We are excited to share a new issue of the Texas Heart Institute Journal, now available online.

The Texas Heart Institute Journal is a peer-reviewed journal published bimonthly by the Texas Heart Institute as part of its medical education program. The purpose of the Journal is to educate, with emphasis on the dissemination of information to physicians in practice. For more information, visit the THI Journal pages on our website.

Our medical and scientific experts bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that make the THI Journal possible. Members of this group deserve our continuing gratitude and recognition.

Volume 47, Issue 4 of the Journal features the following articles:

 

EDITORIAL

---

In Memoriam: James T. Willerson, MD (1939–2020)
Emerson C. Perin, MD, PhD

CLINICAL INVESTIGATION

---

Importance of Persistent Right-to-Left Shunt After Patent Foramen Ovale Closure in Cryptogenic Stroke Patients
Lu He, PhD; Gesheng Cheng, MD; Yajuan Du, MD; Yushun Zhang, MD, PhD

Safety and Outcomes of Transcatheter Closure of Patent Ductus Arteriosus in Children With Pulmonary Artery Hypertension
Arash Salavitabar, MD; Usha S. Krishnan, MD; Mariel E. Turner, MD; Julie A. Vincent, MD; Alejandro J. Torres, MD; Matthew A. Crystal, MD

CLINICAL COMPETENCE ASSESSMENT

---

Predicting Quality of Clinical Performance From Cardiology Fellowship Applications
Michael W. Cullen, MD; Thomas J. Beckman, MD; Kristine M. Baldwin, BA; Gregory J. Engstler, BS; Jay Mandrekar, PhD; Christopher G. Scott, MS; Kyle W. Klarich, MD

LABORATORY INVESTIGATION

---

Alcohol Ablation of Cardiac Tissues Quantified and Evaluated Using CIELAB Euclidean Distances
Ashley Rook, BS; Mathews M. John, MBE; Allison Post, PhD; Mehdi Razavi, MD

REVIEW

---

Transcatheter Mitral Valve Replacement for Treating Native Mitral Valve Disease: Current Status
Yan Chen, MD; Junjie Hu, MD; Shunqiang Wu, MD; San Zhang, MD; Kaiqin Wu, MD; Wenli Wang, MD; Yongxin Zhou, PhD

TECHNIQUES

---

Mechanical Prosthetic Valve Sparing for Aortic Root Abscess Complicated by Infective Endocarditis
Ahmed Ahmed, MD; Ayman Ammar, MD; Yasser Elnahas, MD; Mohammed Abd Al Jawad, MD

CASE SERIES

---

Effect of Laparoscopic Sleeve Gastrectomy on Heart Transplant Status in 4 Patients with Left Ventricular Assist Devices
Christopher T. Ryan, MD; Adriana Santiago, MD; Nabil Tariq, MD; Harveen K. Lamba, MD, MSc

Open Repair of Acute Type A Intramural Hematoma in 3 Patients
William C. Frankel, BS; Scott A. Weldon, MA, CMI; Susan Y. Green, MPH; Hiruni S. Amarasekara, MS; Scott A. LeMaire, MD; Joseph S. Coselli, MD

CASE REPORTS

---

Platypnea-Orthodeoxia Syndrome Caused by an Intracardiac Shunt
Sanket P. Borgaonkar, MD; Wilson W. Lam, MD; Mehdi Razavi, MD; Dhaval R. Parekh, MD

Interventricular Septal Rupture in a 62-Year-Old Man With Familial Amyloid Polyneuropathy
Stefano Pidello, MD; Erika Simonato, MD; Fulvio Orzan, MD; Simone Frea, MD; Antonella Barreca, MD; Mauro Rinaldi, MD; Massimo Boffini, MD

MitraClip to Treat Severe Ischemic Mitral Regurgitation During Impella CP Support in a 70-Year-Old Woman
Said Ashraf, MD; Tomo Ando, MD; Nimrod Blank, MD; Ahmad Munir, MD; Theodore Schreiber, MD

Late Bacterial Endocarditis in an Intravenous Drug User With an Amplatzer Septal Occluder
Michael S. La Sala, DO, MS; Hajir Zohourian, DO; Joseph McKeown, DO; Samuel Snyder, DO

En Bloc AngioVac Removal of Thoracic Aortic Mass
Jeanney Kang, MD; Fernando Fleischman, MD; Farhood Saremi, MD; David M. Shavelle, MD, FACC

Acute Hand Ischemia and Digital Amputation After Transradial Coronary Intervention in a Patient With CREST Syndrome
Thomas J. Earl, MD

Simple Felt-Plug Closure Technique for Minimally Invasive Removal of a Centrifugal-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device
Alexander Schutz, MD; Aladdein Mattar, MD; Gabriel Loor, MD; William E. Cohn, MD; Alexis Shafii, MD

Ten-Year Survival With a Continuous-Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device and Aortic Valve Closure
George V. Letsou, MD; Fadi I. Musfee, MD, MPH; Andrew D. Lee, BS, MPH; Faisal Cheema, MD; Reynolds M. Delgado, MD; O.H. Frazier, MD

CORONARY ANOMALIES

---

Anomalous Left Coronary Artery Arising From the Pulmonary Artery in a 21-Year-Old Man
Nathan Todd Froelich, BS; Anisa Chaudhry, MD

FOCUS ON ECGS: CASE #23

---

Atrial Pacing in Wide-Complex Rhythm
Yang Yang, MD; John Allison, MD; Mark Pollet, MD; Yochai Birnbaum, MD, FACC

IMAGES IN CARDIOVASCULAR MEDICINE

---

Warfarin-Induced Skin Necrosis After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
Hakan Akbayrak, MD

Tension Pneumopericardium in the Intensive Care Unit
Nadia Isabel Abelhad, MD; Katia Bravo-Jaimes, MD; Francisco Fuentes, MD

Cardiac Eosinophilic Masses in Man With Eosinophilic Granulomatosis With Polyangiitis
Omid Amidi, MD; Vincent R.J. Siebert, MD; John Allison, MD; Ihab R. Hamzeh, MD

BOOK REVIEW

---

A History of Cardiac Surgery: An Adventurous Voyage from Antiquity to the Artificial Heart
James J. Livesay, MD

CORRESPONDENCE

---

Echocardiography Aided by Computed Tomography to Diagnose Obstructive Masses in Patients with Prosthetic Heart Valves
Macit Kalcik, MD; Ahmet Guner, MD; Sabahattin Gunduz, MD; Mehmet Ozkan, MD