Cerebral Embolic Protection in TAVI: Friend or Foe

Cerebrovascular accidents including stroke or transient ischaemic attack are one of the most feared complications after transcatheter aortic valve implantation. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedures have been consistently associated with silent ischaemic cerebral embolism as assessed by diffusion-weighted MRI. To reduce the risk of cerebrovascular accidents and silent emboli, cerebral embolic protection devices were developed with the aim of preventing procedural debris reaching the cerebral vasculature. The authors summarise the available data regarding cerebral embolic protection devices and its clinical significance

Pre-eclampsia is associated with a twofold increase in diabetes : a systematic review and meta-analysis

CSK and RH are funded by National Institute for Health Research Academic Clinical Fellowships. This study was supported by a grant from the North Staffs Heart Committee.Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Routine Left Ventricular Pacing for Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement

ABSTRACTBackground: Rapid ventricular pacing is often required during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. Pacing via the retrograde left ventricular guidewire (LV-GW) is an al..

Impact of the admitting ward on care quality and outcomes in non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) : insights from a national registry

Peer reviewedPostprin

Preeclampsia and Future Cardiovascular Health

Background—Preeclampsia is a pregnancy-specific disorder resulting in hypertension and multiorgan dysfunction. There is growing evidence that these effects persist after pregnancy. We aimed to systematically evaluate and quantify the evidence on the relationship between preeclampsia and the future risk of cardiovascular diseases.Methods and Results—We studied the future risk of heart failure, coronary heart disease, composite cardiovascular disease, death because of coronary heart or cardiovascular disease, stroke, and stroke death after preeclampsia. A systematic search of MEDLINE and EMBASE was performed to identify relevant studies. We used random-effects meta-analysis to determine the risk. Twenty-two studies were identified with >6.4 million women including >258?000 women with preeclampsia. Meta-analysis of studies that adjusted for potential confounders demonstrated that preeclampsia was independently associated with an increased risk of future heart failure (risk ratio [RR], 4.19; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.09–8.38), coronary heart disease (RR, 2.50; 95% CI, 1.43–4.37), cardiovascular disease death (RR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.83–2.66), and stroke (RR, 1.81; 95% CI, 1.29–2.55). Sensitivity analyses showed that preeclampsia continued to be associated with an increased risk of future coronary heart disease, heart failure, and stroke after adjusting for age (RR, 3.89; 95% CI, 1.83–8.26), body mass index (RR, 3.16; 95% CI, 1.41–7.07), and diabetes mellitus (RR, 4.19; 95% CI, 2.09–8.38).Conclusions—Preeclampsia is associated with a 4-fold increase in future incident heart failure and a 2-fold increased risk in coronary heart disease, stroke, and death because of coronary heart or cardiovascular disease. Our study highlights the importance of lifelong monitoring of cardiovascular risk factors in women with a history of preeclampsia

Acute changes in myocardial tissue characteristics during hospitalization in patients with COVID-19

Background: Patients with a history of COVID-19 infection are reported to have cardiac abnormalities on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) during convalescence. However, it is unclear whether these abnormalities were present during the acute COVID-19 illness and how they may evolve over time. Methods: We prospectively recruited unvaccinated patients hospitalized with acute COVID-19 (n = 23), and compared them with matched outpatient controls without COVID-19 (n = 19) between May 2020 and May 2021. Only those without a past history of cardiac disease were recruited. We performed in-hospital CMR at a median of 3 days (IQR 1–7 days) after admission, and assessed cardiac function, edema and necrosis/fibrosis, using left and right ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF, RVEF), T1-mapping, T2 signal intensity ratio (T2SI), late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and extracellular volume (ECV). Acute COVID-19 patients were invited for follow-up CMR and blood tests at 6 months. Results: The two cohorts were well matched in baseline clinical characteristics. Both had normal LVEF (62 ± 7 vs. 65 ± 6%), RVEF (60 ± 6 vs. 58 ± 6%), ECV (31 ± 3 vs. 31 ± 4%), and similar frequency of LGE abnormalities (16 vs. 14%; all p > 0.05). However, measures of acute myocardial edema (T1 and T2SI) were significantly higher in patients with acute COVID-19 when compared to controls (T1 = 1,217 ± 41 ms vs. 1,183 ± 22 ms; p = 0.002; T2SI = 1.48 ± 0.36 vs. 1.13 ± 0.09; p  Conclusion: Unvaccinated patients hospitalized for acute COVID-19 demonstrated CMR imaging evidence of acute myocardial edema, which normalized at 6 months, while biventricular function and scar burden were similar when compared to controls. Acute COVID-19 appears to induce acute myocardial edema in some patients, which resolves in convalescence, without significant impact on biventricular structure and function in the acute and short-term. Further studies with larger numbers are needed to confirm these findings

