Purpose Of Review: Improvements in ultrasound methods for detecting microbubble ultrasound enhancing agents have led to an increase in the use of perfusion imaging with myocardial contrast echocardiography (MCE). This technique is now beginning to play an important role in specific clinical scenarios, which is the focus of this review.
Recent Findings: MCE was originally conceived as a technique for detecting resting perfusion abnormalities related to ischemia at rest or during stress from coronary artery disease. More recently, MCE has increasingly been used in circumstances where the technique's ability to provide rapid, quantitative, or bedside assessment of perfusion is advantageous. Quantitative MCE is also increasingly being used as a research technique for evaluating pathobiology and therapy that involve changes in the myocardial microcirculation. While MCE was developed and validated decades ago, it is only now beginning to be used by an increasing number of clinicians due to improvements in imaging technology and recognition of specific situations where the technique is impactful.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11886-023-01970-y | DOI Listing |
Epilepsia
March 2025
University of California San Francisco Weill Institute for Neurosciences, Benioff Children's Hospital, San Francisco, California, USA.
Objective: We analyzed the long-term safety and effectiveness of fenfluramine (FFA) in patients with Dravet syndrome (DS) in an open-label extension (OLE) study after participating in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) or commencing FFA de novo as adults.
Methods: Patients with DS who participated in one of three RCTs or were 19 to 35 years of age and started FFA de novo were included. Key endpoints were: incidence of treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) in the safety population, and median percentage change in monthly convulsive seizure frequency (MCSF) from the RCT baseline to end of study (EOS) in the modified intent-to-treat (mITT) population.
Ann Noninvasive Electrocardiol
March 2025
Department of Cardiology, Tokat Gaziosmanpasa University Hospital, Tokat, Turkey.
Introduction: Various ventricular repolarization parameters are known to predict ventricular arrhythmias and mortality in various diseases. Although mortality in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is similar to that in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction patients, studies on this subject are more limited. Therefore, it is important to evaluate the relationship between ventricular arrhythmias and mortality and ventricular repolarization parameters, especially the frontal plane QRS-T angle, in patients with HFpEF.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFJACC Case Rep
January 2025
Division of Cardiology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, USA. Electronic address:
Background: Although rare, embolization of left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) devices carries a significant morbidity and mortality burden.
Case Summary: An asymptomatic 77-year-old woman with inability to tolerate anticoagulation due to gastrointestinal bleeding presented for 45-day transesophageal echocardiography following LAAO with a Watchman device, which demonstrated incidental device migration to the left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT). Percutaneous extraction was performed using a novel technique with rat tooth/alligator forceps to successfully retrieve the Watchman from the LVOT using a transaortic approach.
Circulation
March 2025
Institute of Experimental and Clinical Research (IREC), Pharmacology and Therapeutics (FATH), Cliniques Universitaires St. Luc and Université catholique de Louvain, Brussels, Belgium (L.Y.M.M., H.E., D.d.M., R.V., N.F., J.-L.B.).
Background: Cardiac β3-adrenergic receptors (ARs) are upregulated in diseased hearts and mediate antithetic effects to those of β1AR and β2AR. β3AR agonists were recently shown to protect against myocardial remodeling in preclinical studies and to improve systolic function in patients with severe heart failure. However, the underlying mechanisms remain elusive.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Public Health
March 2025
Orthopedics, Second Affiliated Hospital of Kunming Medical University, Kunming, China.
Objective: To investigate the prevalence of scoliosis and congenital heart disease (CHD) in the same area and to explore the relationship between them according to a joint school screening.
Methods: All students aged 6-15 years in 20 schools in Jinghong City, Yunnan Province, China was screened for scoliosis and CHD. Scoliosis screening completed through the Adam's forward bending test with scoliometer measurement, and CHD screening completed through auscultation combined with portable echocardiography (ECHO).
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