Future cardiology
-
Pulmonary hypertension (PH) encompasses a group of diseases associated with progressively increasing pulmonary vascular resistance, right heart failure and premature death. Riociguat is a novel, first-in-class oral drug that directly stimulates soluble guanylate cyclase, both independently of the endogenous vasodilator nitric oxide (NO) and in synergy with NO. ⋯ In a 12-week Phase II trial in patients with chronic thromboembolic PH or pulmonary arterial hypertension, pulmonary hemodynamics and exercise capacity improved following individual dose titration with oral riociguat, which was generally well tolerated. Further trials in PH have been initiated.
-
Transcatheter valve implantation is developing into an effective and reproducible therapy for aortic valve stenosis. The origin of this technique was pursued in 1992 when Andersen demonstrated the feasibility of percutaneous implantation of catheter-based valve prosthesis. Since then a lot of technical and device advances have been made and to date, transcatheter aortic valve implantation has became a concrete alternative to surgical replacement. This paper aims to go over all the current devices, from the most widely used to the newest technology, focusing on device description, procedural issues, potential complications and clinical studies currently available in literature.
-
Imatinib mesylate is a small molecule inhibitor that selectively inhibits the PDGF receptor kinase as well the cKIT and Abl kinases, among other targets. Various studies have implicated the PDGF pathway in the pathogenesis of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). Inhibition with imatinib mesylate has shown efficacy in human case reports and experimental models of PAH. ⋯ As suggested by this study as well as a few case reports, imatinib may be effective in a subset of patients with more severe disease. However, this remains to be further validated through a Phase III study, which is already underway. In conclusion, it appears that imatinib mesylate may hold promise as an adjunct drug in PAH therapy, especially since it is directed at a pathway not previously targeted.
-
The cardioprotective properties of volatile anesthetics have been widely demonstrated by numerous randomized studies and meta-analyses in the setting of cardiac surgery, above of all during coronary artery bypass grafting procedures. Recently, conflicting results have been presented in cardiac non-coronary artery bypass grafting surgery. ⋯ In this review we analyze and present the results of the most recent and important studies regarding anesthetic preconditioning in cardiac and in noncardiac surgery. Furthermore, we focus on the emerging data from animal experiments, discussing in particular the molecular mechanisms underlying anesthetic preconditioning.
-
Although body weight scales are most commonly used to evaluate body fluid status during follow-up of definite heart failure (HF) patients, bioimpedance measurement methods have become increasingly available in the clinical setting. These monitoring methods, however, are typically used separately to evaluate body fluid status in HF patients. ⋯ This method combines the well-known advantages of body weighing with a refined bioimpedance technique to monitor HF status and provides valid information regarding a change in a patient's body fluid status during follow-up for HF, such as predominant fluid versus fat weight gain or loss. This special report describes examples of the practical use of this method for monitoring and treating definite HF patients.