Cardiac mapping

In this manuscript, we present a case where coronary sinus activation was organized and stable despite the rhythm being atrial fibrillation. We discuss the possible mechanisms of this rare occurrence.

BACKGROUND: Chronic kidney disease (CKD) is associated with increased, and early cardiovascular disease risk. Changes in hemodynamics within the left ventricle (LV) respond to cardiac remodeling. The LV hemodynamics in nondialysis CKD patients are not clearly understood. PURPOSE: To use four-dimensional blood flow MRI (4D flow MRI) to explore changes in LV kinetic energy (KE) and the relationship between LV KE and LV remodeling in CKD patients. STUDY TYPE: Retrospective...

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the changes of mitochondrial respiratory function during myocardial fibrosis in mice with myocardial infarction (MI) and its correlation with the increase of glycolytic flux. METHODS: Forty C57BL/6N mice were randomized into two equal groups to receive sham operation or ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery to induce acute MI. At 28 days after the operation, 5 mice from each group were euthanized and left ventricular tissue samples were collected for transcriptomic sequencing...

BACKGROUND: Complex atrial tachycardia (AT) is commonly observed in patients with cardiac surgery. High-density mapping is widely adopted for catheter ablation of complex AT in patients with cardiac surgery. Several case reports have described that PentaRay mapping catheter can be trapped in the mechanical valve and sheared off and successful retrieval of the spline by a snare system. We described a rare case in which PentaRay mapping catheter spline was successfully retrieved from the distal anterior tibial artery by direct syringe suction via the diagnostic catheter following entrapment in the mechanical mitral valve (MV) and rupture of the spline...

BACKGROUND: Electrocardiographic (ECG) features of left bundle branch (LBB) block (LBBB) can be observed in up to 20%-30% of patients suffering from heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. However, predicting which LBBB patients will benefit from cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) or conduction system pacing remains challenging. This study aimed to establish a translational model of LBBB to enhance our understanding of its pathophysiology and improve therapeutic approaches...

A challenge in accurately identifying and classifying left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) is distinguishing it from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and Fabry disease. The reliance on imaging techniques often requires the expertise of multiple specialists, including cardiologists, radiologists, and geneticists. This variability in the interpretation and classification of LVH leads to inconsistent diagnoses. LVH, HCM, and Fabry cardiomyopathy can be differentiated using T1 mapping on cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)...

Cardiac interfacing devices are essential components for the management of cardiovascular diseases, particularly in terms of electrophysiological monitoring and implementation of therapies. However, conventional cardiac devices are typically composed of rigid and bulky materials and thus pose significant challenges for effective long-term interfacing with the curvilinear surface of a dynamically beating heart. In this regard, the recent development of intrinsically soft bioelectronic devices using nanocomposites, which are fabricated by blending conductive nanofillers in polymeric and elastomeric matrices, has shown great promise...

Objective: To investigate the effect and safety of transnasal humidified rapid insufflation ventilatory exchange (THRIVE) technique in hysteroscopic diagnostic and therapeutic surgery. Methods: This study was a randomized controlled trial. A total of 100 female patients undergoing hysteroscopy surgery at Beijing Tongren Hospital from September to December 2023 were selected and randomly divided into two groups by the random number table method: the THRIVE group and the mask oxygen group, with 50 patients in each group...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

Echocardiography frequently serves as the first-line treatment of diagnostic imaging for several pathological entities in cardiology. Artificial intelligence (AI) has been growing substantially in information technology and various commercial industries. Machine learning (ML), a branch of AI, has been shown to expand the capabilities and potential of echocardiography. ML algorithms expand the field of echocardiography by automated assessment of the ejection fraction and left ventricular function, integrating novel approaches such as speckle tracking or tissue Doppler echocardiography or vector flow mapping, improved phenotyping, distinguishing between cardiac conditions, and incorporating information from mobile health and genomics...

