Echocardiographic Outcomes With Transcatheter Edge-to-Edge Repair for Degenerative Mitral Regurgitation in Prohibitive Surgical Risk Patients.

Background: The CLASP IID randomized trial (Edwards PASCAL TrAnScatheter Valve RePair System Pivotal Clinical Trial) demonstrated the safety and effectiveness of the PASCAL system for mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) in patients at prohibitive surgical risk with significant symptomatic degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR).

Objectives: This study describes the echocardiographic methods and outcomes from the CLASP IID trial and analyzes baseline variables associated with residual mitral regurgitation (MR) ≤1+.

Methods: An independent echocardiographic core laboratory assessed echocardiographic parameters based on American Society of Echocardiography guidelines focusing on MR mechanism, severity, and feasibility of M-TEER.

Impact of simulator-based training on acquisition of transthoracic echocardiography skills in medical students.

Introduction: Due to the expanding role of ultrasound as a diagnostic tool in modern medicine, medical schools rapidly include ultrasound training in their curriculum. The objective of this study was to compare simulator-based training along with classical teaching, using human models, to impart focused transthoracic echocardiography examination.

Subject And Methods: A total of 22 medical students, with no former transthoracic echocardiography training, undertook a 90-min e-learning module, dealing with focused echocardiography and important echocardiographic pathologies.

Transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair with the PASCAL system: early results from a real-world series.

Aims: This study sought to characterise the real-world performance and clinical outcomes of the PASCAL system, a leaflet approximation device for transcatheter mitral valve repair.

Methods And Results: Fifty patients in NYHA Class II-IV despite optimal medical therapy (median age 78.0 years [IQR 74.

Changes in dynamic mitral valve geometry during percutaneous edge-edge mitral valve repair with the MitraClip system.

Background: The aim of this study was to quantify the acute dynamic changes of mitral valve (MV) geometry throughout the cardiac cycle-during percutaneous MV repair with the MitraClip system by 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (3D TEE).

Methods: The MV was imaged throughout the cardiac cycle (CC) before and after the MitraClip procedure using 3D TEE in 28 patients (mean age, 77 ± 8 years) with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR). Dynamic changes in the MV annulus geometry and anatomical MV orifice area (AMVOA) were quantified using a novel semi-automated software.

Transcatheter treatment of tricuspid regurgitation using edge-to-edge repair: procedural results, clinical implications and predictors of success.

Aims: The aim of this study was to analyse the feasibility, safety and effectiveness of tricuspid valve (TV) repair using the MitraClip system in patients at high surgical risk.

Methods And Results: Forty-two elderly high-risk patients (76.8±7.

Retrospective study of complete atrioventricular canal defects: Anesthetic and perioperative challenges.

Objective: The objective of this study was to highlight anesthetic and perioperative management and the outcomes of infants with complete atrioventricular (AV) canal defects.

Design: This retrospective descriptive study included children who underwent staged and primary biventricular repair for complete AV canal defects from 1999 to 2013.

Setting: A single-center study at a university affiliated heart center.

Analysis of circumflex artery anatomy by real time 3D transesophageal echocardiography compared to cardiac computed tomography.

Iatrogenic injury to the circumflex artery (Cx) due to its close proximity to the mitral annulus is a rare but dreadful complication that can occur during mitral valve repair. The aim of our study was to compare multiple measurements of the Cx datasets, obtained by real time three-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography (RT3D TEE) and corresponding measurements assessed in multi-planar three-dimensional images acquired by multidetector computed tomography (MDCT). Preoperative RT3D TEE and MDCT datasets of 25 patients who had previously undergone minimally invasive mitral valve surgery were retrospectively analyzed.

Feasibility of measurements of valve dimensions in en-face-3D transesophageal echocardiography.

Newest 3D software allows measurements directly in the en-face-3D TEE mode. Aim of the study was to ascertain whether measurements performed in the en-face-3D TEE mode are comparable with conventional measurement methods based on 2D TEE and 3D using the multiple plane reconstruction mode with the Qlab software. En-face-3D TEE is used more frequently in daily clinical routine during cardiac operations.

TSH/IGF-1 Receptor Cross Talk in Graves' Ophthalmopathy Pathogenesis.

Context: The TSH receptor (TSHR) is considered the main target of stimulatory autoantibodies in the pathogenesis of Graves' ophthalmopathy (GO); however, it has been suggested that stimulatory IGF-1 receptor (IGF-1R) autoantibodies also play a role.

Objective: We previously demonstrated that a monoclonal stimulatory TSHR antibody, M22, activates TSHR/IGF-1R cross talk in orbital fibroblasts/preadipocytes obtained from patients with GO (GO fibroblasts [GOFs]). We show that cross talk between TSHR and IGF-1R, not direct IGF-1R activation, is involved in the mediation of GO pathogenesis stimulated by Graves' autoantibodies.