Impact of Aortomitral Continuity Calcification on Need for Permanent Pacemaker After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Background: By virtue of its proximity to structures vital to cardiac conduction, aortomitral continuity calcification (AMCC) may help identify patients at highest risk for developing atrioventricular conduction disease requiring permanent pacemaker implantation (PPMI). We aim to determine the association of AMCC and need for PPMI after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Methods: Of 614 patients who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (11.

PFO Closure for Cryptogenic Stroke: A Review and Clinical Treatment Algorithm.

With a high prevalence in the general population of approximately 25%, and a prevalence in the cryptogenic stroke population approaching 40%, the propensity of a patent foramen ovale (PFO) to precipitate or enable stroke, especially in young, otherwise healthy individuals, has been the subject of much debate. With proof of concept achieved via imaging modalities documenting thrombus-in-transit, and the development of minimally-invasive percutaneous approaches to closure, multiple observational studies and, more recently, several completed randomized controlled trials have sought to answer the question of when and in whom PFO closure should occur. We describe the historical context of PFO closure and review the observational and randomized control trial evidence in this field, culminating in the recent Food and Drug Administration approval of the first dedicated closure device for PFO.

Precision Medicine and Men's Health.

Precision medicine can greatly benefit men's health by helping to prevent, diagnose, and treat prostate cancer, benign prostatic hyperplasia, infertility, hypogonadism, and erectile dysfunction. For example, precision medicine can facilitate the selection of men at high risk for prostate cancer for targeted prostate-specific antigen screening and chemoprevention administration, as well as assist in identifying men who are resistant to medical therapy for prostatic hyperplasia, who may instead require surgery. Precision medicine-trained clinicians can also let couples know whether their specific cause of infertility should be bypassed by sperm extraction and in vitro fertilization to prevent abnormalities in their offspring.