Expert Review of Cardiovascular Therapy

OBJECTIVES: To increase the detection of unknown atrial fibrillation (AF), general practitioners have started screening their patients using small hand-held devices. It is thought that dental settings could be utilized for screening as they have regular access to patients. The aim of this study was were to explore the perceptions of dental staff of screening for AF using a hand-held electronic device in primary dental care. METHODS: The research took placed in one large mixed NHS and private general dental practice...

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence on the effect of sex on permanent pacemaker implantation (PPMI) after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). The primary objective of this meta-analysis was to determine the role of sex among patients requiring PPMI post-TAVR. METHODS: A literature search was conducted using the SCOPUS, MEDLINE, and CINAHL databases for studies published until October 2022. Eligible studies included published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and Observational Cohort Studies (OCS) articles that reported PPMI as an outcome of pacemaker status following TAVR...

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INTRODUCTION: Cerebrovascular disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world and antiplatelet therapy is a main pharmacologic means of secondary prevention. Clinical information has accumulated about benefit of dual antiplatelet therapy in certain clinical scenarios, genetic causes of antiplatelet resistance and its effect on clinical outcomes, and ethnic and geographic distributions of genetic polymorphisms. AREAS COVERED: This review covers literature related to the pharmacogenomics of antiplatelet agents with a focus on ethnic variability, antiplatelet resistance, and dual antiplatelet therapy in cerebrovascular disease...

INTRODUCTION: Impella devices have emerged as a critical tool for temporary mechanical circulatory support (TMCS) in the management of cardiogenic shock (CS) and high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). The purpose of this review is to examine the history of the different Impella devices, their hemodynamic profiles, and how the data supports their use. AREAS COVERED: This review covers the development and specifications of the Impella 2.5, Impella CP, Impella 5...

INTRODUCTION: Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome with a wide range of presentations and acuity, ranging from outpatient care to inpatient management due to acute decompensated HF, cardiogenic shock or advanced HF. Frequently, the etiology of a patient's decompensation is diminished cardiac output and peripheral hypoperfusion. Consequently, there is a need for use of inotropes, agents that increase cardiac contractility, optimize hemodynamics and ensure adequate perfusion. AREAS COVERED: Inotropes are divided into 3 major classes: beta agonists, phosphodiesterase III inhibitors and calcium sensitizers...

BACKGROUND: The role of oral anticoagulation during the COVID-19 pandemic has been debated widely. We studied the clinical outcomes of COVID-19 hospitalizations in patients who were on long-term anticoagulation. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS: The Nationwide Inpatient Sample (NIS) database from 2020 was queried to identify COVID-19 patients with and without long-term anticoagulation. Multivariate regression analysis was used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (aOR) of in-hospital outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Digital health is a broad term that includes telecommunication technologies to collect, share and manipulate health information to improve patient health and health care services. With the growing use of wearables, artificial intelligence, machine learning, and other novel technologies, digital health is particularly relevant to the field of cardiac arrhythmias, with roles pertinent to education, prevention, diagnosis, management, prognosis, and surveillance. AREAS COVERED: This review summarizes information on the clinical use of digital health technology in arrhythmia care and discusses its opportunities and challenges...

INTRODUCTION: Guidelines advise ongoing follow-up of patients after hypertensive disorders of pregnancy (HDP) to assess cardiovascular risk and manage future patient-specific pregnancy conditions. However, there are limited tools available to monitor patients, with those available tending to be simple risk assessments that lack personalization. A promising approach could be the emerging artificial intelligence (AI)-based techniques, developed from big patient datasets to provide personalized recommendations for preventive advice...

INTRODUCTION: Due to the improved survival in individuals with Congenital Heart Disease (CHD), considering their reproductive health has become more important. Currently, this topic is still underexplored. AREAS COVERED: We discuss fertility, sexuality, Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) and contraception in adults with CHD. EXPERT OPINION: Timely counseling regarding fertility, sexuality, pregnancy and contraception is necessary, preferably during teenage years...

