Coronary Artery Calcium Evaluation Using New Generation Photon-counting Computed Tomography Yields Lower Radiation Dose Compared With Standard Computed Tomography.

Prospective head-to-head comparison of coronary calcium scores between standard computed tomography (CT) and photon-counting CT show no significant differences, while photon-counting CT administers substantially lower radiation dose.

Circulating neuregulin1-β in heart failure with preserved and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction.

Aims: Neuregulin1-β (NRG1-β) is released from microvascular endothelial cells in response to inflammation with compensatory cardioprotective effects. Circulating NRG1-β is elevated in heart failure (HF) with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) but not studied in HF with preserved EF (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: Circulating NRG1-β was quantified in 86 stable patients with HFpEF (EF ≥45% and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide >300 ng/L), in 86 patients with HFrEF prior to and after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and/or heart transplantation (HTx) and in 21 healthy controls.

Prognostic impact of Framingham heart failure criteria in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction.

Aims: This study aims to assess prognostic impact of Framingham criteria for heart failure (FC-HF) in patients with stable heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).

Methods And Results: In the prospective Karolinska-Rennes (KaRen) study, we assessed stable HFpEF patients after an acute HF episode. We evaluated associations between the four descriptive models of HFpEF and the composite endpoint of all-cause mortality and HF hospitalization.

Precision Medicine for Cardiac Resynchronization: Predicting Quality of Life Benefits for Individual Patients-An Analysis From 5 Clinical Trials.

Background: Clinical trials have established the average benefit of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), but estimating benefit for individual patients remains difficult because of the heterogeneity in treatment response. Accordingly, we created a multivariable model to predict changes in quality of life (QoL) with and without CRT.

Methods And Results: Patient-level data from 5 randomized trials comparing CRT with no CRT were used to create a prediction model of change in QoL at 3 months using a partial proportional odds model for no change, small, moderate, and large improvement, or deterioration of any magnitude.

Inflammatory Biomarkers Predict Heart Failure Severity and Prognosis in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction: A Holistic Proteomic Approach.

Background: Underlying mechanisms in heart failure (HF) with preserved ejection fraction remain unknown. We investigated cardiovascular plasma biomarkers in HF with preserved ejection fraction and their correlation to diastolic dysfunction, functional class, pathophysiological processes, and prognosis.

Methods And Results: In 86 stable patients with HF and EF ≥45% in the Karolinska Rennes (KaRen) biomarker substudy, biomarkers were quantified by a multiplex immunoassay.

Effects of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy on Cardiac Remodeling and Contractile Function: Results From Resynchronization Reverses Remodeling in Systolic Left Ventricular Dysfunction (REVERSE).

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy results in improved ejection fraction in patients with heart failure. We sought to determine whether these effects were mediated by changes in contractility, afterload, or volumes.

Methods And Results: In 610 patients with New York Heart Association class I/II heart failure from the Resynchronization Reverses Remodeling in Systolic Left Ventricular Dysfunction (REVERSE) study, we performed detailed quantitative echocardiography assessment prior to and following cardiac resynchronization therapy.