An Instant Hit: July CASE

The latest issue of CASE is now available with intriguing reports, including “Echoing the Classics: Femoral Artery Doppler as the Modern-Day Traube’s and Duroziez’s Signs in Severe Aortic Regurgitation: A Case Series.” CASE Editor-in-Chief Vincent Sorrell, MD, FASE, remarked, “In this month’s issue of CASE, we are provided with an outstanding CASE series from Abdelkader et al. This report highlights five patients with at least moderate aortic regurgitation who received a comprehensive TTE as well as peripheral vascular ultrasound. The authors cleverly described in detail the femoral arterial (FA) Doppler spectral profiles, building upon our physical examination knowledge about these eponymous findings. They identified many patients with holodiastolic flow reversal in the FA and believe this is another corroborative finding in significant AR. They have several high-quality figures and an excellent graphical illustration to demonstrate the vascular ultrasound equivalents of Traube’s and Duroziez’s signs. Although not well reported to date, the authors point out that these findings complement an integrated approach to the assessment of AR, especially in challenging cases. This work can also be used as a roadmap to CASE readers for other hemodynamic reports that match clinically reported signs with their echocardiographic hallmarks. We look forward to seeing your submission of these illustrative examples from your own echo labs to CASE in the very near future.”

Five other cases accompany this Venous and Arterial Diseases report. Valvular Heart Disease opens with a case of successfully treated severe AR from acute valve thrombosis using intravenous thrombolysis. Burmeister et al. follow with another example of prosthetic valve dysfunction, using serial echocardiography to demonstrate that a VIV TAVI valve may migrate and require surgical intervention. Teng et al. conclude this section by highlighting the value of serial real-time echocardiography after surgical removal of cardiac tumors. Rounding out this issue are two cases in the Congenital Heart Disease category. Killen et al. utilize real-time echocardiography to comprehensively diagnose a set of developmental pathologies and proceed with surgical repair in a nine-year-old patient. Moreno Rojas et al. offer readers their own insights into the value of serial echocardiography in a patient with complex congenital heart disease, sharing images gathered from pre-birth through the first few months of life.

Dr. Sorrell’s editorial explores the unique capability of echocardiography as an immediate, real-time diagnostic imaging tool, cleverly coined with the term “instagram.”

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