The Role of Coronary Physiology in Contemporary Percutaneous Coronary Interventions

Invasive assessment of coronary physiology has radically changed the paradigm of myocardial revascularization in patients with coronary artery disease. Despite the prognostic improvement associated with ischemia-driven revascularization strategy, functional assessment of angiographic intermediate epicardial stenosis remains largely underused in clinical practice. Multiple tools have been developed or are under development in order to reduce the invasiveness, cost, and extra procedural time associated with the invasive assessment of coronary physiology. Besides epicardial stenosis, a growing body of evidence highlights the role of coronary microcirculation in regulating coronary flow with consequent pathophysiological and clinical and prognostic implications. Adequate assessment of coronary microcirculation function and integrity has then become another component of the decision-making algorithm for optimal diagnosis and treatment of coronary syndromes.This review aims at providing a comprehensive description of tools and techniques currently available in the catheterization laboratory to obtain a thorough and complete functional assessment of the entire coronary tree (both for the epicardial and microvascular compartments)

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Influence on Coronary Hemodynamics: A Quantitative Meta-Analysis and Proposed Decision-Making Algorithm

As transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) expands to younger and lower-risk severe aortic stenosis patients, appropriate coronary artery disease treatment is key to reducing long-term adverse cardiovascular outcomes. Recently, studies have been exploring the role of coronary-physiology guided revascularization strategies. Our aim was to investigate whether TAVR influences coronary physiology measurements using quantitative meta-analytic methods

Rationale and design of a randomized controlled pilot trial to assess stent retriever thrombectomy for thrombus burden reduction in patients with acute myocardial infarction: The RETRIEVE-AMI Study

Background: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is typically caused by thrombotic occlusion of a coronary artery with subsequent hypoperfusion and myocardial necrosis. In approximately half of patients with STEMI, despite successful restoration of epicardial coronary patency, downstream myocardium perfusion remains impeded. Coronary microvascular injury is one of the key mechanisms behind suboptimal myocardial perfusion and it is primarily, yet not exclusively, related to distal embolization of atherothrombotic material following recanalization of the culprit artery. Routine manual thrombus-aspiration has failed to show clinical efficacy in this scenario. This could be related with limitations in technology adopted as well as patients' selection. To this end, we set out to explore the efficacy and safety of stent retriever-assisted thrombectomy based on clot-removal device routinely used in stroke intervention. Study design and objectives: The stent RETRIEVEr thrombectomy for thrombus burden reduction in patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction (RETRIEVE-AMI) study has been designed to establish whether stent retriever-based thrombectomy is safe and more efficacious in thrombus modification than the current standard of care: manual thrombus aspiration or stenting. The RETRIEVE-AMI trial will enrol 81 participants admitted for primary PCI for inferior STEMI. Participants will be 1:1:1 randomised to receive either standalone PCI, thrombus aspiration and PCI, or retriever-based thrombectomy and PCI. Change in thrombus burden will be assessed via optical coherence tomography imaging. A telephone follow-up at 6 months will be arranged. Conclusions: It is anticipated by the investigators that stent retriever thrombectomy will more effectively reduce the thrombotic burden compared to current standard of care whilst being clinically safe