Radiological characteristics of invasive micropapillary carcinoma of the breast.

Aim: To analyse the various imaging features of invasive micropapillary carcinoma (IMPC), a distinct variant of breast cancer, by mammography, ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced mammography.

Materials And Methods: This study included 68 female patients with histopathologically proven invasive micropapillary carcinoma who underwent mammography, ultrasound, and contrast-enhanced mammography examinations. The findings encountered by each imaging tool were analysed using the Breast Imaging Reporting and Data System (BI-RADS) lexicon.

Left atrial appendage morphology predicts the formation of left atrial appendage thrombus.

Background: Nonchicken wing left atrial appendage (LAA) morphology is associated with higher risk for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) than chicken wing (CW) morphology.

Objective: Assess whether LAA morphology predicts the formation of LAA thrombus independent of age, sex, presenting rhythm, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), or anticoagulant use.

Methods: A cross-sectional analysis was performed on patients prospectively enrolled in the Vanderbilt LAA Registry or presenting for transesophageal echocardiogram (TEE) between January 1, 2015, and November 1, 2017 (n = 306).

Feasibility of left atrial appendage device closure following chronically failed surgical ligation.

Background: Incomplete surgical left atrial appendage occlusion (S-LAAO) with a narrow neck has been shown to predict an increased rate of embolic stroke. Patients with a previously attempted S-LAAO were systematically excluded from all clinical trials of LAA closure devices.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of Watchman LAA device closure for patients referred with chronically incomplete S-LAAO.

Non-pulmonary vein mediated atrial fibrillation: A novel sub-phenotype.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a mechanistically heterogeneous disorder, and the ability to identify sub-phenotypes ("endophenotypes") of AF would assist in the delivery of personalized medicine. We used the clinical response to pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) to identify a sub-group of patients with non-PV mediated AF and sought to define the clinical associations.

Methods: Subjects enrolled in the Vanderbilt AF Ablation Registry who underwent a repeat AF ablation due to arrhythmia recurrence were analyzed on the basis of PV reconnection.

Digoxin and short term mortality after acute STEMI: Results from the MAGIC trial.

Background: The safety of digoxin has been a subject of debate for decades, most recently among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). Digoxin has been used during the acute phase of ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) complicated with AF or heart failure. Data about digoxin in this setting are scarce.