Aortic stenosis and anemia with an update on approaches to managing angiodysplasia in 2018

Angiodyplasia and aortic stenosis are both conditions that are highly prevalent in elderly people and can often co-exist. Recent studies suggest that this association is related to subtle alterations in plasma coagulation factors. The von Willebrand factor is the strongest link between aortic stenosis and bleeding associated with gastrointestinal angiodysplasia. With an ageing population, the disease burden of aortic stenosis and its association with angiodysplasia of the bowel makes this an incredibly underdiagnosed yet important condition. Clinicians should be aware of this association when dealing with elderly patients presenting either with unexplained anemia, gastrointestinal bleeding or with aortic stenosis. A high index of suspicion and appropriate diagnostic techniques followed by appropriate and prompt treatment could be life-saving. No clear guidelines exist on management but surgical aortic valve replacement is thought to offer the best hope for long-term resolution of bleeding. With a growing number of technological armamentarium in the management of such patients, especially with the advent of transcatheter aortic valve implantation, new options can be offered even to elderly patients with comorbidities for whom conventional surgery would have been impossible

Fractional Flow Reserve in the Transradial Era: Will Hand Vein Adenosine Infusion Suffice? A Comparative Study of the Extent, Rapidity, and Stability of Hyperemia From Hand and Femoral Venous Routes of Adenosine Administration

AbstractObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess adenosine infusion via a cannula in the back of the hand compared with central venous access to achieve peak hyperemia during fractional flow reserve (FFR).BackgroundAdenosine is often used to induce maximal hyperemia when measuring FFR. The gold standard is continuous infusion via a large central vein; however, the increasing use of the transradial route for angiography makes it desirable to have an alternative route for adenosine. Peripheral venous access is frequently obtained in the hand, but concern exists as to whether adenosine delivery from this site can achieve adequate vasodilation for accurate FFR measurement. Our aim was to address this.MethodsSubjects were selected from patients presenting for coronary angiography/intervention who required a pressure-wire study. Subjects received intravenous adenosine infusion sequentially via 2 routes: first, via a 20-gauge hand cannula, and then, after a washout period, via a 5- or 6-F femoral venous sheath. Adenosine was administered at 140 μg/kg/min from each site. Data interpretation was blinded. Minimal FFR achieved with intravenous adenosine from each infusion site was recorded as was the time to peak hyperemia.ResultsPaired (hand and femoral adenosine) recordings taken from 84 vessels in 61 patients were suitable for blinded analysis. The mean FFR measured using adenosine administered via hand and femoral routes was 0.85 with an SD of 0.08 (intraclass correlation = 0.986). Time to peak hyperemia was longer on average with hand-administered adenosine compared with femoral adenosine administration (63 s vs. 43 s; mean difference, 22 s with a 95% confidence interval: 18 s to 27 s; p < 0.0001). Formal comparison of FFR stability using Mann-Whitney analysis (2 tailed) gives p = 0.43, indicating no significant evidence of a difference in stability between the 2 routes.ConclusionsHand vein adenosine infusion produced FFR values very similar to those obtained using central femoral vein adenosine administration, with no systematic bias toward higher or lower reading from 1 site. This has important practical implications for radial access cases involving pressure-wire studies

Factors associated with safe early discharge after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

  Background: As transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) becomes more straightforward, a larger proportion of patients will be well enough to be discharged early. This study sought to charac­terise the clinical features that allowed patients to be discharged early after TAVI and to evaluate the safety of an early discharge policy. Methods: All patients undergoing TAVI at the above cited center from August 2007 to March 2015 were included in this study. Baseline characteristics, in-hospital outcomes, re-admissions and mortality were compared. Results: Three hundred thirty-seven TAVIs were performed during the study period, and 18 died in-hospital (18/337, 5.3%). Of the remaining patients, 56 were discharged within 3 days of the index procedure (‘early discharge group’ 56/319, 17.5%). There was no difference between the early discharge and late discharge group in terms of Valve Academic Research Consortium-2 (VARC-2) criteria out­comes, all-cause re-admission rates and the need for permanent pacemaker implantation. Mortality at 1 year was better among the early discharge group (3.6% vs. 15.6%, p = 0.014); a reflection of baseline clinical differences. Conclusion: Early discharge of clinically selected TAVI patients is safe and appropriate. Lower logistic EuroSCORE, smaller delta creatinine and not developing any complications are factors associated with early discharge. (Cardiol J 2018; 25, 1: 14–23

