Patent foramen ovale and cryptogenic stroke: from studies to clinical practice: Position paper of the Italian Chapter, International Society Cardiovascular Ultrasound

Three-dimensional echocardiographic assessment of Chiari’s network relationship with the left ventricular false tendon

Background

Left ventricular false tendon (LVFT) is a fibromuscular band crossing the left ventricular cavity. And Chiari’s network (CN) is a highly mobile, mesh-like, echogenic structure in right atrium. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the coexistence of LVFT in patients with CN. CN patients were examined with live/real-time three-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) for visualization of LVFT.

Results

This is a single-center prospective study of 49 patients with CN. In literature studies, the average ratios of LVFT were 22% in the normal population. In our study, an increased ratio of LVFT (n = 31, 63.3%) was found in CN patients evaluated with a three-dimensional TTE (63.3% versus 22%) (p = 0.01). The interatrial septal aneurysm was found in 31 (63.3%) patients with CN. And, the positive contrast echocardiography examination was determined in 22 (61.1%) patients with CN.

Conclusions

Our study reveals that CN is associated with LVFT and is also associated with cardiac anomalies like an interatrial septal aneurysm, and atrial septal defect. And LVFT can be evaluated better with three-dimensional TTE than with traditional two-dimensional TTE. Patients with CN should be evaluated more carefully by three-dimensional echocardiography as they can be in synergy in terms of the cardiac pathologies they accompany.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s43044-022-00287-5.

Prevalence and grade of RLS in migraine: A prospective study of 251 migraineurs by synchronous test of c-TTE and c-TCD

BACKGROUND

Right-to left shunt (RLS) is regarded as a risk factor resulting in migraine, but the relevance between the RLS and migraine remains controversial. This paper aims at investigating the prevalence and RLS grade of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in cases of migraine (including migraine with and without aura) and evaluate the relationship between PFO and migraine.

METHODS

Synchronous test of contrast transthoracic echocardiography and contrast transcranial Doppler ultrasonography was performed in 251 cases of migraine, which contains 62 cases of migraine with aura (MA) and 189 cases without aura (MO) and 275 healthy adults. Among these cases, 25 cases with migraine and 14 healthy adults were evaluated through transesophageal echocardiography.

RESULTS

(1). The prevalence of permanent RLS, total RLS, and large RLS in migraine was 11.16%, 39.04%, and 17.13%, respectively, which was significantly higher than that of the controls (P = .042, <.001, and.001, respectively). (2). Permanent RLS was detected as 7.93% of the cases in MO, 20.96% in MA, and 6.18% in controls. Total RLS was detected as 35.98% of the cases in MO, 48.38% in MA, and 23.64% in controls. Large RLS was detected as 13.76% of the cases in MO, 27.41% in MA, and 7.27% in controls. Compared with controls, the positive rate of total RLS and large RLS in MO increased (P = .004 and.022, respectively), the that of permanent RLS, total RLS, and large RLS in MA also increased (P < .001 for each of the comparisons). The positive rate of permanent RLS and large RLS in MA was remarkably higher than that in MO (P = .005 and.013, respectively). (3) The presence of large-size PFO (≥2.0 mm) of migraine showed higher than that of the controls (P = .048).

CONCLUSIONS

PFO is associated with the migraine (especially with aura), when it is permanent RLS, large RLS, and large-size PFO (≥2.0 mm).