Preclinical systolic dysfunction relating to ankle-brachial index among high-risk PAD population with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) shares common clinical risk factors, for example, endothelial dysfunction, with preserved ejection fraction (LVEF) heart failure (HFpEF). Whether PAD is associated with preclinical systolic dysfunction and higher HF risk among individuals presenting preserved LVEF remains uncertain. We retrospectively included outpatients with at least one known or established cardiovascular (CV) risk factor with LVEF ≥ 50%.

Association of Female Menopause With Atrioventricular Mechanics and Outcomes.

Background: Despite known sex differences in cardiac structure and function, little is known about how menopause and estrogen associate with atrioventricular mechanics and outcomes.

Objective: To study how, sex differences, loss of estrogen in menopause and duration of menopause, relate to atrioventricular mechanics and outcomes.

Methods: Among 4051 asymptomatic adults (49.

Association of Region-Specific Cardiac Adiposity With Dysglycemia and New-Onset Diabetes.

Background Visceral adipose tissue is assumed to be an important indicator for insulin resistance and diabetes beyond overweight/obesity. We hypothesized that region-specific visceral adipose tissue may regulate differential biological effects for new-onset diabetes regardless of overall obesity. Methods and Results We quantified various visceral adipose tissue measures, including epicardial adipose tissue, paracardial adipose tissue, interatrial fat, periaortic fat, and thoracic aortic adipose tissue in 1039 consecutive asymptomatic participants who underwent multidetector computed tomography.

Prognostic superiority of global longitudinal strain beyond four-tiered ventricular hypertrophy in asymptomatic individuals.

Background: This study aims to explore the clinical correlates of myocardial deformations using speckle-tracking algorithm and to determine the prognostic utility of such measures in asymptomatic ethnic Chinese population.

Methods: Global longitudinal (GLS), circumferential strain (GCS), and torsion were analyzed using featured tissue-tracking algorithm among 4049 symptom-free ethnic Chinese population. Hypertrophy (LVH) was classified into 4 tiers: indeterminate, dilated, thick and thick/dilated, by gender-stratified partition of end-diastolic volume index (EDVi) and LV mass/EDV0.

Correction: Associations of obesity and malnutrition with cardiac remodeling and cardiovascular outcomes in Asian adults: A cohort study.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pmed.

Associations of obesity and malnutrition with cardiac remodeling and cardiovascular outcomes in Asian adults: A cohort study.

Background: Obesity, a known risk factor for cardiovascular disease and heart failure (HF), is associated with adverse cardiac remodeling in the general population. Little is known about how nutritional status modifies the relationship between obesity and outcomes. We aimed to investigate the association of obesity and nutritional status with clinical characteristics, echocardiographic changes, and clinical outcomes in the general community.

Associations of region-specific visceral adiposity with subclinical atrial dysfunction and outcomes of heart failure.

Aims: Excessive visceral adiposity (VAT) plays an essential role in metabolic derangements with those close to heart further mediates myocardial homeostasis. The disparate biological links between region-specific VAT and cardiometabolic profiles as mediators influencing atrial kinetics remain unexplored.

Methods And Results: Among 1326 asymptomatic individuals, region-specific VAT including peri-aortic root fat (PARF) and total pericardial fat (PCF) of cardiac region, together with thoracic peri-aortic adipose tissue (TAT), was assessed using multiple-detector computed tomography.

Global Left Atrial Longitudinal Strain Using 3-Beat Method Improves Risk Prediction of Stroke Over Conventional Echocardiography in Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is associated with a risk of ischemic stroke, and functional myocardial imaging has offered novel insights on its pathophysiology and prognosis, but its use in AF-related stroke remains limited. We aimed to evaluate the feasibility of left atrial (LA) deformations and its prognostic values of ischemic stroke in a large-scale AF population.

Methods: Peak atrial longitudinal strain (LA strain), left ventricular strain (global longitudinal strain), LA strain rate (LA SR) at reservoir (LA longitudinal systolic strain rate), and early diastolic conduit (LA longitudinal early diastolic strain rate) phases were analyzed using 2-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Associations of serum uric acid level and gout with cardiac structure, function and sex differences from large scale asymptomatic Asians.

Hyperuricemia (HU) is a marker for heart failure. There are relatively few data in the Asian population regarding the effects of hyperuricemia and gouty disorders on cardiac remodeling and diastolic dysfunction (DD), an intermediate stage in the development of heart failure. We consecutively recruited asymptomatic Asian individuals to undergo cardiovascular surveys.

Application and Comparison of Different Prognostic Scoring Systems in Patients Who Underwent Cardiologist-Managed Percutaneous Cardiopulmonary Support.

Background: Temporary mechanical support, including percutaneous cardiopulmonary support (PCPS), is crucial for reversing patients' compromised hemodynamic function. Knowledge about whether cardiologists can directly manage patients receiving PCPS and about the predictive values of different prognostic scores is insufficient.

Methods: We examined the data and in-hospital mortality of 45 eligible patients receiving cardiologist-managed PCPS from July 2012 to January 2019 in our institute.

Malnutrition in acute heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: clinical correlates and prognostic implications.

