Clinical applications of non-invasive imaging techniques in suspected coronary artery disease and in acute myocardial infarction

Non-invasive cardiac imaging modalities play a crucial role in the diagnostic process and clinical management of patients without known coronary artery disease and patients with acute myocardial infarction. The first part of the thesis discusses the use of non-invasive imaging modalities (including coronary artery calcium scoring, multi-slice computed tomography coronary angiography, conventional two-dimensional echocardiography and speckle-tracking echocardiography) for the diagnosis and risk stratification of patients with suspected coronary artery disease. The second part of the thesis discusses the diagnostic and prognostic value of novel echocardiographic techniques (including contrast echocardiography, myocardial deformation imaging, and three-dimensional echocardiography) in patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction.UBL - phd migration 201

Use of sutureless and rapid deployment prostheses in challenging reoperations

Sutureless and rapid-deployment bioprostheses have been introduced as alternatives to traditional prosthetic valves to reduce cardiopulmonary and aortic cross-clamp times during aortic valve replacement. These devices have also been employed in extremely demanding surgical settings, as underlined in the present review. Searches on the PubMed and Medline databases aimed to identify, from the English-language literature, the reported cases where both sutureless and rapid-deployment prostheses were employed in challenging surgical situations, usually complex reoperations sometimes even performed as bailout procedures. We have identified 25 patients for whom a sutureless or rapid-deployment prosthesis was used in complex redo procedures: 17 patients with a failing stentless bioprosthesis, 6 patients with a failing homograft, and 2 patients with the failure of a valve-sparing procedure. All patients survived reoperation and were reported to be alive 3 months to 4 years postoperatively. Sutureless and rapid-deployment bioprostheses have proved effective in replacing degenerated stentless bioprostheses and homografts in challenging redo procedures. In these settings, they should be considered as a valid alternative not only to traditional prostheses but also in selected cases to transcatheter valve-in-valve solutions

Mitral paravalvular abscess with left ventriculo-atrial fistula in a patient on dialysis

Background: Infective endocarditis in hemodialysis patients is challenging but is becoming more common recently. Case report: A 64-year-old man with end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis presented with infective endocarditis of mitral valve and coronary artery disease after commencing training for home hemodialysis. During a course of antibiotic treatment the patient developed left ventriculo-atrial fistula due to mitral paravalvular abscess. Abscess debridement followed by reconstruction of the mitral annulus with fresh autologous pericardial patch and mitral valve replacement using a mechanical prosthesis with concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting was performed successfully. Conclusion: Timely diagnosis, proper antibiotic treatment and early surgical intervention including aggressive debridement should improve the outcome of this high-risk disease. © 2009 Kitamura et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.Tadashi Kitamura, James Edwards, Suchi Khurana and Robert G Stukli

Heart transplantation in amyloidosis: Clinical and imaging manifestations

Objetivo: Describir las características clínicas e imagenológicas de los pacientes con trasplante cardiaco por amiloidosis en una institución de la comunidad. Método: Serie de casos descriptiva de pacientes consecutivos receptores de trasplante cardiaco con amiloidosis en un centro médico. Se incluyeron todos los pacientes con diagnóstico de amiloidosis con compromiso cardiaco receptores de trasplante cardiaco en el periodo de noviembre de 2008a febrero de 2021. Resultados: Se incluyeron 16 pacientes con una edad media de 59.9 años (± 10.2) y el 81.25 % (n = 13) eran de sexo masculino. Según el tipo de amiloidosis, 12 pacientes recibieron el trasplante por amiloidosis por cadenas livianas (AL) y 4 por amiloidosis por transtiretina (ATTR). Las formas más frecuentes de presentación clínica fueron sobrecarga izquierda (50 %) y shock cardiogénico (32 %). La mitad recibieron el trasplante estando en lista de emergencia. La fracción de eyección promedio previa al trasplante fue del 43% (± 16). Presentaron disfunción del ventrículo derecho 14 de los 16 pacientes. El hallazgo más común en la resonancia magnética cardiaca fue el patrón de realce tardío de gadolinio subendocárdico difuso, con anulación del pool sanguíneo. La realización del trasplante cardiaco permitió a la mitad de los pacientes con amiloidosis AL (n = 6) la posibilidad de recibir trasplante de médula ósea en un segundo tiempo. Conclusiones: En la actualidad, el trasplante cardiaco se ha convertido en una opción para pacientes con insuficiencia cardiaca por amiloidosis, tanto AL como ATTR. En los pacientes con amiloidosis AL incluso puede permitir en un segundo tiempo el trasplante de médula ósea.Objective: To describe the clinical and imaging characteristics of heart transplantation patients due to amyloidosis in a community institution. Method: Descriptive case series of consecutive heart transplantation patients with amyloidosis in a medical center. All patients with diagnosis of amyloidosis with cardiac compromise receiving heart transplantation, performed in the period November 2008 to February 2021, were included in the analysis. Results: A total of 16 patients were included. The mean age was 59.9 years (± 10.2). 81.25% (n = 13) were male. According to the type of amyloidosis, 12 patients were transplanted for AL amyloidosis and 4 for ATTR amyloidosis. The most frequent clinical presentations were left overload (50%) and cardiogenic shock (32%). The mean ejection fraction prior to transplantation was 43% (± 16), 14 of the 16 patients had right ventricular dysfunction. The most common finding on cardiac magnetic resonance was the diffuse subendocardial late gadolinium enhancement pattern, with cancellation of the blood pool. The heart transplantation gave 6 patients the chance to receive a bone marrow transplantation afterwards. Conclusions: Heart transplantation has become an option for patients with heart failure due to AL and ATTR amyloidosis. In patients with AL amyloidosis, it might even allow bone marrow transplantation in a second stage.Fil: Decotto, Santiago. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Villanueva, Eugenia. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Pérez de Arenaza, Diego. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Nucifora, Elsa Mercedes. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Aguirre, Maria Adela. Hospital Italiano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Posadas Martinez, Maria Lourdes. Hospital Italiano; Argentina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Marenchino, Ricardo G.. Hospital Italiano; ArgentinaFil: Belziti, César. Hospital Italiano; Argentin