Systemic inflammation and oxidative stress contribute to acute kidney injury after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a frequent complication of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) and has been linked to preexisting comorbidities, peri-procedural hypotension, and systemic inflammation. The extent of systemic inflammation after TAVI is not fully understood. Our aim was to characterize the inflammatory response after TAVI and evaluate its contribution to the mechanism of post-procedural AKI. Methods: One hundred and five consecutive patients undergoing TAVI at our institution were included. We analyzed the peri-procedural inflammatory and oxidative stress responses by measuring a range of biomarkers (including C-reactive protein [hsCRP], cytokine levels, and myeloperoxidase [MPO]), before TAVI and 6, 24, and 48 hours post-procedure. We correlated this with changes in renal function and patient and procedural characteristics. Results: We observed a significant increase in plasma levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines (hsCRP, interleukin 6, tumor necrosis factor alpha receptors) and markers of oxidative stress (MPO) after TAVI. The inflammatory response was significantly greater after trans-apical (TA) TAVI compared to trans-femoral (TF). This was associated with a higher incidence of AKI in the TA cohort compared to TF (44% vs. 8%, respectively, p &lt; 0.0001). The incidence of AKI was significantly lower when N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was given peri-procedurally (12% vs. 38%, p &lt; 0.005). In multivariate analysis, only the TA approach and no use of NAC before the procedure were independent predictors of AKI. Conclusions: TAVI creates a significant post-procedural inflammatory response, more so with the TA approach. Mechanisms of AKI after TAVI are complex. Inflammatory response, hypoperfusion, and oxidative stress may all play a part and are potential therapeutic targets to reduce/prevent AKI

Calculated plasma volume status predicts outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation

Objectives: Congestion can worsen outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), but can be difficult to quantify non-invasively. We hypothesised that preprocedural plasma volume status (PVS), estimated using a validated formula that enumerates percentage change from ideal PV, would provide prognostic utility post-TAVI. Methods: This retrospective cohort study identified patients who underwent TAVI (2007–2017) from a prospectively collected database. Actual ([1-haematocrit] × [a + (b × weight (Kg))] and ideal (c × weight (Kg)) PV were quantified from equations where a, b and c are sex-dependent constants. Calculated PVS was then derived (100% x [(actual – ideal PV)/ideal PV]). Results: In 564 patients (mean age 82±7 years, 49% male), mean PVS was −2.7±10.2%, with PV expansion (PVS &gt;0%) evident in 39%. Only logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) independently predicted a PVS &gt;0% (OR 1.85, p=0.002). On Cox analyses, a PVS &gt;0% was associated with greater mortality at 3 (HR 2.29, 95% CI 1.11 to 4.74, p=0.03) and 12 months (HR 2.00, 95% CI 1.23 to 3.26, p=0.006) after TAVI, independently of, and incremental to, the EuroSCORE and New York Heart Association class. A PVS &gt;0% was also independently associated with more days in intensive care (coefficient: 0.41, 95% CI 0.04 to 0.78, p=0.03) and in hospital (coefficient: 1.95, 95% CI 0.48 to 3.41, p=0.009). Conclusion: Higher PVS values, calculated simply from weight and haematocrit, are associated with greater mortality and longer hospitalisation post-TAVI. PVS could help refine risk stratification and further investigations into the utility of PVS-guided management in TAVI patients is warranted

Insights into microorganisms, associated factors, and the oral microbiome in infective endocarditis patients

