Implantable devices to monitor patients with heart failure.

Reducing heart failure hospitalizations represents a major challenge for modern clinicians. Early detection of congestion plays a key role in disease management strategy. Apart from traditional methods (patient reporting symptoms, body weight monitoring), novel home-care strategies allow guided adjustments in medical therapy through telemonitoring embedded in cardiac electronic implantable devices or through stand-alone diagnostic devices for hemodynamic monitoring.

Acute heart failure with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction: clinical profile, in-hospital management, and short-term outcome.

Background: Heart failure with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction (HFmrEF) is a poorly characterized population as it has been studied either in the context of HF with reduced (HFrEF) or preserved (HFpEF) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) depending on applied LVEF cutoffs. We sought to investigate the clinical profile, in-hospital management, and short-term outcome of HFmrEF patients in comparison with those with HFrEF or HFpEF in a large acute HF cohort.

Methods And Results: The Acute Heart Failure Global Registry of Standard Treatment (ALARM-HF) included 4953 patients hospitalized for HF in nine countries in Europe, Latin America, and Australia.

Sinus node disease in subjects with type 1 ECG pattern of Brugada syndrome.

Background: The spectrum of phenotypes related to mutations of the SCN5A gene include Brugada syndrome (BS), long QT syndrome, progressive cardiac conduction defect, and sinus node disease (SND). The present study investigated the incidence of SND in subjects with type 1 electrocardiogram (ECG) pattern of BS.

Methods And Results: The study population consisted of 68 individuals (55 males, mean age 44.