Heart transplantation outcomes in arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy: a contemporary national analysis.

Aims: Heart failure is an increasingly recognized later stage manifestation of arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) that can require heart transplantation (HT) to appropriately treat. We aimed to study contemporary ARVC HT outcomes in a national registry.

Methods And Results: The United Network for Organ Sharing registry was queried for HT recipients from 1/1994 through 2/2020.

Dual-Organ Transplantation in a Woman With Right Ventricular Failure Secondary to Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy.

We report a case of a woman with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) who presented with severe right-sided heart failure and cardiac cirrhosis that mandated heart-liver transplantation. This case highlights an emerging sex-based difference in ARVC where female sex is associated with a higher risk of heart failure than in male patients with ARVC. ().

Heart failure guidelines: What you need to know about the 2017 focused update.

The 2017 focused update of the 2013 ACC/AHA guideline on heart failure contains new and important recommendations on prevention, novel biomarker uses, heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF), and comorbidities such as hypertension, iron deficiency, and sleep-disordered breathing. Potential implications for management of acute decompensated heart failure will also be explored.

International Expert Consensus Document on Takotsubo Syndrome (Part I): Clinical Characteristics, Diagnostic Criteria, and Pathophysiology.

Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) is a poorly recognized heart disease that was initially regarded as a benign condition. Recently, it has been shown that TTS may be associated with severe clinical complications including death and that its prevalence is probably underestimated. Since current guidelines on TTS are lacking, it appears timely and important to provide an expert consensus statement on TTS.

International Expert Consensus Document on Takotsubo Syndrome (Part II): Diagnostic Workup, Outcome, and Management.

The clinical expert consensus statement on takotsubo syndrome (TTS) part II focuses on the diagnostic workup, outcome, and management. The recommendations are based on interpretation of the limited clinical trial data currently available and experience of international TTS experts. It summarizes the diagnostic approach, which may facilitate correct and timely diagnosis.

Usefulness of Pulse Amplitude Changes During the Valsalva Maneuver Measured Using Finger Photoplethysmography to Identify Elevated Pulmonary Capillary Wedge Pressure in Patients With Heart Failure.

The pulse amplitude ratio, the ratio of pulse pressure at the end of a Valsalva maneuver to before the onset of Valsalva, correlates with filling pressure. This study aimed to noninvasively estimate cardiac filling pressure in patients with heart failure. We developed a noninvasive handheld device to measure pulse amplitude ratio using finger photoplethysmography.

Reproductive History of Women With Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) occurs predominantly in postmenopausal women, suggesting a possible role of reproductive and hormonal factors in the pathophysiology of this condition. Yet reproductive characteristics of women with TC have received limited attention. This prospective case-control study sought to explore reproductive characteristics associated with TC.

The Sympathetic Nervous System in the Pathogenesis of Takotsubo Syndrome.

Takotsubo syndrome is a unique clinical condition of acute heart failure and reversible left ventricular dysfunction frequently precipitated by sudden emotional or physical stress. There is growing evidence that exaggerated sympathetic stimulation is central to the pathogenesis of this syndrome. Precisely how catecholamines mediate myocardial stunning in takotsubo syndrome remains incompletely understood; but possible mechanisms include epicardial spasm, microvascular dysfunction, direct adrenergic-receptor-mediated myocyte injury, and systemic vascular effects that alter ventricular-arterial coupling.

Psychiatric history, post-discharge distress, and personality characteristics among incident female cases of takotsubo cardiomyopathy: A case-control study.

Background: The role of psychological factors in the onset of takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC) is still controversial. Associations with previous psychiatric conditions are registry-based; associations with personality characteristics and psychological sequelae of TC have been largely unexplored. This case-control study sought to study pre-admission psychiatric morbidity, personality traits, and post-discharge distress in incident cases of TC.

Transcriptomic Analysis Identifies the Effect of Beta-Blocking Agents on a Molecular Pathway of Contraction in the Heart and Predicts Response to Therapy.

Over the last decades, beta-blockers have been a key component of heart failure therapy. However, currently there is no method to identify patients who will benefit from beta-blocking therapy versus those who will be unresponsive or worsen. Furthermore, there is an unmet need to better understand molecular mechanisms through which heart failure therapies, such as beta-blockers, improve cardiac function, in order to design novel targeted therapies.

Shared Genetic Predisposition in Peripartum and Dilated Cardiomyopathies.

Background Peripartum cardiomyopathy shares some clinical features with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy, a disorder caused by mutations in more than 40 genes, including TTN, which encodes the sarcomere protein titin. Methods In 172 women with peripartum cardiomyopathy, we sequenced 43 genes with variants that have been associated with dilated cardiomyopathy. We compared the prevalence of different variant types (nonsense, frameshift, and splicing) in these women with the prevalence of such variants in persons with dilated cardiomyopathy and with population controls.

Is abnormal myocardial repolarization associated with the occurrence of malignant tachyarrhythmias in Takotsubo cardiomyopathy?

Background: Abnormalities of cardiac repolarization are a hallmark of Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TC), but their association with the occurrence of syncope and ventricular tachyarrhythmias is unknown. This study sought to assess the relationship between myocardial repolarization and malignant tachyarrhythmias in TC.

Methods: Clinical data and electrocardiographic repolarization parameters of 28 patients with TC and ventricular tachyarrhythmias (n = 26) or syncope (n = 2) were compared to data from 20 randomly selected patients with TC but without ventricular tachyarrhythmias or syncope.

The variable natural history of idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Background: Determining the prognosis of patients with heart failure is essential for patient management and clinical trial conduct. The relative value of traditional prognostic criteria remains unclear and the assessment of long-term prognosis for individual patients is problematic.

Objectives: To determine the ability of clinical, hemodynamic and echocardiographic parameters to predict the long-term prognosis of patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Stress cardiomyopathy: a syndrome of catecholamine-mediated myocardial stunning?

During the past few years, a novel syndrome of heart failure and transient left ventricular systolic dysfunction precipitated by acute emotional or physical stress has been described. While patients with "stress cardiomyopathy"(SCM) typically present with signs and symptoms that resemble an acute coronary syndrome, it has become clear that this syndrome has unique clinical features that can readily be distinguished from acute infarction.In particular, in contrast to the irreversible myocardial injury seen with infarction, the myocardial dysfunction of SCM is completely reversible and occurs in the absence of plaque rupture and coronary thrombosis.

Myocardial recovery in peripartum cardiomyopathy: prospective comparison with recent onset cardiomyopathy in men and nonperipartum women.

Background: Whether myocardial recovery occurs more frequently in peripartum cardiomyopathy (PPCM) than in recent onset cardiomyopathies in men and nonperipartum women has not been prospectively evaluated. This was examined through an analysis of outcomes in the Intervention in Myocarditis and Acute Cardiomyopathy 2 (IMAC2) registry.

Methods And Results: IMAC2 enrolled 373 subjects with recent onset nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Capnocytophagia canimorsus sepsis in an asplenic heart transplant candidate with a left ventricular assist system.

Fulminant septic shock associated with Capnocytophagia canimorsus bacteremia developed in a 54-year-old asplenic man, a heart transplantation candidate who was supported with a HeartMate II left ventricular assist system, after he experienced a dog bite. He improved after administration of broad-spectrum antibiotics, which were narrowed to ampicillin/sulbactam for a prolonged 6-week course, and subsequently recovered fully.