Publications by authors named "Kenya Kusunose"
Rationale: Although the mortality of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has decreased after the emergence of the Omicron variant, it remains high in patients on hemodialysis (HD). Remdesivir (RDV) is considered as the first line drug for hospitalized COVID-19 patients, however the evidence regarding the usage in HD patients is lacking because clinical trials of RDV have excluded HD patients for safety reasons. Thus, accumulation of knowledge on the regimen, efficacy, and tolerability of RDV in HD patients is important.
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- * The study involved 323 HCM patients who had both echocardiography and MRI; it utilized deep learning techniques to analyze echocardiographic images to predict LGE presence more efficiently.
- * A discriminant model combining a reference set of clinical parameters with deep learning predictions outperformed the traditional reference model, showing better accuracy in identifying patients with positive LGE during testing.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers analyzed X-posting rates and journal viewership data from April 2022 to September 2023, noting a significant increase in both after protocol changes made in March 2023.
- * The findings suggested that adopting the new X-posting strategy led to more article views, indicating a positive impact on viewer access.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to assess the effects of starting sacubitril/valsartan (Sac/Val) therapy during hospitalization for acute heart failure (AHF) on NT-proBNP levels in Japanese patients.
- It involved a randomized trial with 400 patients, comparing those who switched to Sac/Val versus those who continued standard therapy, measuring changes in NT-proBNP at 4 and 8 weeks.
- Results showed that the Sac/Val group experienced significantly greater reductions in NT-proBNP levels, particularly in patients with lower left ventricular ejection fractions, with no significant safety concerns noted.
Background: Recent studies have demonstrated an association between pulse wave velocity (PWV), cerebral small vessel disease (SVD), and cognitive impairment such as Alzheimer's disease. However, the association between brachial-ankle PWV and enlarged perivascular spaces (EPVS), one component of cerebral SVD remains controversial.
Objective: To investigate the relationship between brachial-ankle PWV and EPVS severity in participants without dementia.
ApoA-I amyloidosis is an extremely rare form of systemic amyloidosis that commonly involves the heart, kidneys, and liver. ApoA-I amyloidosis is caused by amyloidogenic variants of APOA1 that are inherited in an autosomal dominant manner. Here, we report a 69-year-old man with sporadic cardiac amyloidosis who was born to consanguineous parents and carried a homozygous variant of p.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArtificial intelligence (AI) has shown transformative potential in various medical fields, including diagnostic imaging. Recent advances in AI-driven technologies have opened new avenues for improving echocardiographic practices. AI algorithms enhance the image quality, automate measurements, and assist in the diagnosis of cardiovascular diseases.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFTranscatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) offers a solution, especially for high-risk aortic stenosis (AS) patients. However, patient outcomes post-TAVR show variability, highlighting the need for reliable prognostic indicators. Brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), a measure of arterial stiffness, may predict outcomes post-TAVR.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFNeurofibromatosis type 1 (NF1) is an autosomal dominant multi-organ disease. The clinical manifestations include not only skin lesions and malignant tumors but also lung complications, including pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). However, the association between gene mutations in NF1 and the occurrence of PAH has not yet been elucidated.
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- A novel handheld ultrasound device with AI-POCUS was tested in 200 patients across two hospitals in Japan to assess its ability to automatically measure left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
- The comparison of AI-POCUS results to standard ultrasound methods showed a strong correlation (ICC 0.81) and effective detection of reduced LVEF with 85% sensitivity and 81% specificity.
- While AI-POCUS accurately assessed LVEF, it tended to underestimate left ventricular (LV) volumes, especially for larger LV sizes; however, an updated software version showed improved accuracy after leveraging larger and more varied data sets.
Green nail syndrome is an infectious nail disorder caused most commonly by . We report a rare case of peritoneal dialysis (PD) exit site infection (ESI) accompanied by -associated green nail syndrome. The patient was treated with oral and topical antibiotics without the need for PD catheter removal.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: We hypothesized that the beneficial effects of sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors on diastolic function might depend on baseline left ventricular (LV) systolic function.
Methods: To investigate the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on LV diastolic function in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), we conducted a post-hoc sub-study of the PROTECT trial, stratifying the data according to LV ejection fraction (LVEF) at baseline. After excluding patients without echocardiographic data at baseline or 24 months into the PROTECT trial, 31 and 38 patients with T2DM from the full analysis dataset of the PROTECT trial who received ipragliflozin or no SGLT2 inhibitor (control), respectively, were included.
