Publications by authors named "Chi-Jen Weng"
Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risks of stroke and mortality. It remains unclear whether rhythm control reduces the risk of stroke in patients with AF concomitant with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM).
Methods: We identified AF patients with HCM who were ≥ 18 years old in the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database.
The appearance of new accessory pathway after the Cone procedure.
J Cardiovasc Electrophysiol
December 2023
Introduction: Acquired Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome can occur after congenital heart disease (CHD) surgery.
Methods And Results: A 27-year-old male with Ebstein's anomaly and manifest WPW syndrome received catheter ablation twice. The first electrophysiology study (EPS) induced orthodromic atrioventricular reentrant tachycardia and successfully eliminated the posteroseptal accessory pathway (AP).
Article Synopsis
- This study compares the effectiveness of circumferential pulmonary vein isolation (CPVI) and segmental pulmonary vein isolation (SPVI) in patients undergoing redo ablations for recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF).
- 543 patients who had AF ablation were analyzed, with 141 included in the final assessment; the results showed similar AF-free survival rates for both techniques, but a significant difference in atrial flutter recurrence favoring CPVI.
- The findings suggest that while SPVI and CPVI are comparable for AF recurrence, SPVI has a higher rate of atrial flutter, potentially linked to more residual pulmonary vein gaps over time.
Background: Modifying the autonomic system after catheter ablation may prevent the recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF). Evaluation of skin sympathetic nerve activity (SKNA) is a noninvasive method for the assessment of sympathetic activity. However, there are few studies on the effects of different energy settings on SKNA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Catheter ablation (CA) is a treatment strategy for atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We investigated the electrophysiological characteristics of recurrence in a tertiary referral center and compared long-term clinical outcomes after CA therapy with patients who did not undergo CA.
Methods: Patients with HCM and AF who underwent CA (group 1, = 60) or pharmacological treatment (group 2, = 298) between 2006 and 2021 were enrolled in this study.
Background: Therapeutic hypothermia (TH) increases the susceptibility to ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) by prolonging action potential duration (APD) and facilitating arrhythmogenic spatially discordant alternans (SDA). Levosimendan, a calcium sensitizer, has been reported to shorten APD by enhancing the adenosine triphosphate (ATP)-sensitive K current.
Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that, during TH, levosimendan shortens the already prolonged APD, attenuates SDA, and prevents VA.
Article Synopsis
- Cryoballoon ablation (CBA) is a treatment for atrial fibrillation (AF) that has mostly been studied in Western countries, and this study focuses on its effectiveness in Asian patients.
- The research included 120 AF patients and found that 74.2% were free from AF one year after CBA, highlighting its efficacy and safety.
- Key predictors for AF recurrence within a year were identified as having persistent AF, a left atrial diameter (LAD) of 4.75 cm or more, and previous cardioversion, with no strokes reported among participants post-procedure.
Article Synopsis
- A study examined whether rhythm control strategy for treating atrial fibrillation (AF) can lower dementia risk compared to rate control strategy.
- Researchers analyzed data from 3,382 AF patients aged 65 and older, finding that those on rhythm control medications had a reduced incidence of dementia during a nearly 5-year follow-up.
- The results indicated that patients on rhythm control had a significant 25% lower risk of developing dementia, especially among those who were also taking aspirin.
Detecting supraventricular tachycardia with smartwatches facilitates the decision for catheter ablation: A case series.
Pacing Clin Electrophysiol
January 2022
Article Synopsis
- Smartwatches are effective for detecting arrhythmias like atrial fibrillation, but there's uncertainty about their ability to identify supraventricular tachycardia (SVT).
- A study reported three cases where patients with infrequent palpitations had their SVTs only recorded by smartwatches, not by hospital ECGs.
- The study suggests that when a smartwatch detects SVT in patients with recurring tachycardia, an electrophysiological study should be done immediately instead of waiting for a standard ECG, potentially leading to quicker treatment.
Article Synopsis
- * Researchers used rabbit hearts and tested how a treatment called rotigaptide affected heart rhythms during cooling therapy.
- * The findings showed that using rotigaptide made the heart rhythms more stable and reduced the chances of VF happening during the tests.
Background: The impact of hypoglycaemic episode (HE) on the risk of ventricular arrhythmia (VA) and sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) remains unclear. We hypothesized that HE increases the risk of both VA and SCA and that glucose-lowering agents causing HE also increase the risk of VA/SCA in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D).
Methods: Patients aged 20 years or older with newly diagnosed T2D were identified using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Database.
The data relates to the cohort of patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) from the National Health Insurance Research Database of Taiwan, "Rhythm Control Better Prevents Stroke and Mortality than Rate Control Strategies in Patients with Atrial Fibrillation - A Nationwide Cohort Study" (Weng et al., in press). The AF patients might receive either rate or rhythm control strategy according to the medication used.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a heart condition that increases the chances of having a stroke or dying.
- Researchers studied two groups of AF patients: one using rhythm control methods and the other using rate control methods to manage their condition.
- After following nearly 12,000 patients for about 6 years, the rhythm control group had lower rates of strokes and deaths compared to the rate control group, especially among those at higher risk.
Background: The development of both electrical reverse remodeling and mechanical reverse remodeling (ERR+MRR) after cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) implantation could reduce the incidence of lethal arrhythmia, hence the prediction of ERR+MRR is clinically important.
Methods and results: Eighty-three patients (54 male; 67±12 years old) with CRT >6 months were enrolled. ERR was defined as baseline intrinsic QRS duration (iQRSd) shortening ≥10 ms in lead II on ECG after CRT, and MRR as improvement in LVEF ≥25% on echocardiography after CRT.