European Society for Organ Transplantation (ESOT) Consensus Statement on the Use of Non-invasive Biomarkers for Cardiothoracic Transplant Rejection Surveillance.

While allograft rejection (AR) continues to threaten the success of cardiothoracic transplantation, lack of accurate and repeatable surveillance tools to diagnose AR is a major unmet need in the clinical management of cardiothoracic transplant recipients. Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) and transbronchial biopsy (TBBx) have been the cornerstone of rejection monitoring since the field's incipience, but both suffer from significant limitations, including poor concordance of biopsy interpretation among pathologists. In recent years, novel molecular tools for AR monitoring have emerged and their performance characteristics have been evaluated in multiple studies.

Redefining the molecular rejection states in 3230 heart transplant biopsies: Relationships to parenchymal injury and graft survival.

The first-generation Molecular Microscope (MMDx) system for heart transplant endomyocardial biopsies used expression of rejection-associated transcripts (RATs) to diagnose not only T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) and antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR) but also acute injury. However, the ideal system should detect rejection without being influenced by injury, to permit analysis of the relationship between rejection and parenchymal injury. To achieve this, we developed a new rejection classification in an expanded cohort of 3230 biopsies: 1641 from INTERHEART (ClinicalTrials.

Prognosis after heart transplant in patients with hypertrophic and restrictive cardiomyopathy. A nationwide registry analysis.

Introduction And Objectives: Posttransplant outcomes among recipients with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) remain controversial.

Methods: Retrospective analysis of a nationwide registry of first-time recipients undergoing isolated heart transplant between 1984 and 2021. One-year and 5-year mortality in recipients with HCM and RCM were compared with those with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).

Assessing the Relationship Between Molecular Rejection and Parenchymal Injury in Heart Transplant Biopsies.

Background: The INTERHEART study (ClinicalTrials.gov #NCT02670408) used genome-wide microarrays to detect rejection in endomyocardial biopsies; however, many heart transplants with no rejection have late dysfunction and impaired survival. We used the microarray measurements to develop a molecular classification of parenchymal injury.

A 3-Biomarker 2-Point-Based Risk Stratification Strategy in Acute Heart Failure.

Most multi-biomarker strategies in acute heart failure (HF) have only measured biomarkers in a single-point time. This study aimed to evaluate the prognostic yielding of NT-proBNP, hsTnT, Cys-C, hs-CRP, GDF15, and GAL-3 in HF patients both at admission and discharge. We included 830 patients enrolled consecutively in a prospective multicenter registry.

Assessment of Omecamtiv Mecarbil for the Treatment of Patients With Severe Heart Failure: A Post Hoc Analysis of Data From the GALACTIC-HF Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction is a progressive clinical syndrome, and many patients' condition worsen over time despite treatment. Patients with more severe disease are often intolerant of available medical therapies.

Objective: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of omecamtiv mecarbil for the treatment of patients with severe heart failure (HF) enrolled in the Global Approach to Lowering Adverse Cardiac Outcomes Through Improving Contractility in Heart Failure (GALACTIC-HF) randomized clinical trial.

Many heart transplant biopsies currently diagnosed as no rejection have mild molecular antibody-mediated rejection-related changes.

Background: The Molecular Microscope (MMDx) system classifies heart transplant endomyocardial biopsies as No-rejection (NR), Early-injury, T cell-mediated (TCMR), antibody-mediated (ABMR), mixed, and possible rejection (possible TCMR, possible ABMR). Rejection-like gene expression patterns in NR biopsies have not been described. We extended the MMDx methodology, using a larger data set, to define a new "Minor" category characterized by low-level inflammation in non-rejecting biopsies.

Guidance on the management of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) supported patients for the non-LVAD specialist healthcare provider: executive summary.

The accepted use of left ventricular assist device (LVAD) technology as a good alternative for the treatment of patients with advanced heart failure together with the improved survival of patients on the device and the scarcity of donor hearts has significantly increased the population of LVAD supported patients. Device-related, and patient-device interaction complications impose a significant burden on the medical system exceeding the capacity of LVAD implanting centres. The probability of an LVAD supported patient presenting with medical emergency to a local ambulance team, emergency department medical team and internal or surgical wards in a non-LVAD implanting centre is increasing.

Levosimendan Efficacy and Safety: 20 years of SIMDAX in Clinical Use.

Levosimendan was first approved for clinic use in 2000, when authorisation was granted by Swedish regulatory authorities for the haemodynamic stabilisation of patients with acutely decompensated chronic heart failure. In the ensuing 20 years, this distinctive inodilator, which enhances cardiac contractility through calcium sensitisation and promotes vasodilatation through the opening of adenosine triphosphate-dependent potassium channels on vascular smooth muscle cells, has been approved in more than 60 jurisdictions, including most of the countries of the European Union and Latin America. Areas of clinical application have expanded considerably and now include cardiogenic shock, takotsubo cardiomyopathy, advanced heart failure, right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension, cardiac surgery, critical care and emergency medicine.

