Strategies to Improve Clinical Outcomes of Women with Cardiogenic Shock.

Women with cardiogenic shock have a higher risk of mortality compared with men. There is an increasing need to identify existing barriers to care and formulate tailored strategies to improve outcomes in women.

Outcomes of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement With and Without Index Chronic Total Occlusion of Coronary Artery: A Propensity Matched Analysis.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) utilization is increasing, along with procedural success. Coronary angiography is frequently performed before the TAVR procedure for coronary artery disease workup. Chronic total occlusion (CTO) of the coronary artery shares common risk factors with aortic stenosis and could be challenging, especially in terms of procedural safety.

Women in cardiovascular imaging: a call for action to address ongoing challenges.

Aims: The EACVI Scientific Initiatives Committee and the EACVI women's taskforce conducted a global survey to evaluate the barriers faced by women in cardiovascular imaging (WICVi).

Methods And Results: In a prospective international survey, we assessed the barriers faced at work by WICVi. Three hundred fourteen participants from 53 countries responded.

Outcomes of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction-Propensity Matched Regression Analysis.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is indicated in complex interventions. There is a paucity of evidence for outcomes with large studies on using IVUS during PCI in non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Our objective was to compare the in-hospital outcome of IVUS-guided with that of nonguided PCI among NSTEMI hospitalizations.

Best Practices for Cardiac Catheterization Laboratory Morbidity and Mortality Conferences.

Cardiac catheterization laboratory (CCL) morbidity and mortality conferences (MMCs) are a critical component of CCL quality improvement programs and are important for the education of cardiology trainees and the lifelong learning of CCL physicians and team members. Despite their fundamental role in the functioning of the CCL, no consensus exists on how CCL MMCs should identify and select cases for review, how they should be conducted, and how results should be used to improve CCL quality. In addition, medicolegal ramifications of CCL MMCs are not well understood.

International consensus statement on challenges for women in cardiovascular practice and research in the COVID-19 era.

The challenges to academic and professional development and career advancement of women in cardiology (WIC), imposed by the pandemic, not only impinge the female cardiologists' "leaky pipeline" but also make the "leakiness" more obvious. This consensus document aims to highlight the pandemic challenges WIC face, raise awareness of the gender equity gap, and propose mitigating actionable solutions derived from the data and experiences of an international group of female cardiovascular clinicians and researchers. This changing landscape has led to the need for highly specialized cardiologists who may have additional training in critical care, imaging, advanced heart failure, or interventional cardiology.

Identifying opportunities to advance health equity in interventional cardiology: Structural heart disease.

Health care practices are influenced by variety of factors. These factors that include social determinants, race and ethnicity, and gender not only affect access to health care but can also affect quality of care and patient outcomes. These are a source of health care disparities.

How the COVID-19 Pandemic Has Affected Cardiology Fellow Training.

With the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, resources have been reallocated and elective cases have been deferred to minimize the spread of the disease, altering the workflow of cardiac catheterization laboratories across the country. This has in turn affected the training experience of cardiology fellows, including diminished procedure numbers and a narrow breadth of cases as they approach the end of their training before joining independent practice. It has also taken a toll on the emotional well-being of fellows as they see their colleagues, loved ones, patients or even themselves struggling with COVID-19, with some succumbing to it.

Should Interventional Cardiologists Super-Subspecialize?: Moving From Patient Selection to Operator Selection.

The field of interventional cardiology has expanded rapidly. As a result, four evolving areas have evolved - peripheral vascular interventions, structural heart interventions, adult congenital heart intervention, and chronic total occlusion. The complexity of these procedures and the number of devices available has grown rapidly.

Triage considerations for patients referred for structural heart disease intervention during the COVID-19 pandemic: An ACC/SCAI position statement.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has strained health care resources around the world, causing many institutions to curtail or stop elective procedures. This has resulted in an inability to care for patients with valvular and structural heart disease in a timely fashion, potentially placing these patients at increased risk for adverse cardiovascular complications, including CHF and death. The effective triage of these patients has become challenging in the current environment, as clinicians have had to weigh the risk of bringing susceptible patients into the hospital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic against the risk of delaying a needed procedure.

Triage Considerations for Patients Referred for Structural Heart Disease Intervention During the COVID-19 Pandemic: An ACC/SCAI Position Statement.

The coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has strained health care resources around the world, causing many institutions to curtail or stop elective procedures. This has resulted in an inability to care for patients with valvular and structural heart disease in a timely fashion, potentially placing these patients at increased risk for adverse cardiovascular complications, including CHF and death. The effective triage of these patients has become challenging in the current environment as clinicians have had to weigh the risk of bringing susceptible patients into the hospital environment during the COVID-19 pandemic against the risk of delaying a needed procedure.

Aortofemoral Bypass Graft Access for Impella Placement.

Left ventricular support with Impella requires a large-bore sheath. Alternate access sites have often been required in patients with severe peripheral artery disease. This paper reports the first case in which an aortofemoral bypass graft for Impella access was used in a patient without other alternatives and the method of access closure.

Dynamic Systolic Compression of the Left Anterior Descending Coronary Artery as the First Clue of Postinfarction Left Ventricular Pseudoaneurysm.

Left ventricular pseudoaneurysm and left ventricular free wall rupture are rare but life-threatening complications of acute myocardial infarction. Dynamic systolic compression of the coronary arteries is almost always due to myocardial bridging. However, it has rarely been described in patients with ventricular aneurysms and pseudoaneurysms.

The role of clinic blood pressure for the diagnosis of hypertension.

Purpose Of Review: Recent data from randomized clinical trials and updates to hypertension guidelines warrant a review of the literature for the diagnosis and management of hypertension in the clinic setting. Although there have been significant advances in ambulatory blood pressure (BP) monitoring and home BP monitoring, office BP (OBP) measurements remains the primary means of diagnosis and treatment.

Recent Findings: The current review focuses on updated guidelines, proper technique, device selection, and the recent controversy regarding unattended BP measurements.

Impact of atrial fibrillation on outcomes with motor vehicle accidents.

Background: We examined the effect of AF a commonly encountered arrhythmia with significant morbidity on mortality following a motor vehicle accident (MVA) related hospitalization.

Methods: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) was queried to identify patients with AF (ICD-9 CM 427.31) and MVA (ICD-9 CM E810.

Temporal Trends, Predictors, and Outcomes of In-Hospital Gastrointestinal Bleeding Associated With Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Since the introduction of new antiplatelet and anticoagulant agents in the last decade, large-scale data studying gastrointestinal bleeding (GIB) in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are lacking. Using the Nationwide Inpatient Sample, we identified all hospitalizations from 2006 to 2012 that required PCI. Temporal trends in the incidence and multivariate predictors of GIB associated with PCI were analyzed.

Clinical Application of Fractional Flow Reserve-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Stable Coronary Artery Disease.

Revascularization in stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) is indicated in patients on optimal medical therapy with angina and/or demonstrable ischemia and a significant stenosis in one or more epicardial coronary arteries. Angiography alone, however, cannot accurately determine the hemodynamic significance of coronary lesions, particularly those of intermediate stenosis severity. A lesion may appear significant on coronary angiogram but may not have functional significance.

Prognostic impact of atrial fibrillation on clinical outcomes of acute coronary syndromes, heart failure and chronic kidney disease.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common type of sustained arrhythmia, which is now on course to reach epidemic proportions in the elderly population. AF is a commonly encountered comorbidity in patients with cardiac and major non-cardiac diseases. Morbidity and mortality associated with AF makes it a major healthcare burden.