Great vessels

It was emphasized that any thoracic penetration may result in acute life-threatening injuries such as tension pneumothorax, hemothorax, massive cardiac injury with tamponade, great vessel injury, hemoptysis, and lung coUapse. Thermoset mbber bullets can also cause serious injuries, as shown in Figure 7.2. 

Heart failure is a clinical syndrome characterized by a history of specific signs and symptoms related to congestion and hypoperfusion. As HF can occur in the presence or absence of fluid overload, the term heart failure is preferred over the former term congestive heart failure. Heart failure results from any structural or functional cardiac disorder that impairs the ability of the ventricle to fill with or eject blood.1 Many disorders such as those of the pericardium, epicardium, endocardium, or great vessels may lead to HF, but most patients develop symptoms due to impairment in left ventricular (LV) myocardial function. 

Our discussion has not included the dozens of congenital anomalies (abnormalities) which involve the heart and the great vessels and which have been regarded as pathological. It is suggestive that, although many individuals who are afflicted with such anomalies die in infancy or early youth, some live to beyond seventy and then may die of some other disease. It is difficult to draw the borderline between what is anomalous and what is not. 

Expose the aortic arch and great vessels (truncus brachiocepha-licus, arteria carotis communis sinister, and arteria subclavia sinistra). 

Fig. 3. Variations of the great vessels branches from aortic arch (cynomolgus and marmoset monkey). 1=Arteria subclavia dextra, 2=Arteria carotis communis dextra, 5=Truncus brachiocephalicus, 4=Arteria carotis communis sinistra, 5=Arteria subclavia sinistra, =Arcus aortae.

A neonate with transposition of the great vessels developed urticaria during treatment with alprostadil (7). While flushing and peripheral edema are well recognized, urticaria has not been described before. 

Whole blood is the most likely specimen for a clinical laboratory to receive for gas analysis and may be obtained from any site accessible to vascular catheterization or entry. These sites commonly are the vessels of the extremities, but special studies may require access to the chambers of the heart and great vessels of the chest. Analysts should recognize that some specimens are difficult to obtain and should be handled with utmost care. Sometimes the volume of the specimen collected for analysis, particularly from premature neonates, has to be as small as possible without sacrificing specimen quality and analytical accuracy. 

Criteria Committee, N.Y.H.A. Nomenclature and Criteria for Diagnosis of Diseases of the Heart and Great Vessels, Little Brown and Company Boston, 1979. 

Congenital heart diseases (coronary artery abnormalities, dextrocardia, transposition of the great vessels, ostium... 

In man the thymus is a bilobed gland located predominantly in the ante-rosuperior mediastinum in proximity to the heart (Rosai and Levine, 1976 Kendall, 1981). Its base lies upon the pericardium and great vessels. It is a midline, pyramid-shaped organ (Fig. 2) formed by two fused, identical lobes... 

Tetralogy of fallot Transposition of the great vessels Tricuspid atresia Truncus arteriosis ventricular septal defect (VSD) atrial septal defect (ASD) PDA... 

Great vessel transposition Congenital anomaly in which the pulmonary artery exits from the left ventricle and the aorta from the right ventricle. Incompatible with life unless a large patent ductus or ventricular septal defect is present... 

Pediatrics PGEj is given as an infusion to maintain patency of the ductus arteriosus in infants with transposition of the great vessels until surgical correction can be undertaken. 

Ideally, there should be no venous enhancement. Nevertheless, except for specific indications such as cavernous sinus aneurysm and arteriovenous malformation (AVM) assessment, this is seldom clinically limiting. Z-direction coverage, in-plane and longimdinal resolution, and signal-to-noise ratio should be maximized, while radiation dose, total amount of contrast administered, and acquisition slice thickness should be minimized. Our routine stroke CTA protocol for 16- or 64-slice MDCT scanners covers from the great vessel origins at the aortic arch to the cranial vertex. 

Saline chaser Less contrast medium Decreased streak artifact at origin of great vessels Greater absolute difference in attenuation Requires potentially expensive specialized dual head CT power injectors... 

Volume 1 General Principles, Chest, Abdomen, and Great Vessels Edited by J. Golzarian. Co-edited by... 

---