Evaluation of the specificity of the 2023 European Society of Cardiology classification for infective endocarditis.

Background: The 2023 Duke-ISCVID and 2023 ESC classifications have recently issued independent diagnostic criteria for infective endocarditis (IE), updating the 2015 ESC criteria.

Objectives: The specificity of the 2023 ESC criteria should be evaluated and compared to the two other classifications in IE suspected patients.

Methods: We retrospectively collected the characteristics of patients hospitalised in Bichat University Hospital, in 2021, who had been evaluated for suspicion of IE, and in whom IE diagnosis was finally rejected.

Multiscale Imaging to Monitor Functional SHED-Supported Engineered Vessels.

Regeneration of orofacial tissues is hampered by the lack of adequate vascular supply. Implantation of in vitro engineered, prevascularized constructs has emerged as a strategy to allow the rapid vascularization of the entire graft. Given the angiogenic properties of dental pulp stem cells, we hereby established a preclinical model of prevascularized constructs loaded with stem cells from human exfoliating deciduous teeth (SHED) in a 3-dimensional-printed material and provided a functional analysis of their in vivo angiogenesis, vascular perfusion, and permeability.

Pulmonary delivery of silver nanoparticles prevents influenza infection by recruiting and activating lymphoid cells.

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) are a potential antiviral agent due to their ability to disrupt the viral particle or alter the virus metabolism inside the host cell. In vitro, AgNPs exhibit antiviral activity against the most common human respiratory viruses. However, their capacity to modulate immune responses during respiratory viral infections has yet to be explored.

Predictors of daytime blood pressure, nighttime blood pressure, and nocturnal dipping in patients with chronic kidney disease.

Increasing attention has recently been paid to discrepancies between office and ambulatory blood pressure (BP) control in patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD), but information on mechanisms underlying circadian BP variations in CKD remains scarce. We described circadian BP patterns and their predictors in patients with CKD stages 1 to 5 referred for kidney function testing in a French tertiary hospital: 1122 ambulatory BP measurements from 635 participants. Factors associated with daytime and nighttime systolic BP (SBP) as well as with nocturnal SBP dipping (ratio of average nighttime to daytime SBP) were analyzed with linear mixed regression models.

Long-term Oral Suppressive Antimicrobial Therapy in Infective Endocarditis (SATIE Study): An Observational Study.

Background: The role of suppressive antimicrobial therapy (SAT) in infective endocarditis (IE) management has yet to be defined. The objective of this study was to describe the use of SAT in an IE referral center and the patients' outcomes.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective observational study in a French IE referral center (Paris).

Evaluation of the Specificity of the 2023 Duke-International Society of Cardiovascular Infectious Diseases Classification for Infective Endocarditis.

Background: The 2023 Duke-ISCVID (International Society of Cardiovascular Infectious Diseases) classification is a new diagnostic tool for infective endocarditis, updating the 2000 modified Duke and the 2015 European Society for Cardiology (ESC) classifications. In comparison, its sensitivity is higher; however, its specificity remains to be evaluated and compared to that of the 2 other classifications in endocarditis suspected patients.

Methods: We retrospectively collected the characteristics of patients hospitalized in Bichat University's Hospital, Paris, in 2021, who had been evaluated for clinical suspicion of endocarditis, have had at least a transthoracic echocardiography, 2 pairs of blood cultures, 3-month follow-up and in whom endocarditis diagnosis was finally rejected.

Detailed clinical, physiological and pathological phenotyping can impact access to disease-modifying treatments in ATTR carriers.

Background: Hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis is a life-threatening autosomal dominant systemic disease due to pathogenic variants (ATTRv), mostly affecting the peripheral nerves and heart. The disease is characterised by a combination of symptoms, organ involvement and histological amyloid deposition. The available disease-modifying ATTRv treatments (DMTs) are more effective if initiated early.

Prognosis and follow-up of patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis treated conservatively in relation to WBC-SPECT imaging.

Background: Our objective was to evaluate in patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) treated conservatively, the prognostic value of white blood cell (WBC) signal intensity on SPECT and to describe the evolution of the WBC signal under antibiotics.

Methods: Patients with PVE treated conservatively and positive WBC-SPECT imaging were identified retrospectively. Signal intensity was classified as intense if equal to or higher, or mild if lower, than the liver signal.

Absence of infective endocarditis relapse when end-of-treatment fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography is negative.

Aims: In non-operated infective endocarditis (IE), relapse may impair the outcome of the disease. The aim of the study was to evaluate the relationship between end-of-treatment (EOT) fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography FDG-PET/CT results and relapse in non-operated IE either on native or prosthetic valve.

