Publications by authors named "Itziar Gomez"
Background: Patients with aortic stenosis may continue to have an increased risk of heart failure, arrhythmias, and death after successful transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Renin-angiotensin system inhibitors may be beneficial in this setting. We aimed to explore whether ramipril improves the outcomes of patients with aortic stenosis after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Coronary artery calcification (CorCa) identifies high cardiovascular risk in the general population. In this setting, aortic valve calcification (AoCa) showed contradictory results. Our goal has been to assess the prognostic power of CorCa and AoCa in patients with chest pain who underwent an ECG-gated cardiac multidetector CT (cardiac-MDCT).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFStudies focused on the clinical profile of native valve endocarditis are scarce and outdated. In addition, none of them analyzed differences depending on the causative microorganism. Our objectives are to describe the clinical profile at admission of patients with left-sided native valve infective endocarditis in a contemporary wide series of patients and to compare them among the most frequent etiologies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe "3 noes right-sided infective endocarditis" (3no-RSIE: no left-sided, no drug users, no cardiac devices) was first described more than a decade ago. We describe the largest series to date to characterize its clinical, microbiological, echocardiographic and prognostic profile. Eight tertiary centers with surgical facilities participated in the study.
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- The study examines the accuracy of measuring vegetation size in patients with left-sided infective endocarditis, questioning its role in surgical decisions.
- Two echocardiographers measured vegetation size independently, revealing significant variability in their measurements, indicated by a moderate interobserver correlation coefficient.
- Findings suggest that the current guidelines on surgical criteria based on vegetation size may need to be reevaluated, as discrepancies in measurements could alter surgical recommendations for nearly half of the patients studied.
Article Synopsis
- A study evaluated the long-term effects (5 years) of complete bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) resorption on both structural healing and blood vessel function in patients who received the ABSORB-BVS treatment.* -
- The research included 31 patients, showing that while the scaffolds completely dissolved, there were concerning vasomotor responses, such as vasoconstriction after acetylcholine and lack of response to nitroglycerine in the treated blood vessels.* -
- New coronary lesions developed in some patients, indicating potential complications, and while the scaffolds were gone, the expected restoration of healthy blood vessel function was not fully achieved.*
Introduction And Objectives: Transthyretin cardiac amyloidosis (ATTR-CA) patients often have atrial fibrillation and increased bleeding/thrombogenic risks. We aimed to evaluate outcomes of left atrial appendage closure (LAAC) compared with patients without a known diagnosis of CA.
Methods: Comparison at long-term of patients diagnosed with ATTR-CA who underwent LAAC between 2009 and 2020 and those without a known diagnosis of CA.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigated the effects of long-term use of RAAS inhibitors on hypertensive patients hospitalized with COVID-19, finding that nearly 74% of these patients were using such medications prior to hospitalization.
- Results showed that hypertensive patients had a higher mortality rate; however, those on RAAS inhibitors had a lower risk of death, and the use of these medications appeared to provide a protective benefit.
- The overall conclusion is that RAAS inhibitors may be beneficial for hypertensive COVID-19 patients, and continued use during hospitalization likely does not worsen outcomes, supported by a separate meta-analysis.
The analysis of cell motion in an acoustic field is of interest as it can lead to new methods of cell separation, isolation and manipulation for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Studies of the motion of different species of Leishmania parasites during exposure to ultrasonic standing waves in a microfluidic device allowed identification of acoustic responses of these parasites in their promastigote and amastigote forms. Both forms exhibited a positive acoustic contrast factor and were driven toward the pressure node established in the center of the channel by the acoustically induced radiation force (F).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Guidelines recommend surgery for left-sided infective endocarditis (LSIE) that is associated with large vegetations. Given that most patients who undergo surgery also have other indications (heart failure and/or uncontrolled infection), it is not settled whether surgery should be routinely recommended in patients with large vegetations but no other predictors of poor outcome.
Methods: A total of 726 patients with definitive LSIE were included in our analysis.
Article Synopsis
- A study was conducted to compare the complications of using peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) and tunneled central catheters (Hickman) in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH) receiving continuous epoprostenol treatment over a period from January 2010 to July 2020.
- The research involved 109 patients and analyzed 175 catheter placements, finding no significant difference in infection rates between PICC and Hickman catheters, but PICC catheters had a notably higher rate of mechanical complications such as catheter occlusion and venous thrombosis.