INTRODUCTION: Despite advances in stent technology for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the treatment of coronary disease, these procedures can be complicated by stent failure manifesting as intracoronary stent restenosis (ISR). Even with advances of stent technology and medical therapy this complication is reported to affect around 10% of all percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures. Depending on stent type (drug-eluting versus bare metal), ISR have subtle differences in mechanism and timing and offer different challenges in diagnosing the etiology and subsequent treatment options...

INTRODUCTION: Statins are the cornerstone for atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease risk reduction with recognized efficacy in primary and secondary prevention. Despite this, they remain underutilized due to concerns regarding adverse effects. Statin-associated muscle symptoms (SAMS) are the most frequent cause of medication intolerance and discontinuation with a prevalence estimated at 10%, regardless of causality, with the consequence of increased risk of adverse cardiovascular outcomes...

INTRODUCTION: Congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGA) is a rare congenital heart defect characterized by atrioventricular and ventriculo-arterial discordance. CcTGA can be diagnosed at any stage of life. The natural history of the disease depends on concomitant anomalies present in most of the cases, progression of systemic ventricular dysfunction and conduction disturbances. AREAS COVERED: This review describes diagnosis of the anomaly and summarizes the current knowledge on etiology and prognosis in ccTGA patients...

INTRODUCTION: Autoimmune myocarditis may develop due to heterogeneous causes. Myocarditis is often caused by viral infections, but it can also be caused by systemic autoimmune diseases. Immune checkpoint inhibitors and virus vaccines induce immune activation, and they can cause the development of myocarditis, as well as several immune-related adverse events. The development of myocarditis is dependent on the genetic factors of the host, and the major histocompatibility complex (MHC) may be an important determinant of the type and severity of the disease...

INTRODUCTION: Atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) is the main cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Dyslipidemia, in particular elevation of LDL-cholesterol levels (LDL-C), is one of the major cardiovascular risk factors and is characterized by high prevalence and independent unfavorable impact on cardiovascular prognosis; however, because of its asymptomatic course, it often remains undiagnosed. Strategies aimed at early identification of subjects with elevated LDL-C levels may allow early intervention, preventing ASCVD development...

INTRODUCTION: Recognition and evaluation of structural heart disease has become more common in clinical practice and will continue to grow as the population ages. With the growing availability of surgical and transcatheter interventional options, appropriate evaluation and patient selection for therapy is required. While echocardiography can frequently provide the required anatomic and hemodynamic information required to guide therapeutic decisions, there remains subsets of patients in which noninvasive testing yields inconclusive results prompting the need for invasive hemodynamics...

INTRODUCTION: Valve-in-valve (VIV) transcatheter valve replacement has emerged as a feasible and potentially safer treatment option for failed bioprosthetic surgical valves (BSVs). However, the VIV procedure carries an inherent risk of prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM). Bioprosthetic valve fracture (BVF) and bioprosthetic valve remodeling (BVR) by either fracturing or stretching the surgical valve ring allows for a more optimal expansion of the transcatheter heart valve (THV) and beneficial effects on post-implant valve hemodynamics and perhaps long-term valve durability...

OBJECTIVES: The type of arrhythmias, and their prevalence in mild/moderate and severe COVID-19 patients admitted to the hospital are unknown from a prospective cohort study. METHODS: Continuous electrocardiograms along with multiple ECGs were done in 305 consecutive hospitalized COVID-19 patients with mild/moderate and severe illness for the diagnosis of arrhythmias. RESULTS: In this study, the incidence of arrhythmias was 6.8% (21/305) in the target population...

INTRODUCTION: Myocardial ischemia is common in patients with chronic Chagas cardiomyopathy (CCC), but only recently clinical and experimental studies highlighted the involvement of this abnormality as contributing to progression of myocardial damage. AREAS COVERED: Despite absence of obstructive epicardial coronary artery disease at angiography, and limited evidence of abnormal flow regulation at the macrovascular level, remarkable functional and structural microvascular abnormalities are consistently reported by independent investigations CCC...

INTRODUCTION: Tricuspid regurgitation has been increasingly recognized as a clinically relevant entity with long-term prognostic impact on quality of life and survival. Despite this, there are still some unmet clinical needs regarding the management of tricuspid regurgitation that require further investigation. AREAS COVERED: This review addresses current evidence for the treatment of tricuspid regurgitation, focusing primarily on new catheter-based technologies...