Mircea Bajdechi

People living with human immunodeficiency virus have increased cardiovascular risk due to a higher prevalence of traditional and particular risk factors such as chronic inflammation, immune dysregulation, endothelial dysfunction, coagulation abnormalities and antiretroviral therapy. In developed countries, coronary artery disease has become the most frequent cardiovascular disease and an important cause of mortality in these patients. The symptomatology of an acute coronary syndrome can be atypical, and the prevalence of each type of acute coronary syndrome is reported differently. Regarding coronary artery disease severity in people living with HIV, the literature data indicates that the presence of single-vessel disease is akin to that of HIV-negative patients, and their short-term prognosis is unclear. This study aims to assess the clinical characteristics, biological parameters, angiographical features and short-term prognosis of acute coronary syndrome in a cohort of Romanian p...

The most common congenital cyanotic heart disease is described in the literature as the Tetralogy of Fallot. This abnormality is characterized by the presence of ventricular septal defect (VSD), obstruction of the right ventricular (RV) outflow tract, right ventricular hypertrophy, and overriding aorta. In patients with pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA/VSD), major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (MAPCA) are common; however, although some of them do not have PA/VSD, they do have other particular anatomical variants. The case we are presenting in this article is a rare mild symptomatic adult noncorrected TOF, with preserved RV function, right aortic arch, and MAPCAs (“classic” thoracic MAPCAs but also abdominal MAPCAs). The anatomy of a complex congenital defect is well illustrated by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and computer tomography angiography (CTA), and these imaging techniques are mostly used to understand the relative clinical “silence” TOF. Imaging ...

People living with HIV live longer now due to highly active antiretroviral therapy. Due to their increased life expectancy, they have an increased cardiovascular risk cause by the traditional risk factors (smoking, use of ilicit drugs, obesity/lipodystrophy, dyslipidemia, diabetes, hypertension) and particular risk factors (endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, coagulation abnormalities, viral coinfections and antiretroviral therapy. The pathophysiology of accelerated atherosclerosis is complex. Coronary artery disease become an important cause of mortality in these patients. The incidence of coronary artery disease and especially of acute myocardial infarction is generally low among HIV patients, but it may by twice as high as in patients with the similar characteristics. Medical treatment for coronary disease in these patients has no special particularities comparing to general population, but possible drug interactions must be considered. Indication for coronary revascularizatio...

People living with human immunodeficiency virus have an increased cardiovascular risk due to higher prevalence of traditional risk factors, such as smoking, dyslipidemia, hypertension, diabetes, or obesity, and particular risk factors, such as inflammation, endothelial dysfunction, and antiretroviral therapy. Thus, people living with human immunodeficiency virus can develop accelerated atherosclerosis. The incidence of coronary artery disease in these patients may be twice as high compared with that of HIV-negative individuals with similar characteristics. “Porcelain aorta” is a term used to describe extensive circumferential calcification of the thoracic aorta. The pathophysiology of porcelain aorta is not fully understood. We present a case of a young man who was a smoker and living with HIV since childhood, without other traditional cardiovascular risk factors, who presented to the emergency room with a positive stress test for myocardial ischemia. Transthoracic echocardiography ...

Emery–Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is a rare genetic disease that affects the musculoskeletal system, including the heart, causing rhythm disorders and cardiomyopathy, sometimes requiring an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) or heart transplantation due to severe heart damage. The case described herein concerns a 16-year-old girl, with grade II obesity, without other known pathological antecedents or cardiac pathology diagnosis given an annual history of cardiological investigations. She was admitted to the Infectious Diseases Department with SARS-CoV-2 virus infection. The anamnesis showed that the cardiological investigations performed in the past were completed due to the medical history antecedents of her sister, who had been diagnosed with dilated cardiomyopathy, having undergone the placement of an ICD and a heart transplant. Numerous investigations were performed during hospitalization, which revealed high levels of high-sensitive cardiac troponin I (hs-cTnI)...

Pulmonary arterial hypertension associated with HIV infection is a separate entity. The prevalence is up to one thousand times higher than in general population. The mechanisms are multifactorial and incompletely elucidated. Echocardiography can suggest the diagnosis, but the gold standard method of diagnosing pulmonary arterial hypertension is right heart catheterization. We present clinical and paraclinical findings (NYHA, 6MWD, sPAP, RVGLS) and follow-up in two patients living with HIV, who are included in the Romanian National Program of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension. In patients, the possible thromboembolism or left heart dysfunction were excluded. Each case has its own particularities, but both of them responded to treatment with sildenafil and improved clinical and paraclinical parameters. Mortality is high, usually due to right heart failure and pulmonary arterial hypertension is considered an independent predictor of death in HIV-infected patients. Co-management with both...

The pathophysiology of accelerated atherosclerosis in people living with Human Immunofediciency virus (HIV) is complex. Coronary artery disease (CAD) has become an important cause of mortality in these patients. They often have atypical symptoms, leading to frequently missed diagnoses. We report a case of a 51-year-old male undergoing antiretroviral therapy who was admitted for acute coronary syndrome. He had severe coronary artery disease that involved difficult management.