Tumour necrosis factor-alpha serum level is an independent predictor of medium-term all-cause mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is a suitable treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis and severely increased operative risk. There is need for a better preoperative risk assessment for TAVI candidates.

Aim: To determine whether Tumour necrosis factor-alfa (TNFα) is an independent predictor of survival 500 days after TAVI.

Computed tomography measured epicardial adipose tissue and psoas muscle attenuation: new biomarkers to predict major adverse cardiac events and mortality in patients with heart disease and critically ill patients. Part II: Psoas muscle area and density.

Sarcopenia is a syndrome characterised by loss of skeletal muscle mass, loss of muscle quality, and reduced muscle strength, resulting in low performance. Sarcopenia has been associated with increased mortality and complications after medical interventions. In daily clinical practice, sarcopenia is assessed by clinical assessment of muscle strength and performance tests and muscle mass quantification by dual-energy X-ray absorptio-metry (DXA) or bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA).

Computed tomography measured epicardial adipose tissue and psoas muscle attenuation: new biomarkers to predict major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and mortality in patients with heart disease and critically ill patients. Part I: Epicardial adipose tissue.

Over the last two decades, the potential role of epicardial adipocyte tissue (EAT) as a marker for major adverse cardiovascular events has been extensively studied. Unlike other visceral adipocyte tissues (VAT), EAT is not separated from the adjacent myocardium by a fascial layer and shares the same microcirculation with the myocardium. Adipocytokines, secreted by EAT, interact directly with the myocardium through paracrine and vasocrine pathways.

Left Bundle Branch Area Defibrillator (LBBAD): A First-in-Human Feasibility Study.

Background: Left bundle branch area (LBBA) pacing is a promising pacing technique. LBBA implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) lead implantation reduces the number of leads in patients with both pacing and ICD indications, reducing cost and potentially increasing safety. LBBA positioning of ICD leads has not previously been described.

Lifelong endurance exercise and its relation with coronary atherosclerosis.

Aims: The impact of long-term endurance sport participation (on top of a healthy lifestyle) on coronary atherosclerosis and acute cardiac events remains controversial.

Methods And Results: The Master@Heart study is a well-balanced prospective observational cohort study. Overall, 191 lifelong master endurance athletes, 191 late-onset athletes (endurance sports initiation after 30 years of age), and 176 healthy non-athletes, all male with a low cardiovascular risk profile, were included.

Automated mitral valve assessment for transcatheter mitral valve replacement planning.

Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) has emerged as a minimally invasive alternative for treating patients suffering from mitral valve disease. The number of TMVR procedures is expected to rise as devices currently in clinical trials obtain approval for commercialization. Automating the planning of such interventions becomes, therefore, more relevant in an attempt to decrease inter-subject discrepancies and time spent in patient assessment.

Adiponectin serum level is an independent and incremental predictor of all-cause mortality after transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Background: Quantifiable biomarkers may be useful for a better risk and frailty assessment of patients referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI).

Hypothesis: To determine if adiponectin serum concentration predicts all-cause mortality in patients undergoing TAVI.

Methods: 77 consecutive patients, undergoing TAVI, were analyzed.

Computed tomography measured psoas muscle attenuation predicts mortality after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

Aims: The aim of this study was to determine if computed tomography (CT) psoas muscular attenuation measurements may predict all-cause mortality in patients undergoing TAVI.

Methods: Ninety-four consecutive patients undergoing TAVI were analysed. The CT axial slice at the level of the fourth lumbar vertebra was selected.

Endurance exercise and the risk of cardiovascular pathology in men: a comparison between lifelong and late-onset endurance training and a non-athletic lifestyle - rationale and design of the Master@Heart study, a prospective cohort trial.

Introduction: Low and moderate endurance exercise is associated with better control of cardiovascular risk factors, a decreased risk of coronary artery disease and atrial fibrillation (AF). There is, however, a growing proportion of individuals regularly performing strenuous and prolonged endurance exercise in which the health benefits have been challenged. Higher doses of endurance exercise have been associated with a greater coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden, risk of AF and myocardial fibrosis (MF).

Effect of Mitral Regurgitation on Thrombotic Risk in Patients With Nonrheumatic Atrial Fibrillation: A New CHADS-VASc Score Risk Modifier?

