Predictors of appropriate implantable cardiac defibrillator therapy in cardiac sarcoidosis.

Background: Cardiac sarcoidosis (CS) is associated with an increased risk for sudden cardiac death. An implantable cardiac defibrillator (ICD) is recommended in a subgroup of CS patients. However, the recommendations for primary prevention differ between guidelines.

Value of echocardiography using knowledge-based reconstruction in determining right ventricular volumes in pulmonary sarcoidosis: comparison with cardiac magnetic resonance imaging.

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in sarcoidosis is associated with adverse outcomes. Assessment of RV function by conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) is challenging due to the complex RV geometry. Knowledge-based reconstruction (KBR) combines TTE measurements with three-dimensional coordinates to determine RV volumes.

Clinical Phenotypes of Sarcoidosis-Associated Pulmonary Hypertension.

Background And Objective: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a known complication of pulmonary sarcoidosis and its aetiology is unclear. Different pathophysiological mechanisms in sarcoidosis-associated pulmonary hypertension (SAPH) are known. Clinical phenotyping can aid clinicians in choosing the optimal treatment strategy.

Long-term survival and preprocedural predictors of mortality in high surgical risk patients undergoing percutaneous mitral valve repair.

Objectives: To evaluate long-term survival in high surgical risk patients undergoing percutaneous mitral valve repair (MVR) using the MitraClip(®) system and to identify preprocedural predictors of long-term mortality.

Background: Data for long-term survival and preprocedural predictors of mortality after percutaneous MVR in high surgical risk patients are sporadic.

Methods: From January 2009 to April 2013, 136 consecutive high surgical risk patients, with symptomatic moderate-to-severe or severe mitral regurgitation (MR), underwent percutaneous MVR using the MitraClip system.

Survival of transcatheter mitral valve repair compared with surgical and conservative treatment in high-surgical-risk patients.

Objectives: The goal of this study was to compare survival between transcatheter mitral valve (MV) repair using MitraClip system (Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California), MV-surgery, and conservative treatment in high-surgical-risk patients symptomatic with severe mitral valve regurgitation (MR).

Background: Up to 50% of patients with symptomatic severe MR are denied for surgery due to high perioperative risk. Transcatheter MV repair might be an alternative.

Is the sleep-deprivation EEG a burden for both child and parent?

Background And Purpose: Inducing sleep deprivation is supposed to increase interictal epileptic discharges on EEGs from children suspected of having epilepsy. Although it is supposed that depriving a child from sleep is a burden for both child and parent, this assumption has not been investigated in any study so far.

Methods: To analyze the perception of the sleep deprivation procedure, we developed two questionnaires, one for the parent and one for the child over ten years of age at the time of the SDEEG.