Diagnosis and Treatment of Iron Deficiency in Heart Failure: OFICSel study by the French Heart Failure Working Group.

Aims: Iron deficiency (ID) occurs in about 50% of patients with heart failure (HF). The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommends ID diagnostic testing in newly diagnosed patients with HF and during follow-up, with intravenous iron supplementation (IS) only recommended in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). This study aimed to assess prevalence, clinical characteristics, and application of ESC guidelines for ID and IS in patients with HF in the real-life clinical setting.

Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein 2 predicts mortality risk in heart failure.

Background: Insulin-like Growth Factor Binding Protein 2 (IGFBP2) showed greater heart failure (HF) diagnostic accuracy than the "grey zone" B-type natriuretic peptides, and may have prognostic utility as well.

Objectives: To determine if IGFBP2 provides independent information on cardiovascular mortality in HF.

Methods: A retrospective study of 870 HF patients from 3 independent international cohorts.

sST2 adds to the prognostic value of Gal-3 and BNP in chronic heart failure.

The soluble form of the IL-33 receptor (sST2) and Galectin-3 (Gal-3) are fibrosis biomarkers with prognostic value in heart failure (HF). We investigated the prognostic capacity of sST2 when combined with Gal-3, and determined if the prognostic utility of sST2 is affected by mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist (MRA) therapy. sST-2 and Gal-3 were measured in 101 stable chronic HF (CHF) patients receiving MRA therapy and compared to 97 BNP and cardiovascular risk factor matched patients not treated with MRA.

Increased mean aliphatic lipid chain length in left ventricular hypertrophy secondary to arterial hypertension: A cross-sectional study.

About 77.9 million (1 in 4) American adults have high blood pressure. High blood pressure is the primary cause of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH), which represents a strong predictor of future heart failure and cardiovascular mortality.

Insulin-based strategies to prevent hypoglycaemia during and after exercise in adult patients with type 1 diabetes on pump therapy: the DIABRASPORT randomized study.

Aims: To validate strategies to prevent exercise-induced hypoglycaemia via insulin-dose adjustment in adult patients with type 1 diabetes (T1D) on pump therapy.

Methods: A total of 20 patients randomly performed four 30-min late post-lunch (3 h after lunch) exercise sessions and a rest session: two moderate sessions [50% maximum oxygen consumption (VO2 max)] with 50 or 80% basal rate (BR) reduction during exercise + 2 h and two intense sessions (75% VO2 max) with 80% BR reduction or with their pump stopped. Two additional early post-lunch sessions (90 min after lunch) were analysed to compare hypoglycaemia incidence for BR reduction versus bolus reduction.

The prognostic value of plasma galectin-3 in chronic heart failure patients is maintained when treated with mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists.

Objective: Galectin-3 (Gal-3) is considered as a myocardial fibrosis biomarker with prognostic value in heart failure (HF). Since aldosterone is a neurohormone with established fibrotic properties, we aimed to investigate if mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) would modulate the prognostic value of Gal-3.

Methods: The IBLOMAVED cohort comprised 427 eligible chronic HF patients (CHF) with echocardiography and heart failure biomarkers assessments (BNP).

Benefits of cardiac rehabilitation in heart failure patients according to etiology: INCARD French study.

We investigated the impact of heart failure (HF) etiology on the outcome of cardiac rehabilitation (CR) assessed by functional and clinical parameters. Treatment of chronic HF requires multidisciplinary approaches with a recognized role for CR. INCARD is a French study aimed at evaluating the benefits of sustainable CR in coronary (C) and noncoronary patients (NC) treated and educated during a 24-month period of follow-up.

Apolipoprotein O is mitochondrial and promotes lipotoxicity in heart.

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a secondary complication of diabetes with an unclear etiology. Based on a functional genomic evaluation of obesity-associated cardiac gene expression, we previously identified and cloned the gene encoding apolipoprotein O (APOO), which is overexpressed in hearts from diabetic patients. Here, we generated APOO-Tg mice, transgenic mouse lines that expresses physiological levels of human APOO in heart tissue.

Blood signature of pre-heart failure: a microarrays study.

Background: The preclinical stage of systolic heart failure (HF), known as asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction (ALVD), is diagnosed only by echocardiography, frequent in the general population and leads to a high risk of developing severe HF. Large scale screening for ALVD is a difficult task and represents a major unmet clinical challenge that requires the determination of ALVD biomarkers.

Methodology/principal Findings: 294 individuals were screened by echocardiography.

[Evaluation of echo-guided pericardiocentesis in cardiac tamponade].

Between April 1982 and December 1995, 78 consecutive patients with an average age of 57 +/- 13 years underwent echo-guided pericardiocentesis in the intensive care unit for poorly tolerated pericardial effusions. The patients were admitted to the cardiology departments of Ambroise-Paré Hospital at Boulogne (n = 44). Gilles-de-Corbeil Hospital at Corbeil-Essonnes (n = 31) and Val-de-Grâce Hospital in Paris (n = 3).

[Coronary angiography by a radial artery approach: feasibility, learning curve. One operator's experience].

The aim of this study was to assess the feasibility of the radial artery approach for coronary angiography in a standard population of presumed coronary patients and to continue the assessment for a sufficiently long period of time to perfect the technique, evaluate the learning curve and prepare a randomised comparison with the femoral approach. The radial artery was used for coronary angiography in 800 patients after exclusion of about 25% of patients, mainly because of a negative Allen's maneuver. With the exception of acute myocardial infarction, there was no selection based on symptoms and transradial catheterisation was attempted irrespective of age, sex, weight or height.

[Ultrasound-guided pericardial drainage. Experience in 34 consecutive patients].

Objectives: Transthoracic echoguided puncture of the pericardium can be an alternative to surgical drainage. We report our experience with this technique acquired over the last 11 years.

Patients And Methods: From January 1984 to September 1995, 34 consecutive patients in the cardiology intensive care unit (mean age 56.

[Transesophageal echography and left intraventricular echo-contrast. Complete regression of a large thrombus of the left ventricle with anticoagulant therapy].

The authors report the case of a 69 year old man with a large left ventricular thrombosis complicating anterior myocardial infarction occurring three years previously for which anticoagulant therapy had to be withdrawn. The discussion is based around the large size of the thrombus, its complete regression with anticoagulant therapy (heparin and coumarin-derivative) and also around the detection of spontaneous echo contrast in the left ventricle by transoesophageal echocardiography. This case underlines the probable risk of withdrawing anticoagulant therapy in patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction and left ventricular spontaneous contrast.