Aims: This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic significance of nutritional status in post-discharge Asians with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: We examined the prognostic implications of body mass index (BMI) and nutritional markers among consecutive patients hospitalized for HFpEF. Nutritional metrics were estimated by serum albumin (SA), prognostic nutritional index (PNI), Controlling Nutritional Status (CONUT) score, and geriatric nutritional risk index.

Clinical and Echocardiography Features of Diagnosed in Adulthood Isolated Left Ventricular Noncompaction: A Case Series Study.

Background: Left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) is a primary genetic cardiomyopathy with morphologically unique characteristics, including loose "spongy" meshwork. Subjects carrying these disorders were typically presented with triad of heart failure, cardiac arrhythmias, and consequences of mural thrombi formation. The clinical and echocardiographic features regarding LVNC, however, are not widely known.

The relationship of renal function to segmental vascular stiffness, ankle-brachial index, and peripheral artery disease.

The authors consecutively assessed various arterial pulse-wave velocity (PWV) indices and ankle-brachial index (ABI) by an automatic device (VP2000, OMRON Health Care Co. Ltd., Kyota, Japan) in outpatients with ≥ 1 cardiovascular risk.

Evaluation of the Accuracy of ECG Captured by CardioChip through Comparison of Lead I Recording to a Standard 12-Lead ECG Recording Device.

Background: Remote cardiac rhythm monitoring and recording, using hand-carried electrocardiogram (ECG) device had been widely used in telemedicine. The feasibility and accuracy analysis on the data recorded by a new miniature ECG system-on-chip (SoC) system has not been explored before.

Methods: This study evaluated the accuracy of the ECG recordings captured by CardioChip - a single-channeled, low-powered, miniature ECG SoC designed for mobile applications; comparing against Philips Pagewriter Trim III - a Food and Drug Administration certified, widely-used standard 12-lead ECG recording device, within Mackay Memorial Hospital in Taiwan.

Age, Sex, and Blood Pressure-Related Influences on Reference Values of Left Atrial Deformation and Mechanics From a Large-Scale Asian Population.

Background: Left atrial (LA) function is tightly linked to several cardiovascular diseases and confers key prognostic information. Speckle tracking-based deformation as a feasible and sensitive LA mechanical assessment has proven its clinical significance beyond volume measures; however, the reference values remain largely unknown.

Methods And Results: We studied 4042 participants undergoing annual cardiovascular survey.

The associations among co-morbidity, cardiac geometries and mechanics in hospitalized heart failure with or without preserved ejection fraction.

Background: The associations among chronic health conditions, ventricular geometric alterations or cardiac contractile mechanics in different phenotypes heart failure (HF) remain largely unexplored.

Methods: We studied 438 consecutive hospitalized patients (mean age: 64.9 ± 16.

Light to Moderate Habitual Alcohol Consumption Is Associated with Subclinical Ventricular and Left Atrial Mechanical Dysfunction in an Asymptomatic Population: Dose-Response and Propensity Analysis.

Background: The effects of light to moderate alcohol consumption on cardiac mechanics remain poorly understood. The aim of this study was to investigate the dose-response relationship between alcohol consumption and left ventricular (LV) and left atrial (LA) function using myocardial deformation.

Methods: In total 3,946 asymptomatic participants (mean age, 49.

Cardiac Systolic Mechanics in Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction: New Insights and Controversies.

Unlabelled: Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is a cardinal and complex syndrome tightly linked to several co-morbidities, and is currently emerging as a new public health problem in the elderly population. However, despite aggressive intervention, patients with HFpEF typically have a poor prognosis. Part of the reason underlying this phenomenon can be attributed to the insufficiently understood pathophysiology behind this syndrome.

Cardiac Remodeling, Adaptations and Associated Myocardial Mechanics in Hypertensive Heart Diseases.

Unlabelled: Hypertension is the leading cause of heart failure and cardiovascular comorbidities in developed countries. Left ventricular structural/functional alterations such as concentric remodeling or hypertrophy have been extensively studied in hypertensive heart diseases. Furthermore, it is also well-recognized that diastolic function actually deteriorates in hypertensive subjects prior to overt heart failure.

The incremental value of regional dyssynchrony in determining functional mitral regurgitation beyond left ventricular geometry after narrow QRS anterior myocardial infarction: a real time three-dimensional echocardiography study.

Background: Determinants of functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) severity after acute anterior myocardial infarction (MI) remained unclear. Our aim was to: (1) test whether LV dyssynchrony upon real time three-dimensional echocardiography (RT-3DE) is independently associated with FMR severity; and (2) to investigate the role of regional systolic dyssynchrony index (SDI) in identifying FMR severity.

Methods: RT-3DE was successfully performed on 64 consecutive patients following acute anterior MI with a narrow QRS complex (<130 ms) and another 30 healthy volunteers.

Demonstration of left ventricular thrombi with real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography in a patient with cardiomyopathy.

Two-dimensional echocardiography is a conventional tool to evaluate left ventricular thrombus but the use of real-time 3-dimensional echocardiography is not widespread. We report a 35-year-old man with unsuspected cardiomyopathy and a long history of both amphetamine and alcohol abuse. He presented with abdominal pain and right lower leg numbness and pain.