Circulating growth differentiation factor-15 levels are associated with early echocardiographic signs of diastolic function impairment in the STANISLAS cohort: A 20-year follow-up study.

Aims: Early identification of healthy subjects prone to develop cardiac dysfunction may be instrumental to prevention strategies. Our study aimed to evaluate whether circulating levels of growth differentiation factor-15 (GDF-15) could predict adverse changes in echocardiographic indexes of cardiac structure and function in an initially healthy populational familial cohort with a long follow-up (STANISLAS cohort).

Methods And Results: We evaluated 1679 participants (49 ± 14 years, 48% males) included in the fourth visit (V4) of the STANISLAS cohort with available GDF-15 measurements (Olink proteomic analysis) and echocardiographic parameters.

A series of cases of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy with negative bone scintigraphy but a confirmed positive endomyocardial biopsy.

Background: Bone scintigraphy (BS) is established as an accurate, non-invasive method for the diagnosis of transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM). In a real-life setting, however, some patients with no cardiac uptake on BS turn out to have cardiac-biopsy-confirmed ATTR-CM. We retrospectively included all patients diagnosed at the French Referral Center for ATTR-CM and who had data for BS and a cardiac biopsy.

Echocardiographic assessment of right ventricular function and right ventriculoarterial coupling in tricuspid regurgitation.

Echocardiographic evaluation of the cardiopulmonary unit is difficult in case of tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and combined echocardiographic parameters could be useful. This study aimed to assess the variation of simple and combined echocardiographic parameters analysing the cardiopulmonary unit according to the severity of TR. TR was graded according to Hahn's classification in 179 patients.

Advanced myocardial deformation echocardiography for evaluation of the athlete's heart: Functional and mechanistic analysis.

Background: Assessment of the athlete's heart is challenging because of a phenotypic overlap between reactive physiological adaptation and pathological remodelling. The potential value of myocardial deformation remains controversial in identifying early cardiomyopathy.

Aim: To identify the echocardiographic phenotype of athletes using advanced two-dimensional speckle tracking imaging, and to define predictive factors of subtle left ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Factors Associated with Myocardial Uptake on Oncologic Somatostatin PET Investigations and Differentiation from Myocardial Uptake of Acute Myocarditis.

Myocardial somatostatin PET uptake is observed not only in most patients with acute myocarditis (AM) but also in some oncology patients referred for routine somatostatin PET. This raises concerns about the specificity of somatostatin PET for detecting myocarditis. The current study aims to identify factors associated with the detection of myocardial uptake on somatostatin PET scans recorded for oncology indications and differential PET criteria that characterize myocardial uptake in AM patients.

Proteomic profiles of left atrial volume and its influence on response to spironolactone: Findings from the HOMAGE trial and STANISLAS cohort.

Aims: High left ventricular filling pressure increases left atrial volume and causes myocardial fibrosis, which may decrease with spironolactone. We studied clinical and proteomic characteristics associated with left atrial volume indexed by body surface area (LAVi), and whether LAVi influences the response to spironolactone on biomarker expression and clinical variables.

Methods And Results: In the HOMAGE trial, where people at risk of heart failure were randomized to spironolactone or control, we analysed 421 participants with available LAVi and 276 proteomic measurements (Olink) at baseline, month 1 and 9 (mean age 73 ± 6 years; women 26%; LAVi 32 ± 9 ml/m).

Long-term changes in cardiac remodelling in prevalent kidney graft recipients.

Background: Approximately 15% of kidney transplant (KT) recipients develop de novo heart failure after KT. There are scarce data reporting the long-term changes in cardiac structure and function among KT recipients. Despite the improvement in renal function, transplant-related complications as well as immunosuppressive therapy could have an impact on cardiac remodelling during follow-up.

Multicentre medicoeconomic evaluation of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging for predicting coronary artery disease in left ventricular dysfunction: The CAMAREC study design.

Background: Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging may provide a non-invasive alternative to coronary angiography for differentiating between ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy in cases of unexplained reduced left ventricular ejection fraction.

Aim: The CAMAREC study aims to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of cardiac magnetic resonance imaging in predicting significant coronary artery disease in patients with reduced left ventricular ejection fraction, using coronary angiography as the gold standard for comparison.

Methods: CAMAREC is a prospective cohort study of 406 patients in 10 centres with newly diagnosed, unexplained left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 45%.

Role of aldosterone in mid- and long-term left ventricular remodelling after acute myocardial infarction: The REMI study.

Aims: Whether aldosterone levels after myocardial infarction (MI) are associated with mid- and long-term left ventricular (LV) remodelling in the era of systematic use of renin-angiotensin system inhibitors is uncertain. We prospectively investigated the relationship between aldosterone levels and mid- and long-term LV remodelling in patients with acute MI.

Methods And Results: Plasma aldosterone was measured in 119 patients successfully treated by primary percutaneous coronary angioplasty for a first acute ST-elevation MI (STEMI) 2-4 days after the acute event.

Real world experience of therapeutic monitoring of medically treated prosthetic valve infective endocarditis by F-FDG-PET/CT.

Introduction: F-FDG-PET/CT is recommended to improve the diagnosis of prosthetic valve infective endocarditis (PVIE) and is a major criterion in the ESC-2015 classification. However, there is little evidence for its usefulness in the follow-up of medically treated PVIE patients.

Methods: A monocentric retrospective analysis of patients hospitalized for PVIE between January 2013 and December 2019 who were not treated with surgery and who had at least two F-FDG-PET/CT examinations during their medical management.

Cardiac device-related infective endocarditis need for lead extraction whatever the device according to the ESC EORP EURO-ENDO registry.

