Impact of aortic valve calcification severity on device success after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Aortic valvular calcium score (AVCS) can identify severe aortic stenosis (AS) and provide powerful prognostic information. In severe and symptomatic AS, patients can be referred for a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The aim of this study was to determine whether AVCS, measured on the preoperative contrast enhanced multislice computed tomography (MSCT), is associated with device success (DS), major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) and paravalvular leak (PVL) after TAVR.

Gated blood pool SPECT: The estimation of right ventricular volume and function is algorithm dependent in a clinical setting.

Background: Gated blood pool SPECT (GBPS) requires further validation for the assessment of the right ventricle (RV). This study evaluated three algorithms: BP-SPECT, QBS, and TOMPOOL (results are referred using this order). We compared (1) their "quantitative-accuracy": estimation of RV ejection fraction (EF), end-diastolic volume (EDV), and cardiac output (CO); (2) their "qualitative-accuracy": threshold values allowing diagnosing an impairment of the RV function; (3) their reproducibility: inter-observer relative variability (IOV).

Is TOMPOOL (gated blood-pool SPECT processing software) accurate to diagnose right and left ventricular dysfunction in a clinical setting?

Background: The assessment of right ventricular function is crucial for management of heart disease. TOMPOOL is a software that processes data acquired with Tomographic Equilibrium Radionuclide Ventriculography. In this report, TOMPOOL's diagnostic accuracy and inter-observer reproducibility were assessed in a cohort of patients with various etiologies of ventricular dysfunction.

Early triage of emergency department patients with acute coronary syndrome: contribution of 64-slice computed tomography angiography.

Background: Multislice computed tomography coronary angiography (MSCT-CA) is feasible in the emergency department (ED) for ruling out obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD).

Aim: To investigate a diagnostic strategy using MSCT-CA for the early triage of patients presenting to the ED with acute chest pain suggestive of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), according to the medium-term incidence of clinical events.

Methods: We conducted a single-centre, prospective, observational cohort study in 123 patients with low-risk to intermediate-risk acute chest pain suggestive of ACS.