Electrophysiological findings during atrial fibrillation reablation: Extending from pulmonary vein reconnection to sequential bipolar voltage map information.

Background: Left atrial substrate modification targeting low voltage zones (LVZ) is an ablation strategy that-in addition to pulmonary vein (PV) isolation-tries to eliminate arrhythmogenic mechanisms harbored in such tissue. Electrophysiological findings at reablation include (a) PV reconnection, (b) reconnection over previous substrate ablation, and (c) de-novo LVZ.

Objective: To study, prevalence and contribution of these arrhythmogenic electrophysiological entities in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrences.

Impaired Endothelial Function in Hereditary Angioedema During the Symptom-Free Period.

The presence of coronary endothelial dysfunction was previously shown in Hereditary Angioedema (HAE) patients. The aim of our study was to evaluate the effect of HAE on systemic endothelial function and whether there was a relationship among endothelial function, asymmetric dimethylarginine (ADMA) -which is a strong inhibitor of nitric oxide synthesis-, and disease severity scores. Twenty-four HAE patients (18 females, aged 47.

Changing P-wave morphology: What is the mechanism?

A 76-year-old woman, affected by drugs resistant focal atrial tachycardia, underwent a catheter ablation procedure in our Hospital. During ablations we observed on the surface ECG a progressive modification of the second component of the P wave (delayed and then negative in inferior leads). These findings demonstrated, compared to the beginning of the procedure, a different propagation of the activation wave from the right to the left atrium, helped to identify the true origin of a focal atrial tachycardia.

The reasons why cardiologists should consider prematurity at birth and intrauterine growth retardation among risk factors.

The survival percentage of infants born preterm has risen steadily worldwide thanks to the giant steps forward made in the field of perinatal (the period immediately after birth) and neonatal (the first 4 weeks of birth following delivery) medicine. However, prematurity at birth and consequent low birth weight still represent the major causes of neonatal morbidity and mortality. Infants born preterm are at high risk of developing neurological, ophthalmological, and gastrointestinal complications as well.

Sex differences in congenital heart defects and genetically induced arrhythmias.

Sex medicine can be applied to define the effect of male or female sex-associated differences on the prevalence of congenital heart defects (CHDs), on clinical manifestation of the latter, on means of dealing with the defects and facing consequent surgical treatment, as well as on the success of surgery. The widespread use of modern databases has undoubtedly enhanced the possibility of these observations compared to the past, when findings were limited to case series from single cardiology or paediatric heart surgery units. The aim of the present review is to assess all publications present in the literature on sex differences and CHD, placing particular emphasis on both contradictory aspects and less acknowledged issues.