Intermittent ventricular pre-excitation in symptomatic adults: Always a marker of low risk?

Background: Intermittent ventricular pre-excitation was considered a low-risk marker for sudden death. However, to date, some studies do not exclude the existence of accessory pathways (APs) with high-risk intermittent antegrade conductive properties. According to current European Guidelines, high-risk features of APs are antegrade pathway conduction ≤250 ms in baseline or during the adrenergic stimulus, inducibility of atrioventricular reciprocating tachycardias (AVRT), inducibility of pre-excited atrial fibrillation (AF), and presence of multiple APs.

Impact of COVID-19 on the cardiovascular health of women: a review by the Italian Society of Cardiology Working Group on 'gender cardiovascular diseases'.

The coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19), due to coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, presents with an extremely heterogeneous spectrum of symptoms and signs. COVID-19 susceptibility and mortality show a significant sex imbalance, with men being more prone to infection and showing a higher rate of hospitalization and mortality than women. In particular, cardiovascular diseases (preexistent or arising upon infection) play a central role in COVID-19 outcomes, differently in men and women.

Sport Related Sudden Death: The Importance of Primary and Secondary Prevention.

Sports are a double-edged sword. On the one hand, cardiovascular benefits from sports activity are well-known, and on the other hand, sports may increase the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in subjects with known or unknown cardiovascular diseases. SCD is rare but has a very strong emotional issue.

Tailoring the Ablative Strategy for Atrial Fibrillation: A State-of-the-Art Review.

In spite of technological progress and the improving skills of operators, atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation results appear to date to be at a plateau. In any case, the superiority of ablation over pharmacological therapy in terms of effectiveness, reduction of hospitalizations, and improvement has been well demonstrated in recent randomized trials. Triggers, substrate, and modulating factors (elements of Coumel's triangle) play different roles in paroxysmal and persistent AF, so induction and perpetuation mechanisms of arrhythmia may be different in each patient.