- Despite the mechanical complications leading to more hospitalizations for patients with PICC, there was no significant
Introduction And Objective: the SARS-CoV-2 infection ranges from asymptomatic to critical forms and several prognostic factors have been described. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in acute situations where it is linked with more complications and mortality. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic information of AF in this population.
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- * Out of 849 patients, nearly half were hypertensive; those on RAAS inhibitors before and during hospitalization had lower mortality rates than those not on these medications.
- * The analysis suggests that RAAS inhibitors may provide protective benefits for hypertensive COVID-19 patients, indicating that continuing these medications during treatment may not worsen outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- - The study evaluated the impact of heart disease (HD) and cardiovascular medications on COVID-19 hospitalized patients, revealing that those with HD had higher mortality rates compared to those without (35.4% vs. 18.2%).
- - Among 859 patients, diabetes was particularly linked to increased risk of death, while common cardiovascular medications did not worsen patient outcomes; however, statins were associated with lower mortality rates.
- - The occurrence of cardiovascular events during hospitalization was linked to worse overall outcomes, with a mortality rate of 31.8% in patients who experienced such events compared to 19.3% in those who did not.
Article Synopsis
- The study investigates the link between atrial fibrillation (AF) and outcomes in patients hospitalized due to SARS-CoV-2 infection, finding that 10% of patients developed AF.
- Patients with AF were older, had more pre-existing health issues, and faced a higher risk of acute respiratory failure and in-hospital mortality compared to those without AF.
- However, while AF is associated with higher mortality rates, it is not considered an independent predictor of in-hospital mortality; other factors like age and kidney function play a more significant role.
Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) via transaxillary (TAx) approach with ACURATE neo valve is an off-label procedure. Our aim was to gather information on ACURATE neo cases implanted via TAx approach and report major outcomes.
Methods And Results: The TRANSAX Study (NCT04274751) retrospectively gathered patients from nine centres in Europe and North America treated with ACURATE neo valve through TAx approach up to May/2019.
Article Synopsis
- * A study reviewed 11 prior studies, comparing outcomes between ASO and FSO in nearly 1,800 patients, noting similar success rates and peri-procedural complications but finding that FSO procedures were quicker and involved less radiation exposure.
- * The study concluded that both devices are effective for ASD closure, with FSO linked to shorter procedures and fewer arrhythmias compared to ASO, while serious long-term complications were rare.
Introduction: Despite of the wide evidence of use fractional flow reserve (FFR), isolated angiography evaluation is still the main tool to indicate percutaneous coronary intervention. Quantitative flow ratio (QFR) is a new functional index to assess functional significance. Recently, few studies have showed the capacity of QFR to predict significance stenosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPredictive model of in-hospital mortality in left-sided infective endocarditis.
Rev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed)
November 2020
Introduction And Objectives: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a complex disease with high in-hospital mortality. Prognostic assessment is essential to select the most appropriate therapeutic approach; however, international IE guidelines do not provide objective assessment of the individual risk in each patient. We aimed to design a predictive model of in-hospital mortality in left-sided IE combining the prognostic variables proposed by the European guidelines.
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- * Several studies show that transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) benefits patients with aortic stenosis, but persistent fibrosis and myocardial hypertrophy can lead to worse outcomes.
- * This study aimed to investigate the effects of renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitors on heart remodeling and clinical outcomes after TAVR in patients with severe aortic stenosis.
- * The results demonstrated that RAS inhibitor treatment was linked to reduced left ventricular hypertrophy, lower cardiovascular mortality at three years, and fewer incidents of new atrial fibrillation and cerebrovascular events.
Background: The culture of removed cardiac tissues during cardiac surgery of left-sided infective endocarditis (LSIE) helps to guide antibiotic treatment. Nevertheless, the prognostic information of a positive valve culture has never been explored.
Methods: Among 1078 cases of LSIE consecutively diagnosed in 3 tertiary centers, we selected patients with positive blood cultures who underwent surgery during the active period of infection and in whom surgical biological tissues were cultured (n = 429).
Introduction And Objectives: There is current controversy regarding the benefits of percutaneous recanalization (PCI) of chronic total coronary occlusions (CTO). Our aim was to determine acute and follow-up outcomes in our setting.
Methods: Two-year prospective registry of consecutive patients undergoing PCI of CTO in 24 centers.