Digital wound monitoring with artificial intelligence to prioritise surgical wounds in cardiac surgery patients for priority or standard review: protocol for a randomised feasibility trial (WISDOM).

Introduction: Digital surgical wound monitoring for patients at home is becoming an increasingly common method of wound follow-up. This regular monitoring improves patient outcomes by detecting wound complications early and enabling treatment to start before complications worsen. However, reviewing the digital data creates a new and additional workload for staff.

Surgical skill simulation training to proficiency reduces procedural errors among novice cardiac device implanters: a randomized study.

Aims: In cardiac device implantation, having both surgical skills and ability to manipulate catheter/lead/wire is crucial. Few cardiologists, however, receive formal surgical training prior to implanting. Skills are mostly acquired directly on-the-job and surgical technique varies across institutions; suboptimal approaches may increase complications.

Free fatty acids and mortality among adults in the United States: a report from US National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES).

Background: The relationship between free fatty acids (FFAs) and the risk of mortality remains unclear. There is a scarcity of prospective studies examining the associations between specific FFAs, rather than total concentrations, of their effect on long-term health outcomes.

Objective: To evaluate the correlation between different FFAs and all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in a large, diverse, nationally representative sample of adults in the US, and examine how different FFAs may mediate this association.

Key needs, quality performance indicators and outcomes for patients with atrial fibrillation and multimorbidity: The AFFIRMO study.

Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) often have concomitant long-term conditions that negatively impact their quality of life and the clinical management they receive. The AFFIRMO study aimed to identify the needs, quality performance indicators (QPIs), and outcomes relevant to patients, caregivers and healthcare professionals (HCPs) to improve the care of patients with AF.

Methods: An on-line survey to collect the key needs, QPIs, and outcomes relevant to patients with AF, their caregivers and HCPs, was distributed between May 2022 and January 2023 in five countries (UK, Italy, Denmark, Romania and Spain).

Evaluation of the analytical and clinical performance of a high-sensitivity troponin I point-of-care assay in the Mersey Acute Coronary Syndrome Rule Out Study (MACROS-2).

Objectives: The objective of this study is to evaluate the analytical and diagnostic performance of a high-sensitivity point-of-care (POC) cardiac troponin I assay, the Quidel TriageTrue™ (QuidelOrtho Inc, San Diego, USA), compared to central laboratory testing (CLT) in accelerated diagnostic protocols (ADP) in real time in a clinical environment.

Methods: In a nested sub-study of a pragmatic randomised control trial, consecutive patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and chest pain <12 h duration were randomised to the ESC 0/1 and 0/3-h ADP. Subjects underwent sampling for Quidel TriageTrue POC hs-TnI whole blood and plasma, CLT hs-TnT Roche Elecsys and a validated, NICE approved CLT High sensitivity cardiac troponin I (hs-TnI) (Siemens Attellica) at each time point.

Cardiovascular Disease After Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation in Adults: State-of-the-Art Review.

The use of hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT) has expanded in the last 4 decades to include an older and more comorbid population. These patients face an increased risk of cardiovascular disease after HCT. The risk varies depending on several factors, including the type of transplant (autologous or allogeneic).

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) in Bicuspid Aortic Valve Disease: A Systematic Review.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is effective and safe, but its outcomes for patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) disease are relatively unclear. A comprehensive search of PubMed, Medline, and Google Scholar till November 2023 yielded studies evaluating TAVI in BAV patients. Inclusion criteria were applied, and data were extracted on clinical and procedural outcomes, including echocardiographic measures and complications.

Metabolically "extremely unhealthy" obese and non-obese people with diabetes and the risk of cardiovascular adverse events: the Silesia Diabetes - Heart Project.

Background: There is a growing burden of non-obese people with diabetes mellitus (DM). However, their cardiovascular risk (CV), especially in the presence of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) comorbidities is poorly characterised. The aim of this study was to analyse the risk of major CV adverse events in people with DM according to the presence of obesity and comorbidities (hypertension, chronic kidney disease, and dyslipidaemia).

Asundexian versus Apixaban in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation.

Background: Stroke prevention with direct-acting oral anticoagulant agents in patients with atrial fibrillation confers a risk of bleeding and limits their use. Asundexian, an activated factor XI (XIa) inhibitor, is an oral anticoagulant that may prevent strokes with less bleeding.

