Tricuspid Stenosis in Pregnancy: A Valve-in-Valve Conundrum.

Redo tricuspid valve replacement has high surgical operative mortality. Transcatheter valve-in-valve provides a viable option for valve replacement. We discuss the decision-making process involved in performing transcatheter tricuspid valve-in-valve replacement in a 23-week pregnant woman with multiple comorbidities and symptomatic severe bioprosthetic stenosis.

Stroke Risk Following Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy.

Background And Purpose: Takotsubo cardiomyopathy, also known as stress cardiomyopathy, is an increasingly recognized cause of left ventricular dysfunction. Previously considered a benign disease, Takotsubo cardiomyopathy may be a risk factor of ischemic stroke based on recent small, single-center case series. The strength and temporal profile of this association remains uncertain.

Survivin in Insulin-Like Growth Factor-Induced Resistance to Lapatinib in Head and Neck Squamous Carcinoma Cells.

Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitors have limited efficacy in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) due to various resistance mechanisms, such as activation of the insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor (IGF1R), which initiates pro-survival signaling. Survivin, a member of the inhibitor of apoptosis proteins family, is expressed at relatively high levels in malignant tissues and plays a role in cell division. Expression of survivin in tumors has been shown to correlate with poor prognosis due to chemotherapy resistance and anti-apoptotic behavior.

The Risk of Takotsubo Cardiomyopathy in Acute Neurological Disease.

Background: Case series have reported reversible left ventricular dysfunction, also known as stress cardiomyopathy or Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TCM), in the setting of acute neurological diseases such as subarachnoid hemorrhage. The relative associations between various neurological diseases and Takotsubo remain incompletely understood.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional study of all adults in the National Inpatient Sample, a nationally representative sample of US hospitalizations, from 2006 to 2014.

Nutritional Risk Index predicts mortality in hospitalized advanced heart failure patients.

Background: Hospitalized advanced heart failure (HF) patients are at high risk for malnutrition and death. The Nutritional Risk Index (NRI) is a simple, well-validated tool for identifying patients at risk for nutrition-related complications. We hypothesized that, in advanced HF patients from the ESCAPE (Evaluation Study of Congestive Heart Failure and Pulmonary Artery Catheterization Effectiveness) trial, the NRI would improve risk discrimination for 6-month all-cause mortality.