Background: The management of mixed aortic valve disease (MAVD), defined as the concomitant presence of aortic stenosis (AS) and aortic regurgitation, remains a clinical challenging. The present study assessed the impact of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) on cardiac geometry and prognosis in patients with MAVD.
Methods And Results: A retrospective multicenter TAVR registry was conducted, including patients who underwent TAVR for severe symptomatic AS between January 2015 and March 2019.
Article Synopsis
- Manual interpretation of echocardiographic data is slow and can vary based on the operator, leading to inefficiencies in clinical practice.
- A study compared the time taken for echocardiographic measurements and report generation between human experts and the AI software US2.ai, revealing that AI significantly reduced the time required for both tasks.
- The AI showed a 70% reduction in measurement and report creation time compared to manual methods, although it struggled more with low-quality images and complex reports sometimes required human validation.
Objective: The classification of pulmonary hypertension (PH) is crucial for determining the appropriate therapeutic strategy. We investigated whether machine learning (ML) algorithms may assist in echocardiographic PH prediction, where current guidelines recommend integrating several different parameters.
Methods: We obtained physical and echocardiographic data from 885 patients who underwent right heart catheterisation (RHC).
Background: The role of the angiotensin receptor neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) in cardiac function, particularly its impact on pulmonary circulation, remains underexplored. Recent studies have described abnormal mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP)-cardiac output (CO) responses as having the potential to assess the disease state. The aim of this study was to assess the effects of ARNI on pulmonary circulation in heart failure.
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- - The study examines how epicardial adipose tissue volume (EATV) relates to left atrial size in patients with sinus rhythm (SR) and atrial fibrillation (AF), while focusing on sex differences.
- - Results showed that, in patients with SR, EATV had a positive correlation with left atrial size (LAVI) in men, but no correlation in women; in AF patients, women showed a negative correlation, while men had no significant correlation.
- - The findings suggest that EATV may influence sex differences in the relationship to cardiovascular conditions, offering insights into the differing impacts on men and women in the context of AF and cardiac health.
Aims: The aim of this study was to identify phenotypes with potential prognostic significance in aortic stenosis (AS) patients after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) through a clustering approach.
Methods And Results: This multi-centre retrospective study included 1365 patients with severe AS who underwent TAVR between January 2015 and March 2019. Among demographics, laboratory, and echocardiography parameters, 20 variables were selected through dimension reduction and used for unsupervised clustering.
Article Synopsis
- Sterile inflammation from metabolic disorders affects blood vessel function, and this study investigates how hyperglycemia-linked inflammation, particularly through the STING pathway, contributes to endothelial dysfunction in diabetic mice.
- Researchers found that high blood sugar levels increased STING and DNA damage markers in the aorta, and deleting STING improved blood vessel response to certain stimuli in diabetic conditions.
- The study concluded that the STING pathway exacerbates endothelial dysfunction and suggests that targeting STING could be a potential treatment for these issues related to high blood sugar levels.
The Forrester classification plays a crucial role in comprehending the underlying pathophysiology of heart failure (HF) and is employed to categorize the severity and predict the outcomes of patients with acute HF. Our objective was to assess the predictive value of the Forrester classification, based on noninvasive hemodynamic measurements obtained through Doppler echocardiography at admission, in forecasting the short-term prognosis posthospitalization of patients with acute HF. Patients were recruited for the Prospect trial to elucidate the utility of EchocarDIography-based Cardiac ouTput in acute heart failure (PREDICT) study, a multicenter, prospective study conducted in Japan.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Vector Flow Mapping (VFM) and Energy Loss (EL) evaluation are emerging echocardiographic techniques that offer detailed insights into cardiac function. This study aimed to explore the relationship between EL parameters and B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels, a well-established marker of heart failure severity.
Methods: Our study prospectively enrolled 62 patients experiencing shortness of breath and suspected heart failure, who underwent echocardiography and had BNP levels measured between January 2018 and August 2020.
Article Synopsis
- The study examines the clinical outcomes and left ventricular (LV) function recovery after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with low-gradient (LG) aortic stenosis (AS), highlighting ongoing controversies in the prognostic implications of TAVI in these patients.
- It involved a retrospective analysis of 1,742 patients, finding that LG AS was linked to worse outcomes and lower improvements in LV function compared to high-gradient (HG) AS, with 13% having reduced ejection fraction.
- The research suggests that careful assessment of AS severity is crucial for optimal timing and management of TAVI in patients with LG AS, as they experienced higher rates of cardiovascular death and rehospitalization.