Anthracycline antibiotic is one of the most effective anti-tumor drugs used to manage certain types of breast cancers, lymphomas, and leukemias. However, anthracyclines induce a dose-dependent cardiotoxicity that may progress to heart failure. Thus, using a sensitive predictor of early cardiac dysfunction in patients treated with anthracyclines can help detect subclinical cardiac dysfunction early and help initiate interventions to protect these patients. Among parameters of myocardial measure, cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR)-measured native myocardial T1 mapping is considered a sensitive and accurate quantitative measure of early subclinical cardiac changes, particularly cardiac inflammation and fibrosis...

BACKGROUND: Contiguity of ablation lesions is a critical determinant of success for paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF) ablation. Evidence supports maintaining an inter-lesional distance (ILD) ≤ 6 mm during pulmonary venous isolation (PVI). Meanwhile, first-pass isolation (FPI) on PVI outcome in follow-up was not deeply studied. The impact of ILD and FPI on PAF ablation outcomes was investigated. METHODS: Consecutive PAF patients who underwent first-time antral PVI were recruited...

BACKGROUND: Patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) have exaggerated sympathoexcitation and impaired peripheral vascular conductance. Evidence demonstrating consequent impaired functional sympatholysis is limited in HFrEF. This study aimed to determine the magnitude of reduced limb vascular conductance during sympathoexcitation and whether functional sympatholysis would abolish such reductions in HFrEF. METHODS: Twenty patients with HFrEF and 22 age-matched controls performed the cold pressor test (left foot 2-min in -0...

BACKGROUND: Electrocardiogram (ECG) signals are inevitably contaminated with various kinds of noises during acquisition and transmission. The presence of noises may produce the inappropriate information on cardiac health, thereby preventing specialists from making correct analysis. METHODS: In this paper, an efficient strategy is proposed to denoise ECG signals, which employs a time-frequency framework based on S-transform (ST) and combines bi-dimensional empirical mode decomposition (BEMD) and non-local means (NLM)...

BACKGROUND: Echocardiography is the most common modality for assessing cardiac structure and function. While cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging is less accessible, CMR can provide unique tissue characterization including late gadolinium enhancement (LGE), T1 and T2 mapping, and extracellular volume (ECV) which are associated with tissue fibrosis, infiltration, and inflammation. While deep learning has been shown to uncover findings not recognized by clinicians, it is unknown whether CMR-based tissue characteristics can be derived from echocardiography videos using deep learning...

BACKGROUND: The cardiotoxic effects of anthracyclines therapy are well recognized, both in the short and long term. Echocardiography allows monitoring of cancer patients treated with this class of drugs by serial assessment of left ventricle ejection fraction (LVEF) as a surrogate of systolic function. However, changes in myocardial function may occur late in the process when cardiac damage is already established. Novel cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) parametric techniques, like native T1 mapping and extra-cellular volume (ECV), may detect subclinical myocardial damage in these patients, recognizing early signs of cardiotoxicity before development of overt cancer therapy-related cardiac dysfunction (CTRCD) and prompting tailored therapeutic and follow-up strategies to improve outcome...

No abstract text is available yet for this article.

AIMS: Contact force (CF)-sensing radiofrequency (RF) catheters with an ablation index have shown reproducible outcomes for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF) in large multicentre studies. A dual-energy (DE) focal CF catheter to deliver RF and unipolar/biphasic pulsed field ablation (PFA), integrated with a three-dimensional (3D) mapping system, can provide operators with additional flexibility. The SmartfIRE study assessed the safety and efficacy of this novel technology for the treatment of drug-refractory, symptomatic paroxysmal AF...

BACKGROUND: The anatomy of myocardial fibers around the right cardiac veins (RCVs) and their roles in accessory pathways (APs) are rarely reported. METHODS: Six RCV-APs were identified from 566 patients with right-sided APs. Mapping of retrograde atrial activation was performed using CARTO 3 system under orthodromic tachycardia or right ventricular pacing. Venography of RCVs was acquired at the earliest retrograde atrial activation. RESULTS: Patients enrolled had a median age of 30 (11-51) years, 5 of them were male...