Sex-related differences in left ventricular assist device utilization and outcomes: results from the PCHF-VAD registry.

Aims: Data on sex and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) utilization and outcomes have been conflicting and mostly confined to US studies incorporating older devices. This study aimed to investigate sex-related differences in LVAD utilization and outcomes in a contemporary European LVAD cohort.

Methods And Results: This analysis is part of the multicentre PCHF-VAD registry studying continuous-flow LVAD patients.

Lower Platelet Count Following Rabbit Antithymocyte Globulin Induction Is Associated With Less Acute Cellular Rejection in Heart Transplant Recipients.

Background: Unlike lymphodepletion, a decrease in platelet count following induction immunosuppressive therapy with polyclonal rabbit antithymocyte globulin (rATG) is deemed as an adverse event. However, this phenomenon may represent a particular rATG antirejection mechanism.

Methods: This retrospective single-center study included 156 patients who received a heart transplant (HTx) between 2010 and 2018.

Manual Intracardiac Electrogram Method Is Accurate Alternative to Echocardiography for Atrioventricular and Interventricular Optimization in Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy.

Some manufacturers do not provide automated intracardiac electrogram method (IEGM) systems for atrioventricular (AV) and interventricular (VV) delay optimization in cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We aimed to evaluate the accuracy of manual IEGM method in 48 patients previously implanted with Medtronic Syncra CRT. All patients underwent standard device interrogation followed by CRT optimization by IEGM method and by echocardiography one month after implantation.

Type a Personality, Stress, Anxiety and Health Locus of Control in Patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction.

Background: The aim of this study was to define the level of patient exposure to stress in the previous 5 years before acute myocardial infarction (AMI), personality type A assessment, ways of coping with stressful situations, health locus of control and the grade of anxiety (as state and personality trait).

Subjects And Methods: 118 patients who were consecutively hospitalized during 8 months in our Coronary care unit due to AMI, took part in the study. As controls we examined 103 healthy male volunteers (mean age 60.

Urgent Heart Retransplant in an Adult Patient With Anthracycline-Induced Cardiomyopathy After Diffuse Large B-Cell Lymphoma - Case Report.

Heart retransplant is a treatment option for some patients with graft failure. With heart donor short-age, it is important to assess candidates carefully for cardiac retransplant. An adult patient had a successful urgent heart retransplant due to severe toxic cardiomyopathy (anthracycline-induced) after posttransplant lymphoproliferative disease that was a diffuse large B-cell lymphoma.

Cardiac allograft vasculopathy: diagnosis, therapy, and prognosis.

Development of cardiac allograft vasculopathy represents the major determinant of long-term survival in patients after heart transplantation. Due to graft denervation, these patients seldom present with classic symptoms of angina pectoris, and the first clinical presentations are progressive heart failure or sudden cardiac death. Although coronary angiography remains the routine technique for coronary artery disease detection, it is not sensitive enough for screening purposes.

Pretransplant and perioperative predictors of early heart transplantation outcomes.

Aim. To identify predictors of 3-month mortality after heart transplantation in a Croatian academic center. Methods.