Cardiac POCUS: Another Tool In The Armory

Introduction.This study assessed the educational impact of hybrid cardiac Point of Care Ultrasonography (POCUS) training in a community-based academic setting. Methods.Internal Medicine and Medicine/Pediatrics residents across all post-graduate years (PGY) at a midwestern medical school undertook a structured hybrid (online and hands-on teaching) model of POCUS training. Anonymous surveys with Likert-type scale responses were administered before and after the curriculum. Questions were categorized into domains to assess the residents’ interest in learning POCUS, their understanding of fundamental cardiac ultrasound (US) concepts, and their confidence in its application. The authors used Fisher’s Exact and t-test, and estimated odds ratios to gauge the impact of the training to achieve net scores above 0 on each domain. Results. A total of 27 and 26 residents completed the pre-and post-training surveys, respectively. Experience with previous cardiac US use showed a positive skew. The training resulted in a significant increase in both, the understanding of the principles, and the residents’ confidence in its application. These findings were most significant amongst PGY 2 and 3 residents. Post-training mean scores were similar across all domains for subgroups of PGY level and previous ultrasound experience. Conclusions.Residents displayed greater understanding of the fundamental cardiac ultrasound concepts with improved confidence levels after implementing a structured hybrid teaching model for POCUS. Future studies with objective assessment tools are needed to gauge the clinical impact of POCUS and its adoption rate in clinical practice to guide a recommendation for its incorporation into the residency curriculum

Hypertension and Cardiovascular Diseases among Electronic and Combustible Cigarette Users

Introduction. Combustible cigarette use is associated with an increased risk of several cardiovascular diseases; however, less is known about associations between these cardiovascular conditions and electronic cigarette use. Methods. This study investigated relationships between electronic and/or combustible cigarette use and diagnoses of cardiovascular diseases using the National Health Interview Survey from 2014, 2016, 2017, and 2018. Results. Compared to non-users, dual users of electronic and combustible cigarettes had increased likelihood of having prior diagnoses of hypertension (OR 1.660, 95% CI=1.519-1.814), stroke (OR 2.396, 95% CI=2.011-2.855), diabetes mellitus (OR 1.219, 95% CI=1.108-1.341), coronary artery disease (OR 2.211, 95% CI=1.837-2.660), and myocardial infarction (OR 3.839, 95% CI=3.232-4.560). Exclusive use of electronic cigarettes was associated with an increased likelihood of having hypertension compared to non-users (OR 1.244, 95% CI=1.048-1.477). Conclusions. There was no difference in diagnoses of stroke, diabetes mellitus, coronary artery disease, nor myocardial infarction among exclusive electronic cigarette users compared to non-users; however, these associations could change as young electronic cigarette users with hypertension age, indicating the need for continued research

Cardiac and Systemic Thrombus Caused by Drug Abuse

Drug abuse is an increasing concern all over the world especially in the United States. Methamphetamine have been well established to cause elevated body temperature, irregular heartbeat, seizures, and heart disease. We present a case of ventricular thrombus with systemic emboli in a patient with dilated cardiomyopathy after methamphetamine use

Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy

Alcohol-induced toxicity leads to non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy characterized by loss of contractile function and dilatation of myocardial ventricles. These findings are coupled with a clinical history of heavy alcohol use in the absence of coronary artery disease as a supportive etiology. Alcohol use is an important cause for non-ischemic cardiomyopathy and accounts for 10% of all cases of dilated cardiomyopathies. The major risk factor for developing ACM is chronic alcohol abuse; however, there is no specific cutoff value for the amount of alcohol consumption that would lead to the development of ACM

Transcarotid versus transthoracic transcatheter aortic valve replacement: A systematic review and meta-analysis

