Publications by authors named "Gonzalez-Melchor L"

: Oral anticoagulation (OAC) is pivotal in the clinical management of atrial fibrillation (AF) patients. Vitamin K antagonists (VKAs) and direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) prevent thromboembolic events, but information about the quality of life (QoL) and patient satisfaction in relation with the anticoagulant treatment is limited. : REGUEIFA is a prospective, observational, and multicentre study that included patients with AF treated by cardiologists.

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  • Atrial fibrosis impacts the success of ablation procedures, with extensive fibrosis potentially reducing atrial excitability.
  • The study aimed to determine clinical factors linked to extensive left atrial myopathy (ELAM) and evaluate the effectiveness of existing prediction scores for assessing outcomes related to atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence.
  • Results showed that 8.4% of patients had ELAM, with predictors being age, female sex, persistent AF, and first-degree AV block, leading to higher rates of AF recurrence and heart failure admissions compared to non-ELAM patients.
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Introduction And Objectives: Sodium-glucose cotransporter type 2 inhibitors (SGLT2i) have been associated with improved prognosis in patients with heart failure, but their impact on atrial arrhythmic (AA) and ventricular arrhythmic (VA) events is not fully understood.

Methods: This multicenter retrospective study included patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators who initiated treatment with SGLT2i. AA and VA events were compared in 2 time periods for each patient: 1 year before and 1 year after starting SGLT2i.

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Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia worldwide, affecting 1% of the population over 60 years old. The incidence and prevalence of AF are increasing globally, representing a relevant health problem, suggesting that more advanced strategies for predicting risk stage are highly needed. miRNAs mediate several processes involved in AF.

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  • This study investigates the effectiveness of the sST2 biomarker in predicting the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients undergoing electrical cardioversion (ECV) and pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) procedures.
  • The research found that in patients who underwent ECV, sST2 levels at 3 months post-procedure could help predict AF recurrence at 6 months, with moderate accuracy.
  • Conversely, in the PVI group, sST2 was not a useful predictor of AF recurrence, indicating its predictive value may vary based on the type of procedure.
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Aims: This study aims to investigate the clinical and biochemical characteristics of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) referred for ablation who develop arrhythmia-induced cardiomyopathy (AiCM) as well as their long-term outcomes after catheter ablation (CA).

Methods And Results: A prospective multicentre study was conducted on consecutive AF patients who underwent CA. AiCM was defined as the development of heart failure in the presence of AF and an improvement of left ventricular fraction by at least 10% at 6 months after ablation.

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Atrial fibrillation is the most prevalent tachyarrhythmia in clinical practice, with very high cardiovascular morbidity and mortality with a high-cost impact in health systems. Currently, it is one of the main causes of stroke and subsequent heart failure and sudden death. miRNAs mediate in several processes involved in cardiovascular disease, including fibrosis and electrical and structural remodeling.

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  • The study investigates whether biomarkers associated with fibrosis and adiposity can effectively predict low-voltage areas (LVA) in the heart and the likelihood of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence after pulmonary vein isolation (PVI).
  • A total of 299 patients were analyzed, revealing that age, left atrium size, and a new combined score based on AF type and FABP4 levels are significant predictors for both LVA and AF recurrence.
  • The findings suggest that incorporating adiposity markers like FABP4 into traditional classifications of atrial cardiomyopathy enhances prediction accuracy for both LVA presence and AF recurrence, while galectin-3 (Gal-3) did not show additional predictive benefits.
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Introduction: Device infections constitute a major complication of transvenous pacemakers. Mechanical heart valves (MHV) increase the risk of infective endocarditis (IE) and pacemaker infection, requiring lifelong vitamin K-antagonists (VKA), which may affect patient management. Leadless pacemakers (LP) are associated with low infection rates, posing an attractive option in MHV patients requiring permanent pacing.

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Cardiac resynchronization therapy represents a therapeutic option for heart failure drug-refractory patients. However, due to the lack of success in 30% of the cases, there is a demand for an in-depth analysis of individual heterogeneity. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the prognostic value of circulating miRNA differences.

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We present the case of a young male patient with an initial diagnosis of a rhabdomyoma that was surgically treated at a different hospital when he was 17. After a 2-year disease-free period, the patient presented another intra-cardiac mass. He refused surgical treatment and died 5 years later.

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To analyze the clinical profile and therapeutic strategy in atrial fibrillation (AF) according to gender in a contemporaneous patient cohort a prospective, multicenter observational study was performed on consecutive patients diagnosed with AF and assessed by cardiology units in the region of Galicia (Spain). A total of 1007 patients were included, of which 32.3% were women.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study examines the long-term effects of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) on patients with heart failure and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), focusing on changes in LVEF and their impact on mortality.
  • It involved 328 heart failure patients over an average follow-up of 4.2 years, observing significant improvements in LVEF and left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESV) during the first year post-CRT, with some gradual changes continuing over time.
  • The findings suggest that ongoing measurements of LVEF after CRT provide better insights into individual mortality risk than a single measurement, highlighting the importance of reverse remodeling, especially in the initial year.
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Purpose: Despite the developments in conventional transvenous pacemakers (VVI-PM), the procedure is still associated with significant complications. Although there are no prospective clinical trials that compared VVI-PM with transcatheter pacemaker systems (TPS).

Methods: This is a prospective, observational, single-center study that included all patients with an indication for a single-chamber pacemaker implant within a 4-year period.

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Aims: Adiposity plays a key role in the pathogenesis of atrial fibrillation (AF). Our aim was to study the sex differences in adipokines levels according to AF burden.

Methods And Results: Two independent cohorts of patients were studied: (i) consecutive patients with AF undergoing catheter ablation (n = 217) and (ii) a control group (n = 105).

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The modulation of acetylcholine (ACh) release by botulinum toxin injection into epicardial fat diminishes atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence. These results suggest an interaction between autonomic imbalance and epicardial fat as risk factors of AF. Our aim was to study the inflammatory, lipidic and fibroblastic profile of epicardial stroma from patients who underwent open-heart surgery, their regulation by cholinergic activity and its association with AF.

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