An active fixation quadripolar left ventricular lead for cardiac resynchronization therapy with reduced postoperative complication rates.

Background: The rate of left ventricular (LV) lead displacement after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) remains high despite improvements in lead technology. In 2017, a novel quadripolar lead with active fixation technology became available in the UK.

Methods: This was a retrospective, observational study analyzing device complications in 476 consecutive patients undergoing successful first-time implantation of a CRT device at a tertiary center from 2017 to 2020.

Sporadic late-onset nemaline myopathy: a case report of a treatable cause of cardiac failure.

Background: Sporadic late-onset nemaline myopathy (SLONM) is a rare, acquired, adult-onset myopathy, characterized by proximal muscle weakness and the pathognomonic feature of nemaline rods in muscle fibres. Sporadic late-onset nemaline myopathy is associated with cardiac pathology in case reports and small case series, but the severity of cardiac disease is generally mild and rarely requires specific treatment. This case report describes severe heart failure as an early feature of SLONM, which responded to specific treatments, and highlights SLONM as a potentially reversible cause of heart failure.

Inhaled furosemide for relief of air hunger versus sense of breathing effort: a randomized controlled trial.

Background: Inhaled furosemide offers a potentially novel treatment for dyspnoea, which may reflect modulation of pulmonary stretch receptor feedback to the brain. Specificity of relief is unclear because different neural pathways may account for different components of clinical dyspnoea. Our objective was to evaluate if inhaled furosemide relieves the air hunger component (uncomfortable urge to breathe) but not the sense of breathing work/effort of dyspnoea.

Specialist intervention is associated with improved patient outcomes in patients with decompensated heart failure: evaluation of the impact of a multidisciplinary inpatient heart failure team.

Objective: The study aimed to evaluate the impact of a multidisciplinary inpatient heart failure team (HFT) on treatment, hospital readmissions and mortality of patients with decompensated heart failure (HF).

Methods: A retrospective service evaluation was undertaken in a UK tertiary centre university hospital comparing 196 patients admitted with HF in the 6 months prior to the introduction of the HFT (pre-HFT) with all 211 patients seen by the HFT (post-HFT) during its first operational year.

Results: There were no significant differences in patient baseline characteristics between the groups.