Myocardial Contraction Fraction is not a Predictor of Clinical Outcomes in Acute Systolic Heart Failure: A Brief Report.

Introduction: The utility of myocardial contraction fraction (MCF), a volumetric measure of myocardial shortening, has not been well evaluated in patients with systolic heart failure (SHF).

Materials And Methods: A single-center, retrospective cohort study of all adults admitted with acute SHF from 2013 to 2018 at an academic medical center. A chart review was performed to identify key echocardiographic transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE), laboratory, and demographic characteristics.

Asymptomatic left ventricular systolic dysfunction in patients with severe aortic stenosis: characteristics and outcomes.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the prevalence, characteristics, and outcomes of asymptomatic left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS).

Background: Management of asymptomatic patients with severe AS remains controversial. In these patients, LV systolic dysfunction, defined in the guidelines as ejection fraction <50%, is a Class I(C) indication for aortic valve replacement (AVR), but its prevalence is unknown.

Association of myocardial fibrosis, B-type natriuretic peptide, and cardiac magnetic resonance parameters of remodeling in chronic ischemic cardiomyopathy.

The left ventricular (LV) scar size detected by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging in ischemic cardiomyopathy (IC) has been correlated with mortality. However, the associations among myocardial fibrosis, ventricular geometry, and physiologic measures of myocardial performance remain to be defined. A retrospective analysis of patients with stable chronic IC (LV ejection fraction ≤50%) who underwent CMR imaging from 2004 to 2010 and had plasma B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) measured within 14 days of the CMR study was undertaken.

Death in heart failure: a community perspective.

Background: Mortality in heart failure (HF) remains high but causes of death are incompletely defined. As HF is heterogeneous syndrome categorized according to ejection fraction (EF), the association between EF and causes of death is important, yet elusive.

Method And Results: Community subjects with HF were classified according to preserved (> or =50%) and reduced EF (<50%).

Ventricular arrhythmias after acute myocardial infarction: a 20-year community study.

Background: Although myocardial infarction (MI) severity is declining, the occurrence of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) after MI and its effect on outcome is unknown. This study was undertaken to examine the frequency and timing of VA and the effect of VA on mortality after MI.

Methods: Myocardial infarctions recorded between 1979 and 1998 were validated.