Heart failure in post-MI patients with persistent IRA occlusion: prevalence, risk factors, and the long-term effect of PCI in the Occluded Artery Trial (OAT).

Background: The incidence and predictors of heart failure (HF) after myocardial infarction (MI) with modern post-MI treatment have not been well characterized.

Methods And Results: A total of 2,201 stable patients with persistent infarct-related artery occlusion >24 hours after MI with left ventricular ejection fraction <50% and/or proximal coronary artery occlusion were randomized to percutaneous intervention plus optimal medical therapy (PCI) or optimal medical therapy (MED) alone. Centrally adjudicated HF hospitalizations for New York Heart Association (NYHA) III/IV HF and mortality were determined in patients with and without baseline HF, defined as a history of HF, Killip Class >I at index MI, rales, S3 gallop, NYHA II at randomization, or NYHA >I before index MI.

Angiography and endovascular revascularization of pudendal artery atherosclerotic disease in patients with medically refractory erectile dysfunction.

Purpose: To report a technique for endovascular treatment of pudendal artery stenoses in medically refractory erectile dysfunction.

Case Report: Three men with known peripheral arterial disease and erectile dysfunction that was non-responsive to treatment with phosphodiesterase inhibitors underwent angiography and stent placement of the pudendal artery. Stent placement was performed using standard endovascular techniques.

Uncommon Doppler echocardiographic findings of severe pulmonic insufficiency.

Background: Two-dimensional and Doppler echocardiography are standard methods to assess the severity of pulmonic insufficiency (PI). However, methods to define severity of PI - including the current published guidelines - remain qualitative and unvalidated.

Methods: We reviewed all the electronic reports of echocardiographic studies performed at our institution since the publication of the 2003 American Society of Echocardiography guidelines on native valvular regurgitation.

Cardiac remodeling after substantial weight loss: a prospective cardiac magnetic resonance study after bariatric surgery.

Background: Obesity is a risk factor for left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy and excess cardiovascular disease and mortality. Substantial weight loss is associated with a decrease in cardiovascular mortality. Using volumetric cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging, we studied changes in cardiac anatomy and systolic function in women undergoing substantial weight loss in a university hospital.

Differential impact of age, sex, and hypertension on aortic atherosclerosis: the Framingham Heart Study.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of age, sex, and hypertension (HTN) on aortic atherosclerotic burden using cardiovascular MRI (CMR) in a free-living longitudinally followed cohort.

Methods And Results: 1763 participants (829 M and 934 F; 38 to 88 years of age) of the Framingham Heart Study Offspring cohort underwent CMR of the thoracoabdominal aorta using an ECG-gated 2D T2-weighted black-blood sequence. Of these, 1726 subjects (96%) with interpretable CMR were characterized by sex, age-quartile, and presence or absence of HTN and clinical cardiovascular disease (CVD).