Publications by authors named "Kristen Medo"
Article Synopsis
- Pathogenic variants in the desmoplakin (DSP) gene lead to a unique type of cardiomyopathy that doesn't fit neatly into existing categories like DCM, NDLVC, or ARVC, with limited past studies on potential predictors of severe outcomes.
- Researchers analyzed 800 patients with DSP variants from a global network over an average of 3.7 years, finding that 17.4% experienced sustained ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) and 9.0% had heart failure (HF) hospitalizations.
- Key risk factors for developing VAs included female sex, history of non-sustained and sustained VAs, and lower left ventricular ejection fraction, while T-wave inversion was linked to HF
Article Synopsis
- Pathogenic variants in the desmoplakin (DSP) gene are linked to a specific type of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy, which increases the risk of serious heart rhythm issues, but current evaluation methods are unreliable for these patients.
- A study was conducted with patients from the DSP-ERADOS registry to track the occurrence of sustained ventricular arrhythmia (VA) over time, using a detailed statistical analysis to create a new clinical prediction tool.
- The research identified five key clinical factors that can help predict the risk of developing sustained VA, resulting in a new DSP risk score that demonstrated strong prediction capabilities in both the initial and external testing groups.
Article Synopsis
- * The study finds that a history of nonsustained ventricular tachycardia is a strong predictor of future VA occurrences, although traditional risk factors such as age and male sex do not show a significant association with VA events.
- * The ARVC risk calculator, which is intended to evaluate the risk of VA, performs inadequately in this patient population, highlighting the need for a more tailored, gene-specific risk
Article Synopsis
- This study distinguishes between nondilated left ventricular cardiomyopathy (NDLVC) and dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and genetic testing on 462 patients across four centers.
- Findings showed that NDLVC patients had better heart function and a higher prevalence of specific genetic variants compared to those with DCM, highlighting significant differences in their conditions.
- The presence of septal late gadolinium enhancement and other factors like LV dilatation, age, and arrhythmias were identified as strong predictors for serious cardiac events, such as sudden cardiac death.
Aims: Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) with arrhythmic phenotype combines phenotypical aspects of DCM and predisposition to ventricular arrhythmias, typical of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy. The definition of DCM with arrhythmic phenotype is not universally accepted, leading to uncertainty in the identification of high-risk patients. This study aimed to assess the prognostic impact of arrhythmic phenotype in risk stratification and the correlation of arrhythmic markers with high-risk arrhythmogenic gene variants in DCM patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground And Aims: Emery-Dreifuss muscular dystrophy (EDMD) is caused by variants in EMD (EDMD1) and LMNA (EDMD2). Cardiac conduction defects and atrial arrhythmia are common to both, but LMNA variants also cause end-stage heart failure (ESHF) and malignant ventricular arrhythmia (MVA). This study aimed to better characterize the cardiac complications of EMD variants.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPrognostic Prediction of Genotype vs Phenotype in Genetic Cardiomyopathies.
J Am Coll Cardiol
November 2022
Article Synopsis
- - The study explores how different genetic backgrounds influence patient outcomes in cardiomyopathies (CMPs), finding that focusing on genotype rather than just phenotype offers better predictive accuracy for adverse events.
- - In a cohort of 281 patients, it was found that sudden cardiac death and major arrhythmias occurred more frequently in those without the dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) phenotype, with certain genotypes (like LMNA) showing poorer survival trends.
- - The results highlight that while phenotypic diversity exists in genetic CMPs, basing patient classification on genetic factors provides a more reliable method for predicting outcomes compared to using phenotypic characteristics alone.
Aims: The role of sex in determining the profile and the outcomes of patients with myocarditis is largely unexplored. We evaluated the impact of sex as a modifier factor in the clinical characterization and natural history of patients with definite diagnosis of myocarditis.
Methods And Results: We retrospectively analysed a single-centre cohort of consecutive patients with definite diagnosis of myocarditis (i.
Cardiac involvement is a rare but relevant manifestation of Lyme disease that frequently presents as atrioventricular block (AVB). Immune-mediated injury has been implicated in the pathogenesis of Lyme carditis due to possible cross-reaction between antigens and cardiac epitopes. The degree of the AVB can fluctuate rapidly, with two-thirds of patients progressing to complete AVB.
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