Evaluation of Routine Ear, Nose, and Throat Screening in Heart Transplant Candidates: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Patients with end-stage heart failure refractory to medication can be treated with a heart transplant (HTx). These patients are subjected to a preoperative screening procedure according to International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation guidelines. Additionally, in our hospital, a routine ear, nose, and throat (ENT) screening is performed, directed toward the identification of asymptomatic infections and head and neck neoplasms.

Increasing preoperative cognitive reserve to prevent postoperative delirium and postoperative cognitive decline in cardiac surgical patients (INCORE): Study protocol for a randomized clinical trial on cognitive training.

Introduction: Postoperative delirium (POD) and postoperative cognitive decline (POCD) can be observed after cardiosurgical interventions. Taken together, these postoperative neurocognitive disorders (PNCDs) contribute to increased morbidity and mortality. Preoperative risk factors of PNCD, such as decreased neuropsychometric performance or decreased cognitive daily activities, can be interpreted as reduced cognitive reserve.

Phenotyping for percutaneous coronary intervention and long-term recurrent weighted outcomes.

Introduction: Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are often performed in multimorbid patients with heterogeneous characteristics and variable clinical outcomes. We aimed to identify distinct clinical phenotypes utilizing machine learning and explore their relationship with long-term recurrent and weighted outcomes.

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study enrolled all-comer PCI patients in 2020-2021.

Right Ventricular Strain by Magnetic Resonance Feature Tracking Is Largely Afterload-Dependent and Does Not Reflect Contractility: Validation by Combined Volumetry and Invasive Pressure Tracings.

Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is currently the gold standard for evaluating right ventricular (RV) function, which is critical in patients with pulmonary hypertension. CMR feature-tracking (FT) strain analysis has emerged as a technique to detect subtle changes. However, the dependence of RV strain on load is still a matter of debate.

Sex-related differences in left ventricular assist device utilization and outcomes: results from the PCHF-VAD registry.

Aims: Data on sex and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) utilization and outcomes have been conflicting and mostly confined to US studies incorporating older devices. This study aimed to investigate sex-related differences in LVAD utilization and outcomes in a contemporary European LVAD cohort.

Methods And Results: This analysis is part of the multicentre PCHF-VAD registry studying continuous-flow LVAD patients.

Algorithm to Correct Measurement Offsets Introduced by Inactive Elements of Transducer Arrays in Ultrasonic Flow Metering.

Ultrasonic flow meters (UFMs) based on transducer arrays offer several advantages. With electronic beam steering, it is possible to tune the steering angle of the beam for optimal signal-tonoise ratio (SNR) upon reception. Moreover, multiple beams can be generated to propagate through different travel paths, covering a wider section of the flow profile.

Changes in miRNA expression in patients with peripheral arterial vascular disease during moderate- and vigorous-intensity physical activity.

Background: Walking is the preferred therapy for peripheral arterial disease in early stage. An effect of walking exercise is the increase of blood flow and fluid shear stress, leading, triggered by arteriogenesis, to the formation of collateral blood vessels. Circulating micro-RNA may act as an important information transmitter in this process.

Multimarker Analysis of Serially Measured GDF-15, NT-proBNP, ST2, GAL-3, cTnI, Creatinine, and Prognosis in Acute Heart Failure.

Background: Studies on serially measured GDF-15 (growth differentiation factor 15) in acute heart failure (HF) are limited. Moreover, several pathophysiological pathways contribute to HF. Therefore, we aimed to explore the (additional) prognostic value of serially measured GDF-15 using a multi-marker approach to more accurately predict HF risk.

T cells specific for α-myosin drive immunotherapy-related myocarditis.

Immune-related adverse events, particularly severe toxicities such as myocarditis, are major challenges to the utility of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in anticancer therapy. The pathogenesis of ICI-associated myocarditis (ICI-MC) is poorly understood. Pdcd1Ctla4 mice recapitulate clinicopathological features of ICI-MC, including myocardial T cell infiltration.

Characteristics and Outcome of Patients With a History of Cancer Undergoing Durable Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation.

Background: Patients with cancer (patients with a history of cancer) with advanced heart failure are increasing, but unlikely to be transplanted, and left ventricular assist device (LVAD) is an alternative strategy. This study investigates the characteristics and outcomes of patients with cancer undergoing durable LVAD.

Methods: Adult patients with a history of cancer who received LVADs were identified from INTERMACS (Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support) registry: 2008 and 2017.

Hemodynamic markers of pulmonary vasculopathy for prediction of early right heart failure and mortality after heart transplantation.

Background: Elevated pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) is broadly accepted as an imminent risk factor for mortality after heart transplantation (HTx). However, no current HTx recipient risk score includes PVR or other hemodynamic parameters. This study examined the utility of various hemodynamic parameters for risk stratification in a contemporary HTx population.

Use of serial changes in biomarkers vs. baseline levels to predict left ventricular remodelling after STEMI.

