Feasibility and Safety of a Three-Dimensional Sheath for Right Ventricular Septal Endomyocardial Biopsy.

Background: Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is a complementary invasive procedure for the diagnosis of several cardiac diseases. New technical developments are needed to increase the safety of the procedure even in low-volume centers.

Methods: We retrospectively enrolled patients who underwent EMB in our institution, which is a non-heart transplant tertiary care center.

[An atypical ECG for a typical Takotsubo syndrome].

Takotsubo syndrome is an acquired pathological condition that occurs mainly in postmenopausal women in response to stressful events of a variety of psychophysical nature and, especially in the acute phase, may be indistinguishable from acute coronary syndrome. The clinical presentation of Takotsubo syndrome is characterized by chest pain, an increase in biomarkers of myocardial necrosis, wall motion abnormalities and ECG changes that may completely overlap with cardiac ischemia. It is therefore of paramount importance to make a correct differential diagnosis between these two conditions, which have different therapeutic and prognostic implications.

Left ventricular volumes and function in successful and failed His-BundLe Pacing. A comparative prospective study.

Introduction: Initial data suggest that His Bundle Pacing (HBP) could preserve long-term cardiac structure and function better than Right Ventricular Pacing (RVP), but evidence is limited.

Methods: We studied consecutive patients with baseline ejection fraction (EF) ≥ 50% who underwent HBP attempt, either successful (HBP group) or failed (RVP group). Two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography were carried out at baseline and after 6 months of ventricular pacing burden > 20%.