Assessing left atrial dysfunction in cardiac amyloidosis using LA-LV strain slope.

Aims: Transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM) is an infiltrative disease of the myocardium in which extracellular deposits of amyloid cause progressive cardiac impairment. We aimed to evaluate left atrial (LA) deformation and its association with left ventricular (LV) deformation using LA-LV strain loops in patients with ATTR-CM and patients with LV hypertrophy (LVH). We hypothesized that LA strain in ATTR-CM patients is abnormal and more independent of LV strain, compared to LVH patients.

Prognostic Implications and Reversibility of Pulmonary Vascular Resistance Derived by Echocardiography in Patients Undergoing Tricuspid Annuloplasty.

Background: Pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) intimately correlates with right ventricular afterload and the development of secondary tricuspid regurgitation (sTR).

Objectives: We sought to investigate the prognostic roles of PVR derived by echocardiography in patients with sTR undergoing tricuspid annuloplasty (TA).

Methods: Data from 322 TA patients [median age (interquartile range): 65.

Conduction Disturbances and Outcome After Surgical Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients With Bicuspid and Tricuspid Aortic Stenosis.

Background: This study aimed to compare the incidence and prognostic implications of new-onset conduction disturbances after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) aortic stenosis (AS) versus patients with tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) AS (ie, BAV-AS and TAV-AS, respectively). Additionally, the study included stratification of BAV patients according to subtype.

Methods: In this cohort study, the incidence of postoperative third-degree atrioventricular (AV) block with subsequent permanent pacemaker requirement and new-onset left bundle-branch block (LBBB) was investigated in 1147 consecutive patients without preoperative conduction disorder who underwent isolated SAVR (with or without ascending aortic surgery) between January 1, 2005, and December 31, 2022.

[New 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of endocarditis].

A succinct summary of the 2023 guidelines on the management of infectious endocarditis of the European Society of Cardiology is presented. Main new aspects are (1) the importance of treating endocarditis at a hospital with an endocarditis team and cardiac surgery, (2) a less restrictive recommendation for antibiotic prophylaxis, which now favors an individualized indication in patients with risk, e.g.

Quantitation of mitral regurgitation using positron emission tomography.

Background: Cardiac positron emission tomography (PET) offers non-invasive assessment of perfusion and left ventricular (LV) function from a single dynamic scan. However, no prior assessment of mitral regurgitation severity by PET has been presented. Application of indicator dilution techniques and gated image analyses to PET data enables calculation of forward stroke volume and total LV stroke volume.