Incidence of Bloodstream Infection in Patients with Pulmonary Hypertension under Intravenous Epoprostenol or Iloprost-A Multicentre, Retrospective Study.

Intravenous synthetic prostacyclin analogs (iPCAs), such as epoprostenol, treprostinil and iloprost have been widely used for the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Despite having good outcomes, continuous infusion of iPCAs has been associated with some adverse effects. Bloodstream infection (BSI) is one of the most severe complications, although poorly recognized, especially under iloprost administration, which few studies have addressed.

Atrial Mechanics in Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Discriminating between Ventricular Hypertrophy and Fibrosis.

Background: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) secondary to systemic hypertension (HTN) may be associated with left atrial (LA) functional abnormalities.

Objectives: We aimed to characterize LA mechanics in HCM and HTN and determine any correlation with the extent of left ventricular (LV) fibrosis measured by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in HCM patients.

Methods: Two-dimensional speckle tracking-derived longitudinal LA function was acquired from apical views in 60 HCM patients, 60 HTN patients, and 34 age-matched controls.

Prognostic Value of Isolated Elevated Troponin I Levels in Patients without Acute Coronary Syndrome Admitted to the Emergency Department.

Background: Although non-ischemic troponin elevation is frequently seen in patients admitted to the emergency department (ED), consensus regarding its management is lacking.

Objectives: This study aimed to characterize patients admitted to the ED with non-ischemic troponin elevation and to identify potential mortality predictors in this population.

Methods: This retrospective observational study included ED patients with a positive troponin test result between June and July of 2015.

Aortic strain in bicuspid aortic valve: an analysis.

Bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is monitored by transthoracic echocardiography and computed tomography (CT) angiography. However, it does not have any early marker of disease progression. This study evaluated speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) aortic and left ventricular (LV) strain prognostic values, their discriminative power, and their correlation with the degree of valvular regurgitation.

Left atrial functional assessment and mortality in patients with severe aortic stenosis with sinus rhythm.

Background: Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the most common primary valvular heart disease leading to surgical or percutaneous aortic valve replacement (AVR) in Europe and its prevalence keeps growing. While other risk factors in severe AS are well documented, little is known about the prognostic value of left atrial (LA) function in AS. Our aim is to clarify the relationship between LA function measured at severe AS diagnosis (evaluated by means of volumetric assessment) and all-cause mortality during follow-up.

Real-world analysis of acute decompensated heart failure outcomes in Portugal.

Aims: In Portugal, in the last 5 years, no study has published recent data regarding outcomes of patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). We aimed to determine the characteristics and outcomes of a large contemporaneous Portuguese cohort of ADHF patients admitted to our emergency department (ED).

Methods And Results: We conducted a retrospective, study of all 1024 patients admitted to our ED with a discharge diagnosis of ADHF from November 2016 to December 2017.

Going beyond classic echo in aortic stenosis: left atrial mechanics, a new marker of severity.

Background: There is limited information regarding left atrial (LA) mechanics in aortic valve stenosis (AS). We assessed LA mechanics in AS through speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) according to severity and prognosis.

Methods: We included 102 patients diagnosed with severe AS (sAS) and 80 patients with moderate AS (mAS), all with preserved ejection fraction and no coronary artery disease.

Left atrial mechanics in moderate mitral valve disease: earlier markers of damage.

While the impairment of left atrial (LA) mechanics in mitral valve disease is well known, the exact onset of reservoir, conduit, and contractile dysfunction in mitral stenosis (MS) and mitral regurgitation (MR) remains unclear. We aimed to clarify the LA deformation mechanics in patients with moderate mitral valve disease. We conducted a prospective observational study of 80 patients with moderate isolated MR, 80 patients with moderate isolated MS, and 64 age-matched controls without mitral valve disease.

Early manifestation of myocardial involvement in systemic sclerosis.

Introduction: Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a systemic autoimmune disease involving multiple organs. We present a rare case of SSc in which clinical manifestations of cardiac fibrosis occurred early in the disease course.

Case Report: We report the case of a 40-year-old Caucasian man, previously diagnosed with SSc, who presented with decompensated heart failure.

Two-dimensional speckle-tracking global longitudinal strain in high-sensitivity troponin-negative low-risk patients with unstable angina: a "resting ischemia test"?

With the introduction of high-sensitivity troponin (hsTNI) assays, the clinical significance unstable angina (UA) has become uncertain. We hypothesized that impaired left ventricular (LV) two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography (2D-STE)-derived peak global longitudinal strain (GLS) was able to exclude the presence of significant coronary artery disease (CAD) in UA patients without prior cardiovascular (CV) events and with a normal LV ejection fraction (LVEF). From a cohort of 200 patients admitted with UA, we selected 61 patients without prior CV events and with a normal LVEF; of these, 48 (79%) underwent invasive coronary angiography (ICA) and 24 (39%) had at least ≥ 1 significant stenosis.