Direct Comparison of Outcomes After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Veterans and Non-Veterans Using the Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry.

Objectives: This study aims to compare veterans and non-veterans undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) using data from the Society for Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy (STS/ACC TVT) registry.

Methods: Patients undergoing TAVR at George Washington University (GWU) and veterans treated at Washington DC Veterans Affairs Medical Center (VAMC) who underwent TAVR at GWU from 2014-2020 were included. All patients were reported in the TVT registry.

Long-Term Outcomes of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in Veterans with Ischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: The Surgical Treatment for Ischemic Heart Failure (STICH) trial showed that surgical revascularization in ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM) patients improves long-term mortality compared with medical treatment alone. This study examines how veterans with ICM undergoing revascularization fare against patients without ICM; it also examines the outcomes in the veteran population.

Methods: This is a retrospective review of a single-center database.

Double Valve-in-Valve Transcatheter Valve Replacements for Failed Surgical Bioprosthetic Aortic and Tricuspid Valves.

Transcatheter technology has revolutionized the treatment of valvular disease in the field of cardiology and cardiac surgery. We present an interesting case of a patient with prior double valve replacements, which had degenerated after a decade, with symptoms of decompensated heart failure. The patient was successfully treated with double valve-in-valve transcatheter aortic and tricuspid valve replacement.

Transapical Mitral Valve-in-Valve Replacement in Patient With Previous Complex Sternal Reconstruction.

We present a complex case of a transapical redo mitral valve-in-valve replacement. Repeat mitral valve replacement was indicated for severe symptomatic bioprosthetic stenosis. In addition to the patient's numerous comorbidities that included diabetes, hepatic cirrhosis, ischemic cardiomyopathy, and atrial flutter, he had undergone a previous open mitral valve replacement that was complicated by sternal dehiscence requiring extensive chest wall reconstruction.

Using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging to evaluate cardiac function and predict outcomes in patients with valvular heart disease.

Objective: In valvular heart disease, elevated left atrial and pulmonary pressures contribute to right ventricular strain and, ultimately, right ventricle failure. Elevated pulmonary artery (PAP) and left ventricular end diastolic pressures are used as markers of right ventricle dysfunction and correlate with poor outcomes. Using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR), it is possible to directly quantify both left and right ventricular ejection function (LVEF and RVEF), and here, we compare CMR with traditional markers as outcome predictors.

Predictors of radial artery size in patients undergoing cardiac catheterization: insights from the Good Radial Artery Size Prediction (GRASP) study.

Background: Radial artery occlusion occurs after transradial cardiac catheterization or percutaneous coronary intervention. Although use of a sheath larger than the artery is a risk factor for radial artery occlusion, radial artery size is not routinely measured. We aimed to identify bedside predictors of radial artery diameter.

Tetralogy of Fallot and aortic root dilation: a long-term outlook.

Dilation of the sinus of Valsalva (SoV) has been increasingly observed after repaired tetralogy of Fallot (TOF). We estimate the prevalence of SoV dilation in adults with repaired TOF and analyze possible factors related to aortic disease. Adults with TOF [n = 109, median age 33.

Safe and effective intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke caused by left atrial myxoma.

Atrial myxoma may be associated with syncope or sudden death attributed to left-sided cardiac outflow obstruction or embolization caused by tumor dislodgement or thrombus formation. Definitive treatment for primary and secondary stroke prevention is surgical resection. The role of thrombolysis in acute brain ischemia in patients with atrial myxoma is not defined.

Selective use of coronary calcification measurements in an expanded intermediate risk group.

Risk assessment is an imperative initial step in the clinical management of cardiovascular risk factors. On the basis of the estimation of the 10-year absolute risk of manifesting coronary heart disease (myocardial infarction or coronary heart disease death), risk categories are conventionally divided into low, intermediate, and high. The most widely used quantitative risk assessment algorithm, the Framingham risk score for hard events, is based on traditional risk factors, but it does not fully account for all available cardiovascular risk factors.

Photodynamic therapy of human Barrett's cancer using 5-aminolaevulinic acid-induced protoporphyrin IX: an in-vivo dosimetry study in athymic nude mice.

Objective: There has been a dramatic increase in recent years in the incidence of Barrett's oesophagus and the oesophageal adenocarcinoma associated with it. Alongside surgical treatment for early Barrett's carcinomas, endoscopic treatment procedures such as photodynamic therapy (PDT), which have much lower complication and mortality rates, will play an increasing role in the future. In this study, the effects of light energy dose, light fractionation and oxygenation on the efficacy of PDT were investigated for the first time in an in-vivo nude mice tumour model bearing a human Barrett's carcinoma.