Methods: In a phase 3, international, double-blind trial, we randomly assigned high-risk patients with atrial fibrillation in a 1:1 ratio to receive asundexian at a dose of 50 mg once daily or standard-dose apixaban.

Potassium Supplementation and Prevention of Atrial Fibrillation After Cardiac Surgery: The TIGHT K Randomized Clinical Trial.

Importance: Supplementing potassium in an effort to maintain high-normal serum concentrations is a widespread strategy used to prevent atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery (AFACS), but is not evidence-based, carries risks, and is costly.

Objective: To determine whether a lower serum potassium concentration trigger for supplementation is noninferior to a high-normal trigger.

Design, Setting, And Participants: This open-label, noninferiority, randomized clinical trial was conducted at 23 cardiac surgical centers in the United Kingdom and Germany.

Variation in secondary prevention of coronary heart disease: the INTERASPIRE study.

Background And Aims: INTERASPIRE is an international study of coronary heart disease (CHD) patients, designed to measure if guideline standards for secondary prevention and cardiac rehabilitation are being achieved in a timely manner.

Methods: Between 2020 and 2023, adults hospitalized in the preceding 6-24 months with incident or recurrent CHD were sampled in 14 countries from all 6 World Health Organization regions and invited for a standardized interview and examination. Direct age and sex standardization was used for country-level prevalence estimation.

Case report: intravascular ultrasound-guided entry to an anomalous highly angulated circumflex coronary artery originating from the right sinus of Valsalva.

Background: Anomalous coronary arteries originating from the contralateral sinus of Valsalva constitute a rare congenital anomaly. Most of such anomalous coronary arteries exhibit slit-like orifice that are often compounded by external compressive factors. Consequently, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of these vessels poses considerable challenges, both in terms of cannulation but also intervention in often acutely angulated vessels.

Metabolic syndrome and psoriatic arthritis: the role of weight loss as a disease-modifying therapy.

Psoriatic arthritis (PsA) is an inflammatory joint and entheseal disease associated with significant personal and public health burden. PsA has a prevalence of up to 1%, affecting ~20% of people suffering with psoriasis. PsA is frequently accompanied by metabolic syndrome (MetS), and both conditions are characterised by a chronic pro-inflammatory state, with several key cytokines in PsA (interleukin (IL)-17 and IL-23) also elevated in those with MetS.

Aspirin and Ticagrelor Versus Aspirin and Clopidogrel or Prasugrel and the Effect on Staphylococcal-associated Infections: A Real-world Study.

Purpose: Antiplatelet therapy is used for the primary and secondary prevention of thrombotic diseases such as acute coronary syndrome (ACS). These patients are more vulnerable to infections, as such, strategies are required to mitigate these risks.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective cohort study using TriNetX, a global federated health research network that includes both inpatient and outpatient electronic medical records from health care organizations worldwide.

Safety and feasibility of triage and rapid discharge of patients with chest pain from emergency room: A pragmatic, randomized noninferiority control trial of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 0 to 1 hour pathway vs conventional 0 to 3 hour accelerated diagnostic protocol.

Patients presenting with chest pain represent a significant proportion of Emergency Department (ED) attendances but only a minority, typically 10%, have a final diagnosis of myocardial infarction (MI). Prompt discharge of patients without MI will alleviate ED overcrowding as well as improve patient satisfaction and reduce exposure to risk of hospital acquired infections such as Covid 19. The measurement of cardiac troponin (cTn) by a high sensitivity method is recommended by the National Institute for health and Care Excellence (NICE) for rapid categorization of patients presenting with chest pain.

Cardiac implantable electronic device infection awareness - A European survey amongst implanting physicians.

Background And Aims: Cardiac Implantable Electronic Device (CIED) infections pose significant mortality and morbidity despite optimal treatment. This survey aimed to understand whether and how the risk of CIED infection is assessed and mitigated in clinical practice in Europe, and to detect gaps with respect to EHRA recommendations.

Methods: An Expert Group of 8 European cardiologists with specific expertise across CIED therapy designed and distributed electronically a survey to a number of European Cardiologists.

Long-term outcomes of catheter ablation for atrial fibrillation in octogenarians.

Background And Aims: Catheter ablation is superior to pharmacological therapy in controlling atrial fibrillation (AF). There are few data on the long-term outcome of AF ablation in octogenarian patients. This analysis aims to evaluate the outcome of AF ablation in octogenarians vs.