The Oncoprotein EVI1 and the DNA Methyltransferase Dnmt3 Co-Operate in Binding and De Novo Methylation of Target DNA

EVI1 has pleiotropic functions during murine embryogenesis and its targeted disruption leads to prenatal death by severely affecting the development of virtually all embryonic organs. However, its functions in adult tissues are still unclear. When inappropriately expressed, EVI1 becomes one of the most aggressive oncogenes associated with human hematopoietic and solid cancers. The mechanisms by which EVI1 transforms normal cells are unknown, but we showed recently that EVI1 indirectly upregulates self-renewal and cell-cycling genes by inappropriate methylation of CpG dinucleotides in the regulatory regions of microRNA-124-3 (miR-124-3), leading to the repression of this small gene that controls normal differentiation and cell cycling of somatic cells. We used the regulatory regions of miR-124-3 as a read-out system to investigate how EVI1 induces de novo methylation of DNA. Here we show that EVI1 physically interacts with DNA methyltransferases 3a and 3b (Dnmt3a/b), which are the only de novo DNA methyltransferases identified to date in mouse and man, and that it forms an enzymatically active protein complex that induces de novo DNA methylation in vitro. This protein complex targets and binds to a precise region of miR-124-3 that is necessary for repression of a reporter gene by EVI1. Based on our findings, we propose that in cooperation with Dnmt3a/b EVI1 regulates the methylation of DNA as a sequence-specific mediator of de novo DNA methylation and that inappropriate EVI1 expression contributes to carcinogenesis through improper DNA methylation

Long term prognostic importance of late gadolinium enhancement in first-presentation non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy

© 2019 Elsevier B.V. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ This author accepted manuscript is made available following 12 month embargo from date of publication (January 2019) in accordance with the publisher’s archiving policyBackground Presence of myocardial fibrosis in well-established non-ischaemic dilated cardiomyopathy (NIDCM) is associated with adverse clinical outcomes. However, the impact of myocardial fibrosis at first presentation in NIDCM, and its long-term association with left ventricular (LV) dysfunction, heart failure (HF) and ventricular arrhythmia (VA) remains unclear. We investigated whether the presence of myocardial fibrosis quantified by late gadolinium enhancement cardiovascular magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) at presentation, is independently associated with long-term major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) in patients with first presentation NIDCM. Methods Consecutive patients with a first diagnosis of NIDCM were recruited. Patients underwent LGE-CMR at baseline. Replacement myocardial fibrosis by LGE-CMR was quantified by experienced observers blinded to patient outcome. MACE was defined as a composite end-point including cardiac death, HF rehospitalisation and the occurrence of sustained VA. Results Fifty-one patients with first presentation NIDCM were included, of which 49 (96%) had follow up and outcome data. Median follow up was 8.2 years. Both the LGE positive and LGE negative groups had similar clinical characteristics at follow up. In univariate Cox regression analysis, positive LGE was associated with MACE (HR:3.44; 95% CI:1.89 to 6.24, p-value < 0.001) and HF rehospitalisation (HR:2.89; 95% CI:1.42 to 5.85, p-value = 0.003). In multivariate Cox regression, positive LGE-CMR was independently associated with MACE (HR:3.53; 95% CI:1.51 to 8.27, p-value = 0.004) and HF rehospitalisation (HR:3.07; 95% CI:1.24 to 7.59, p-value = 0.015). Conclusions The presence of myocardial fibrosis in first presentation NIDCM is independently associated with an increased risk of HF rehospitalisation, at long term follow-up

Guía de Práctica Clínica para el diagnóstico de compromiso orgánico en amiloidosis: parte 3/3 año 2020

Métodos: Se generó un listado de preguntas con el formato PICO centradas en la especificidad y sensibilidad de las pruebas diagnósticas en amiloidosis. Se realizó la búsqueda en PubMed durante julio-agosto del 2019, en inglés y español. Los niveles de evidencia y los grados de recomendación se basan en el sistema GRADE (http://www.gradeworkinggroup.org/index.htm). Las recomendaciones se graduaron según su dirección (a favor o en contra) y según fuerza (fuertes y débiles). Las recomendaciones finales fueron evaluadas con la herramienta GLIA para barreras y facilitadores en la implementación de éstas. Interpretación de recomendaciones: Las recomendaciones fuertes indican alta confianza, ya sea a favor o en contra, de una intervención. En esta guía se utiliza el lenguaje “se recomienda” cuando se define una recomendación fuerte. Las recomendaciones débiles indican que los resultados para una intervención, favorable o desfavorable, son dudosos. En este caso, se utiliza el lenguaje “se sugiere”, cuando se define una recomendación débil. Cómo utilizar estas pautas: Las recomendaciones deben ser interpretadas en el contexto de la atención especializada, con estudios diagnósticos validados y realizados por médicos entrenados. Se asume que el médico tratante tiene alto nivel de sospecha de amiloidosis. No asume condiciones coexistentes que modifican el curso de la enfermedad. Asume que los estudios diagnósticos son realizados por médicos entrenados con métodos validados y estandarizados. Esta guía es relevante para los profesionales de la salud y los involucrados en las políticas sanitarias, para ayudar a asegurar que existan los acuerdos necesarios para brindar la atención adecuada