2024 European Heart Rhythm Association/Heart Rhythm Society/Asia Pacific Heart Rhythm Society/Latin American Heart Rhythm Society expert consensus statement on catheter and surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation.

In the last three decades, ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF) has become an evidence-based safe and efficacious treatment for managing the most common cardiac arrhythmia. In 2007, the first joint expert consensus document was issued, guiding healthcare professionals involved in catheter or surgical AF ablation. Mounting research evidence and technological advances have resulted in a rapidly changing landscape in the field of catheter and surgical AF ablation, thus stressing the need for regularly updated versions of this partnership which were issued in 2012 and 2017.

Midterm survival, clinical, and hemodynamic outcomes of a novel mechanical mitral valve prosthesis.

Objective: To evaluate the midterm survival, clinical, and hemodynamic outcomes of the On-X mechanical mitral valve, based on the 5-year results of the Prospective Randomized On-X Anticoagulation Clinical Trial (PROACT).

Method: PROACT Mitral was a multicenter study evaluating 401 patients who underwent mitral valve replacement (MVR) with either Standard or Conform-X On-X mitral valves, comparing low-dose and standard-dose warfarin. Here we report prespecified secondary outcomes of survival, New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional classification, and valve hemodynamics as assessed by core lab-adjudicated echocardiography at 1, 3, and 5 years in the pooled population.

Impact of transcatheter aortic valve replacement use ratio on outcomes in patients with aortic valve disease.

Objective: Use of the Heart Team has been the standard of care for the treatment of aortic valve disease; however, its efficacy has not been evaluated. We sought to analyze its impact using the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) use ratio (number of TAVR/total aortic valve replacement [AVR] volume) on TAVR, surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR), and overall AVR outcomes.

Methods: We analyzed all TAVRs and SAVRs sampled by the National Readmissions Database between 2016 and 2020.

Memory complaints after COVID-19: a potential indicator of primary cognitive impairment or a correlate of psychiatric symptoms?

Cognitive impairment and symptoms of psychiatric disorders have been reported frequently as features of post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection. This study aims to investigate subjective memory complaints in COVID-19 survivors and determine if these are more strongly associated with objective cognitive impairment related to sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection or with symptoms of psychiatric conditions. A total of 608 COVID-19 survivors were evaluated in-person 6-11 months after hospitalization, with 377 patients assigned to a "no subjective memory complaint (SMC)" group and 231 patients assigned to an SMC group based on their Memory Complaint Scale scores.