[Cardiologist training in Chile and contributions from the Chilean Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery].

The Chilean Society of Cardiology and Cardiovascular Surgery (SOCHICAR) is a scientific society whose mission is to improve the nation's cardiovascular health. Its primary goals include discussing issues affecting the specialty and engaging in various activities that support its advancement. To achieve these goals, numerous educational initiatives are undertaken for health professionals, including physicians in cardiology training programs.

Induction therapy in heart transplantation: A systematic review and network meta-analysis for developing evidence-based recommendations.

Introduction: Induction therapy (IT) utility in heart transplantation (HT) remains contested. Commissioned by a clinical-practice guidelines panel to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of IT in adult HT patients, we conducted this systematic review and network meta-analysis (NMA).

Methods: We searched for studies from January 2000 to October 2022, reporting on the use of any IT agent in adult HT patients.

New Mechanisms to Prevent Heart Failure with Preserved Ejection Fraction Using Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonism (GLP-1 RA) in Metabolic Syndrome and in Type 2 Diabetes: A Review.

This review examines the impact of obesity on the pathophysiology of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) and focuses on novel mechanisms for HFpEF prevention using a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonism (GLP-1 RA). Obesity can lead to HFpEF through various mechanisms, including low-grade systemic inflammation, adipocyte dysfunction, accumulation of visceral adipose tissue, and increased pericardial/epicardial adipose tissue (contributing to an increase in myocardial fat content and interstitial fibrosis). Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) is an incretin hormone that is released from the enteroendocrine L-cells in the gut.

Use of induction therapy post-heart transplantation: Clinical practice recommendations based on systematic review and network meta-analysis of evidence.

Background: The use of induction therapy (IT) agents in the early post-heart transplant period remains controversial. The following recommendations aim to provide guidance on the use of IT agents, including Basiliximab and Thymoglobulin, as part of routine care in heart transplantation (HTx).

Methods: We recruited an international, multidisciplinary panel of 15 stakeholders, including patient partners, transplant cardiologists and surgeons, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and methodologists.

Ethnic disparities in cardiac transplantation: opportunities to improve long-term outcomes in all cardiac transplant recipients.

Ethnic disparities in cardiovascular outcomes have been increasingly recognized in the medical literature. In a recent paper in this journal, Peled et al. provide evidence that Arab Israelis may have worse outcome after cardiac transplant than their Jewish counterparts.

[Cardiotoxicity of anticancer therapies. Towards the implementation of cardio-oncology units].

Recently, we have witnessed major improvements in cancer treatment. Early diagnosis and development of new therapies have reduced cancer-related mortality. However, these new therapies, along with greater patient survival, are associated with an increase in untoward effects, particularly in the cardiovascular system.

Inequalities in the Access to Advanced Therapy in Heart Failure.

At present, heart failure (HF) is a worldwide problem, characterized by a high morbidity and mortality. In industrialized countries or regions, such as the United States, Canada, and western European countries, HF has a prevalence of 1.5% to 2.

Ischemic electrocardiographic abnormalities and prognosis in decompensated heart failure.

Background: Identification of coronary ischemia may enable targeted diagnostic and therapeutic strategies for acute heart failure. We determined the risk of 30-day mortality associated with ischemic ECG abnormalities in patients with acute heart failure.

Methods And Results: Among 8772 patients (53.

Relationship between mechanical and metabolic dyssynchrony with left bundle branch block: evaluation by 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography in patients with non-ischemic heart failure.

Background: Ventricular dyssynchrony is a common finding in patients with heart failure (HF), especially in the presence of conduction delays. The loss of ventricular synchrony leads to progressive impairment of contractile function, which may be explained in part by segmental abnormalities of myocardial metabolism. However, the association of these metabolic disarrangements with parameters of ventricular dyssynchrony and electrocardiography (ECG) findings has not yet been studied.

Systemic oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction is associated with an attenuated acute vascular response to inhaled prostanoid in pulmonary artery hypertension patients.

Background: Systemic endothelial dysfunction and increased oxidative stress have been observed in pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). We evaluate whether oxidative stress and endothelial dysfunction are associated with acute pulmonary vascular bed response to an inhaled prostanoid in PAH patients.

Methods: Fourteen idiopathic PAH patients and 14 controls were included.

[The role of uric acid in heart failure].

