Cardiovascular Comorbidity in Inflammatory Rheumatological Conditions.

Background: Approximately 1.5 million adults in Germany suffer from an inflammatory rheumatological condition. The most common among these are rheumatoid arthritis and spondyloarthritis-above all axial spondyloarthritis, including ankylosing spondylitis (Bekhterev's disease) and psoriatic arthritis.

The first three-dimensional visualization of a thrombus in transit trapped between the leads of a permanent dual-chamber pacemaker: a case report.

Introduction: Two-dimensional echocardiography is a useful tool in diagnosing cardiac masses. However, the three-dimensional offline reconstruction technique of transesophageal echocardiography might be superior to two-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography in providing additional information of structural details.

Case Presentation: We report the case of a 76-year-old Caucasian man with a permanent dual-chamber pacemaker and a worm-like right-heart thrombus in transit.

Comparison of right ventricular functional response to exercise in hypertrophic versus idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Although the biventricular nature of the disease has been confirmed by morphologic studies, information on right ventricular (RV) function in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HC) is lacking. The aim of the study was to hemodynamically characterize RV performance in HC versus idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC) during exercise. The hemodynamic data of 63 patients with HC who underwent hemodynamic exercise testing with thermodilution-derived assessment of RV ejection fraction were analyzed.

A prospective randomized evaluation of VV delay optimization in CRT-D recipients: echocardiographic observations from the RHYTHM II ICD study.

Background: All current cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices allow the programming of the atrioventricular (AV/PV) delays and the sequential stimulation of the ventricles via the inter ventricular (VV) delay.

Aim: This post hoc analysis of the RHYTHM II study was conducted to compare the reverse remodeling associated with VV delay optimization in patients randomly assigned to simultaneous (SIM) biventricular stimulation versus patients assigned to optimized VV delay programming (OPT) (1:3 randomization scheme).

Methods: The analysis included 14 patients assigned to the SIM group and 34 patients to the OPT group who completed the 6-month follow-up period with paired echocardiographic recordings.

Randomized comparison of simultaneous biventricular stimulation versus optimized interventricular delay in cardiac resynchronization therapy. The Resynchronization for the HemodYnamic Treatment for Heart Failure Management II implantable cardioverter defibrillator (RHYTHM II ICD) study.

Background: The clinical value of interventricular (V-V) delay optimization in patients with chronic congestive heart failure (CHF) undergoing implantation of a device for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has not been clearly demonstrated.

Methods: RHYTHM II was a single-blind randomized trial including 121 recipients of a device for CRT with cardioverter/defibrillator capabilities (CRT-D) randomly assigned in a 1:3 ratio to simultaneous (n = 30) versus optimized (OPT) (n = 91) biventricular pacing. V-V delay was optimized by echocardiography.

Prevention of atrial fibrillation after cardioversion: results of the PAFAC trial.

Aims: In patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF), the efficacy and safety of two anti-arrhythmic drugs in preventing the recurrence of AF after successful direct current (DC) cardioversion was prospectively assessed in a multi-centre double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised trial using daily trans-telephonic monitoring.

Methods And Results: 1182 patients with persistent AF were prospectively enrolled, 848 patients were successfully cardioverted and then randomised to either sotalol (383 patients), quinidine plus verapamil (377 patients) or placebo (88 patients). The primary outcome parameter was AF recurrence or death.

Is electrical stimulation during administration of catecholamines required for the evaluation of success after ablation of atrioventricular node re-entrant tachycardias?

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to answer the question of whether stimulation after administration of catecholamines is mandatory for identifying unsuccessful ablations of atrioventricular node re-entrant tachycardia (AVNRT).

Background: The success of radiofrequency (RF) catheter ablation in AVNRT is confirmed in many centers by noninducibility of tachycardias during stimulation after the administration of catecholamines.

Methods: A total of 131 patients (81 women and 50 men; mean age 53.