The year in cardiology

INTRODUCTION: Heart failure (HF) is a major global public health concern. The application of machine learning (ML) to identify individuals at high risk and enable early intervention is a promising approach for improving HF prognosis. We aim to systematically evaluate the performance and value of ML models for predicting HF prognosis. METHODS: PubMed, Web of Science, Scopus, and Embase online databases were searched up to April 30, 2023, to identify studies on the use of ML models to predict HF prognosis...

This is a case of a 13-year-old male with frequent premature ventricular contractions with QRS configurations of the left superior axis and left bundle branch block, which originated from the posterior-superior process of the left ventricle. Premature ventricular contractions were successfully eliminated by delivering radiofrequency energy to the inferior wall of the right atrium without causing either junctional rhythm or atrioventricular block. Ventricular arrhythmias originating from this site have been sporadically reported in adults; however, this is the first report in a child...

BACKGROUND: The risk factor (RF) burden, clinical course, and long-term outcome among patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) aged <65 years is unclear. METHODS: Adult (n=67 221; mean age, 72.4±12.3 years; and 45% female) patients with AF evaluated at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center between January 2010 and December 2019 were studied. Hospital system-wide electronic health records and administrative data were utilized to ascertain RFs, comorbidities, and subsequent hospitalization and cardiac interventions...

UNLABELLED: Giant cell myocarditis (GCM) is a potentially lethal subtype of myocarditis. Herein, we report a case of a 22-year-old woman with GCM who was successfully treated with prednisolone monotherapy. The patient had a fever and shortness of breath and was referred to our hospital. Laboratory test results revealed elevated troponin I levels. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) showed high intensity in the inferoseptal segment of the left ventricle on T2-weighted short tau inversion recovery imaging without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), suggesting predominant edema rather than necrosis...

UNLABELLED: A 34-year-old man with a history of Kawasaki disease had been experiencing chest pain at rest since middle school. Multidetector-row computed tomography showed no aneurysm formation; however, the right coronary artery had an anomalous origin with moderate stenosis. Invasive coronary angiography revealed moderate right coronary artery stenosis with a fractional flow reserve of 0.97. Finally, with a positive acetylcholine provocation test and elevated index of microvascular resistance, the patient was diagnosed with microvascular and epicardial vasospastic angina in the endotypes of ischemia with nonobstructive coronary arteries...

UNLABELLED: Acute limb ischemia (ALI) related to total knee arthroplasty (TKA) is rare. Most occlusions are caused by thrombus formation in the popliteal artery (PA). Currently such cases are revascularized using less invasive approaches such as endovascular therapy or Fogarty thrombectomy. We report a case of ALI in a 65-year-old woman with complete rupture of the PA due to a TKA procedure. She had resting pain and motor paralysis in her right lower extremity after TKA. Contrast-enhanced computed tomography showed occlusion of the right femoropopliteal artery...

UNLABELLED: Non-reentrant fascicular tachycardia (NRFT) developed in a 6-year-old Japanese boy. Because of drug-resistant recurrences, he received catheter mapping and ablation at age 10 years. An electrocardiogram exhibited a superior left-axis deviation, a right bundle branch block-type configuration, and relatively narrow QRS with sharp R wave. It suggested verapamil-sensitive ventricular tachycardia (VT), but showed no sensitivity to verapamil or reentrant characteristics in the electrophysiological study...

UNLABELLED: Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a rare cause of acute coronary syndrome (ACS), which typically occurs in women at low risk of atherosclerosis. We herein report a case of SCAD in a 57-year-old man who later developed Takayasu arteritis. The patient presented to our hospital complaining of chest pain and was diagnosed with unstable angina. Emergent coronary angiography was performed, and optical coherence tomography revealed that ACS was caused by SCAD. The patient was treated medically without further ballooning or stenting...

UNLABELLED: Aortic mural thrombus (AMT) in the absence of aneurysm or atherosclerosis is a rare clinical finding and an uncommon cause of peripheral arterial embolization. AMT in a normal artery is usually attributed to systemic hypercoagulability. We describe a case of subacute lower limb ischemia due to AMT associated with active ulcerative colitis (UC). A 46-year-old man with active UC was referred to our hospital for the evaluation and treatment of left leg pain. Ultrasound and contrast computed tomography showed occlusion of the left popliteal artery, and an AMT in the abdominal aorta between the inferior mesenteric artery and the aortic bifurcation...

UNLABELLED: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a complex chronic inflammatory intestinal disease. The development of de novo IBD after solid organ transplantation with immunosuppressive agents has been rarely reported. We present the case of a 65-year-old man with repeated colitis after heart transplantation (HTx) who was diagnosed with Crohn's disease (CD). The patient underwent HTx due to non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy. Six months after HTx, he developed serious diarrhea and a transient fever, which persisted for about 6 months...

