Cardiology professionals' views of social robots in augmenting heart failure patient care.

Aims: Social robots are arriving to the modern healthcare system. Whether patients with heart failure, a prevalent chronic disease with high health and human costs would derive benefit from a social robot intervention has not been investigated empirically. Diverse healthcare provider's perspectives are needed to develop an acceptable and feasible social robot intervention to be adopted for the clinical benefit of patients with heart failure.

Cardiac PET Myocardial Blood Flow Quantification Assessment of Early Cardiac Allograft Vasculopathy.

Background: Positron emission tomography (PET) has demonstrated utility for diagnostic and prognostic assessment of cardiac allograft vasculopathy (CAV) but has not been evaluated in the first year after transplant.

Objectives: The authors sought to evaluate CAV at 1 year by PET myocardial blood flow (MBF) quantification.

Methods: Adults at 2 institutions enrolled between January 2018 and March 2021 underwent prospective 3-month (baseline) and 12-month (follow-up) post-transplant PET, endomyocardial biopsy, and intravascular ultrasound examination.

Influence of preoperative frailty on quality of life after cardiac surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Frailty has emerged as an important prognostic marker of increased mortality after cardiac surgery, but its association with quality of life (QoL) and patient-centered outcomes is not fully understood. We sought to evaluate the association between frailty and such outcomes in older patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: This systematic review included studies evaluating the effect of preoperative frailty on QoL outcomes after cardiac surgery amongst patients 65 years and older.

Predicted heart mass for size matching in obese heart transplant donors and recipients.

Introduction: Predicted heart mass (PHM) was neither derived nor evaluated in an obese population. Our objective was to evaluate size mismatch using actual body weight or ideal body weight (IBW)-adjusted PHM on mortality and risk assessment.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study of adult recipients with BMI ≥30 kg/m or recipients of donors with BMI≥30 kg/m from the ISHLT registry.

Influence of preoperative frailty on quality of life after cardiac surgery: Protocol for a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Frailty has emerged as an important prognostic marker of adverse outcomes after cardiac surgery, but evidence regarding its ability to predict quality of life after cardiac surgery is currently lacking. Whether frail patients derive the same quality of life benefit after cardiac surgery as patients without frailty remains unclear.

Methods: This systematic review will include interventional studies (RCT and others) and observational studies evaluating the effect of preoperative frailty on quality-of-life outcomes after cardiac surgery amongst patients 65 years and older.

Impact of baseline beta-blocker use on inotrope response and clinical outcomes in cardiogenic shock: a subgroup analysis of the DOREMI trial.

Background: Cardiogenic shock (CS) is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The impact of beta-blocker (BB) use on patients who develop CS remains unknown. We sought to evaluate the clinical outcomes and hemodynamic response profiles in patients treated with BB in the 24 h prior to the development of CS.

Mortality in patients with cardiogenic shock supported with VA ECMO: A systematic review and meta-analysis evaluating the impact of etiology on 29,289 patients.

Background: Venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA ECMO) is associated with variable outcomes. In this meta-analysis, we evaluated the mortality after VA ECMO across multiple etiologies of cardiogenic shock (CS).

Methods: In June 2019, we performed a systematic search selecting observational studies with ≥10 adult patients reporting on short-term mortality (30-day or mortality at discharge) after initiation of VA ECMO by CS etiology published after 2009.

Shared Decision Making and Effective Communication in Heart Failure-Moving from "Code Status" to Decisional Readiness.

Despite advances in treatment options, heart failure (HF) remains a progressive, symptomatic, and terminal disease for a large number of patients. The need for enhanced discussions regarding prognosis and goals of care has been recognised by multiple professional societies and public health policy, yet these conversations rarely occur in a timely manner. Shared decision making (SDM) is the process through which clinicians and patients work toward treatment decisions that are aligned with the patients' values, goals, and preferences.

The Effect of Age on Outcomes After Destination-Therapy Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation: An Analysis of the IMACS Registry.

Background: As patients with advanced heart failure are living longer, defining the impact of left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) on outcomes in an aging population is of great importance. We describe overall survival, rates of adverse events (AEs), and post-AE survival in patients age ≥ 70 years vs age 50-69 years after destination-therapy (DT) LVAD implantation.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted with the use of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (IMACS) registry.

Heart Failure: A Palliative Medicine Review of Disease, Therapies, and Medications With a Focus on Symptoms, Function, and Quality of Life.

Despite significant advances in heart failure (HF) treatment, HF remains a progressive, extremely symptomatic, and terminal disease with a median survival of 2.1 years after diagnosis. HF often leads to a constellation of symptoms, including dyspnea, fatigue, depression, anxiety, insomnia, pain, and worsened cognitive function.

Wanted: role models--medical students' perceptions of professionalism.

Background: Transformation of medical students to become medical professionals is a core competency required for physicians in the 21st century. Role modeling was traditionally the key method of transmitting this skill. Medical schools are developing medical curricula which are explicit in ensuring students develop the professional competency and understand the values and attributes of this role.