Very long-term survival and late sudden cardiac death in cardiac resynchronization therapy patients.

Aims: The very long-term outcome of patients who survive the first few years after receiving cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) has not been well described thus far. We aimed to provide long-term outcomes, especially with regard to the occurrence of sudden cardiac death (SCD), in CRT patients without (CRT-P) and with defibrillator (CRT-D).

Methods And Results: A total of 1775 patients, with ischaemic or non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy, who were alive 5 years after CRT implantation, were enrolled in this multicentre European observational cohort study.

Role of rivaroxaban in the management of atrial fibrillation: insights from clinical practice.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained cardiac arrhythmia, and it leads to significant morbidity and mortality, predominantly from ischemic stroke. Vitamin K antagonists, mainly warfarin, have been used for decades to prevent ischemic stroke in AF, but their use is limited due to interactions with food and other drugs, as well as the requirement for regular monitoring of the international normalized ratio. Rivaroxaban, a direct factor Xa inhibitor and the most commonly used non-vitamin K oral anticoagulant, avoids many of these challenges and is being prescribed with increasing frequency for stroke prevention in non-valvular AF.

Direct stenting is an independent predictor of improved survival in patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention for ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Aims: Randomised trials have shown that direct stenting (DS) is associated with improved markers of reperfusion during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, data evaluating its impact on long-term clinical outcomes are lacking. We set out to evaluate the effect of DS on mortality in a contemporary population of patients undergoing PPCI for STEMI.