UNLABELLED: Ebstein's anomaly (EA), a congenital cardiac anomaly, is characterized by apical displacement of the tricuspid valve leaflet(s) into the right ventricle. We present the case of a 61-year-old female with a history of EA, Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome, and patent foramen ovale (PFO), who presented with worsening hypoxia and confusion, in the setting of left lower extremity cellulitis and abscess. The computed tomography (CT) scan of the head showed a cerebellar infarct with hemorrhagic conversion...

UNLABELLED: An 89-year-old man with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis underwent transcatheter aortic valve implantation due to old age and a history of coronary artery bypass grafting. Computed tomography showed a tricuspid aortic valve and severe calcification at the aortic valve annulus, with a perimeter of 88.7 mm. The 34-mm Evolut PRO+ (Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, MN, USA) was selected. After balloon aortic valvuloplasty, deployment of the Evolut PRO+ was attempted, but significant expansion failure was observed...

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate whether and to what extent changes in cardiovascular health (CVH) based on life's essential 8 (LE8) are associated with incident cardiovascular disease (CVD). METHODS: A total of 7,194 participants were derived from UK Biobank. CVH was evaluated using a modified version of LE8. Participants were classified into three groups according to their LE8 score: high CVH (LE8 score≥80), moderate CVH (50≤LE8 score<80), and low CVH (LE8 score<50)...

BACKGROUND: Emerging data suggest that Hispanic patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) exhibit improved survival rates compared to individuals of other ethnicities with similar baseline hemodynamics. However, the underlying reasons for this survival advantage remain unclear. This study focused on comparing pulmonary hemodynamics in Hispanic and non-Hispanic PAH patients and how these differences may contribute to varied clinical outcomes. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of right heart catheterization data was conducted on a treatment-naive PAH patient cohort from a single center...

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) pacing is established as the most common ventricular pacing (VP) strategy for patients with symptomatic bradyarrhythmia. Some patients with high VP burden suffer deterioration of left ventricular (LV) function, termed pacing-induced cardiomyopathy (PICM). Patients who pace > 20% of the time from the RV apex are at increased risk of PICM, but independent predictors of increased RV pacing burden have not been elucidated in those who have a permanent pacemaker (PPM) inserted for bradyarrhythmia...

Patients with heart failure (HF) have a high prevalence of polypharmacy, which can lead to drug interactions, cognitive impairment, and medication non-compliance. However, the definition of polypharmacy in these patients is still inconsistent. The aim of this scoping review was to find the most common definition of polypharmacy in HF patients. We conducted a scoping review searching Medline, Embase, CINAHL, and Cochrane using terms including polypharmacy, HF and deprescribing, which resulted in 7,949 articles...

Objective: To evaluate the predictive value of combined serum levels of trimethylamine N-oxide (TMAO) and trimethyllysine (TML) for poor prognosis in patients with heart failure. Methods: This single-center prospective cohort study included hospitalized patients with heart failure and complete baseline data from the Department of Cardiology at Ruijin Hospital, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine from June 2017 to December 2020. Patients were categorized into four groups based on median serum levels of TMAO and TML after admission: TMAO low level TML low level group (TMAO<9...

Atrial fibrillation was largely ignored by cardiac electrophysiologists until it was first suggested in 1998 that it might be amenable to catheter ablation. In the 25 years since then, a vast literature has emerged, initially reporting the 'hypes and hopes' that ablation was appropriate for all, but more recently acknowledging that not all patients benefit from this approach. The atrial fibrillation 'epidemic' and more holistic understanding of the complex contributors to its development question whether, it is even meaningful, to consider atrial fibrillation a single condition that is always responsive to ablation management...

BACKGROUND: Right ventricular (RV) to pulmonary arterial (PA) coupling describes the ability of the RV to augment contractility in response to increased afterload. Several echocardiographic indexes of RV-PA coupling have been defined; however, the optimal numerator in the coupling ratio is unclear. We sought to establish which of these ratios is best for assessing RV-PA coupling based on their relationships with 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), and the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire (KCCQ) in aging adults...

AIMS: The performance of circulating soluble urokinase plasminogen activator receptor (suPAR) for predicting the composite endpoint of subsequent heart failure (HF) hospitalisation and/or death at 1 year was assessed in (i) patients with undifferentiated breathlessness, and generalisability was compared in (ii) disparate Western versus Asian sub-cohorts, and in (iii) the sub-cohort adjudicated with HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with acute breathlessness were recruited from the emergency departments in New Zealand (NZ, n = 612) and Singapore (n = 483)...