Native T1 adds independent value for cardiovascular risk assessment beyond global longitudinal strain in an all-comers real-world clinical patient population.

Aims: Deformation imaging remains underused for cardiovascular risk assessment. As tissue characterization has now been recognized as an additional assessment tool, we sought to investigate the significance of native T1 and extracellular volume (ECV) in an unselected clinical routine population.

Methods And Results: The single-centre, prospective cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) registry included patients referred for clinical CMR.

Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease Improved Prediction by the COME-CCT Pretest Probability Calculator With Cardiac CT.

Background: Combining pretest probability (PTP) with computed tomography angiography (CTA) for diagnosing obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) has not yet been determined.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of PTP calculation alone and with CTA for diagnosing CAD.

Methods: A total of 65 prospective diagnostic accuracy studies of patients clinically referred to invasive coronary angiography with stable chest pain were included in this international collaborative individual patient data Collaborative Meta-Analysis of Cardiac CT (COME-CCT) meta-analysis.

Quantitative aortography for assessment of aortic regurgitation in the era of percutaneous aortic valve replacement.

Paravalvular leak (PVL) is a shortcoming that can erode the clinical benefits of transcatheter valve replacement (TAVR) and therefore a readily applicable method (aortography) to quantitate PVL objectively and accurately in the interventional suite is appealing to all operators. The ratio between the areas of the time-density curves in the aorta and left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT-AR) defines the regurgitation fraction (RF). This technique has been validated in a mock circulation; a single injection in diastole was further tested in porcine and ovine models.

Redo surgery for noninfective isolated mitral valve disease: Initial outcome and further follow-up compared to primary surgery.

Introduction: Isolated redo-mitral valve replacement (iMVR) is underreported and often mixed up with endocarditis in the present literature. The present study compares first with redo iMVR in noninfective mitral disease.

Patients And Methods: A total of 3821 mitral valve procedures were analyzed.

Quantitative Angiographic Assessment of Aortic Regurgitation Following 11 TAVR Devices: An Update of a Multicenter Pooled Analysis.

Background: Aortic regurgitation (AR) following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a major predictor of short- and long-term survival. Thus far, no independent quantitative comparison of AR among commercially available transcatheter heart valves (THVs) has been performed.

Objectives: We sought to assess and compare the degree of acute AR following TAVR between 11 commercially available THVs and update our previous multicenter, pooled analysis.

Sex differences in treatment strategy for coronary artery aneurysms: Insights from the international Coronary Artery Aneurysm Registry.

Introduction: Sex disparities exist in coronary artery disease (CAD) in terms of risk profile, clinical management and outcome. It is unclear if differences are also present in coronary aneurysms, a rare variant of CAD.

Methods: Patients were selected from the international Coronary Artery Aneurysm Registry (CAAR; ClinicalTrials.

The ACURATE neo2 valve system for transcatheter aortic valve implantation: 30-day and 1-year outcomes.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has become standard treatment for elderly patients with symptomatic severe aortic valve stenosis. The ACURATE neo AS study evaluates 30-day and 1-year clinical and hemodynamic outcomes in patients treated with the ACURATE neo2 valve.

Methods: The primary endpoint of this single-arm multicenter study is 30-day all-cause mortality.

ACURATE neo™ Aortic Valve System for the treatment of aortic stenosis.

Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) has revolutionized the treatment of patients with severe aortic stenosis and is now standard of care for high surgical risk patients and a valid alternative strategy in intermediate risk patients. Recently, TAVR has shown excellent results in low-risk patients, indicating an imminent extension toward this population. Improvements in procedural outcomes are the result of increasing operator experience, sophisticated imaging for procedural planning but also due to the continuous evolution of transcatheter heart valves developed to minimize procedural complications.

Diagnosis of obstructive coronary artery disease using computed tomography angiography in patients with stable chest pain depending on clinical probability and in clinically important subgroups: meta-analysis of individual patient data.

Objective: To determine whether coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) should be performed in patients with any clinical probability of coronary artery disease (CAD), and whether the diagnostic performance differs between subgroups of patients.

Design: Prospectively designed meta-analysis of individual patient data from prospective diagnostic accuracy studies.

Data Sources: Medline, Embase, and Web of Science for published studies.

Clinical experience with contact-force and flexible-tip ablation catheter designs.

Purpose: Lesion formation is a critical determinant of technical and clinical success of pulmonary vein isolation. Different catheter designs aim to enhance tissue contact during ablation to enable optimized lesion formation. We analyzed procedural characteristics and predictors of clinical success in patients ablated with three different contemporary ablation catheters.

