Serial echocardiography using tissue Doppler and speckle tracking imaging to monitor right ventricular failure before and after left ventricular assist device surgery.

Objectives: This study aimed to investigate the utility of serial tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) and speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) for monitoring right ventricular failure (RVF) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) surgery.

Background: RVF post-LVAD is a devastating adverse event.

Methods: The authors prospectively studied 68 patients undergoing elective LVAD surgery.

Characteristics of patients with advanced heart failure having eosinophilic infiltration of the myocardium in the recent era.

Eosinophilic infiltration of the myocardium is occasionally observed as an incidental histological finding in endomyocardial biopsy specimens before heart transplantation (HTx) as well as in explanted heart obtained at the time of HTx. However, the indications for HTx in these patients have not yet been fully established. We investigated the pre-HTx characteristics of the recipients with myocardial eosinophilic infiltration in the explanted heart and diagnosed as hypersensitivity myocarditis (HSM) (21 among 761 recipients, 2.

Outcome of patients having heart transplantation for lymphocytic myocarditis.

Heart transplantation (HT) for myocarditis has been controversial because of earlier reports of a poor prognosis after the procedure. We sought to determine whether lymphocytic myocarditis (LM) at the time of HT affects cardiac allograft rejection and survival after HT compared with other patients without LM in the current era of HT. We retrospectively reviewed 759 consecutive patients who underwent de novo HT at Columbia University Medical Center between 2000 and 2010 and compared prognosis after HT of the patients with pathologically proven LM in their explanted hearts with that of age- and gender-matched patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy (IDC group; n = 96) and with ischemic cardiomyopathy (IC group; n = 64).

Hypersensitivity myocarditis and outcome after heart transplantation.

Background: Hypersensitivity myocarditis (HSM) is associated with the use of multiple drugs and has been occasionally observed in patients awaiting heart transplantation (HTx). However, whether HSM at the time of HTx affects long-term prognosis, including acute cellular rejection (ACR) and antibody-mediated rejection (AMR), after HTx remains unclear.

Methods: Between 2000 and 2010, 759 consecutive patients underwent de novo HTx at Columbia University Medical Center and were retrospectively reviewed.

Usefulness of two-dimensional echocardiographic parameters of the left side of the heart to predict right ventricular failure after left ventricular assist device implantation.

Right ventricular failure (RVF) after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Echocardiography is a primary imaging method in the assessment of cardiac function; however, visualization of the right-sided heart is often technically difficult in patients with heart failure. We aimed to create a simple and generally applicable scoring system based on "left-sided echocardiographic parameters" to provide complementary information for predicting RVF after LVAD surgery.

A case of cardiac sarcoidosis masquerading as arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy awaiting heart transplant.

We report a case of 45-year-old man, who was diagnosed with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy (ARVC) and presented with right ventricular (RV) enlargement with a global decrease in RV contractility accompanied by impairment of left ventricular function. He was placed on the heart transplant waiting list. Endomyocardial biopsy from RV septal wall did not show any evidence of sarcoidosis or inflammatory change.

Strain rate imaging would predict sub-clinical acute rejection in heart transplant recipients.

Objective: Non-invasive diagnosis of rejection is a major objective in the management of heart transplant recipients. The ability of strain rate (SR) imaging on echocardiograms to detect rejection in heart transplant recipients was investigated.

Methods: A total of 396 endomyocardial biopsies, right-heart catheterisation and echocardiograms were performed in 35 heart transplant recipients.