CACS, CCTA and mCAD-LT score in the pre-transplant assessment of coronary artery disease and the prediction of post-transplant cardiovascular events.

Background: The optimal cardiovascular assessment of liver transplant (LT) candidates is unclear. We aimed to evaluate the performance of CT-based coronary tests (coronary artery calcium score [CACS] and coronary CT angiography [CCTA]) and a modification of the CAD-LT score (mCAD-LT, excluding family history of CAD) to diagnose significant coronary artery disease (CAD) before LT and predict the incidence of post-LT cardiovascular events (CVE).

Methods: We retrospectively analysed a single-centre cohort of LT candidates who underwent non-invasive tests; invasive coronary angiography (ICA) was performed depending on the results of non-invasive tests.

Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy Response Is Equalized in Men and Women by Electrical Optimization: PR Matters.

Objectives: This study hypothesized that the shorter intrinsic PR interval observed in women allows a greater degree of fusion with intrinsic conduction, achieving a shorter QRS interval duration and, thus, a better response.

Background: Women benefit more from cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) than men. However, the reason for this difference remains elusive.

Cardiac Magnetic Resonance-Guided Ventricular Tachycardia Substrate Ablation.

Objectives: This study assessed the feasibility and potential benefit of performing ventricular tachycardia (VT) substrate ablation procedures guided by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-derived pixel signal intensity (PSI) maps.

Background: CMR-aided VT ablation using PSI maps from late gadolinium enhancement-CMR (LGE-CMR), together with electroanatomical map (EAM) information, has been shown to improve outcomes of VT substrate ablation.

Methods: Eighty-four patients with scar-dependent monomorphic VT who underwent substrate ablation were included in the study.

The 'Digital Twin' to enable the vision of precision cardiology.

Providing therapies tailored to each patient is the vision of precision medicine, enabled by the increasing ability to capture extensive data about individual patients. In this position paper, we argue that the second enabling pillar towards this vision is the increasing power of computers and algorithms to learn, reason, and build the 'digital twin' of a patient. Computational models are boosting the capacity to draw diagnosis and prognosis, and future treatments will be tailored not only to current health status and data, but also to an accurate projection of the pathways to restore health by model predictions.

Monocyte Subsets Are Differently Associated with Infarct Size, Left Ventricular Function, and the Formation of a Potentially Arrhythmogenic Scar in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction.

To investigate the role of classical (CLM, CD14CD16), intermediate (INTM, CD14CD16), and non-classical (Non-CLM, CD14CD16) monocytes in scar formation after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), evaluated with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). One hundred two patients with a first STEMI had serial blood analyses after 1, 3, and 7 days. A CMR was performed at 7 days and 6 months, depicting scar core (CO), border zone (BZ), and the presence of BZ channels.

Improvement of Reverse Remodeling Using Electrocardiogram Fusion-Optimized Intervals in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy: A Randomized Study.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare patient response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) using fusion-optimized atrioventricular (AV) and interventricular (VV) intervals versus nominal settings.

Background: The additional benefit obtained by AV- and VV-interval optimization in patients undergoing CRT remains controversial. Previous studies show short-term benefit in hemodynamic parameters; however, midterm randomized comparison between electrocardiogram optimization and nominal parameters is lacking.

Optimized pacing mode for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: Impact of ECG fusion during pacing.

Background: Electrocardiographic (ECG) fusion with intrinsic QRS could reduce the benefit of atrial synchronous biventricular pacing (AS-BiVP) in patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the benefit of AS-BiVP and the influence of ECG fusion for reduction of left ventricular outflow tract gradient (LVOTG) in these patients.

Methods: Twenty-one symptomatic HOCM patients with severe LVOTG were included.

Stop-gain mutations in PKP2 are associated with a later age of onset of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy.

Background: Arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) is a cardiac disease characterized by the presence of fibrofatty replacement of the right ventricular myocardium, which may cause ventricular arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Pathogenic mutations in several genes encoding mainly desmosomal proteins have been reported. Our aim is to perform genotype-phenotype correlations to establish the diagnostic value of genetics and to assess the role of mutation type in age-related penetrance in ARVC.

Noncompaction cardiomyopathy is associated with mechanical dyssynchrony: a potential underlying mechanism for favorable response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.

Background: The aim of this study was to assess the presence of evidence of ventricular mechanical dyssynchrony in patients with isolated left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy (IVNC) and the potential usefulness of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in those patients.

Methods And Results: We studied 25 patients consecutively diagnosed with IVNC and a control group of 50 patients with dilated cardiomyopathy of different etiologies. Mechanical dyssynchrony was assessed by echocardiography by the presence of a septal flash, the time from peak septal to posterior wall displacement, and the time from septal to lateral wall peak systolic velocity.

No clinically significant valvular regurgitation in long-term cabergoline treatment for prolactinoma.

Background: An association between treatment for Parkinson's disease with certain dopaminergic drugs and development of cardiac valve impairment has been reported. Recent studies in hyperprolactinaemic patients treated with cabergoline (CAB) have shown either no significant findings or mild tricuspid regurgitation.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of cardiac valve dysfunction in patients with hyperprolactinaemic conditions chronically treated with CAB or bromocriptine (BR).

Randomized comparison between clinical evaluation plus N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide versus exercise testing for decision making in acute chest pain of uncertain origin.

Background: Exercise testing constitutes the usual tool for decision making in chest pain units. This policy implies logistical constrains. Our aim was to evaluate a new strategy, combining a clinical risk score and N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), in patients presenting to the emergency department with chest pain, without ischemic electrocardiogram changes or troponin elevation.

Shoshin beriberi mimicking a high-risk non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome with cardiogenic shock: when the arteries are not guilty.

Background: Cardiac acute beriberi (Shoshin syndrome) is a rare disease that may lead to a fatal outcome if not treated specifically.

Objectives: We report a case of Shoshin syndrome with an unusual presentation of cardiogenic shock and an electrocardiographic pattern of severe myocardial ischemia suggesting left main coronary artery obstruction.

Case Report: A 35-year-old man presented with chest discomfort, diffuse ST-segment depression in the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) with ST-segment elevation in aVR, and rapidly evolving congestive heart failure leading to cardiogenic shock.