The Promise of Leadless Pacing: Based on Presentations at Nanostim Sponsored Symposium Held at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2013, Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 2 September 2013.

Pacemaker technologies have advanced dramatically over the decades since they were first introduced, and every year many thousands of new implants are performed worldwide. However, there continues to be a high incidence of acute and chronic complications, most of which are linked to the lead or the surgical pocket created to hold the device. A leadless pacemaker offers the possibility of bypassing these complications, but requires a catheter-based delivery system and a means of retrieval at the end of the device's life, as well as a way of repositioning to achieve satisfactory pacing thresholds and R waves, a communication system and low peak energy requirements.

Major determinants of myocardial injury after pulmonary vein isolation with radiofrequency ablation.

Background: Radiofrequency (RF) current is used as a common energy source to perform pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) in patients with atrial fibrillation. We applied measurements of the blood concentration of cTnI as a surrogate parameter for the injured cell mass.

Aim: To clarify which parameters are major determinants of myocardial injury, estimated by cTnI, after PVI with RF ablation.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation: surgical perspectives.

Aortic valve replacement (AVR) is a routine procedure for decades to treat patients with symptomatic aortic stenosis. The introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) by Professor Alain Cribier has paved the way for minimally invasive therapeutic options for elderly and high-risk patients with aortic stenosis. Transfemoral and transapical aortic valve implantations have become routine procedures in many centres around Europe.

Impact of impaired renal function and metabolic syndrome on the recurrence of atrial fibrillation after catheter ablation: a long term follow-up.

Background: The goal of this study was to analyze impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and impaired renal function on long-term follow-up after catheter ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF).

Methods And Results: A total of 702 consecutive patients with AF (age = 58 year, history of AF = 5 year, male = 478, paroxysmal atrial fibrillation = 416, coronary artery disease = 62, hypertension = 487) considered for catheter ablation were enrolled in the study. The MetS was diagnosed at admission in 276 patients.

Which standard biomarkers are useful for the evaluation of myocardial injury after pulmonary vein isolation with cryoballoon?

Background: Many studies have used creatinine kinase (CK), myocardial bound for CK (CK-MB), and cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and T (cTnT) to evaluate myocardial cells injury after ablation. We applied measurements of the blood concentration of cardio-specific biomarkers as surrogates for the injured cell mass.

Aim: To clarify which of the standard biomarkers are useful in the evaluation and quantification of lesions produced by cryoballoon ablation (CBA) during pulmonary vein isolation.

Radiation dose exposure of computed tomography coronary angiography: comparison of dual-source, 16-slice and 64-slice CT.

Background: Dual-source CT (DSCT) promises a significant reduction of radiation dose exposure for coronary CT angiography (CTA). Large studies on radiation dose estimates are rare.

Objective: To compare radiation dose estimates of DSCT with 16- and 64-slice multidetector CT (MDCT) for non-invasive coronary angiography.

Effects of 2-deoxy-D-glucose on proliferation of vascular smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells.

2-Deoxy-D-glucose (2-DG) is a glucose analogue that has been proposed for cancer therapy due to its cytostatic properties. Its effect on the proliferation of smooth muscle cells and endothelial cells has not been fully clarified. The aims of this study were to investigate the effects of 2-DG on the proliferation of porcine aortic endothelial cells (PAEC) and porcine smooth muscle cells (PSMC), to establish an overview of its dose-dependent inhibitory capacity and to examine whether the short-term incubation of cells with 2-DG has an impact on cell proliferation in culture.

Negative inotropic effect of rapamycin on isolated human cardiomyocytes.

Rapamycin is an increasingly important immunosuppressive drug and reduces restenosis after coronary stenting, but its effects on cardiac contractility are largely unknown. We investigated the acute inotropic effects of rapamycin on isolated human cardiomyocytes. Cardiomyocytes were enzymatically isolated from right atrial appendages obtained during routine coronary artery bypass surgery.

Treatment of in-stent restenosis with sirolimus-eluting-stents: results from the prospective German Cypher stent registry.

Aims: Drug-eluting stents have been reported to effectively reduce in-stent restenosis (ISR). However, the effectiveness and safety have yet been investigated only in small trials or case series. The aim of this prospective large scale registry was to show that treatment of ISR with sirolimus eluting stents (SES) is safe, effective and feasible in daily routine.