Peak systolic blood pressure during preparticipation exercise testing in 12,083 athletes: age, sex, and workload-indexed values and predictors.

Aim: Assessment of blood pressure during exercise is routine in athletes, but normal values remain equivocal. This study examines the response of systolic blood pressure (SBP) to exercise in a large cohort of athletes and establishes normative values by sex and age.

Methods: Competitive athletes free of cardiovascular disease underwent pre-participation exercise testing on a bicycle ergometer.

Diving Deep into Arrhythmias: Unravelling the Impact of Underwater Environments on Premature Ventricular Complexes in Divers.

This review examines the relationship between the physiological demands of diving and premature ventricular complexes (PVCs) in divers. In the general population, some individuals have a greater tendency to experience PVCs, often without awareness or a clear understanding of the triggering factors. With the increasing availability and popularity of both scuba and apnoea diving, more people, including those with a predisposition to PVCs, are engaging in these activities.

Optimized target delineation procedure for the radiosurgery treatment of ventricular tachycardia: observer-independent accuracy.

Background: Part of the current stereotactic arrythmia radioablation (STAR) workflow is transfer of findings from the electroanatomic mapping (EAM) to computed tomography (CT). Here, we analyzed inter- and intraobserver variation in a modified EAM-CT registration using automatic registration algorithms designed to yield higher robustness.

Materials And Methods: This work is based on data of 10 patients who had previously undergone STAR.

Sarcopenia and adipose tissue evaluation by artificial intelligence predicts the overall survival after TAVI.

Sarcopenia is a serious systemic disease that reduces overall survival. TAVI is selectively performed in patients with severe aortic stenosis who are not indicated for open cardiac surgery due to severe polymorbidity. Artificial intelligence-assisted body composition assessment from available CT scans appears to be a simple tool to stratify these patients into low and high risk based on future estimates of all-cause mortality.

Efficacy and Safety of Stereotactic Radiotherapy in Patients With Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardias: The Czech Experience.

Background: Stereotactic arrhythmia radiotherapy (STAR) has been proposed recently in patients with refractory ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to describe the efficacy and safety of STAR in the Czech Republic.

Methods: VT patients were recruited in 2 expert centers after at least 1 previously failed catheter ablation (CA).

Virtual Reality for Patient Education about Hypertension: A Randomized Pilot Study.

Background: Hypertension challenges arise in part from poor adherence due to inadequate patient education. VR offers immersive learning to improve hypertension knowledge.

Objective: To compare VR education with traditional verbal education to improve hypertension knowledge.

Exercise-Induced Blood Pressure Dynamics: Insights from the General Population and the Athletic Cohort.

Blood pressure (BP) dynamics during graded exercise testing provide important insights into cardiovascular health, particularly in athletes. These measurements, taken during intense physical exertion, complement and often enhance our understanding beyond traditional resting BP measurements. Historically, the challenge has been to distinguish 'normal' from 'exaggerated' BP responses in the athletic environment.

Early ganglion stellate blockade as part of two-step treatment algorithm suppresses electrical storm and need for intubation.

Background: For the treatment of patients with electrical storm (ES), we established a two-step algorithm comprising standard anti-arrhythmic measures and early ultrasound-guided stellate ganglion blockade (SGB). In this single-center study, we evaluated the short-term efficacy of the algorithm and tested the hypothesis that early SGB might prevent the need for intubations.

Methods: Overall, we analyzed data for 70 ES events in 59 patients requiring SGB (mean age 67.

Case Report: Repeated Stereotactic Radiotherapy of Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia: Reasons, Feasibility, and Safety.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been reported as an attractive option for cases of failed catheter ablation of ventricular tachycardia (VT) in structural heart disease. However, even this strategy can fail for various reasons. For the first time, this case series describes three re-do cases of SBRT which were indicated for three different reasons.

Radiation-Induced Changes in Ventricular Myocardium After Stereotactic Body Radiotherapy for Recurrent Ventricular Tachycardia.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has been suggested as a promising therapeutic alternative in cases of failed catheter ablation for recurrent ventricular tachycardias (VTs) in patients with structural heart disease. This case series is the first postmortem immunohistochemical analysis of morphologic changes in the myocardium early and late after SBRT. The present findings are in line with experimental observations on apoptosis followed by fibrosis.

Chronic refractory angina pectoris treated by bilateral stereotactic radiosurgical stellate ganglion ablation: first-in-man case report.

Background: Refractory angina pectoris (AP) significantly impairs quality of life in patients with chronic coronary syndrome. Several minimally invasive methods (coronary sinus reducer, cell therapy, laser or shockwave revascularization, and spinal cord stimulation) or non-invasive methods (external counterpulzation) have been studied. However, their routine clinical use has not been widely implemented.

Real-time measurement of ICD lead motion during stereotactic body radiotherapy of ventricular tachycardia.

Background: Here we aimed to evaluate the respiratory and cardiac-induced motion of a ICD lead used as surrogate in the heart during stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of ventricular tachycardia (VT). Data provides insight regarding motion and motion variations during treatment.

Materials And Methods: We analyzed the log files of surrogate motion during SBRT of ventricular tachycardia performed in 20 patients.

Stereotactic radiosurgery for ablation of ventricular tachycardia.

Aims: Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for ventricular tachycardias (VTs) could be an option after failed catheter ablation. In this study, we analysed the long-term efficacy and toxicity of SBRT applied as a bail-out procedure.

Methods And Results: Patients with structural heart disease and unsuccessful catheter ablations for VTs underwent SBRT.

Results of complex left atrial ablation of long-lasting persistent atrial fibrillation.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to identify variables associated with successful long-term maintenance of sinus rhythm (SR) after a single ablation of long-lasting persistent atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods: Complex left atrial (LA) ablation was performed in 100 patients. Restoration of SR by ablation was the desired procedure endpoint.

Termination of long-lasting persistent versus short-lasting persistent and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation by ablation.

Background: Left atrial (LA) structures for the maintenance of different atrial fibrillation (AF) forms are not uniform. The incidence, electrophysiological patterns, and LA sites of sinus rhythm (SR) restoration during ablation of different AF forms were evaluated.

Methods: One hundred patients with long-lasting persistent AF were retrospectively compared to 35 patients with short-lasting persistent AF and 59 patients with a sustained episode of paroxysmal AF.

Pulmonary vein isolation using segmental versus electroanatomical circumferential ablation for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation: over 3-year results of a prospective randomized study.

Purpose: We tested the hypothesis that electroanatomic pulmonary vein (PV) antra encircling for the PV isolation will improve the outcome in treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF), compared with segmental PV isolation.

Methods: Fifty-four patients underwent segmental PV isolation (group 1) and 56 patients circumferential PV isolation (group 2) for symptomatic PAF in a randomized study.

Results: Following single ablation procedure, at the 48 +/- 8 month follow-up, 30 (56%) and 32 (57%) patients in groups 1 and 2 remained free of arrhythmia (P = 0.

Atrial macroreentry tachycardia in patients without obvious structural heart disease or previous cardiac surgical or catheter intervention: characterization of arrhythmogenic substrates, reentry circuits, and results of catheter ablation.

Introduction: Atrial macroreentry tachycardia (AMRT) in patients without obvious structural heart disease or previous surgical or catheter intervention has not been characterized in detail.

Methods And Results: Electroanatomical mapping and ablation of right or left AMRT were performed in 33 patients. Right atrial central conduction obstacle was formed by an electrically silent area (ESA) in 15 (68%) patients and by a line of double potentials (DPs) in seven (32%) patients.