Charles Levine

Faculty peer reviewed

Excessive consumption of ethanol (EtOH) has many deleterious effects on the human body. The heart is a target of damage from EtOH consumption, as chronic consumption of EtOH leads to decreased cardiac function and structural heart disease, including dilated cardiomyopathy.(1) The exact mechanism by which EtOH exerts its deleterious effects on the heart remains poorly understood and is an area of active research. This report will focus on some of the proposed mechanisms and…

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Ivan Saraiva MD

Case: A 68-year-old man, with a history of stable angina and end-stage renal disease treated by hemodialysis for the past three years, presents to the hospital with leg swelling and shortness of breath. He also complains of intermittent chest pain unrelated to exertion. Physical exam reveals bilateral pitting lower extremity edema, pulmonary crackles, and an elevated jugular venous pressure. Initial electrocardiogram is notable for some nonspecific repolarization abnormalities. Troponin I levels drawn at 0, 6, and 12 hours…

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Erin Ducharme MD

Faculty peer reviewed

Wellens’ syndrome refers to a pattern of ECG signs occurring during chest-pain free periods in patients with unstable angina, heralding critical, proximal left anterior descending artery (LAD) stenosis . The eponym honors Dr. Hein J.J. Wellens who first described this ECG phenomenon in 1982. Wellens and colleagues identified a subgroup of patients with unstable angina who demonstrated a pattern of inverted precordial T-waves which strongly correlated with early large anterior myocardial infarction (MI)…

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Commentary by Sabina Berezovskaya MD, PGY-3

Faculty Peer Reviewed

Up to 32% of patients with acute pericarditis will have a recurrent episode. Acute attacks are commonly precipitated by infections, malignancy, cardiac trauma, myocardial infection, or autoimmune disease. Recurrent pericarditis usually presents with symptoms akin to the acute attack, including chest pain, fever, pericardial rub, typical electrocardiographic findings (i.e. diffuse ST elevations and PR depressions), pericardial effusion and, infrequently, tamponade. The time to relapse after acute pericarditis usually occurs within 18 to 20 months; however…

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Commentary by Muhammad Ghumman MD, PGY-3

Faculty Peer Reviewed

South Asia (India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Nepal) comprises 25% of the global population yet contributes nearly 60% of the global cardiovascular disease burden. There are over 3 million South Asians living in North America (2 million in United States and nearly a quarter million in New York City alone). It is important to recognize that South Asians develop coronary artery disease (CAD) at a younger age, die from CAD at younger ages, and…

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