The current study assessed the effect of mitral regurgitation (MR) on thrombotic risk in nonrheumatic atrial fibrillation (AF). AF carries a thrombotic risk related to left atrial blood stasis. The prevalence of atrial thrombosis, defined as the presence of left atrial appendage thrombus and/or left atrial spontaneous echo contrast grade >2, was determined in 686 consecutive nonrheumatic AF patients without (adequate) anticoagulation scheduled for transesophageal echocardiography before electrical cardioversion and was related to the severity of MR adjusted for the CHADS-VASc score.

Evolution of Functional Mitral Regurgitation and Prognosis in Medically Managed Heart Failure Patients With Reduced Ejection Fraction.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess whether medical management may alter the severity of functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) and its prognosis in patients who have heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF).

Background: FMR in patients who have HFrEF is associated with a worse prognosis. It is uncertain to what extent medical management may alter the severity of FMR and its prognosis.

Failed Downregulation of Circulating MicroRNA-155 in the Early Phase after ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction Is Associated with Adverse Left Ventricular Remodeling.

Background: MicroRNA are noncoding RNA that have a significant role in both inflammatory and cardiovascular diseases.

Aims: We aimed to assess whether the inflammation-related microRNA-155 is associated with the development of adverse left ventricular (LV) remodeling following ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Methods: Peripheral blood samples were collected in the inflammatory (day 2), proliferative (day 5), and maturation phases (6 months) after STEMI (n = 20).

CT imaging features of atrioventricular shunts: what the radiologist must know.

Unlabelled: In the last decade, cardiac computed tomography (CT) has gained mainstream acceptance for the noninvasive exclusion of significant coronary disease in a selected population. Improvements in electrocardiogram (ECG)-triggered imaging techniques also allow, by extension, a proper evaluation of the complete heart anatomy. Given the increasing worldwide clinical implementation of cardiac CT for coronary artery evaluation, radiologists can, incidentally, be confronted with unfamiliar and previously unsuspected non-coronary cardiac pathologies, including congenital morphological defects.

Altered expression of monocyte and dendritic cell membrane-associated antigens following coronary angiography.

Introduction: Coronary angiography is able to induce a systemic inflammatory response. We hypothesised that this procedure may affect monocyte and dendritic cell count and membrane-associated antigen expression.

Methods: Blood samples were obtained before and immediately after coronary angiography in twenty patients with stable angina pectoris.

The cellular immune system in the post-myocardial infarction repair process.

Growing evidence indicates that overactivation and prolongation of the inflammatory response after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) result in worse left ventricular remodelling, dysfunction and progression to heart failure. This post-AMI inflammatory response is characterised by the critical involvement of cells from both the innate and adaptive immune systems. In this review paper, we aim to summarise and discuss the emergence of immune cells in the bloodstream and myocardium after AMI in men and mice.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement: postoperative CT findings of Sapien and CoreValve transcatheter heart valves.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement represents one of the most exciting medical technical developments in recent years, offering a much-needed therapeutic alternative for patients with severe aortic valve stenosis who, due to comorbidities and advanced age, are considered to be inoperable or at high surgical risk. The efficacy of this procedure compared with standard surgical intervention has been properly validated in multicenter randomized controlled trials (PARTNER A and B trials), leading to widespread clinical implementation, with over 50,000 procedures currently being performed worldwide each year. Although much of the attention has rightly focused on the potential role of computed tomography (CT) in the preprocedural assessment of the aortic root and the establishment of imaging-guided valve-sizing algorithms, less is known regarding the postprocedural CT characteristics of transcatheter heart valves (THVs).

Preprocedural CT evaluation of transcatheter aortic valve replacement: what the radiologist needs to know.

Aortic valve stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease in the Western world. When symptomatic, aortic valve stenosis is a debilitating disease with a dismal short-term prognosis, invariably leading to heart failure and death. Elective surgical valve replacement has traditionally been considered the standard of care for symptomatic aortic valve stenosis.

Left ventricular twist during dobutamine stress echocardiography after acute myocardial infarction: association with reverse remodeling.

Left ventricular (LV) twist is emerging as a marker of global LV contractility after acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study aimed to describe stress-induced changes in LV twist during dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) after AMI and investigate their association with LV reverse remodeling at 6 months follow-up. In 82 consecutive first AMI patients (61 ± 12 years, 85 % male) treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention, DSE was performed at 3 months follow-up.