Prognostic value of ultrasound-assessed upper limb muscle thickness on mortality in older patients with heart failure: A post-hoc analysis of the SONIC-HF cohort study.

Background And Aims: Upper limb muscle thickness assessed by ultrasound could be useful to estimate whole body muscle mass. We investigated the association between low upper limb muscle thickness and prognosis in older patients with heart failure (HF).

Methods And Results: This study was a post-hoc analysis of a prospective multicenter cohort, namely, the SONIC-HF study.

Design, Rational, and Baseline Characteristics of the SONIC-HF Multicenter Registry.

Introduction: Skeletal muscle mass and function are crucial for assessing physical frailty, sarcopenia, and cachexia, which significantly impact the prognosis of geriatric patients with heart failure (HF). Ultrasound-based assessment of skeletal muscles offers a non-invasive, real-time alternative to traditional methods. The study (SONIC-HF) aimed to evaluate the feasibility and prognostic impact of ultrasound-based muscle assessment in geriatric patients with HF.

Association of Cardiovascular-Kidney-Metabolic Overlap with Physical Function and Prognosis in Older Patients with Heart Failure: A Post-hoc Analysis of the FRAGILE-HF and SONIC-HF.

Aims: The prevalence and impact of cardiovascular, kidney, and metabolic (CKM) overlap on physical function and prognosis in older patients with heart failure (HF) remain unclear. This study aimed to assess the impact of overlapping CKM conditions on physical function and prognosis in older patients with HF.

Methods: This post-hoc analysis of the FRAGILE-HF (main cohort) and SONIC-HF (validation cohort), both prospective multicentre studies, included patients aged ≥65 years who were hospitalised for HF.

Mitral valve early systolic billowing induces following annular expansion and leaflet augmentation in Barlow's disease: sequential analysis using 3D echocardiography.

Aims: Although systolic expansion of the annulus has been recognized in Barlow's disease, the mechanisms of the unique pathological movement of the annulus and its relation to the leaflet augmentation have not yet been clarified. We aimed to investigate the detailed mechanisms of the characteristic mitral apparatus dynamics in Barlow's disease by frame-by-frame sequential geometric analysis using real-time 3D transoesophageal echocardiography.

Methods And Results: Fifty-three patients with Barlow's disease and severe mitral regurgitation without torn chordae, as well as 10 controls, were included.

Dynamic changes in echocardiographic parameters in acute decompensated heart failure: REALITY-ECHO.

Background: Appropriate evaluation of hemodynamic status is vital in the management of acute heart failure (AHF). We aimed to investigate the changes in echocardiographic parameters during very acute phases of AHF and their association with clinical outcomes.

Methods: Patients who were admitted to four Japanese hospitals with AHF were prospectively enrolled.

Flow adjusted transmitral pressure gradient as a modified indicator of functional mitral stenosis after repair for degenerative mitral regurgitation.

Background And Aim: After repair of degenerative mitral regurgitation (DMR), the focus is on functional mitral stenosis (FMS) when there is a decline of mitral hemodynamics. Yet, the clinical impacts and a standardized definition are still undecided. Since common mitral hemodynamic parameters are influenced by transmitral flow, the aim of this study is to seek the impact of flow adjusted transmitral pressure gradient (TMPG) by left ventricular stroke volume (LVSV) on the midterm outcomes.

Physiological and prognostic differences between types of exercise stress echocardiography for functional mitral regurgitation.

Objective: Secondary mitral regurgitation (MR) demonstrates dynamic change during exercise. This prospective observational study aimed to compare exercise stress echocardiography (ESE) where handgrip exercise (handgrip-ESE) or semisupine ergometer exercise was performed (ergometer-ESE) for patients with secondary MR.

Methods: Handgrip-ESE and symptom-limited ergometer-ESE were performed for 53 patients (median age (IQR): 68 (58-78) years; 70% male) on the same day.

Relations of Augmented Systolic Annular Expansion and Leaflet/Papillary Muscle Dynamics in Late-Systolic Mitral Valve Prolapse Evaluated by Echocardiography with a Speckle Tracking Analysis.

The mechanism of systolic annular expansion in mitral valve prolapse (MVP) is not clarified. Since annular expansion is systolic outward shift of MV leaflet/chorda tissue complex at superior and outer ends, annular expansion could be related to inward (superior) shift of the complex at another inferior and inner end of the papillary muscle (PM) tip and/or systolic lengthening of the tissue complex, especially MV leaflets.MV annulus systolic expansion, PMs' systolic superior shift, and MV leaflets' systolic lengthening were evaluated by echocardiography with a speckle tracking analysis in 25 normal subjects, 25 subjects with holo-systolic MVP and 20 subjects with late-systolic MVP.

Impact of type and size of annuloplasty prosthesis on hemodynamic status after mitral valve repair for degenerative disease.

Objective: The aim of this study is to evaluate mitral valve hemodynamics after mitral valve repair for degenerative disease, and seek the impact of type/size of annuloplasty prosthesis on resting cardiac hemodynamics.

Methods: Between October 2012 and June 2019, 301 patients underwent isolated mitral valve repair for degenerative disease were enrolled. Correlation between postoperative mitral hemodynamics and type/size of annuloplasty prosthesis was evaluated.

Prognostic Value of BNP Reduction During Hospitalization in Patients With Acute Heart Failure.

Background: Prognostication of patients discharged after acute heart failure (AHF) hospitalization remains challenging. Body weight (BW) reduction is often used as a surrogate marker of decongestion despite the paucity of evidence. We thought to test the hypothesis that B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) reduction during hospitalization has independent prognostic value in AHF.

Exercise stress echocardiogram for the evaluation of change in the ventricular-arterial interaction after thoracic endovascular aortic repair.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to explore, with exercise echocardiography, the potential impact of thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) on the ventricle-aorta coupling, based on the hypothesis that the interaction between the ventricle and aorta may be influenced by an increase in aortic stiffness due to the stent graft.

Methods: Of the patients who underwent isolated TEVAR for thoracic aortic diseases between April 2016 and December 2016, changes found in haemodynamic and echocardiographic parameters between the control (n = 17) and TEVAR (n = 30) groups were analysed by a stress echocardiogram.

Results: The end-systolic elastance significantly increased with stress in both groups [from 3.