Eur Heart J Acute Cardiovasc Care
July 2025
Background: Congestion is a major cause of hospitalisation in patients with heart failure (HF) and the persistence of congestive signs at discharge is a robust predictor of early readmission. Currently, there is increasing interest in the comprehensive assessment of subclinical congestion, as it can increase residual risk in individuals who appear to be euvolemic. Our aim was to investigate the prevalence and prognostic impact of subclinical venous congestion assessed by ultrasound.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIntroduction And Objectives: This report presents updated data on heart transplants in Spain, including procedures carried out in 2024. It reviews trends over the past decade (2015-2024) in donor and recipient characteristics, surgical techniques, immunosuppression strategies, and survival rates.
Methods: Data were drawn from the Spanish heart transplant registry, which is updated annually.
Cardiogenic shock remains one of the main challenges in modern cardiovascular medicine. In Spain, urgent cardiac transplantation is the most widely used heart replacement therapy fin eligible patients who do not achieve cardiac recovery. However, this approach has significant implications related to the principle of equity, influenced by the characteristics of the recipient, the donor, and organ access.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHeart transplantation from donors after the circulatory determination of death is expanding worldwide. Thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion (TA-NRP) allows the validation and recovery of the donation after the circulatory determination of death (DCDD) heart, but there is limited evidence on the results of heart transplants performed with this approach. This multicenter, nationwide, prospective study describes the short-term outcomes of adult patients receiving a DCDD heart transplant obtained via TA-NRP followed by static cold storage in Spain.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLife (Basel)
November 2024
Heart transplantation (HT) is the gold standard therapy for advanced heart failure (ADHF), and LVADs as destination therapy are an option in non-HT candidates. Most patients with ADHF never receive HT or an LVAD, so alternative strategies are needed. Intermittent levosimendan can reduce HF hospitalizations in ADHF patients in the short term.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: There is a long-standing need for a noninvasive biomarker that allows monitoring of cardiac allograft rejection, avoiding the need for periodic endomyocardial biopsies (EMB).
Methods: Multicenter, observational, prospective study, performed between 2019 and 2023 (NCT04973943). All patients underwent 7 per-protocol surveillance EMB during the first postheart transplantation year.
Background: The current incidence and outcomes of structural transcatheter procedures in heart transplant (HTx) recipients and left-ventricular assist devices (LVAD) carriers is unknown.
Aims: To provide insights on structural transcatheter procedures performed across HTx and LVAD patients in Spain.
Methods: Multicenter, ambispective, observational nationwide registry.
Systemic AL amyloidosis is a challenging disease for which many patients are considered frail in daily clinical practice. However, no study has so far addressed frailty and its impact on the outcome of these patients. We built a simple score to predict mortality based on three frailty-associated variables: age, ECOG performance status (<2 vs.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFFront Cardiovasc Med
February 2024
Introduction: We conducted a study to determine the prevalence of structural heart disease in patients with CF, the characteristics of a cardiomyopathy not previously described in this population, and its possible relationship with nutritional deficiencies in CF.
Methods: We studied 3 CMP CF patients referred for heart-lung transplantation and a prospective series of 120 adult CF patients. All patients underwent a clinical examination, blood tests including levels of vitamins and trace elements, and echocardiography with evaluation of myocardial strain.
Introduction And Objectives: Posttransplant outcomes among recipients with a diagnosis of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) or restrictive cardiomyopathy (RCM) remain controversial.
Methods: Retrospective analysis of a nationwide registry of first-time recipients undergoing isolated heart transplant between 1984 and 2021. One-year and 5-year mortality in recipients with HCM and RCM were compared with those with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM).
Heart transplant (HT) remains the best therapeutic option for patients with advanced heart failure (HF). The allocation criteria aim to guarantee equitable access to HT and prioritize patients with a worse clinical status. To review the HT allocation criteria, the Heart Failure Association of the Spanish Society of Cardiology (HFA-SEC), the Spanish Society of Cardiovascular and Endovascular Surgery (SECCE) and the National Transplant Organization (ONT), organized a consensus conference involving adult and pediatric cardiologists, adult and pediatric cardiac surgeons, transplant coordinators from all over Spain, and physicians and nurses from the ONT.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAssessment of frailty before heart transplant (HT) is recommended but is not standard in most HT protocols. Our objective was to evaluate frailty at inclusion in HT list and during follow-up and to assess the influence of baseline frailty on prognosis. A prospective multicenter study in all adults included in the nonurgent HT waiting list.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMonoclonal gammopathies (MGs) are a wide range of diseases that may evolve or progress over time. Comorbidity plays a critical role in this setting. The co-occurrence of two MGs is not a rare event.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: We sought to investigate prevalence, incidence and prognostic implications of permanent pacemaker (PPM) implantation in patients with cardiac amyloidosis (CA), thereby identifying the predictors of time to PPM implantation.
Methods: Seven hundred eighty-seven patients with CA (602 men, median age 74 years, 571 transthyretin amyloidosis (ATTR), 216 light-chain amyloidosis (AL)) evaluated at two European referral centres were retrospectively included. Clinical, laboratory and instrumental data were analysed.
In this observational and multicenter study, that included all patients who underwent a heart transplantation (HT) in Spain from 1984 to 2018, we analyzed the incidence, management, and prognosis of colorectal cancer (CRC) after HT. Of 6,244 patients with a HT and a median follow-up of 8.8 years since the procedure, 116 CRC cases (11.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRev Esp Cardiol (Engl Ed)
January 2024
Introduction And Objectives: We aimed to describe the clinical outcomes of the use of the CentriMag acute circulatory support system as a bridge to emergency heart transplantation (HTx).
Methods: We conducted a descriptive analysis of the clinical outcomes of consecutive HTx candidates included in a multicenter retrospective registry who were treated with the CentriMag device, configured either for left ventricular support (LVS) or biventricular support (BVS). All patients were listed for high-priority HTx.
J Heart Lung Transplant
August 2023
Background: Primary graft dysfunction (PGD) still affects 2% to 28% of heart transplants (HT). Severe PGD requires mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and is the main cause of death early after HT. Earlier initiation has been suggested to improve prognosis but the best cannulation strategy is unknown.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: In patients with advanced heart failure, the intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) of subsegmental pulmonary artery measurements is correlated with right heart catheterization parameters. Our aim was to study the prognostic value of pulmonary OCT, right heart catheterization data, and the echocardiographic estimation of pulmonary pressure in patients studied for elective heart transplants.
Methods: This research is an observational, prospective, multicenter study involving 90 adults with a one-year follow-up.
J Heart Lung Transplant
April 2023
Background: We aimed to describe recent trends in the use and outcomes of temporary mechanical circulatory support (MCS) as a bridge to heart transplantation (HTx) in Spain.
Methods: Retrospective case-by-case analysis of 1,036 patients listed for emergency HTx while on temporary MCS in 16 Spanish institutions from January 1st, 2010 to December 31st, 2020. Patients were classified in 3 eras according to changes in donor allocation criteria (Era 1: January 2010/May 2014; Era 2: June 2014/May 2017; Era 3: June 2017/December 2020).