Prevalence, predictors, and outcomes of patient prosthesis mismatch in women undergoing TAVI for severe aortic stenosis: Insights from the WIN-TAVI registry

Objective: To evaluate the incidence, predictors and outcomes of female patients with patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) following transcatheter aortic valve intervention (TAVI) for severe aortic stenosis (AS). Background: Female AS TAVI recipients have a significantly lower mortality than surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) recipients, which could be attributed to the potentially lower PPM rates. TAVI has been associated with lower rates of PPM compared to SAVR. PPM in females post TAVI has not been investigated to date. Methods: The WIN-TAVI (Women's INternational Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation) registry i

Relationship between dimethylarginine dimethylaminohydrolase gene variants and asymmetric dimethylarginine in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

The aim of our study was to determine whether Dimethylarginine Dimethylaminohydrolase (DDAH) 1 and 2 gene polymorphisms � the main enzyme involved in ADMA degradation � are associated with high Asymmetric Dimethylarginine (ADMA) levels in Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)

The role of TNF-α, Fas/Fas ligand system and NT-proBNP in the early detection of asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in cancer patients treated with anthracyclines

Background: Anthracycline-induced cardiotoxicity typically presents as congestive heart failure (CHF). As immuno-inflammatory activation and apoptosis are important mechanisms in the process of heart failure, the use of biomarkers that could detect cardiovascular toxicity before the clinical presentation is of great importance. We studied whether sTNF-a, sTNF-RI, sTNF-RII, Fas/FasLigand system and NT-proBNP associate with early cardiac dysfunction in patients receiving cardiotoxic drugs. Methods: Two groups of breast cancer patients-group A with metastatic disease under chemotherapy with epirubicin and group B with no residual disease under a less cardiotoxic regimen-as well as healthy women were included in this prosprective study. NT-proBNP, sTNF-a, sTNF-RI, sTNF-RII, sFas, sFas-Ligand and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) were determined in all patients before and after the completion of chemotherapy. Results: In Group A, an increase in sFas levels (p< 0.001), a decrease in the sFasL levels (p= 0.010), an NT-proBNP increase (p < 0.001) and a significant reduction of LVEF (p< 0.001) was recorded post-chemotherapy. The decrease in LVEF correlated significantly with the increase in sFas, the decrease in sFasL and the rise in NT-proBNP levels. In Group B, TNF-RI levels were higher (p= 0.024) and mean sFas-L levels lower (p= 0.021) post chemotherapy with no LVEF drop. Two of group A (7.6%) patients developed symptomatic CHF 12 and 14. months respectively after the end of chemotherapy. Conclusion: SFas, sFas-L and NT-proBNP correlate with reductions in LVEF and could be used as sensitive biochemical indices for the detection of asymptomatic left ventricular dysfunction in cancer patients under cardiotoxic chemotherapy. © 2015 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ireland Ltd

Prolonged QTc interval predicts all-cause mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: an association driven by high inflammatory burden

RA associates with an increased rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD). A prolonged QTc interval has been associated with arrhythmogenic and SCD in patients with long QT syndrome. Despite the previously reported contemporary association of CRP with SCD, thus far no studies have examined the association of QTc with mortality in RA, a condition characterized by high inflammatory burden. The aim of this study was to examine the role of electrocardiography (QT corrected interval) in predicting all-cause mortality in patients with RA who have an increased rate of SCD and a high inflammatory burden