Complications and mortality of heart failure are high, despite the availability of several forms of treatment. Uric acid, the end product of purine metabolism would actively participate in the pathophysiology of heart failure. However, there is no consensus about its action in cardiovascular disease.

[Changes long term prognosis of 17 patients with pulmonary artery hypertension].

Background: Pulmonary artery hypertension (PAH) is a progressive disease with high mortality. Major advances had been made in the treatment of this condition during the last decade.

Aim: To characterize the clinical evolution and mortality of a cohort of Chilean patients.

[Myocardial lipids and creatine measured by magnetic resonance spectroscopy among patients with heart failure].

Background: Heart failure (HF) is characterized, among other features, by the development of alterations in myocardial energy metabolism, involving a decrease in glucose utilization and increased free fatty acid uptake by cardiomyocytes, associated with decreased deposits of high-energy phosphates (creatine phosphate/creatine transporter). Magnetic resonance (MR) imaging allows a direct and noninvasive assessment of myocardial metabolites.

Aim: To measure myocardial creatine and lipids by MR spectroscopy among patients with HF.

[Admission hyperglycemia and mortality of ST segment elevation myocardial infarction].

Background: hyperglycemia at admission has been associated to an adverse prognosis in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STE-MI). However, its impact over the results of reperfusion therapies in patients with STEMI is still a matter of controversy.

Aim: to determine the impact of admission hyperglycemia on hospital and long term mortality, according to the method of reper-fusion utilized in patients with STEMI.

Xanthine-oxidase inhibitors and statins in chronic heart failure: effects on vascular and functional parameters.

Background: Increased oxidative stress in heart failure (HF) leads to inflammation and endothelial dysfunction (ED). Both statins and allopurinol have known anti-oxidant properties, but their utility in HF has not been fully assessed.

Methods: This investigation was a prospective, double-blind, double-dummy study, performed between March 2007 and June 2009.

[Heart energy metabolism and its role in the treatment of heart failure].

It is unknown why heart failure progresses even when patients are treated with the best therapy available. Evidences suggest that heart failure progression is due to loss of neurohumoral blockade in advanced stages of the disease and to alterations in myocardial metabolism induced, in part, by this neurohumoral activation. Alterations in cardiac energy metabolism, especially those related to substrate utilization and insulin resistance, reduce the efficiency of energy production, causing a heart energy reserve deficit.

[Dilated cardiomyopathy in celiac disease: report of one case].

There is an increased incidence of celiac disease in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy. We report a 4 7 year-old female presenting with heart failure secondary to dilated cardiomyopathy of unknown etiology. During the five months following the first hospitalization the patient had multiple hospital admissions due to decompensate heart failure.

Gln(27)-->Glubeta(2)-adrenergic receptor polymorphism in heart failure patients: differential clinical and oxidative response to carvedilol.

We investigated the clinical response of chronic heart failure patients with beta(2)-adrenergic receptor Gln(27)-->Glu polymorphism treated for 6 months with carvedilol, a alpha/beta-antagonist with antioxidant properties. The 6-min. walk test, the left ventricular ejection fraction, heart rate, plasma norepinephrine and malondialdehyde, a stress oxidative marker, concentrations were evaluated at baseline and after treatment for 6 months with carvedilol in 33 stable chronic heart failure patients with the Gln(27)-->Glubeta(2)-adrenergic receptor polymorphism.

[Interactions between beta1 and beta2 adrenergic receptor polymorphisms as risk factors for chronic heart failure].

Background: Beta adrenergic receptors (AR) are highly polymorphic and important regulators of cardiovascular homeostasis. Among these, beta1 and beta2 AR regulate cardiac contractility and frequency and are important pharmacological targets.

Aim: To evaluate genotype and gene-gene interaction between beta1-AR Arg389Gly and beta2-AR Arg16Gly, Gln27Glu and Thr164Ile polymorphisms, as risk factors for HF.

[Mortality of patients with ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction treated with primary angioplasty or thrombolysis].

Background: Primary angioplasty is the most effective treatment of ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, its worldwide implementation is difficult to obtain. Therefore thrombolysis continues to be the treatment most commonly used.

[Inflammation and endothelial dysfunction in patients with chronic heart failure].

Background: In chronic heart failure (CHF), endothelial dysfunction (ED) is a consequence of an imbalance of vascular tone regulating substances. The relationship between ED and inflammation has not been fully investigated.

Aim: To assess the association between inflammation and ED in CHF.