Background: Catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias, one of the most rapidly growing procedures in cardiac electrophysiology, is associated with magnetic resonance imaging-detected brain lesions in more than half of cases. Although a retrograde aortic approach is conventional, modern tools enable entry through a transseptal approach that may avoid embolization of debris from the arterial system. We sought to test the hypothesis that a transseptal puncture would mitigate brain injury compared with a retrograde aortic approach.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAtlas Oral Maxillofac Surg Clin North Am
March 2025
Background: The SPHERE Per-AF trial demonstrated noninferiority for a primary composite effectiveness endpoint in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with a 9-mm, lattice-tip, pulsed field (PF)/radiofrequency (RF) system (74%) vs conventional contact force-sensing RF (65%). Although operators were highly experienced with the control, the vast majority was new to the investigational system.
Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the learning curve using this novel system.
Card Electrophysiol Clin
March 2025
Atrioventricular nodal ablation (AVNA) represents a critical intervention in the management of refractory atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure (HF). When combined with biventricular pacing or conduction system pacing, particularly His bundle pacing and left bundle branch area pacing, this strategy offers distinct and complementary benefits. While each pacing modality presents unique advantages and potential limitations, their combination with AVNA offers a comprehensive and individualized treatment strategy for addressing associated HF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWestern Pac Surveill Response J
December 2024
Objective: Cambodia is one of seven countries globally that met Millennium Development Goal 5A: reduction of maternal deaths by at least 75% between 1990 and 2015. The maternal death audit (MDA) was instituted in 2004 to support the improvement of maternal care. We evaluated progress in MDA implementation and maternal health services in Cambodia between 2010 and 2017.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImplantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) are recommended to reduce the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) in patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). The landmark studies leading to the current guideline recommendations preceded the 4 pillars of guideline-directed medical therapies (GDMTs). Therefore, some have questioned the role of ICDs for primary prevention in current clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlast Reconstr Surg Glob Open
August 2024
Background: It is increasingly apparent that plastic surgery residency applications with lengthy research publications are the new standard in applicant competitiveness. This study aims to evaluate the research history of plastic surgery program faculty leadership to understand the trends and evolution of research expectations.
Methods: The curriculum vitaes of faculty involved in residency admissions among all US Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education-accredited integrated and independent plastic surgery programs were reviewed.
Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is a guideline-recommended therapy in patients with heart failure with mildly reduced ejection fraction (HFmrEF, 36%-50%) and left bundle branch block or indication for ventricular pacing. Conduction system pacing (CSP) using left bundle branch area pacing or His bundle pacing has been shown to be a safe and physiologic alternative to biventricular pacing (BVP).
Objective: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical outcomes between BVP and CSP for patients with HFmrEF undergoing CRT.
The gut microbiota of infants in low- to middle-income countries is underrepresented in microbiome research. This study explored the faecal microbiota composition and faecal cytokine profiles in a cohort of infants in a rural province of Cambodia and investigated the impact of sample storage conditions and infant environment on microbiota composition. Faecal samples collected at three time points from 32 infants were analysed for microbiota composition using 16S rRNA amplicon sequencing and concentrations of faecal cytokines.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: The impact of varying rates of pacemapping (PM) rates on QRS morphology and PM score matching in patients with scar-related ventricular tachycardia (VT) has not been systematically assessed.
Objectives: In this study, the authors sought to assess the variability in PM score matching at different pacing rates.
Methods: During substrate mapping for VT ablation, PM was performed at cycle lengths (CLs) of 600 ms, 500 ms, 400 ms, 300 ms, and VT CL.
Background: There is a paucity of data comparing conduction system pacing (CSP) to biventricular pacing (BiVP) in patients with heart failure (HF) with mid-range left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF).
Objective: Compare the clinical outcomes of patients with mid-range LVEF undergoing CSP versus BiVP.
Methods: Patients with mid-range LVEF (> 35 to 50%) undergoing CSP or BiVP were retrospectively identified.
Radiol Cardiothorac Imaging
June 2024
Purpose To examine the clinical effect of lead length and lead orientation in patients with cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIEDs) and lead fragments or abandoned leads undergoing 1.5-T MRI. Materials and Methods This Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act-compliant retrospective study included patients with CIEDs and abandoned leads or lead fragments undergoing 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Pericardiocentesis is usually completed under fluoroscopy. The electroanatomic mapping (EAM) system allows visualizing puncture needle tip (NT) while displaying the electrogram recorded from NT, making it possible to obtain epicardial access (EA) independent of fluoroscopy. This study was designed to establish and validate a technique by which EA is obtained under guidance of three-dimensional (3D) EAM combined with NT electrogram.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Studies of VT mechanisms are largely based on a 2D portrait of reentrant circuits on one surface of the heart. This oversimplifies the 3D circuit that involves the depth of the myocardium. Simultaneous epicardial and endocardial (epi-endo) mapping was shown to facilitate a 3D delineation of VT circuits, which is however difficult via invasive mapping.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There has been recent growing interest in the use of conduction system pacing (CSP) for both bradycardia and heart failure indications. There remains a paucity of data, however, regarding complications related to the intraventricular septum associated with CSP implant and the management of these events.
Case Summary: We present a case of a patient with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy presenting for cardiac resynchronization therapy in whom left bundle branch area pacing was complicated with interventricular septal perforation and managed intra-procedurally with repositioning of the lead to provide His bundle pacing (HBP) for QRS correction of underlying left bundle branch block.