Publications by authors named "Diez-Lopez C"

Heart transplantation (HT) is the gold standard therapy for advanced heart failure (ADHF), and LVADs as destination therapy are an option in non-HT candidates. Most patients with ADHF never receive HT or an LVAD, so alternative strategies are needed. Intermittent levosimendan can reduce HF hospitalizations in ADHF patients in the short term.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Inherited arrhythmogenic syndromes comprise a heterogenic group of genetic entities that lead to malignant arrhythmias and sudden cardiac death. Genetic testing has become crucial to understand the disease etiology and allow for the early identification of relatives at risk; however, it requires an accurate interpretation of the data to achieve a clinically actionable outcome. This is particularly challenging for the large number of rare variants obtained by current high-throughput techniques, which are mostly classified as of unknown significance.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is an inherited disorder whose causal variants involve sarcomeric protein genes. One of these is myosin-binding protein C (MYBPC3), being previously associated with a favourable prognosis. Our objective is to describe the clinical characteristics and events of a molecularly homogeneous HCM cohort associated with truncating variants.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Heart donation after circulatory death (DCD) involves mandatory exposure to warm ischemic injury (WII) due to donor cardiac arrest resulting from withdrawal of life-support (WLS). However, potential DCD donors may also experience a cardiac arrest and undergo cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and associated WII before WLS. We sought to investigate the effect of previous donor-CPR in DCD heart-transplantation (HT).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human skin is colonized with skin microbiota that includes commensal bacteria, fungi, arthropods, archaea and viruses. The composition of the microbiota varies at different anatomical locations according to changes in body temperature, pH, humidity/hydration or sebum content. A homeostatic skin microbiota is crucial to maintain epithelial barrier functions, to protect from invading pathogens and to interact with the immune system.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study investigates whether cardiac resynchronization therapy with a defibrillator (CRTD) is better than therapy with a pacemaker (CRTP) for patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) and low risk of arrhythmias.
  • It analyzes data from 167 NICM patients, looking for predictors of heart function improvement (echocardiographic response) and serious heart rhythm issues (arrhythmias) over a median follow-up of 63 months.
  • Findings reveal that patients without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) show a much higher response rate to CRT (81% vs. 53%) and no arrhythmic events, suggesting they are ideal candidates for CRTP rather than
View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • The study compares long-term mortality outcomes between revascularization (like PCI or CABG) and guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) in patients with heart failure and ischaemic left ventricular dysfunction.
  • Out of 408 patients, the revascularization group had a 33% mortality rate, while the GDMT group had a 43% rate, showing no significant mortality benefit for revascularization.
  • Overall, neither revascularization methods (CABG or PCI) showed a clear advantage over GDMT in reducing mortality, and further research is suggested to better understand their roles in treatment.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

. Iron deficiency (ID) is a significant, high-prevalence comorbidity in chronic heart failure (HF) that represents an independent predictor of a worse prognosis. However, a clear-cut diagnosis of ID in HF patients is not assured.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The "International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Guidelines for the Evaluation and Care of Cardiac Transplant Candidates-2024" updates and replaces the "Listing Criteria for Heart Transplantation: International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation Guidelines for the Care of Cardiac Transplant Candidates-2006" and the "2016 International Society for Heart Lung Transplantation Listing Criteria for Heart Transplantation: A 10-year Update." The document aims to provide tools to help integrate the numerous variables involved in evaluating patients for transplantation, emphasizing updating the collaborative treatment while waiting for a transplant. There have been significant practice-changing developments in the care of heart transplant recipients since the publication of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation (ISHLT) guidelines in 2006 and the 10-year update in 2016.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

In arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) non-invasive scar evaluation is not included among the diagnostic criteria or the predictors of ventricular arrhythmias (VA) and sudden death (SD). Computed tomography (CT) has excellent spatial resolution and allows a clear distinction between myocardium and fat; thus, it has great potential for the evaluation of myocardial scar in ARVC. The objective of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, and the diagnostic and prognostic value of semi-automated quantification of right ventricular (RV) fat replacement from CT images.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • - Sudden cardiac death, especially among young people, is a rare and tragic event often triggered during or right after exercise, with inherited arrhythmogenic syndromes being a primary cause.
  • - These genetic conditions can lead to dangerous heart rhythms, and sometimes, the first sign of a problem is a sudden cardiac event, emphasizing the importance of assessing family members for genetic risks.
  • - Early detection and individualized preventive measures are essential to mitigate risks, and while exercise is generally beneficial, specific guidelines should be tailored to each patient's genetic background and health status.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Disease penetrance in genotype-positive (G+) relatives of families with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and the characteristics associated with DCM onset in these individuals are unknown.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the penetrance of new DCM diagnosis in G+ relatives and to identify factors associated with DCM development.

Methods: The authors evaluated 779 G+ patients (age 35.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction And Objectives: Posttransplant outcomes among recipients with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) remain controversial.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of a nationwide registry of first-time recipients undergoing isolated heart transplant between 1984 and 2021. One-year and 5-year mortality in recipients with HCM and RCM were compared with those with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

The soluble transferrin receptor (sTfR) is a marker of tissue iron status, which could indicate an increased iron demand at the tissue level. The impact of sTfR levels on functional capacity and quality of life (QoL) in non-anemic heart failure (HF) patients with otherwise normal systemic iron status has not been evaluated. We conducted an observational, prospective, cohort study of 1236 patients with chronic HF.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF
Article Synopsis
  • A study was conducted to assess the prevalence and prognostic significance of donor-transmitted coronary artery disease (TCAD) in heart transplant patients across 11 Spanish hospitals from 2008 to 2018.
  • Out of 1,918 heart transplant patients, 937 had coronary angiography (c-angio) within the first three months, revealing that 18.3% had TCAD, with 6.9% having significant TCAD (s-TCAD) and 11.4% having nonsignificant TCAD (ns-TCAD).
  • The study found that while s-TCAD did not significantly impact overall survival, it was linked to a higher risk of cardiovascular death and major adverse cardiovascular events, indicating a
View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) still affects 2% to 28% of heart transplants (HT). Severe PGD requires mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and is the main cause of death early after HT. Earlier initiation has been suggested to improve prognosis but the best cannulation strategy is unknown.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Introduction: Despite the benefits of mobilisation in the critical patient, the evidence in patients with Levitronix® CentriMag as a bridge to heart transplantation (HT) is scarce. The objective of this study is to analyze the impact of mobility on these patients.

Methods: Retrospective observational study of patients who received a HT with Levitronix® CentriMag admitted between 2010 and 2019 to a tertiary hospital.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Aim: Patients with advanced heart failure (AHF) who are not candidates to advanced therapies have poor prognosis. Some trials have shown that intermittent levosimendan can reduce HF hospitalizations in AHF in the short term. In this real-life registry, we describe the patterns of use, safety and factors related to the response to intermittent levosimendan infusions in AHF patients not candidates to advanced therapies.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Objective: In patients with advanced heart failure, the intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) of subsegmental pulmonary artery measurements is correlated with right heart catheterization parameters. Our aim was to study the prognostic value of pulmonary OCT, right heart catheterization data, and the echocardiographic estimation of pulmonary pressure in patients studied for elective heart transplants.

Methods: This research is an observational, prospective, multicenter study involving 90 adults with a one-year follow-up.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Background: Variants in myosin heavy chain 7 (MYH7) are responsible for disease in 1% to 5% of patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM); however, the clinical characteristics and natural history of MYH7-related DCM are poorly described.

Objectives: We sought to determine the phenotype and prognosis of MYH7-related DCM. We also evaluated the influence of variant location on phenotypic expression.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF

Human microbiome research is moving from characterization and association studies to translational applications in medical research, clinical diagnostics, and others. One of these applications is the prediction of human traits, where machine learning (ML) methods are often employed, but face practical challenges. Class imbalance in available microbiome data is one of the major problems, which, if unaccounted for, leads to spurious prediction accuracies and limits the classifier's generalization.

View Article and Find Full Text PDF