Berlin heart

BACKGROUND: Stroke is a severe complication of infective endocarditis (IE), associated with high rates of mortality. Data on how IE patients with and without stroke differ may help to improve understanding contributing mechanisms. METHODS: All patients treated for IE between 2019 and 2021 with and without associated stroke were identified from the medical records of three academic tertiary care hospitals in Germany, all part of Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Germany...

Wernicke (Der aphasische Symptomencomplex: Eine psychologische Studie auf anatomischer Basis. Cohn und Weigert, Breslau.  https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dwv5w9rw , 1874) proposed a model of the functional neuroanatomy of spoken word repetition, production, and comprehension. At the heart of this epoch-making model are psychological reflex arcs underpinned by fiber tracts connecting sensory to motor areas. Here, I evaluate the central assumption of psychological reflex arcs in light of what we have learned about language in the brain during the past 150 years...

The ancient Egyptians considered the heart to be the most important organ. The belief that the heart remained in the body is widespread in the archeological and paleopathological literature. The purpose of this study was to perform an overview of the preserved intrathoracic structures and thoracic and abdominal cavity filling, and to determine the prevalence and computed tomography (CT) characteristics of the myocardium in the preserved hearts of ancient Egyptian mummies. Whole-body CT examinations of 45 ancient Egyptian mummies (23 mummies from the Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Berlin, Germany, and 22 mummies from the Museo Egizio, Turin, Italy) were systematically assessed for preserved intrathoracic soft tissues including various anatomical components of the heart (pericardium, interventricular septum, four chambers, myocardium, valves)...

We report a case of temporary Berlin Heart EXCOR® explantation in a pediatric patient with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy who suffered an uncontrollable inflow cannulation site infection while on bridge-to-transplantation. Despite failure to thrive and catheter-related infections, once free of the device, the patient was cured of infection using systemic antibiotics and surgical debridement. The patient underwent EXCOR® reimplantation after four months, and is awaiting heart transplantation in stable condition...

This study aimed to dynamically track the priorities and potential research hotspots in the field of heart failure with sarcopenia. Using CiteSpace, we analyzed the literature on heart failure with sarcopenia from the Web of Science database from 1995 to 2022. The analysis encompassed 507 records, revealing an overall upward trend in annual publication volume. Europe and the United States emerged as the primary regions for publishing, particularly driven by contributions from developed countries such as the United States, Germany, and Italy...

INTRODUCTION: Overlap syndrome is the association of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and with other chronic respiratory diseases. Patients with overlap syndrome have a worse prognosis compared with chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder or OSA alone. Additionally, patients with combined chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder and OSA are more likely to develop pulmonary hypertension and right heart failure much earlier than those without overlap...

BACKGROUND: Despite its importance to women's reproductive health and its impact on women's daily lives, the menstrual cycle, its regulation, and its impact on health remain poorly understood. As conventional clinical trials rely on infrequent in-person assessments, digital studies with wearable devices enable the collection of longitudinal subjective and objective measures. OBJECTIVE: The study aims to explore the technical feasibility of collecting combined wearable and digital questionnaire data and its potential for gaining biological insights into the menstrual cycle...

BACKGROUND: The introduction of a transapical transcatheter beating heart replacement system has significantly expanded therapeutic options for patients with severely diseased mitral valves, particularly those ineligibles for traditional surgery or transcatheter repair. However, challenges, such as left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (LVOT-O) and the risk of dynamic systolic anterior motion (SAM) in cases with elongated anterior mitral leaflet (AML) post-prosthesis implantation, impede the widespread adoption of transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR)...

Cardiac pacemaker therapy began with successful stimulation of human hearts already in the first half of the 20th century. Complete implantation of a pacemaker by the cardiac surgeon Åke Senning on October 8, 1958 at the Karolinska Hospital in Stockholm is considered the actual birth of today's pacemaker therapy. The first pacemaker implantation in Germany was performed by Hans-Joachim Sykosch on October 6, 1961 at the Surgical Clinic of the University of Düsseldorf. Two years later, the first implantation in East Germany (GDR) was carried out by Friedrich Flemming on September 2, 1963 at the Charité in East Berlin...

BACKGROUND: Pruritus is a symptom profoundly impairing patients' quality of life (QoL). It is a common symptom in chronic heart failure (CHF) patients of yet unknown nature. The aim of this study was to evaluate the risk factors of pruritus in CHF patients. METHODS: For this monocentric, prospective cohort study, CHF patients were recruited and CHF symptoms, comorbidities and drug intake were assessed using a structured report. Additionally, a questionnaire evaluated pruritus symptoms...

