Comparison of in-hospital outcomes and complications of left atrial appendage closure with the Watchman device between males and females.

Aims: Left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) with WATCHMAN device is being used for patients with atrial fibrillation (AFB) and, as an off-label use, atrial flutter (AFL) who can't comply with long-term anticoagulation. We aim to study the differences in outcomes between sexes in patients undergoing Watchman device implantation.

Methodology: The National Inpatient Sample was queried between 2016 and 2019 using ICD-10 clinical modification codes I48x for AFB and AFL.

Rediscovered and Unforgotten: Transcatheter Interventions for the Treatment of Severe Tricuspid Valve Regurgitation.

Tricuspid valve regurgitation is both globally prevalent and undertreated. Historically, surgical intervention for isolated tricuspid regurgitation (TR) was avoided despite the prevalence of TR, largely due to poor surgical outcomes and an incomplete understanding of how it independently affects mortality. Over the past two decades, TR has been shown by several studies to be an independent predictor of worse functional status and poor survival on long-term follow-up.

Full-Time Cardiac Intensive Care Unit Staffing by Heart Failure Specialists and its Association with Mortality Rates.

Background: Cardiac intensive care units (CICUs) serve medically complex patients with multiorgan dysfunction. Whether a CICU that is staffed full time by heart failure (HF) specialists is associated with decreased mortality is unclear.

Methods And Results: A retrospective review of consecutive CICU admissions from January 1, 2012, to December 31, 2016, was performed.

Transcatheter tricuspid valve repair and replacement: a landscape review of current techniques and devices for the treatment of tricuspid valve regurgitation.

Background and ObjectiveTricuspid regurgitation is a prevalent and undertreated cardiac pathology impacting millions across the globe. While historically surgical interventions for isolated tricuspid regurgitation were largely avoided due to data citing poor surgical outcomes, advances in transcatheter techniques and imaging modalities have reframed the approach to tricuspid valve disease in promising new ways.MethodsHere we sought to provide a landscape review of the current state of the field for transcatheter tricuspid valve interventions.

Surgical feasibility of ascending aorta manipulation after transcatheter aortic valve implantation: a computed tomography theoretical analysis.

Aims: The expansion of TAVI will involve an increase in the frequency of emergent or late cardiac surgery after THV implantation. This study was designed to investigate the anatomical feasibility of surgical cross-clamp and aortotomy after TAVI through a post-TAVI CT-scan assessment.

Methods And Results: We retrospectively analysed 117 CTs acquired after TAVI procedures with high stent prostheses in three high-volume centres between October 2008 and May 2017.

Utilization rates and clinical outcomes of hepatitis C positive donor hearts in the contemporary era.

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) donors should be categorized as HCV-viremic (antibody [Ab] negative or positive/Nucleic Acid testing [NAT] positive) or HCV Abnonviremic (Ab/NAT). Whereas recipients of hearts from HCV-viremic donors will develop viremia but can be cured of HCV shortly after transplant with direct-acting antivirals (DAAs), recipients of hearts from HCV Ab nonviremic donors are highly unlikely to become viremic or require DAAs. Given this important difference in risk, we assessed the utilization trends and post-heart-transplantation outcomes of HCV-naive (Ab/NAT), HCV-viremic, and HCV Ab nonviremic donor hearts.

Epithelial V-like antigen mediates efficacy of anti-alpha₄ integrin treatment in a mouse model of multiple sclerosis.

Natalizumab inhibits the transmigration of activated T lymphocytes into the brain and is highly efficacious in multiple sclerosis (MS). However, from a pharmacogenomic perspective, its efficacy and safety in specific patients remain unclear. Here our goal was to analyze the effects of epithelial V-like antigen (EVA) on anti-alpha₄ integrin (VLA4) efficacy in a mouse model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE).

Mediation of protection and recovery from experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by macrophages expressing the human voltage-gated sodium channel NaV1.5.

Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common nontraumatic cause of neurologic disability in young adults. Despite treatment, progressive tissue injury leads to accumulation of disability in many patients. Here, our goal was to develop an immune-mediated strategy to promote tissue repair and clinical recovery in an MS animal model.