Levosimendan Efficacy and Safety: 20 Years of SIMDAX in Clinical Use.

Levosimendan was first approved for clinical use in 2000, when authorization was granted by Swedish regulatory authorities for the hemodynamic stabilization of patients with acutely decompensated chronic heart failure (HF). In the ensuing 20 years, this distinctive inodilator, which enhances cardiac contractility through calcium sensitization and promotes vasodilatation through the opening of adenosine triphosphate-dependent potassium channels on vascular smooth muscle cells, has been approved in more than 60 jurisdictions, including most of the countries of the European Union and Latin America. Areas of clinical application have expanded considerably and now include cardiogenic shock, takotsubo cardiomyopathy, advanced HF, right ventricular failure, pulmonary hypertension, cardiac surgery, critical care, and emergency medicine.

Sex- and age-related differences in the management and outcomes of chronic heart failure: an analysis of patients from the ESC HFA EORP Heart Failure Long-Term Registry.

Aims: This study aimed to assess age- and sex-related differences in management and 1-year risk for all-cause mortality and hospitalization in chronic heart failure (HF) patients.

Methods And Results: Of 16 354 patients included in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry, 9428 chronic HF patients were analysed [median age: 66 years; 28.5% women; mean left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 37%].

International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement (ICHOM): Standardized Patient-Centered Outcomes Measurement Set for Heart Failure Patients.

Whereas multiple national, international, and trial registries for heart failure have been created, international standards for clinical assessment and outcome measurement do not currently exist. The working group's objective was to facilitate international comparison in heart failure care, using standardized parameters and meaningful patient-centered outcomes for research and quality of care assessments. The International Consortium for Health Outcomes Measurement recruited an international working group of clinical heart failure experts, researchers, and patient representatives to define a standard set of outcomes and risk-adjustment variables.

Exploring the cardiac response to injury in heart transplant biopsies.

Background: Because injury is universal in organ transplantation, heart transplant endomyocardial biopsies present an opportunity to explore response to injury in heart parenchyma. Histology has limited ability to assess injury, potentially confusing it with rejection, whereas molecular changes have potential to distinguish injury from rejection. Building on previous studies of transcripts associated with T cell-mediated rejection (TCMR) and antibody-mediated rejection (ABMR), we explored transcripts reflecting injury.

The influence of metformin and the presence of type 2 diabetes mellitus on mortality and hospitalisation in patients with heart failure.

Background: Metformin is one of the antihyperglycaemic drugs, reducing the risk of major cardiovascular events, including fatal ones. Although it is formally contraindicated in moderate and severe functional stages of heart failure (HF), it is commonly used in patients with concomitant type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM).

Aim: We sought to evaluate the effect of metformin and T2DM on total mortality and hospitalisation rates in patients with HF.

Impact of digoxin on risk of death in heart failure patients treated with b-blockers. Results from Polish part of ESC Heart Failure Long-Term Registry.

Background: Digoxin is used in the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF). It was reported to increase the risk of death in HF. Studies on digoxin are based mainly on patients treated some years ago, before the era of common b-blocker use.

Multilevel factors are associated with immunosuppressant nonadherence in heart transplant recipients: The international BRIGHT study.

Factors at the level of family/healthcare worker, organization, and system are neglected in medication nonadherence research in heart transplantation (HTx). The 4-continent, 11-country cross-sectional Building Research Initiative Group: Chronic Illness Management and Adherence in Transplantation (BRIGHT) study used multistaged sampling to examine 36 HTx centers, including 36 HTx directors, 100 clinicians, and 1397 patients. Nonadherence to immunosuppressants-defined as any deviation in taking or timing adherence and/or dose reduction-was assessed using the Basel Assessment of Adherence to Immunosuppressive Medications Scale (BAASIS ) interview.

Right heart dysfunction and failure in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction: mechanisms and management. Position statement on behalf of the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology.

There is an unmet need for effective treatment strategies to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Until recently, attention in patients with HFpEF was almost exclusively focused on the left side. However, it is now increasingly recognized that right heart dysfunction is common and contributes importantly to poor prognosis in HFpEF.

Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology heart failure nurse curriculum.

Recent advances in care and management of heart failure have improved outcome, largely as a result of the developing evidence basis for medications, implantable devices and the organization of heart failure follow-up. Such developments have also increased the complexity of delivering and coordinating care. This has led to a change to the way in which heart failure services are organized and to the traditional role of the heart failure nurse.