Aims: Cardiac device-related infective endocarditis (CDRIE) is a severe complication of cardiac device (CD) implantation and is usually treated by antibiotic therapy and percutaneous device extraction. Few studies report the management and prognosis of CDRIE in real life. In particular, the rate of device extraction in clinical practice and the management of patients with left heart infective endocarditis (LHIE) and an apparently non-infected CD (LHIE+CDRIE-) are not well described.

Layer myocardial strain is the most heritable echocardiographic trait.

Aims: Myocardial deformation assessed by strain analysis represents a significant advancement in our assessment of cardiac mechanics. However, whether this variable is genetically heritable or whether all/most of its variability is related to environmental factors is currently unknown. We sought to determine the heritability of echocardiographically determined cardiac mechanics indices in a population setting.

Machine Learning-Based Phenogrouping in MVP Identifies Profiles Associated With Myocardial Fibrosis and Cardiovascular Events.

Background: Structural changes and myocardial fibrosis quantification by cardiac imaging have become increasingly important to predict cardiovascular events in patients with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). In this setting, it is likely that an unsupervised approach using machine learning may improve their risk assessment.

Objectives: This study used machine learning to improve the risk assessment of patients with MVP by identifying echocardiographic phenotypes and their respective association with myocardial fibrosis and prognosis.

Ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) in a population-based cohort of middle-aged individuals: The STANISLAS cohort.

Background And Aims: Data exploring normal values of different ventricular-arterial coupling (VAC) parameters and their association with anthropometric and cardiovascular (CV) factors are scarce. We aim to report values of two different methods of VAC assessment according to age and sex and explore their association with CV factors within a large population-based cohort of middle-aged individuals.

Methods: For 1333 (mean age 48 ± 14) individuals participating in the 4th visit of the STANISLAS cohort, VAC was assessed by two methods [1]: arterial elastance (E)/end-systolic elastance (E) and [2] Pulse wave velocity (PWV)/Global longitudinal strain (GLS).

Factors associated with changes in echocardiographic parameters following kidney transplantation.

Background: Chronic kidney disease leads to cardiac remodelling of multifactorial origin known as "uraemic cardiomyopathy", the reversibility of which after kidney transplantation (KT) remains controversial. Our objectives were to assess, in the modern era, changes in echocardiographic parameters following KT and identify predictive clinical and biological factors associated with echocardiographic changes.

Methods: One hundred six patients (mean age 48 ± 16, 73% male) who underwent KT at the University Hospital of Nancy between 2007 and 2018 were retrospectively investigated.

A machine learning-derived echocardiographic algorithm identifies people at risk of heart failure with distinct cardiac structure, function, and response to spironolactone: Findings from the HOMAGE trial.

Aim: An echocardiographic algorithm derived by machine learning (e'VM) characterizes pre-clinical individuals with different cardiac structure and function, biomarkers, and long-term risk of heart failure (HF). Our aim was the external validation of the e'VM algorithm and to explore whether it may identify subgroups who benefit from spironolactone.

Methods And Results: The HOMAGE (Heart OMics in AGEing) trial enrolled participants at high risk of developing HF randomly assigned to spironolactone or placebo over 9 months.

Genetics and pathophysiology of mitral valve prolapse.

Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is a common condition affecting 2-3% of the general population, and the most complex form of valve pathology, with a complication rate up to 10-15% per year in advanced stages. Complications include mitral regurgitation which can lead to heart failure and atrial fibrillation, but also life-threatening ventricular arrhythmia and cardiovascular death. Sudden death has been recently brought to the forefront of MVP disease, increasing the complexity of management and suggesting that MVP condition is not properly understood.

The Prescription Pattern of Heart Failure Medications in Reduced, Mildly Reduced, and Preserved Ejection Fractions.

A substantial proportion of patients with heart failure (HF) receive suboptimal guideline-recommended therapy. We aimed to identify the factors leading to suboptimal drug prescription in HF and according to HF phenotypes. This retrospective, single-centre observational cohort study included 702 patients admitted for worsening HF (HF with a reduced ejection fraction [HFrEF], n = 198; HF with a mildly reduced EF [HFmrEF], n = 122; and HF with a preserved EF [HFpEF], n = 382).

Relationship between ectopic calcifications and bone fragility depicted on computed tomography scan in 70 patients with systemic sclerosis.

Background: A higher risk of osteoporotic fracture was described in systemic sclerosis patients than in healthy patients.

Objective: To evaluate the relation between osteoporotic fracture risk measured by the scanographic bone attenuation coefficient of the first lumbar vertebra (SBAC-L1) on computed tomography (CT) scan and the presence of ectopic calcifications: vascular, valvular and spinal.

Methods: This monocentric retrospective study was performed on patients followed between 2000 and 2014 at Nancy University Hospital.

Detection of acute myocarditis by ECG-triggered PET imaging of somatostatin receptors compared to cardiac magnetic resonance: preliminary results.

Unlabelled: Somatostatin receptors are overexpressed by inflammatory cells but not by cardiac cells, under normal conditions. This study assesses the detection of acute myocarditis by the ECG-triggered digital-PET imaging of somatostatin receptors (Ga-DOTATOC-PET), as compared to Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (CMR) imaging, which is the reference diagnostic method in this setting.

Methods: Fourteen CMR-defined acute myocarditis patients had a first 15-minutes ECG-triggered Ga-DOTATOC PET recording, 4.

Validation of the MEDIA echo score for the prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

There is currently no widely used prognostic score in heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). The MEDIA echo score, including four variables (pulmonary arterial systolic pressure > 40 mmHg, inferior vena cava collapsibility index < 50%, average E/e' > 9, and lateral mitral annular s' < 7 cm/s), has been proposed as a useful risk stratification tool. This study aimed at further validating the MEDIA echo score in both hospitalised and ambulatory HFpEF patients.