an increasingly prevalent condition and has been shown in studies to be a prognostic indicator of future morbidity and all-cause mortality. Several interventions and novel therapeutic modalities have shown benefit in patients with diastolic heart failure with respect to improved mortality. Despite these studies, a comprehensive evaluation of outcomes and [...]

Case Presentation: This is a case of cardiac myxoma in a 78-year-old female with a history of atrial fibrillation on chronic anticoagulation. The patient presented to the Emergency Department with left-sided intermittent chest pain and a one-month history of exertional fatigue and dyspnea. Physical examination revealed a diastolic rumble in the left lower sternal border. [...]

Case Presentation: A 39 year old male with a history of congenital bicuspid aortic valve and ascending aortic aneurysm repair (1 year prior) presented with recurrent bilateral lower extremity edema (LEE). He first presented with LEE 3 months post-surgery.  Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) initially showed mild apical and inferior hypokinesis with a mildly dilated left atrium [...]

Case Presentation: 77-year-old Caucasian male presents to the ER due to progressive shortness of breath impacting his activities of daily activity. Shortness of breath started 2 weeks ago and was associated with a hacking cough and minimal sputum production for which he visited his physician’s office and received a steroid shot for “bronchitis”. On further [...]

Background: Preoperative diastolic dysfunction has been proposed as an independent predictor of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and death after non-cardiac surgery. However, most studies supporting this association have included non-emergent procedures and utilized E/e’ ratio as the predominant echocardiographic variable evaluating diastolic function. Compared to patients undergoing elective surgeries, hip fracture surgery patients are [...]