Case report: Buddy wire technique to facilitate atrial septal crossing during transcatheter transseptal mitral valve implantation.

Background: Transcatheter mitral valve-in-valve implantation (MVIV) has emerged as a viable treatment option in patients at high risk for surgery. Occasionally, despite appropriate puncture location and adequate dilation, difficulty is encountered in advancing the transcatheter heart valve across interatrial septum.

Case Summary: We describe a case of a 79-year-old woman with severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), prior surgical bioprosthetic aortic and mitral valve replacement implanted in 2007, atrial fibrillation, and Group II pulmonary hypertension who presented with progressively worsening heart failure symptoms secondary to severe bioprosthetic mitral valve stenosis and moderate-severe mitral regurgitation.

Design of a bilevel clinical trial targeting adherence in heart failure patients and their providers: The Congestive Heart Failure Adherence Redesign Trial (CHART).

Background: Socioeconomically disadvantaged patients are at an increased risk for adverse heart failure (HF) outcomes based upon nonadherence to medications and diet. Physicians are also suboptimally adherent to prescribing evidence-based therapy for HF.

Methods: Congestive Heart Failure Adherence Redesign Trial (CHART) (NCT01698242) is a multicenter, bilevel, cluster randomized behavioral efficacy trial designed to assess the impact of intervening simultaneously on physicians and their socioeconomically disadvantaged patients (annual income <$30,000) having HF with reduced ejection fraction.

Cardiac Imaging in the Diagnosis of Coronary Artery Disease.

Coronary artery disease (CAD) continues to be a leading cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Although invasive coronary angiography has previously been the gold standard in establishing the diagnosis of CAD, there is a growing shift to more appropriately use the cardiac catheterization laboratory to perform interventional procedures once a diagnosis of CAD has been established by noninvasive imaging modalities rather than using it primarily as a diagnostic facility to confirm or refute CAD. With ongoing technological advancements, noninvasive imaging plays a pre-eminent role in not only diagnosing CAD but also informing the choice of appropriate therapies, establishing prognosis, all while containing costs and providing value-based care.

Vascular complications post-transcatheter aortic valve procedures.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has rapidly emerged as the standard of care for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis in patients whose comorbidities put them at prohibitive risk for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR). Several trials have demonstrated superior outcomes with TAVR compared to medical management alone. TAVR has also shown favorable outcomes in patients at high risk for SAVR.

Impact of Physical Inactivity on Mortality in Patients With Heart Failure.

The impact of physical inactivity on heart failure (HF) mortality is unclear. We analyzed data from the HF Adherence and Retention Trial (HART) which enrolled 902 patients with New York Heart Association class II/III HF, with preserved or reduced ejection fraction, who were followed for 36 months. On the basis of mean self-reported weekly exercise duration, patients were classified into inactive (0 min/week) and active (≥1 min/week) groups and then propensity score matched according to 34 baseline covariates in 1:2 ratio.

Impact of Dietary Sodium Restriction on Heart Failure Outcomes.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate the impact of sodium restriction on heart failure (HF) outcomes.

Background: Although sodium restriction is advised for patients with HF, data on sodium restriction and HF outcomes are inconsistent.

Methods: We analyzed data from the multihospital HF Adherence and Retention Trial, which enrolled 902 New York Heart Association functional class II/III HF patients and followed them up for a median of 36 months.

Congestive heart failure adherence redesign trial: a pilot study.

Objective: Heart failure (HF) continues to be a leading cause of hospital admissions, particularly in underserved patients. We hypothesised that providing individualised self-management support to patients and feedback on use of evidence-based HF therapies (EBT) to physicians could lead to improvements in care and decrease hospitalisations. To assess the feasibility of conducting a larger trial testing the efficacy of this dual-level intervention, we conducted the Congestive Heart failure Adherence Redesign Trial Pilot (CHART-P), a proof-of-concept, quasi-experimental, feasibility pilot study.

Post-resuscitation care for survivors of cardiac arrest.

Cardiac arrest can occur following a myriad of clinical conditions. With advancement of medical science and improvements in Emergency Medical Services systems, the rate of return of spontaneous circulation for patients who suffer an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) continues to increase. Managing these patients is challenging and requires a structured approach including stabilization of cardiopulmonary status, early consideration of neuroprotective strategies, identifying and managing the etiology of arrest and initiating treatment to prevent recurrence.

Comparison of predictors of heart failure-related hospitalization or death in patients with versus without preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is recognized as a major cause of cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. An ability to identify patients with HFpEF who are at increased risk for adverse outcomes can facilitate their more careful management. We studied the patients having heart failure (HF) using data from the Heart Failure Adherence and Retention Trial (HART).