Characteristics and Outcomes of Patients with Inflammatory Cardiomyopathies Receiving Mechanical Circulatory Support: An STS-INTERMACS Registry Analysis.

Background: Durable mechanical circulatory support (MCS) therapy improves survival in patients with advanced heart failure. Knowledge regarding the outcomes experienced by patients with inflammatory cardiomyopathy (CM) who receive durable MCS therapy is limited.

Methods And Results: We compared patients with inflammatory CM with patients with idiopathic dilated CM enrolled in the STS-INTERMACS registry.

A Patient-Level, Pooled Analysis of Mortality Rates With the Passeo-18 Lux Paclitaxel Drug-Coated Balloon in Peripheral Arterial Disease.

Background: Recent meta-analyses have raised concerns about mortality with paclitaxel drug-coated balloons (DCB). This pooled, patient-level analysis of the BIOLUX P-I, P-II, and P-III studies was performed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Passeo-18 Lux DCB.

Materials And Methods: Individual patient-level demographic, clinical, diagnostic, and procedural data from the BIOLUX P-I, BIOLUX P-II, and BIOLUX P-III studies were pooled in a common database.

Balloon-Expandable Valve Geometry After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients With Bicuspid Versus Tricuspid Aortic Stenosis.

Background: Prospective bicuspid low-risk transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) registries' data demonstrated encouraging short-term results. Detailed data on transcatheter heart valve (THV) geometry after deployment using contemporary devices are lacking. This study sought to examine valve geometry after TAVR in patients with bicuspid aortic stenosis (AS).

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients With Symptomatic Severe Bicuspid Aortic Valve Stenosis.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to evaluate clinical outcomes and transcatheter heart valve hemodynamic parameters after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in low-risk patients with bicuspid aortic stenosis (AS).

Background: TAVR is approved for low-risk patients in the United States. However, patients with bicuspid AS were excluded from the randomized cohorts of the pivotal low-risk trials.

Coronary Artery Disease Assessed by Computed Tomography-Based Leaman Score in Patients With Low-Risk Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

We aimed to evaluate the burden of coronary artery disease (CAD) using the computed tomography (CT) Leaman score in low-risk transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients. The extent of CAD in low-risk patients with aortic stenosis who are candidates for TAVI has not been accurately quantified. The CT Leaman score was developed to quantify coronary CT angiography (CCTA) atherosclerotic burden and has been validated to evaluate the extent of CAD.

Impact of Intravascular Ultrasound on Outcomes Following PErcutaneous Coronary InterventioN in Complex Lesions (iOPEN Complex).

Background: Clinical data support the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) as being associated with improved outcomes. Nonetheless, global utilization of IVUS remains low. We hypothesize that, in the revascularization of complex lesions, IVUS use is associated with improved outcomes.

Hemodynamics and Subclinical Leaflet Thrombosis in Low-Risk Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement.

Background: This analysis evaluated echocardiographic predictors of hypoattenuated leaflet thickening (HALT) in low-risk patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement and assessed 1-year clinical and hemodynamic consequences. HALT by computed tomography may be associated with early valve degeneration and increased neurological events.

Methods: Echocardiograms were performed at baseline, discharge, 30 days, and 1 year post-procedure.

Identification of patients and plaques vulnerable to future coronary events with near-infrared spectroscopy intravascular ultrasound imaging: a prospective, cohort study.

Background: Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) intravascular ultrasound imaging can detect lipid-rich plaques (LRPs). LRPs are associated with acute coronary syndromes or myocardial infarction, which can result in revascularisation or cardiac death. In this study, we aimed to establish the relationship between LRPs detected by NIRS-intravascular ultrasound imaging at unstented sites and subsequent coronary events from new culprit lesions.

TAVR in Low-Risk Patients: 1-Year Results From the LRT Trial.

Objectives: This study sought to evaluate clinical outcomes and transcatheter heart valve hemodynamics at 1 year after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) in low-risk patients.

Background: Early results from the LRT (Low Risk TAVR) trial demonstrated that TAVR is safe in patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who are at low risk for surgical valve replacement.

Methods: The LRT trial was an investigator-initiated, prospective, multicenter study and was the first Food and Drug Administration-approved Investigational Device Exemption trial to evaluate feasibility of TAVR in low-risk patients.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients With Symptomatic Severe Aortic Stenosis.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is now the standard of care for patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis who are extreme, high, or intermediate risk for surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).

Objectives: The authors sought to evaluate TAVR in a prospective multicenter trial involving low-risk patients.

Methods: The Low Risk TAVR (Feasibility of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Low-Risk Patients With Symptomatic, Severe Aortic Stenosis) trial was the first U.

Aberrant synaptic integration in adult lamina I projection neurons following neonatal tissue damage.

Mounting evidence suggests that neonatal tissue damage evokes alterations in spinal pain reflexes which persist into adulthood. However, less is known about potential concomitant effects on the transmission of nociceptive information to the brain, as the degree to which early injury modulates synaptic integration and membrane excitability in mature spinal projection neurons remains unclear. Here we demonstrate that neonatal surgical injury leads to a significant shift in the balance between synaptic excitation and inhibition onto identified lamina I projection neurons of the adult mouse spinal cord.