Aims: Cellular communication network factor 1 (CCN1) is an independent predictor of MACE after ACS and elevated levels correlated with infarct size after STEMI. We compared the prognostic accuracy of baseline levels of CCN1, NT-proBNP, hsTnT, and ST2 and changes in levels over time to predict the development of structural and functional alterations typical of LV remodelling.

Methods: Serial 3-T cMRI scans were performed to determine LVEF, LVEDV, LVESV, infarct size, and relative infarct size, which were correlated with serial measurements of the four biomarkers.

Sex-Related Differences in Thrombus Burden in STEMI Patients Undergoing Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Background: Women have a worse prognosis after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) than men. The prognostic role of thrombus burden (TB) in influencing the sex-related differences in clinical outcomes after STEMI has not been clearly investigated.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the sex-related differences in TB and its clinical implications in patients with STEMI.

The role of immune checkpoints in cardiovascular disease.

Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) are monoclonal antibodies which bind to immune checkpoints (IC) and their ligands to prevent inhibition of T-cell activation by tumor cells. Currently, multiple ICI are approved targeting Cytotoxic T-lymphocyte antigen 4 (CTLA-4), Programmed Death Protein 1 (PD-1) and its ligand PD-L1, and Lymphocyte-activation gene 3 (LAG-3). This therapy has provided potent anti-tumor effects and improved prognosis for many cancer patients.

Exercise MR-proANP unmasks latent right heart failure in CTEPH.

Objective: The present study was designed to investigate the dynamics of right atrial pressure (RAP) and mid-regional pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP) during physical exercise in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH) and to determine whether these parameters might serve as a tool to measure exercise-dependent atrial stress as an indicator of right heart failure.

Methods: This prospective observational cohort study included 100 CTEPH patients who underwent right heart catheterization during physical exercise (eRHC). Blood samples for MR-proANP measurement were taken prior, during, and after eRHC.

Integrated control of coronary blood flow in exercising swine by adenosine, nitric oxide, and K channels.

The interplay of mechanisms regulating coronary blood flow (CBF) remains incompletely understood. Previous studies in dogs indicated that CBF regulation by K channels, adenosine, and nitric oxide (NO) follows a nonlinear redundancy design and fully accounted for exercise-induced coronary vasodilation. Conversely, in swine, these mechanisms appear to regulate CBF in a linear additive fashion with considerable exercise-induced vasodilation remaining when all three mechanisms are inhibited.

The Effects of a Perindopril-Based Regimen in Relation to Statin Use on the Outcomes of Patients with Vascular Disease: a Combined Analysis of the ADVANCE, EUROPA, and PROGRESS Trials.

Purpose: To study the effects of a perindopril-based regimen on cardiovascular (CV) outcomes in patients with vascular disease in relation to background statin therapy.

Methods: A pooled analysis of the randomized ADVANCE, EUROPA, and PROGRESS trials was performed to evaluate CV outcomes in 29,463 patients with vascular disease treated with perindopril-based regimens versus placebo. The primary endpoint was a composite of CV mortality, nonfatal myocardial infarction, and stroke.

The value of disease-free survival (DFS) and osimertinib in adjuvant non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC): an international Delphi consensus report.

Background: Rates of disease recurrence and death following surgery remain high in early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC), despite adjuvant treatment and curative intent. Recently, osimertinib showed overwhelming evidence for disease-free survival (DFS), as demonstrated by an overall reduction in the risk of disease recurrence or death in the adjuvant setting of 80% versus control in the ADAURA study (stage IB-IIIA; hazard ratio 0.20; 99.

Comparison of transcatheter aortic valve replacement with the ACURATE neo2 versus Evolut PRO/PRO+ devices.

Background: The ACURATE neo2 (NEO2) and Evolut PRO/PRO+ (PRO) bioprostheses are new-generation self-expanding valves developed for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Aims: We sought to compare the performance of the ACURATE neo2 and Evolut PRO/PRO+ devices.

Methods: The NEOPRO-2 registry retrospectively included patients who underwent TAVR for severe aortic stenosis with either the NEO2 or PRO devices between August 2017 and December 2021 at 20 centres.

Effects of remote haemodynamic-guided heart failure management in patients with different subtypes of pulmonary hypertension: insights from the MEMS-HF study.

Aim: The CardioMEMS European Monitoring Study for Heart Failure (MEMS-HF) investigated safety and efficacy of pulmonary artery pressure (PAP)-guided remote patient management (RPM) in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III outpatients with at least one heart failure hospitalization (HFH) during the previous 12 months. This pre-specified subgroup analysis investigated whether RPM effects depended on presence and subtype of pulmonary hypertension (PH).

Methods And Results: In 106/234 MEMS-HF participants, Swan-Ganz catheter tracings obtained during sensor implant were available for off-line manual analysis jointly performed by two experts.