International journal of cardiology
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To evaluate the safety and efficacy of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) for patients with aortic stenosis (AS) or pure/dominant aortic regurgitation (AR) using the J-Valve™ system. ⋯ Trans-apical TAVI using the J-Valve™ prosthesis is potentially an effective treatment option for patients with AS or pure/dominant AR at high risk for open-heart surgery.
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Obstructive thrombosis of bioprosthetic valves is considered rare but may have dramatic consequences for the individual patient including repeat valve replacement, thrombolysis, or long-term anticoagulation. Whether the risk of obstructive thrombosis is dependent on the type of bioprosthesis (porcine versus bovine pericardial) is uncertain. ⋯ The porcine valve type is an independent predictor of obstructive thrombosis in bioprostheses in the aortic position.
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Point of care testing (POCT) assays for cardiac troponin (cTn) are hampered by lower analytical sensitivity and thus suboptimal rule-out of myocardial infarction (MI). We investigated, whether additional measurement of copeptin using an ultrasensitive assay improves diagnostic performance of POCT for cTn T compared to a high sensitivity troponin T (hsTnT) assay. ⋯ Additional use of ultrasensitive copeptin improves diagnostic performance of conventional sensitive POCT assays overcoming lower sensitivities at the cost of a drop of clinical specificity. When hsTn is temporarily unavailable, copeptin and POCT for cTn may allow initial evaluation at a comparable performance as hsTnT at admission.