BACKGROUND: The Berlin Heart EXCOR® (BHE) can bridge children with severe heart failure to transplantation, but some are successfully weaned and spared transplantation. This study seeks to identify characteristics of children amenable to successful explantation with BHE support. METHODS: Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses 2020 guidelines were used. Five databases were screened for original, English articles measuring BHE support in patients <18 years old based on title and abstract...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Shenfu injection (SFI) is a traditional herbal medicine derived from components of ginseng and aconite and is commonly used in China to treat a variety of conditions. Shenfu has been suggested to have beneficial effects in various critical illnesses, including heart failure, cardiac arrest, and septic shock. In recent years, there have been a number of studies reporting that SFI improves patient outcomes when used concurrently with other treatments, but its use has not been adopted outside of China...

BACKGROUND: The incidence of heart failure, the terminal stage of several cardiovascular diseases, is increasing owing to population growth and aging. Bidirectional crosstalk between the gut and heart plays a significant role in heart failure. This study aimed to analyze the gut-heart axis and heart failure from a bibliometric perspective. METHODS: We extracted literature regarding the gut-heart axis and heart failure from the Web of Science Core Collection database (January 1, 1993, to June 30, 2023) and conducted bibliometric and visualization analyses using Microsoft Excel, CiteSpace, VOSviewer, and the R package "bibliometrix...

OBJECTIVES: We reviewed outcomes in all 36 consecutive children <5 kg supported with the Berlin Heart pulsatile ventricular assist device at the University of Florida, comparing those with acquired heart disease (n = 8) to those with congenital heart disease (CHD) (n = 28). METHODS: The primary outcome was mortality. The Kaplan-Meier method and log-rank tests were used to assess group differences in long-term survival after ventricular assist device insertion...

OBJECTIVE: C old-inducible RNA binding Protein (CIRBP) has been shown to be a potent inflammatory mediator and could serve as a novel biomarker for inflammation. Systemic inflammatory response syndrome (SIRS) and capillary leak syndrome (CLS) are frequent complications after pediatric cardiac surgery increasing morbidity, therefore early diagnosis and therapy is crucial. As CIRBP serum levels have not been analyzed in a pediatric population, we conducted a clinical feasibility establishing a customized magnetic bead panel analyzing CIRBP in pediatric patients undergoing cardiac surgery...

OBJECTIVES: Sarcopenia, heart failure (HF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are common among the older people. Our objective was to evaluate the frequency of sarcopenia, among community-dwelling older adults with heart failure, possible causative factors and the additive factor of CKD. METHODS: A cross-sectional analysis of 1420 older people living in the community was carried out. Participants (aged 75 years and more) came from a European multicenter prospective cohort (SCOPE study)...

BACKGROUND: Alveolar hypoxia is protective in the context of cardiovascular and ischemic heart disease; however, the underlying mechanisms are incompletely understood. The present study sought to test the hypothesis that hypoxia is cardioprotective in left ventricular pressure overload (LVPO)-induced heart failure. We furthermore aimed to test that overlapping mechanisms promote cardiac recovery in heart failure patients following left ventricular assist device-mediated mechanical unloading and circulatory support...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: To predict worsening heart failure hospitalizations (WHFH) in patients with implantable defibrillators and remote monitoring (RM), the HeartInsight algorithm (Biotronik, Berlin, Germany) calculates a heart failure (HF) score combining seven physiologic parameters: 24-hour heart rate (HR), nocturnal HR, HR variability, atrial tachyarrhythmia, ventricular extrasystoles, patient activity, and thoracic impedance. We compared temporal trends of the HF score and its components 12 weeks before a WHFH with 12-week trends in patients without WHFH, to assess whether trends indicate deteriorating HF regardless of alert status...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVE: Heart rhythm disorder is one of the most common problems after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Various factors, such as the history of sleep apnoea before the operation, may aggravate the occurrence of this disorder. The present study was conducted to determine the relationship between sleep apnoea before surgery and heart rhythm disorder after surgery in patients undergoing coronary Artery Bypass Grafting in 2019. METHODS: This analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 192 patients who were selected by sequential sampling...

BACKGROUND: Hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is associated with various cardiovascular (CV) complications. OBJECTIVES: We sought to characterize the incidence and risk factors for short-term and long-term CV events in a contemporary cohort of adult HSCT recipients. METHODS: We conducted a multicenter observational study of adult patients who underwent autologous or allogeneic HSCT between 2008 and 2019. Data on demographics, clinical characteristics, conditioning regimen, and CV outcomes were collected through chart review...