BackgroundTransthoracic approaches may be contraindicated in some patients and may be associated with poorer outcomes. Therefore other alternative access routes are increasingly being performed. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on Transcarotid transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TC-TAVR) and meta-analysis comparing outcomes of TC-TAVR and other access routes.MethodsWe comprehensively searched for controlled randomized and non-randomized studies from 4 online databases. We presented data using risk ratios (95 % confidence intervals) and measured heterogeneity using Higgins' I2.ResultsSixteen observational studies on Transcarotid TAVR were included in the analysis; 4 studies compared 180 TC-TAVR patients vs 524 TT-TAVR patients. The mean age and STS score for patients undergoing TC-TAVR were 80 years and 7.6 respectively. For TT-TAVR patients, the mean age and STS score were 79.7 years and 8.7 respectively. TC-TAVR patients had lower 30-day MACE [7.8 % vs 13.7 %; OR 0.54 (95 % CI 0.29-0.99, P = 0.05)] and major or life-threatening bleeding [4.0 % vs 14.2 %; OR 0.25 (95 % CI 0.09-0.67, P = 0.006)]. There was no significant difference in 30-day: mortality [5.0 % vs 8.6 %; OR 0.61 (95 % CI 0.29-1.30, P = 0.20)], stroke or transient ischemic attack [2.8 % vs 4.0 %; OR 0.65 (95 % CI 0.25-1.73, P = 0.39)] and moderate or severe aortic valve regurgitation [5.0 % vs 4.6 %; OR 1.14. (95 % CI 0.52-2.52, P = 0.75)]. There was a trend towards fewer major vascular complications in TC-TAVR [3.0 % vs 7.8 %; OR 0.42 (95 % CI 0.16-1.12, P = 0.08)].ConclusionCompared with transthoracic TAVR, TC-TAVR patients had lower odds of 30-day MACE and life-threatening bleeding and no differences in 30-day mortality, stroke or TIA, aortic valve regurgitation

Transcarotid versus transfemoral transcatheter aortic valve replacement: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Background: In the 2021 Transcatheter Valve Therapy (TVT) registry, 8.9 % of patients underwent TAVR via access sites other than the femoral artery. Transthoracic approaches may be contraindicated in some patients and may be associated with poorer outcomes. Therefore other alternative access routes are increasingly being performed. We conducted a systematic review of the literature on transcarotid transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TC-TAVR) and meta-analysis comparing outcomes of TC-TAVR and other access routes. Methods: We comprehensively searched for controlled randomized and non-randomized studies from 4 online databases. We presented data using risk ratios (95 % confidence intervals) and measured heterogeneity using Higgins' I2. Results: Sixteen observational studies on transcarotid TAVR were included in the analysis; 4 studies compared TC-TAVR vs TF-TAVR. The mean age and STS score for patients undergoing TC-TAVR were 80 years and 7.6 respectively. For TF-TAVR patients, mean age and STS score were 81.2 years and 6.5 respectively. There was no difference between patients undergoing TC-TAVR and TF-TAVR in the following 30-day outcomes: MACE [8.4 % vs 6.7 %; OR 1.32 (95 % CI 0.71–2.46 p = 0.38) I2 = 0 %], mortality [5.6 % vs 4.0 %; OR 0.42 (95 % CI 0.60–3.37, P = 0.42) I2 = 0 %] and stroke [0.7 % vs 2.3 %; OR 0.49 (95 % CI 0.09–2.56, P = 0.40) I2 = 0 %]. There was no difference in 30-day major vascular complications [0.7 % vs 3 %; OR 0.55 (95 % CI 0.06–5.29, P = 0.61) I2 = 39 %], major bleeding [0.7 % vs 3.8 %; OR 0.39 (95 % CI 0.09–1.67, P = 0.21) I2 = 0 %], and moderate or severe aortic valve regurgitation [8.6 % vs 9.9 %; OR 0.89 (95 % CI 0.48–1.65, P = 0.72) I2 = 0 %]. Conclusion: There are no significant differences in mortality, stroke MACE and major or life-threatening bleeding or vascular complications when TC-TAVR is compared to TF-TAVR approaches