Are Hospital Admissions (Costs) and Mortality Rate Impacted by Guideline-driven Treatment of Heart Failure?: A Comparison between Participants in the "CorBene" CMP and Standard-care Patients on the Basis of Propensity Score Matching.

Heart failure (HF) is one of the most common diagnoses on admission to hospital in Germany, and one which incurs high costs. Integrated care in case management programs (CMPs) aims to improve treatment quality in the sense of guideline-driven treatment, while reducing hospital admissions, hospital costs, and mortality. A total of 1,844 patient data records from 11 German statutory health insurance companies enrolled in the CMP (intervention group [IG]) were compared with 1,844 standard-care patients (control group) using propensity score matching.

Patient knowledge about risk factors, achievement of target values, and guideline-adherent secondary prevention therapies 12 months after acute myocardial infarction.

Aims: The prospective GULLIVE-R study aimed to evaluate adherence to guideline-recommended secondary prevention, physicians' and patients' estimation of cardiac risk, and patients' knowledge about target values of risk factors after acute myocardial infarction (AMI).

Methods And Results: We performed a prospective study enrolling patients 9-12 months after AMI. Guideline-recommended secondary prevention therapies and physicians as well as patients' estimation about their risk and patients' knowledge about target values were prospectively collected.

Detection of atrial fibrillation using an implantable loop recorder in patients with previous cryptogenic stroke: the SPIDER-AF registry (Stroke Prevention by Increasing DEtection Rates of Atrial Fibrillation).

Background: The use of implantable loop recorder (ILR) to detect atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with a history of cryptogenic stroke (CS) has seldom been investigated in "real-world" settings.

Objective: This study aimed to present the results of the Stroke Prevention by Increasing DEtection Rates of Atrial Fibrillation (SPIDER-AF) registry.

Method: SPIDER is a multicentric, observational registry, including 35 facilities all over Germany.

[Dual Antiplatelet Therapy in the Perioperative Period - To Continue or Discontinue Treatment?].

 For secondary prevention of acute coronary syndrome, guidelines recommend dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with acetylsalicylic acid and a P2Y12 receptor antagonist such as clopidogrel, prasugrel or ticagrelor for a period of 12 months. Often, uncertainty exists with respect to surgical or diagnostic procedures in these high-risk patients: can the DAPT be continued without interruption? If not, what is the recommended withdrawal strategy? What should be considered for the perioperative management?  An interdisciplinary group of experienced experts in the fields of cardiology, cardiac surgery, gastroenterology, anaesthesiology, intensive care and haemostaseology developed recommendations relevant to daily clinical practice based on the current scientific evidence.  These recommendations include instructions for evaluating the patient- and procedure-specific risks of bleeding and ischaemia, general recommendations regarding the DAPT withdrawal strategy, and specific guidance for frequent surgical or diagnostic procedures.

High adherence to therapy and low cardiac mortality and morbidity in patients after acute coronary syndrome systematically managed by office-based cardiologists in Germany: 1-year outcomes of the ProAcor Study.

We aimed to assess patient acceptance and effectiveness of a 12-month structured management program in patients after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event who were treated in a special setting of office-based cardiologists. The program comprised patient documentation with a specific tool (Bundesverband Niedergelassener Kardiologen [German Federation of Office-Based Cardiologists] cardiac pass with visit scheduling) shared by the hospital physician and the office-based cardiologist, the definition of individual treatment targets, and the systematic information of patients in order to optimize adherence to therapy. Participating centers (36 hospitals, 60 office-based cardiologists) included a total of 1,003 patients with ACS (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI] 44.

Left ventricular diastolic function is strongly correlated with active emptying of the left atrium: a novel analysis using three-dimensional echocardiography.

Background: Increased left atrial (LA) dimensions are known to be a risk factor in predicting cardiovascular events and mortality and to be one key diagnostic tool to assess diastolic dysfunction. Currently, LA measurements are usually conducted using 2D-echocardiography, although there are well-known limitations. Real-time 3D-echocardiography is able to overcome these limitations, furthermore being a valid measurement tool compared to reference standards (e.

The HAS-BLED score predicts bleedings during bridging of chronic oral anticoagulation. Results from the national multicentre BNK Online bRiDging REgistRy (BORDER).

Patients who receive long-term oral anticoagulant (OAC) therapy often require interruption of OAC for an elective invasive procedure. Current guidelines allow bridging therapy with either unfractionated heparin (UFH) or low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH). Apart from the risk of embolism, bleeding is an important complication in this setting and the optimal perioperative management of such patients is still under discussion.