MIC trends of vancomycin and teicoplanin among methicillin resistant CoNS isolates from new born blood cultures in a tertiary care centre in Southern India.

Background And Objectives: Coagulase-negative-Staphylococci (CoNS) are important etiological agent of bacteraemia in newborn babies. Methicillin resistant CoNS infections have only limited treatment options. The antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of Methicillin Resistant CoNS isolates from newborn blood cultures was studied with special reference to MICs of Vancomycin and Teicoplanin.

Assessment of three-dimensional (3-D) left ventricular ejection fraction and speckled tracking echocardiographic strain parameters in non-ischemic left bundle branch block (LBBB) patients and their association with cardiovascular events - A prospective observational study.

Objective: To investigate the association between three-dimensional (3-D) left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and various speckle tracking echocardiographic (STE) strain parameters in non-ischemic left bundle branch block (LBBB) patients with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) during a one-year follow-up phase.

Method: A total of 50 patients with non-ischemic LBBB were assessed using various parameters of 3-D echocardiography. They were compared with their same-age and sex control group and then followed up with repeat 3-D echocardiography for MACE for one year.

Cause-Specific Mortality in Patients With Advanced Chronic Kidney Disease in the ISCHEMIA-CKD Trial.

Background: In ISCHEMIA-CKD, 777 patients with advanced chronic kidney disease and chronic coronary disease had similar all-cause mortality with either an initial invasive or conservative strategy (27.2% vs 27.8%, respectively).

Clinical profile and one-year outcomes of patients with mural infective endocarditis: - A tertiary care centre study based on data from a seven-year registry.

Background: Infective endocarditis patients present very rarely with vegetations on the mural endocardium. Only very few studies are available comparing Mural infective endocarditis with commoner valvular or device related infective endocarditis.

Aim: To analyse the clinical features, microbiological profile and clinical course of mural endocarditis in comparison to valvular endocarditis.

Strain patterns in primary mitral regurgitation due to rheumatic heart disease and mitral valve prolapse.

Objective: Left atrial (LA) and left ventricular (LV) remodelling are the adaptive changes that occur in primary mitral regurgitation (MR) and are related to its clinical outcomes. Despite the pathophysiological differences in MR in rheumatic heart disease (RHD) and mitral valve prolapse (MVP), whether the pattern of LV and LA remodelling is different between the two conditions remains unknown. Hence, we compared the LA and LV strain pattern in MR due to RHD, the predominant etiology in developing countries topatients with MVP and age and sex-matched controls.

One-year clinical outcome of patients with nonvalvular atrial fibrillation: Insights from KERALA-AF registry.

Background: We report patient characteristics, treatment pattern and one-year clinical outcome of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) from Kerala, India. This cohort forms part of Kerala Atrial Fibrillation (KERALA-AF) registry which is an ongoing large prospective study.

Methods: KERALA-AF registry collected data of adults with previously or newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) during April 2016 to April 2017.

Prevalence and One-year Outcome of Carotid Sinus Hypersensitivity in Unexplained Syncope: A Prospective Cohort Study from South India.

Background: Carotid sinus syndrome accounts for one third of patients who presents with unexplained syncope. Prevalence of carotid sinus hypersensitivity (CSH) in Indians has not been studied till now.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence and associations of CSH in symptomatic patients above 50 years and to study its prognostic significance pertaining to sudden cardiac death, syncope, recurrent pre syncope and falls on 1 year follow up.

One-year clinical outcome of percutaneous coronary intervention with very long (≥ 40mm) drug-eluting stent.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the clinical outcome of patients with diffuse coronary lesions treated with very long drug-eluting coronary stents (DES) (≥ 40mm) over a period of one year.

Methods: This single-center prospective study enrolled a total of 343 consecutive patients (376 long stents) who underwent percutaneous coronary stent implantation with very long DES. One year clinical outcomes were analyzed.

Prevalence and prognostic significance of left ventricular myocardial late gadolinium enhancement in severe aortic stenosis.

Background: Myocardial fibrosis occurs in aortic stenosis (AS) as part of the hypertrophic response. It can be detected by LGE, which is associated with an adverse prognosis in the form of increased mortality and morbidity.

Objectives: To assess the prevalence of LGE patterns using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in severe AS patients and to study its prognostic significance.

Use of troponin assay 99th percentile as the decision level for myocardial infarction diagnosis.

Background: The Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction recommends the 99th percentile concentration of cardiac troponin in a normal reference population as part of the decision threshold to diagnose type 1 spontaneous myocardial infarction. Adoption of this recommendation in contemporary worldwide practice is not well known.

Methods: We performed a cohort study of 276 hospital laboratories in 31 countries participating in the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-sponsored International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches trial.

