Left atrial strain in acute heart failure: clinical and prognostic insights.

Aims: In acute heart failure (AHF), the consequences of impaired left atrial (LA) mechanics are not well understood. We aimed to define the clinical trajectory of LA mechanics by left atrial strain (LAS) analysis.

Methods And Results: Eighty-five consecutive AHF patients with reduced, mildly reduced, and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were enrolled in the LAS-AHF trial and underwent LA mechanics analysis by speckle tracking echocardiography.

Central role of left atrial dynamics in limiting exercise cardiac output increase and oxygen uptake in heart failure: insights by cardiopulmonary imaging.

Aims: In heart failure (HF), the haemodynamic response to exercise in relation to left atrial (LA) dynamics is unexplored. We sought to define whether abnormal LA dynamics during exercise may play a role in cardiac output (CO) limitation and tested its ability to predict outcome.

Methods And Results: A total of 195 HF patients with reduced (n = 105), mid-range (n = 48), and preserved (n = 42) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and 46 non-cardiac dyspnoea (NCD) subjects underwent cardiopulmonary imaging with assessment of LA strain and strain rate (sra).

Left Atrial Dynamics During Exercise in Mitral Regurgitation of Primary and Secondary Origin: Pathophysiological Insights by Exercise Echocardiography Combined With Gas Exchange Analysis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to identify the pattern of exercise left atrial (LA) dynamics, its gas exchange correlates, and prognosis in mitral regurgitation (MR) of primary and secondary origin.

Background: The adaptive response and clinical significance of LA function during exercise in MR is undefined.

Methods: A total of 196 patients with MR (81 with primary MR, 115 with secondary MR) and 54 control subjects underwent exercise stress echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing with LA function assessment.

Long-term screening for sleep apnoea in paced patients: preliminary assessment of a novel patient management flowchart by using automatic pacemaker indexes and sleep lab polygraphy.

Background: The primary aim of this pilot study was to prospectively assess a flowchart to screen and diagnose paced patients (pts) affected by sleep apnoeas, by crosschecking indexes derived from pacemakers (minute ventilation sensor on-board) with Sleep-Lab Polygraphy (PG) outcomes. Secondarily, "smoothed" long-term pacemaker indexes (all the information between two consecutive follow-up visits) have been retrospectively compared vs. standard short-term pacemaker indexes (last 24h) at each follow-up (FU) visit, to test their correlation and diagnostic concordance.