IntroductionInfective Endocarditis (IE) is a rare, life-threatening infection of the endocardium with multisystem effects. Culprit microorganisms derived from different niches circulate through the bloodstream and attach to the endocardium, particularly the heart valves. This study aimed to investigate culprit microorganisms among a cross-sectional cohort of IE patients, their associated factors, and to explore the potential relationship to the oral microbiome.MethodsIn this observational study, we undertook a cross-sectional analysis of 392 medical records from patients diagnosed with IE. The primary outcome of this study was to analyse the association between the IE culprit microorganisms and the underlying anatomical types of IE (native valve (NVE), prosthetic valve (PVE), or cardiac device-related (CDE)). Secondary outcomes encompassed a comparative analysis of additional factors, including: the treatment approaches for IE, and the categorisation of blood cultures, extending to both genus and species levels. Additionally, we cross-referenced and compared the species-level identification of IE bacteraemia outcome measures with data from the expanded Human Oral Microbiome Database (eHOMD).ResultsA culprit microorganism was identified in 299 (76.28%) case participants. Staphylococcal infections were the most common (p &lt; 0.001), responsible for 130 (33.16%) hospitalisations. There were 277 (70.66%) cases of NVE, 104 (26.53%) cases of PVE, and 11 (2.81%) cases of CDE. The majority of PVE occurred on prosthetic aortic valves (78/104, 75%), of which 72 (93.5%) were surgical aortic valve replacements (SAVR), 6 (7.8%) were transcatheter aortic valve implants, and one transcatheter pulmonary valve implant. Overall, underlying anatomy (p = 0.042) as well as the treatment approaches for IE (p &lt; 0.001) were significantly associated with IE culprit microorganisms. Cross-reference between IE bacteraemia outcomes with the eHOMD was observed in 267/392 (68.11%) cases.ConclusionsThis study demonstrated that IE patients with a history of stroke, smoking, intravenous drug use, or dialysis were more likely to be infected with Staphylococcus aureus. CDE case participants and patients who had previous SAVR were most associated with Staphylococcus epidermidis. IE patients aged 78+ were more likely to develop enterococci IE than other age groups. Oral microorganisms indicated by the eHOMD are significantly observed in the IE population. Further research, through enhanced dental and medical collaboration, is required to correlate the presence of oral microbiota as causative factor for IE

Socio-Economic Variations Determine the Clinical Presentation, Aetiology and Outcome of Infective Endocarditis: a Prospective Cohort Study from the ESC-EORP EURO-ENDO (European Infective Endocarditis) Registry.

peer reviewedBACKGROUND: Infective endocarditis (IE) is a life-threatening disease associated with high mortality and morbidity worldwide. We sought to determine how socio-economic factors might influence its epidemiology, clinical presentation, investigation and management, and outcome, in a large international multi-centre registry. METHODS: The EurObservationalProgramme (EORP) of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) EURO-ENDO registry comprises a prospective cohort of 3113 adult patients admitted for IE in 156 hospitals in 40 countries between January 2016 and March 2018. Patients were separated in 3 groups, according to World Bank economic stratification (Group 1 - high income [75.6%]; Group 2 - upper-middle income [15.4%]; Group 3 - lower-middle income [9.1%]). RESULTS: Group 3 patients were younger (median age [IQR]: Group 1 - 66 [53-75] years; Group 2 - 57 [41-68] years; Group 3 - 33 [26-43] years; p<0.001) with a higher frequency of smokers, intravenous drug use and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection (all p<0.001) and presented later (median [IQR) days since symptom onset: Group 1 - 12 [3-35]; Group 2 - 19 [6-54]; Group 3 - 31 [12-62]; p<0.001) with a higher likelihood of developing congestive heart failure (13.6%; 11.1%; and 22.6%, respectively; p<0.001) and persistent fever (9.8%; 14.2%; 27.9%; p<0.001). Among 2157 (69.3%) patients with theoretical indication for cardiac surgery, surgery was performed less frequently in Group 3 patients (75.5%, 76.8% and 51.3%, respectively p<0.001) who also demonstrated the highest mortality (15.0%, 23.0% and 23.7%, respectively; p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Socio-economic factors influence the clinical profile of patients presenting with IE across the world. Despite younger age, patients from the poorest countries presented with more frequent complications and higher mortality associated with delayed diagnosis and lower use of surgery

Prognostic impact of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with Takotsubo syndrome : new insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© 2021 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.Aims: Acute pulmonary disorders are known physical triggers of takotsubo syndrome (TTS). This study aimed to investigate prevalence of acute pulmonary triggers in patients with TTS and their impact on outcomes. Methods and results: Patients with TTS were enrolled from the International Takotsubo Registry and screened for triggering factors and comorbidities. Patients were categorized into three groups (acute pulmonary trigger, chronic lung disease, and no lung disease) to compare clinical characteristics and outcomes. Of the 1670 included patients with TTS, 123 (7%) were identified with an acute pulmonary trigger, and 194 (12%) had a known history of chronic lung disease. The incidence of cardiogenic shock was highest in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger compared with those with chronic lung disease or without lung disease (17% vs. 10% vs. 9%, P = 0.017). In-hospital mortality was also higher in patients with an acute pulmonary trigger than in the other two groups, although not significantly (5.7% vs. 1.5% vs. 4.2%, P = 0.13). Survival analysis demonstrated that patients with an acute pulmonary trigger had the worst long-term outcome (P = 0.002). The presence of an acute pulmonary trigger was independently associated with worse long-term mortality (hazard ratio 2.12, 95% confidence interval 1.33-3.38; P = 0.002). Conclusions: The present study demonstrates that TTS is related to acute pulmonary triggers in 7% of all TTS patients, which accounts for 21% of patients with physical triggers. The presence of acute pulmonary trigger is associated with a severe in-hospital course and a worse long-term outcome.C. T. has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa binHamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss HeartFoundation. The InterTAK Registry is supported by the BissDavies Charitable Trust. L. S. M. has been supported by EUHORIZON 2020(SILICOFCM ID777204)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Clinical correlates and prognostic impact of neurologic disorders in Takotsubo syndrome

