Prognosis in Hispanic patient population with pulmonary arterial hypertension: An application of common risk stratification models.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a cardiovascular disease with high mortality rate. Current guidelines propose initiation and escalation of PAH-targeted treatment based on a goal-directed approach targeting hemodynamic, functional, and biochemical variables. This approach has been successfully validated in large Caucasian cohorts.

Risk Factors for 30-day Hospital Readmissions After Peripheral Vascular Interventions in Peripheral Artery Disease Patients at the US-Mexico Border.

Peripheral artery disease (PAD) is associated with high rates of readmission following endovascular interventions and contributes to a significant hospital readmission burden. Quality metrics like hospital readmissions affect hospital performance, but must adjust to local trends. Our primary goal was to evaluate risk factors and readmission rates post-percutaneous peripheral intervention in a US-Mexico border city, at a single tertiary university hospital.

Cardiac Manifestations of Post-Acute COVID-19 Infection.

Purpose Of Review: There is emerging evidence that the post-acute and chronic phases of COVID-19 infection are associated with various significant cardiovascular sequelae.

Recent Findings: Long COVID has been shown to be associated with multiple cardiovascular sequelae including direct myocardial injury, arrhythmias, and cardiomyopathies. Hypotheses on the mechanism of myocardial injury include direct viral infiltration and autoimmune dysregulation.

Coronavirus disease 2019 and the cardiologist.

Purpose Of Review: There continues to be extensive clinical and epidemiological data to suggest that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection is associated with numerous different types of cardiac involvement.

Recent Findings: Myocardial injury has been reported in over 25% of patients hospitalized due to COVID-19 infection and is not only associated with a worse prognosis but with higher mortality, approaching 40%. Currently proposed mechanisms of myocardial injury include direct viral infection, cytokine storm, endothelial inflammation, demand ischemia, interferon-mediated response and stress cardiomyopathy.

Long-term efficacy and safety profiles of iris-fixated foldable anterior chamber phakic intraocular lens implantation in eyes with more than 10 years of follow-up.

Purpose: To evaluate the long-term efficacy, safety, predictability, and stability of a foldable anterior chamber phakic intraocular lens (pIOL) (Artiflex) implantation in eyes with more than 10 years of follow-up.

Setting: Instituto de Microcirugía Ocular, Barcelona, Spain.

Design: Retrospective study.

Long-term efficacy and safety profiles following small incision lenticule extraction in eyes with ≥ 5-year follow-up.

Purpose: To evaluate long-term efficacy, safety, predictability and stability (refractive and keratometric) of myopic and myopic astigmatism correction with Small Incision Lenticule Extraction (SMILE).

Methods: Single center retrospective review of eyes undergoing SMILE from 2012-2015. Forty-two eyes (23 patients) with ≥ 5-year follow-up.

Contemporary Review of Risk Scores in Prediction of Coronary and Cardiovascular Deaths.

Purpose Of Review: Explore the current literature supporting risk stratification scores for prediction of coronary and cardiovascular disease deaths.

Recent Findings: Accurate risk prediction remains the foundation of management choice in primary prevention. When applied to new populations, the calibration of a predictive model will deteriorate, although discrimination changes minimally.

Long-term efficacy and safety profiles after posterior chamber phakic intraocular lens implantation in eyes with more than 10 years of follow-up.

Purpose: To evaluate long-term efficacy, safety, predictability, and stability of a posterior chamber phakic intraocular lens (Visian implantable collamer lens [ICL]) in eyes with ≥10 years of follow-up.

Setting: Instituto de Microcirugía Ocular, Barcelona, Spain.

Design: Retrospective study.

Management of left ventricular thrombus: a narrative review.

Left ventricular thrombus (LVT) is a serious complication of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and also non-ischemic cardiomyopathies. We performed a narrative literature review, manual-search of reference lists of included articles and relevant reviews. Our literature review indicates that the incidence of LVT following acute MI has decreased, probably due to improvement in patient care as a result of better and earlier reperfusion techniques.

Narrative review of pharmacotherapy for transthyretin cardiac amyloid.

Treatment of cardiac amyloidosis is determined by the amyloid type and degree of involvement. Two types of amyloid commonly infiltrate the heart: immunoglobulin light-chain amyloid (AL), and transthyretin amyloid (ATTR), that encompasses other two forms, a hereditary form (hATTR), and a sporadic, age-related wild-type (wtATTR). The prevalence is expected to increase with aging population.

Narrative review in the current role of angiotensin receptor-neprilysin inhibitors.

Heart failure (HF) accounts for a tremendous burden on health care systems and the society. Since the landmark PARADIGM-HF trial, sacubitril/valsartan, the first in the class of angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) showed superiority to enalapril in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We performed a narrative literature review, hand-searched the reference lists of included articles and relevant reviews.

Persistent mitral regurgitation after left ventricular assist device: a clinical conundrum.

Aims: Persistent mitral valve regurgitation (MR) after continuous flow left ventricular assist device implantation (cfLVAD) is associated with pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular failure with variable effects on survival across published studies. The aim of this study is to determine the incidence and predictors of persistent MR at 6-month follow-up after cfLVAD implantation and its impact on survival, haemodynamics, right ventricular function, and morbidity.

Methods And Results: We performed a retrospective review of all adult cfLVAD recipients from January 2012 to June 2017 at a single tertiary university hospital with follow-up until April 2019.

Antithrombotic / Antiplatelet Therapy in Patients with Stable Coronary Artery Disease and After Acute Coronary Syndrome.

The major physiopathological mechanism underlying Acute Coronary Syndromes (ACS) is atherosclerotic plaque rupture with resultant coronary thrombosis, posing a big burden in health care systems. Dual anti-platelet therapy (DAPT) can improve CV outcome with a prolonged regimen, albeit at the cost of increased bleeding rates. We performed a narrative literature review on the topic, in which we explored databases through April 15th, 2020, with no restrictions on language.

Gamut of cardiac manifestations and complications of COVID-19: a contemporary review.

COVID-19 has posed an extraordinary burden on health and the economy worldwide. Patients with cardiovascular diseases are more likely to have severe illness due to COVID-19 and are at increased risk for complications and mortality. We performed a narrative literature review to assess the burden of COVID-19 and cardiovascular morbidity and mortality.

Clinical characteristics and outcomes of patients requiring prolonged inotropes after left ventricular assist device implantation.

Limited data exist regarding patients with continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (LVAD) support who require long-term inotropes. Our primary objective was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and all-cause mortality of LVAD recipients with prolonged inotrope use (PIU). Secondary endpoints were to compare predictors of PIU, mortality, risk of late re-initiation of inotropes, time to gastrointestinal bleed (GIB), infection, and arrhythmias.

Supplemental Vitamins and Minerals for Cardiovascular Disease Prevention and Treatment.

Purpose Of Review: The objective of this study is to explore the current literature supporting the use oral multivitamins and multi/minerals (OMVMs) for cardiovascular diseases (CVD) treatment and prevention.

Recent Findings: Data on multivitamins, vitamin C and D, coenzyme Q, calcium, and selenium, has showed no consistent benefit for the prevention of CVD, myocardial infarction, or stroke, nor was there a benefit for all-cause mortality to support their routine supplementation. Folic acid alone and B vitamins with folic acid, B and B, reduce stroke, whereas niacin and antioxidants are associated with an increased risk of all-cause mortality.

Dairy Intake and Risk of Cardiovascular Disease.

Purpose Of Review: Due to inconsistent findings on dairy consumption and CVD and all-cause mortality, we performed a narrative literature review to the current literature on dairy and its association with CVD.

Recent Findings: Due to their complex biochemistry, dairy consumption is a rather heterogeneous exposure. Multiple pathways have been proposed from dairy consumption and CVD.

Beta-Blockers, Calcium Channel Blockers, and Mortality in Stable Coronary Artery Disease.

Purpose Of Review: To examine the current clinical evidence behind the use of calcium channel blockers (CCB) and beta-blockers (BB) for the treatment of patients with stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) and their effect on mortality.

Recent Findings: Current evidence suggests that BB use as a first line antianginal medication is associated with lower 5-year all-cause mortality only in patients who had MI within a year. This could be driven due to their effects reducing the sympathetic neuro-hormonal activation of more acutely ill patients.

Management of Angina Post Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Purpose Of Review: Our review discusses the management of post percutaneous coronary intervention angina (PPCIA) which negatively impacts 20-40% of patients and imposes a high burden on the healthcare system.

Recent Findings: Mechanisms of PPCIA include microvascular dysfunction, distal coronary vasospasm or disease, microembolization, myocardial bridge, coronary artery disease (CAD) progression, and rarely stent thrombosis or in-stent restenosis. Nitrates, beta blockers (BB), calcium channel blockers, and ranolazine are the common medical management options.