Demographical and clinicopathological characteristics in heart failure and outcome predictors: a prospective, observational study.

Aims: The aims of the study were to study the demographical and clinicopathological characteristics of patients presenting with heart failure and evaluate the 1 year outcomes and to identify risk predictors if any.

Methods And Results: A prospective observational study was conducted in consecutive patients of systolic heart failure. The study was divided into two parts-an initial 6 month enrolment phase followed up for 1 year for major adverse cardiovascular events.

Functional tricuspid stenosis: a rare presentation of suspected rhabdomyoma as congenital cyanotic heart disease.

Cardiac tumours in newborns are often asymptomatic and can be sporadically detected on routine screening unless they result in intractable arrhythmias or haemodynamically significant obstructions causing heart failure. Their presentation as a cause of congenital cyanosis is never anticipated. We report a rare case of a newborn presenting with congenital cyanosis consequent to suspected cardiac rhabdomyoma causing tricuspid inflow obstruction.

Effect of balloon mitral valvotomy on left ventricular function in rheumatic mitral stenosis.

Aim: Mitral stenosis (MS) is found to produce left ventricular (LV) dysfunction in some studies. We sought to study the left ventricular function in patients with rheumatic MS undergoing balloon mitral valvotomy (BMV). Ours is the first study to analyze effect of BMV on mitral annular plane systolic excursion (MAPSE), and to quantify prevalence of longitudinal left ventricular dysfunction in rheumatic MS.

A case of recent myocardial infarction with cardiac failure.

Clinical Introduction: A 50-year-old hypertensive smoker presented with a typical angina of 2 days duration. An urgent ECG revealed extensive anterior wall myocardial infarction. In view of the delayed presentation, the patient was conservatively managed with heparin.

Bilateral variant origin of subclavian artery branches.

Subclavian artery branching patterns have been studied in cadaveric series and frequencies of the many variations have been documented. However, such variations have been seldom noticed antemortem. Here, we present the case of a very rare type of bilaterally different branching pattern of the subclavian artery.

A comparative study of ivabradine and atenolol in patients with moderate mitral stenosis in sinus rhythm.

Background: Beta-blockers are frequently used in patients with mitral stenosis to control the heart rate and alleviate exercise-related symptoms. The objective of our study was to examine whether ivabradine was superior to atenolol for achieving higher exercise capacity in patients with moderate mitral stenosis in sinus rhythm. We also evaluated their effects on left ventricular myocardial performance index (MPI).

Study on correlation of obesity with short-term prognosis in acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Obese patients with established coronary artery disease have reduced mortality compared to normal or low body mass index (BMI) patients. The reason for the relation is not yet clearly understood. We sought to evaluate the association of BMI and waist circumference (WC) at the time of presentation in patients with myocardial infarction (MI) with one-year adverse cardiac events.

Correlation of pulmonary capillary wedge pressure with left atrial pressure in patients with mitral stenosis undergoing balloon valvotomy.

Aims: We sought to evaluate the correlation between PCWP and LAP and to compare transmitral gradients obtained with LAP and PCWP in MS, before and after balloon mitral valvotomy (BMV).

Methods: Consecutive patients with MS for BMV were included in this prospective cohort study. Simultaneous PCWP and LAP were recorded followed by simultaneous left atrium-left ventricular (LA-LV) and pulmonary capillary wedge pressure-left ventricular (PCWP-LV) gradients before and after BMV.

Device closure of pulmonary arteriovenous malformation using Amplatzer vascular plug II in hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia.

Pulmonary arteriovenous malformations (AVM) are very rare and carry the risk of cerebral thrombo-embolism, brain abscess or pulmonary hemorrhage. The Amplatzer vascular plug II (AVP II) is a new device, used for embolization of the pulmonary AVMs. We report a case of pulmonary AVM successfully managed by using AVP II in a patient with hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT).

Aortic root abscess presenting as alternating bundle branch block: Infective endocarditis of bicuspid aortic valve.

Bicuspid aortic valve is the most common congenital cardiac malformation, affecting 1%-2% of the population. Among various complications, incidence of infective endocarditis (IE) in the bicuspid aortic valve population is high with higher rate of periannular extension resulting in conduction disturbances. Here we are reporting a rare case of infective endocarditis of bicuspid aortic valve presented with alternating bundle branch block.

Prognostic significance of coronary sinus filling time in patients with angina and normal coronaries at one year follow up.

Background: Coronary sinus filling time (CSFT) has been proposed as a simple method for assessment of coronary microvascular function in patients with angina and normal coronaries. But its correlation with inducible ischemia and prognostic significance in predicting future cardiovascular events has not been studied. The present study assessed the prognostic significance of CSFT during one year of follow up.