Congenital pulmonary arteriovenous malformation: a rare cause of cyanosis in childhood

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformation (PAVM) is a rare condition in which there is abnormal connection between pulmonary arteries and veins. The disorder usually appears in late childhood or early adult life, with dyspnea on exertion, clubbing or cyanosis. We present two patients with severe cyanosis and their work-up to diagnosis of PAVM, as a rare cause of cyanosis in childhood

Antidepressants and cardiovascular adverse events: A narrative review

BACKGROUND: Major depression or deterioration of previous mood disorders is a common adverse consequence of coronary heart disease, heart failure, and cardiac revascularization procedures. Therefore, treatment of depression is expected to result in improvement of mood condition in these patients. Despite demonstrated effects of anti-depressive treatment in heart disease patients, the use of some antidepressants have shown to be associated with some adverse cardiac and non-cardiac events. In this narrative review, the authors aimed to first assess the findings of published studies on beneficial and also harmful effects of different types of antidepressants used in patients with heart diseases. Finally, a new categorization for selecting antidepressants according to their cardiovascular effects was described. METHODS: Using PubMed, Web of Science, SCOPUS, Index Copernicus, CINAHL, and Cochrane Database, we identified studies designed to evaluate the effects of depression and also using antidepressants on cardiovascular outcome. A 40 studies were finally assessed systematically. Among those eligible studies, 14 were cohort or historical cohort studies, 15 were randomized clinical trial, 4 were retrospective were case-control studies, 3 were meta-analyses and 2 animal studies, and 2 case studies. RESULTS: According to the current review, we recommend to divide antidepressants into three categories based on the severity of cardiovascular adverse consequences including (1) the safest drugs including those drugs with cardio-protective effects on ventricular function, as well as cardiac conductive system including selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, (2) neutralized drugs with no evidenced effects on cardiovascular system including serotonin&ndash;norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors, and (3) harmful drugs with adverse effects on cardiac function, hemodynamic stability, and heart rate variability including tricyclic antidepressants, serotonin antagonist and reuptake inhibitors, and noradrenergic and specific serotonergic antidepressants. CONCLUSION: The presented categorization of antidepressants can be clinically helpful to have the best selection for antidepressants to minimizing their cardiovascular harmful effects. &nbsp;&nbsp;</p

Unruptured Aneurysm of Sinus of Valsalva Coexisting with the Large Ventricular Septal Defect and Severe Aortic Regurgitation in a Young Man

Introduction. Unruptured sinus of valsalva aneurysm (SVA) is a rare congenital anomaly, particularly, when it coexists with a ventricular septal defect (VSD) and aortic regurgitation due to the prolapse of the elongated aortic cusp into the VSD. In this report, we present the case of a 19-year-old young man with VSD challenging in spite of dyspnea and lower limb edema. Presentation of Case. Its diagnosis was made on the basis of transthoracic echocardiography results. Surgical management consisted of replacing the SVA with mechanical valve prosthesis. A Gore-Tex patch repaired the VSD. Discussion. In the follow-up periods, clinical and echocardiographic tests showed that the patient was in excellent status. Conclusion. SVA requires a surgical procedure due to its high risk of mortality in unoperated patients and a good safety of surgery

Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors and cardiovascular events: A systematic review

Background: Given the importance of the role of depression in predicting the outcome of cardiovascular disorders, current medications for treating depression, particularly selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), are taken into consideration. This study aimed to systematically review the published findings in the use of SSRIs and the risk for cardiac events. Materials and Methods: An independent review of the Web of Science, PubMed, Scopus, Cochrane, CINAHL, index Copernicus, and Google Scholar, up to 2014, was performed. We identified studies evaluating the effect of SSRIs, on cardiovascular events. Articles in English with full text availability, review articles, and experimental studies were included in the study. Among 150 studies reviewed based on the included keywords, 17 met the study criteria and were finally reviewed. Results: The use of some types of SSRIs may prevent platelet adhesion and aggregation; control the cardiovascular risk profile including hypertension, insulin resistance, and body weight; and also inhibit inflammatory processes. The appearance of adverse cardiac events, including cardiac arrhythmias (torsade de pointes and QT prolongation), syncope, increased systolic and diastolic right ventricular volume, and the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines leading atherosclerosis development, has also been expected with the chronic use of some types of SSRIs. Conclusion: According to our systematic review, both beneficial and adverse cardiovascular events can be established following the chronic use of various types of SSRIs. Therefore, when taking SSRIs, the cardiovascular effect of each SSRI has to be carefully considered, based on patients′ cardiovascular risk profiles