Long-term Survival Following Heart Transplantation for Chagas Versus Non-Chagas Cardiomyopathy: A Single-center Experience in Northeastern Brazil Over 2 Decades.

Unlabelled: Data on post-heart transplant (HT) survival of patients with Chagas cardiomyopathy (CC) are scarce. We sought to evaluate post-HT survival in patients with CC as compared with other causes of heart failure across different eras of HT.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective, cohort study of 376 adult HT recipients between October 1997 and November 2019.

Successful New Generation LAA Closure Device Implantation After Prior Incomplete Surgical LAA Ligation.

We present a case of percutaneous closure of a prior incomplete surgical left atrial appendage (LAA) ligation after a failed closure attempt using the first-generation Watchman device. The new generation Watchman FLX device (Boston Scientific) was implanted in this technically and anatomically challenging LAA patient using multimodality fusion imaging. ().

Aspiration thrombectomy in ST-Elevation myocardial infarction: Further insights from a network meta-analysis of randomized trials.

Background: The initial enthusiasm for thrombectomy during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients has given way to restraint. There has been some limited interest whether it is beneficial in a few selected subgroups. Hence, we performed a network meta-analysis to compare conventional PCI (cPCI), Aspiration or manual thrombectomy (AT) and Mechanical thrombectomy (McT) for clarification.

Hinge point-based annular plane with abnormal aortic cusps in transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

A virtual aortic annular plane that is built using the three hinge points, known as the hinge point-based annular plane (HPAP), is routinely used during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Abnormal aortic cusps (AAC) with unequal length and size influence the relationship of the HPAP to the aortic root axis significantly and pose challenges to valve deployment, leading to paravalvular leak and valve embolisation. Obtaining a centreline-based aortic annular plane in addition may help to understand valve deployment behaviour in AAC better.

Revisiting Femoral vs. Radial access-do vascular closure devices level the playing field?

Previous large randomized multicenter trials have shown superiority of radial to femoral access in reducing major bleeding, vascular complications, and in some cohorts, mortality Vascular closure devices improve time to hemostasis and ambulation, as well as patient comfort, but have not been shown to reduce major complications or mortality consistently in the high level evidence base. The combination of optimal femoral access and closure with a vascular closure device has the potential to narrow the gap between the radial and femoral approaches in high risk patients, but unfortunately this study was too limited to confirm either non-inferiority or equivalence.