Methods And Results: We included 62 patients who underwent an EOT FDG-PET/CT for non-operated IE performed between 30 and 180 days of antibiotic therapy initiation.

FDG PET/CT Imaging of Sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is a multisystemic granulomatous disease of unknown etiology. The diagnostic can be made by histological identification of non-caseous granuloma or by a combination of clinical criteria. Active inflammatory granuloma can lead to fibrotic damage.

Comparison between tafamidis and liver transplantation as first-line therapy for hereditary transthyretin amyloidosis.

Background: By stabilizing transthyretin, tafamidis delays progression of amyloidosis due to transthyretin variant (ATTRv) and replaced liver transplantation (LT) as the first-line therapy. No study compared these two therapeutic strategies.

Methods: In a monocentric retrospective cohort analysis, patients with ATTRv amyloidosis treated with either tafamidis or LT were compared using a propensity score and a competing risk analysis for three endpoints: all-cause mortality, cardiac worsening (heart failure or cardiovascular death) and neurological worsening (worsening in PolyNeuropathy Disability score).

Cost-effectiveness of 82-Rubidium PET myocardial perfusion imaging for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia depending on the prevalence of coronary artery disease.

Background: 82-Rubidium-Positron emission tomography myocardial perfusion imaging (Rb-PET-MPI) offers higher diagnostic performance for the detection of myocardial ischemia compared to Tc-SPECT-MPI. The aim of this economic evaluation was to perform a cost-effectiveness analysis of Rb-PET-MPI versus Tc-SPECT-MPI in patients with suspected myocardial ischemia according to pretest probabilities (PTP) of obstructive coronary artery disease based on the results of the RUBIS Trial.

Methods: Costs and effectiveness were calculated for all patients over 1 year and an incremental analysis of differences in costs and effectiveness in terms of diagnostic accuracy was performed.

Prospective Multicentric Assessment of Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT in Grade 1-2 GEP-NET.

The aim of this multicentric study was to prospectively compare 68Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT versus somatostatin receptor scintigraphy (SRS) with SPECT/CT, combined with multiphasic CT scan and MRI in patients with grade 1 or 2 gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (GEP-NET). Patients with histologically proven grade 1 or 2 GEP-NET with suspicion of recurrence or progression, or with typical aspects of GEP-NET on morphological imaging, were explored with conventional imaging (CI): SRS with SPECT/CT, multiphasic CT scan and/or liver MRI followed by 68Ga-DOTANOC PET/CT. The gold standard was based on histology and imaging follow-up.

Diagnosis and staging of cardiac masses: additional value of CMR with F-FDG-PET compared to CMR with CECT.

Purpose: Characterization of malignant cardiac masses is usually performed with cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) and staging with whole-body contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CECT). In this study, our objective was to evaluate the role of Fluor-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography (F-FDG-PET) with CMR for both characterization and staging of cardiac masses.

Methods: Patients with cardiac masses who underwent CMR, CECT, and F-FDG-PET were retrospectively identified.

Diagnostic performance of White Blood Cell SPECT imaging against intra-operative findings in patients with a suspicion of prosthetic valve endocarditis.

Aim: The objective of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic performance of white blood cells (WBC)-SPECT imaging in patients with suspicion of prosthetic valve endocarditis (PVE) against intra-operative findings.

Methods: 36 consecutive patients who underwent cardiac surgery 30 days after WBC-SPECT imaging were identified retrospectively. Clinical, imaging, and biological results were collected from reports.

Squamous cell carcinoma of the tongue with cardiac metastasis on 18F-FDG PET/CT: A case report and literature review.

Introduction: The most common malignancies metastasizing to the heart are cancers of the lung, breast, mesothelioma, melanoma, leukemia, and lymphoma. Cardiac metastasis from a tongue cancer is a rare finding and only a few cases have been reported previously in the literature. In this case report and literature review, we discuss the main clinical features of patients with cardiac metastases secondary to a tongue cancer and imaging modalities performed, especially the 18F-Fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography (18F-FDG PET/CT).

Comparison of Cr-EDTA and Tc-DTPA for glomerular filtration rate measurement.

Purpose: The production of Cr-labelled ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid (Cr-EDTA), a validated and widely used radio-isotopic tracer for glomerular filtration rate (GFR) measurement in Europe, was recently halted by the manufacturer. Technetium-99m-diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (Tc-DTPA) clearance has so far mostly been restricted to assessment of separate renal function by scintigraphy, but scarcely used and validated for GFR measurement. We compared the performances of Cr-EDTA and Tc-DTPA for GFR and extracellular fluid measurement.