The Palatal Closure Efficiency (PaCE) Index: A New Speaker-Centered Aerodynamic Metric for the Evaluation of Velopharyngeal Function During Speech.

Purpose: Pressure-flow testing provides clinicians with estimates of velopharyngeal (VP) gap size during speech production. Traditionally, adequacy of VP function has been based on absolute area criteria. This clinical focus article provides a brief overview of pressure-flow testing and introduces the PaCE index, a speaker-centered metric to interpret findings.

Improved 1-year clinical success rate of pulmonary vein isolation with the second-generation cryoballoon in patients with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation.

Background: The second-generation cryoballoon (CB2) has recently been introduced featuring improved surface cooling. Increased procedural efficacy of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) when compared to the first-generation balloon (CB1) has been reported. The aim of the study was to investigate the clinical outcome of cryoballoon PVI after 1 year using the CB2 as compared to the CB1.