Percutaneous Intramyocardial Septal Radiofrequency Ablation Relieving Residual Left Ventricular Outflow Tract Obstruction Following Alcohol Septal Ablation.

PIMSRA offers a less invasive option to treat residual LVOTO after ASA. Multimodality imaging is necessary to guide this procedure. Myocardial contrast echocardiography can be used to confirm successful PIMSRA.

The first two cases of transcatheter mitral valve repair with ARTO system in Asia.

Background: MAVERIC (Mitral Valve Repair Clinical Trial) validates the safety and efficacy of the ARTO system. We here report the first two successful cases of utilizing the ARTO system in patients with symptomatic heart failure (HF) with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) in Asia.

Methods: Two patients, aged 70 and 63, had severe HF with FMR.

Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve implantation in patients with a severe stenotic bicuspid aortic valve in a Chinese population.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with a severe stenotic bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) in a Chinese population. While several groups have reported the feasibility, efficacy, and safety of TAVI for patients with a BAV, worldwide experience of the technique is still limited, especially in China.

Methods: From March 2013 to November 2014, high surgical risk or inoperable patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) who had undergone TAVI at our institution were selected for inclusion in our study.

[Aortic elastic properties and its clinical significance in intracranial aneurysms].

Objective: To investigate the aortic elastic properties and its clinical significance in intracranial aneurysms (IAs).

Methods: One hundred and seven IAs patients (57 with hypertension) and 108 healthy subjects were recruited. The internal aortic diameters in systole and diastole were measured by the M-mode echocardiography, the aortic elasticity indexes were calculated and compared.

Relation of uric acid levels to aortic root dilatation in hypertensive patients with and without metabolic syndrome.

Objective: Uric acid (UA) is considered to be a powerful predictor of cardiovascular risk and hyperuricemia might be involved in the metabolic syndrome (MS). This study aims to investigate the relation between UA levels and aortic root dilatation.

Methods: A total of 348 hypertensive patients [age (67.

Aortic root dilatation is associated with carotid intima-media thickness but not with carotid plaque in hypertensive men.

Background: The role of atherosclerosis-related processes in aortic root dilatation (ARD) has not been fully determined. The present study was to assess the relationship between carotid IMT, carotid plaque, and ARD.

Methods: Hypertensive men with ARD (n = 30) were compared with hypertensive men without ARD (n = 52) and normal control subjects (n = 29).

Giant left atrial thrombus associated with ablation for atrial tachycardia.

We report a very rare case of giant left atrial thrombus (size: 7.2 x 4.5 mm(2)) associated with radiofrequency catheter ablation for atrial tachycardia in a 72-year-old man.

Tissue Doppler imaging study of right ventricular myocardial systolic activation in subjects with pulmonary arterial hypertension.

Background: Tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) has provided an objective means to quantify global and regional left ventricular (LV) and right ventricular (RV) function with improved accuracy and greater reproducibility than conventional echocardiography. This study was conducted to assess RV myocardial systolic activation by TDI in subjects with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH).

Methods: A total of 30 patients with PAH and 30 healthy volunteers, all comparable in age and sex, underwent standard Doppler echo and TDI.

[Relationship between right ventricular mechanical delay and right ventricular systolic function in patients with pulmonary hypertension].

Objective: To investigate the relationship between right ventricular (RV) mechanical delay and RV dysfunction in patients with pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods: A total of 51 patients with PH were divided into mild, moderate and high PH groups and 30 healthy volunteers served as control group. RV mechanical delay (defined as the difference in time to peak systolic annular velocity between the RV free wall and the ventricular septum) and RV fractional area change were obtained on apical four chamber view with Quantitive Tissue Velocity Imaging (QTVI).