Sex based profiles in serum and urine levels of major VEGF-A isoforms, VEGF-A and VEGF-A.

Background: Sex differences significantly affect many laboratory test results. However, sex differences in the serum and urine levels of the major vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGF-A) isoforms, VEGF-A and VEGF-A, remain unclear. This study aimed to assess these sex-based profiles using a newly developed assay system.

Impact of cardiac rehabilitation exercise management on improving exercise tolerance among patients with chronic heart disease using a telemetry-based biosignal measurement device: protocol for a multicentre randomised controlled trial in Japan (iCARE-MATE study).

Introduction: Cardiac rehabilitation (CR) improves the outcomes of patients with chronic heart disease. However, participation in hospital-based programs is limited, partly because of accessibility issues. Notably, most CRs are performed unsupervised at home, making it challenging for healthcare providers and patients to monitor progress accurately or provide tailored feedback.

Automated coronary artery segmentation / tissue characterization and detection of lipid-rich plaque: An integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound study.

Background: Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-based tissue characterization has been used to detect vulnerable plaque or lipid-rich plaque (LRP). Recently, advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) technology have enabled automated coronary arterial plaque segmentation and tissue characterization. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and diagnostic accuracy of a deep learning model for plaque segmentation, tissue characterization and identification of LRP.

Feasibility of optical coherence tomography-guided primary percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI: all-comer ATLAS-OCT trial.

Intravascular imaging for acute coronary syndrome is recommended in the guidelines; however, the actual rate of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who successfully undergo optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is unclear. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of OCT-guided primary PCI and identify the patient population that would benefit most from OCT guidance in STEMI. The ATLAS-OCT trial was a prospective, single-arm, all-comers study conducted at 16 institutions.

Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Receptor 2 Agonist Mobilises Endogenous Muse Cells to Repair Damaged Myocardial Tissue in Male Rabbits.

Muse cells, pluripotent stem cells present mainly in the bone marrow (BM) selectively accumulate to damaged tissue by sensing sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) and replace damaged cells by differentiating in situ. Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) model rabbits were subcutaneously injected either with Vehicle (n = 15), S1PR2-agonist (n = 16), or S1PR2-agonist + S1PR2-antagonist (n = 10). The number of Muse cells in the peripheral blood was assessed by flow cytometry at 12 h after AMI.

Utilization of Intensive Care Units and Outcomes Based on Admission Wards in Cardiovascular Emergencies.

Background: Cardiovascular emergencies often require intensive care unit (ICU) management, but there is limited data comparing outcomes based on the admission ward.

Methods And Results: We analyzed data from the Japanese Registry of All Cardiac and Vascular Diseases Diagnosis Procedure Combination (JROAD-DPC) database (2016-2020) for 715,054 patients (mean age, 75.4±14.

AI-echocardiography: Current status and future direction.

Echocardiography, which provides detailed evaluations of cardiac structure and pathology, is central to cardiac imaging. Traditionally, the assessment of disease severity, treatment effectiveness, and prognosis prediction relied on detailed parameters obtained by trained sonographers and the expertise of specialists, which can limit access and availability. Recent advancements in deep learning and large-scale computing have enabled the automatic acquisition of parameters in a short time using vast amounts of historical training data.

A case report of left ventricular outflow tract obstruction due to early growth of a calcified amorphous tumour despite normal renal function.

Background: Calcified amorphous tumours (CAT) are non-neoplastic cardiac masses that have been the focus of several recent studies. Moreover, CAT is frequently observed in women and in patients undergoing dialysis.

Case Summary: A woman in her 70 s with normal renal function was referred to our hospital with a chief complaint of shortness of breath upon effort.

Sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 inhibitor empagliflozin enhances autophagy and reverses remodeling in hearts with large, old myocardial infarctions.

Large clinical trials recently showed that sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors improve the prognosis of heart failure patients with or without diabetes. Using a mouse model of large myocardial infarction, we investigated the therapeutic effects and underlying molecular mechanisms of the highly selective SGLT2 inhibitor empagliflozin in heart failure. Four weeks after myocardial infarction induced by left coronary artery ligation, the surviving mice were assigned to vehicle or empagliflozin groups and treated for 8 weeks.

CVIT 2025 clinical expert consensus document on intravascular ultrasound.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) provides precise anatomic information in coronary arteries including quantitative measurements and morphological assessment. To standardize the IVUS analysis in the current era, this updated expert consensus document summarizes the methods of measurements and assessment of IVUS images and the clinical evidence of IVUS use in percutaneous coronary intervention.

Restoration effect of chemically modified microRNA-143-3p on acute myocardial infarction in animal models.

We investigated whether miR143#12, a synthesized chemically modified miR-143-3p derivative, exerts therapeutic effects on acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Sprague-Dawley rats and Japanese white rabbits underwent 30 min of coronary occlusion followed by 2 weeks of reperfusion. The rat AMI model was intravenously administered with control miRNA (9 μg/kg), 3 μg/kg or 9 μg/kg of miR143#12 1 h after reperfusion, while the rabbit AMI model was intravenously administered with control miRNA (9 μg/kg) or 9 μg/kg of miR143#12.

Elevated plasma progranulin levels in the acute phase are correlated with recovery of left ventricular function in the chronic phase in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: Progranulin is a secreted glycoprotein that regulates inflammation and wound healing. However, plasma progranulin levels in the acute phase and their clinical significance in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) remain to be elucidated.

Objective: We aimed to investigate the relationship between the increase in plasma progranulin levels in the acute phase and the recovery of left ventricular function in the chronic phase in AMI patients.

CVIT expert consensus document on primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndromes (ACS) in 2024.

Primary Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) has significantly contributed to reducing the mortality of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) even in cardiogenic shock and is now the standard of care in most of Japanese institutions. The Task Force on Primary PCI of the Japanese Association of Cardiovascular Intervention and Therapeutics (CVIT) proposed an expert consensus document for the management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) focusing on procedural aspects of primary PCI in 2018 and updated in 2022. Recently, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published the guidelines for the management of acute coronary syndrome in 2023.

Roles of Atrial Arrhythmias in Triggering Torsade de Pointes in Patients With Acquired Long QT Syndrome.

Background: Little is known about the role of atrial arrhythmias (AAs) in triggering Torsade de Pointes (TdP) in patients with long QT syndrome (LQTS). The aim of this study was to examine the contribution of AAs to the development of TdP in acquired LQTS patients.

Methods: The initiation patterns of 81 episodes of TdP obtained from 34 consecutive acute acquired LQTS patients (14 men, median age, 69 years; median QTc, 645.