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Cardiac alterations are frequently observed after acute neurological disorders. Takotsubo syndrome (TTS) represents an acute heart failure syndrome and is increasingly recognized as part of the spectrum of cardiac complications observed after neurological disorders. A systematic investigation of TTS patients with neurological disorders has not been conducted yet. The aim of the study was to expand insights regarding neurological disease entities triggering TTS and to investigate the clinical profile and outcomes of TTS patients after primary neurological disorders. The International Takotsubo Registry is an observational multicenter collaborative effort of 45 centers in 14 countries (ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier NCT01947621). All patients in the registry fulfilled International Takotsubo Diagnostic Criteria. For the present study, patients were included if complete information on acute neurological disorders were available. 2402 patients in whom complete information on acute neurological status were available were analyzed. In 161 patients (6.7%) an acute neurological disorder was identified as the preceding triggering factor. The most common neurological disorders were seizures, intracranial hemorrhage, and ischemic stroke. Time from neurological symptoms to TTS diagnosis was ≤ 2 days in 87.3% of cases. TTS patients with neurological disorders were younger, had a lower female predominance, fewer cardiac symptoms, lower left ventricular ejection fraction, and higher levels of cardiac biomarkers. TTS patients with neurological disorders had a 3.2-fold increased odds of in-hospital mortality compared to TTS patients without neurological disorders. In this large-scale study, 1 out of 15 TTS patients had an acute neurological condition as the underlying triggering factor. Our data emphasize that a wide spectrum of neurological diseases ranging from benign to life-threatening encompass TTS. The high rates of adverse events highlight the need for clinical awareness.The International Takotsubo Registry was supported by the Biss Davies Charitable Trust. Dr. Scheitz has been supported by the Corona Foundation. Dr. Templin has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss Heart Foundation.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Ethnic comparison in takotsubo syndrome : novel insights from the International Takotsubo Registry

© The Author(s) 2021. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.Background: Ethnic disparities have been reported in cardiovascular disease. However, ethnic disparities in takotsubo syndrome (TTS) remain elusive. This study assessed differences in clinical characteristics between Japanese and European TTS patients and determined the impact of ethnicity on in-hospital outcomes. Methods: TTS patients in Japan were enrolled from 10 hospitals and TTS patients in Europe were enrolled from 32 hospitals participating in the International Takotsubo Registry. Clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes were compared between Japanese and European patients. Results: A total of 503 Japanese and 1670 European patients were included. Japanese patients were older (72.6 ± 11.4 years vs. 68.0 ± 12.0 years; p < 0.001) and more likely to be male (18.5 vs. 8.4%; p < 0.001) than European TTS patients. Physical triggering factors were more common (45.5 vs. 32.0%; p < 0.001), and emotional triggers less common (17.5 vs. 31.5%; p < 0.001), in Japanese patients than in European patients. Japanese patients were more likely to experience cardiogenic shock during the acute phase (15.5 vs. 9.0%; p < 0.001) and had a higher in-hospital mortality (8.2 vs. 3.2%; p < 0.001). However, ethnicity itself did not appear to have an impact on in-hospital mortality. Machine learning approach revealed that the presence of physical stressors was the most important prognostic factor in both Japanese and European TTS patients. Conclusion: Differences in clinical characteristics and in-hospital outcomes between Japanese and European TTS patients exist. Ethnicity does not impact the outcome in TTS patients. The worse in-hospital outcome in Japanese patients, is mainly driven by the higher prevalence of physical triggers.Open Access funding provided by Universität Zürich. CT has been supported by the H.H. Sheikh Khalifa bin Hamad Al-Thani Research Programme and the Swiss Heart Foundation. L.S.M. has been supported by EU HORIZON 2020 (SILICOFCM ID777204). J.R.G has received a grant “Filling the gap” from the University of Zurich. The InterTAK Registry is supported by The Biss Davies Charitable Trust.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio