Ventricular Tachycardia Predicts All-Cause Mortality and Nonsudden Cardiac Death in Nonischemic Cardiomyopathy.

Background: Patients with nonischemic cardiomyopathies (NICMs) are at a risk for end-stage heart failure and death from ventricular arrhythmias. Implanted defibrillators (ICDs) protect against sudden arrhythmic death, but several studies suggest that ventricular arrhythmias are associated with worse outcomes despite ICDs.

Objectives: This study evaluated the relationship of ventricular tachycardia (VT) with total mortality and nonsudden cardiovascular death (NSCVD) in NICM patients with ICDs enrolled in 2 multicentre trials.

Three-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging of the Human Stellate Ganglion.

Reports of visualization of the stellate ganglion via magnetic resonance imaging date back to the early 1990s. However, such imaging has not been fully utilized, presumably due to vagueness of its topographic anatomy, small size, suboptimal image quality, and limited reproducibility. Considering the recent advancements in the field of neuroradiological imaging, including magnetic resonance neurography, and emerging interests regarding cardiac neuroanatomy and neuromodulation, such as stellate ganglion phototherapy, it is time to revisit the anatomy and imaging of the stellate ganglion, as it largely controls the sympathetic tone of the heart.

Right stellate ganglion stimulation modulates arrhythmogenesis in acute left lateral ventricular ischaemia.

Aims: Acute myocardial ischaemia causes fatal arrhythmias as result of a flow of 'injury current'. Left stellate ganglion stimulation (LSGS) modulates the injury current and is arrhythmogenic during left anterior ventricular wall ischaemia. The role of right stellate ganglion stimulation (RSGS) in arrhythmogenesis is unclear.

Adrenergic Hypersensitivity Drives Ventricular Arrhythmias Following Loss of Plexin-Mediated Cardiac Innervation.

Background: Ventricular arrhythmias (VAs) are a leading cause of death and arise from a combination of cardiac muscle injury and dysfunction of the intramyocardial sympathetic nerves that control cardiac electrophysiology. The adrenergic mechanisms by which intramyocardial nerves contribute to arrhythmogenesis are poorly understood. Semaphorin-plexin signaling pathways are responsible for developmental guidance of sympathetic nerves onto the heart and have previously been associated with VAs in humans.

Noradrenergic and cholinergic innervation of the normal human heart and changes associated with cardiomyopathy.

Autonomic nerves are crucial in cardiac function and pathology. However, data on the distribution of cholinergic and noradrenergic nerves in normal and pathologic human hearts is lacking. Nonfailing donor hearts were pressure-perfusion fixed, imaged, and dissected.

Redefining respiratory sinus arrhythmia as respiratory heart rate variability: an international Expert Recommendation for terminological clarity.

The variation of heart rate in phase with breathing, known as 'respiratory sinus arrhythmia' (RSA), is a physiological phenomenon present in all air-breathing vertebrates. RSA arises from the interaction of several physiological mechanisms but is primarily mediated by rhythmic changes in cardiac parasympathetic (vagal) activity, increasing heart rate during inspiration and decreasing heart rate during expiration. RSA amplitude is an indicator of autonomic and cardiac health; RSA is diminished or absent in common pathological conditions such as chronic heart failure and hypertension.

Epicardial ventricular arrhythmia ablation: a clinical consensus statement of the European Heart Rhythm Association of the European Society of Cardiology and the Heart Rhythm Society, the Asian Pacific Heart Rhythm Society, the Latin American Heart Rhythm Society, and the Canadian Heart Rhythm Society.

Epicardial access during electrophysiology procedures offers valuable insights and therapeutic options for managing ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). The current clinical consensus statement on epicardial VA ablation aims to provide clinicians with a comprehensive understanding of this complex clinical scenario. It offers structured advice and a systematic approach to patient management.