International journal of cardiology
-
The myocardial contraction fraction (MCF: stroke volume to myocardial volume) is a volumetric measure of left ventricular myocardial shortening. We examined the relationship of MCF, measured by cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI), to incident cardiovascular (CV) events within the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis (MESA). ⋯ MCF is a novel measure that can be measured using cMRI. In this multi-ethnic cohort, MCF is a measure that can be used to predict incident CVD events.
-
Multicenter Study
Staffing, activities, and infrastructure in 96 specialised adult congenital heart disease clinics in Europe.
Clinical guidelines emphasise the need for specialised adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) programmes. In 2014, the working group on Grown-up Congenital Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) published recommendations on the organisation of specialised care for ACHD. To appraise the extent to which these recommendations were being implemented throughout Europe, we assessed the number of patients in active follow-up and available staff resources in European ACHD programmes. ⋯ A minority of European ACHD centres have the full recommended staff resources available. This suggests that as of 2016 either ACHD care in Europe was still not optimally organised, or that the latest ESC recommendations were not fully implemented in clinical practice.
-
Multicenter Study
Surgical treatment of isolated tricuspid valve infective endocarditis: 25-year results from a multicenter registry.
To assess early and late mortality in patients with isolated acute tricuspid valve infective endocarditis (TVIE) using data from a multicenter registry. ⋯ Patients with isolated acute TVIE undergoing surgical treatment show acceptable early and late outcomes. TVIE recurrence was low, and repair of the affected valve does not seem to confer any advantage either at early or long term up to 25 years.
-
Epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) is a risk factor for cardiovascular diseases. Glucagon-like peptide 1 analogs (GLP-1A) may have beneficial cardiovascular effects and reduce EAT, possibly throughout targeting GLP-1 receptor (GLP-1R). Nevertheless, the role of EAT GLP-1R, GLP-2R and their interplay with EAT genes involved in adipogenesis and fatty acid (FA) metabolism are unknown. We analyzed whether EAT transcriptome is related to GLP-1R/GLP-2R gene expression, and GLP-1/GLP-2 plasma levels in coronary artery disease patients (CAD). ⋯ GLP-1 analogs may target EAT GLP-1R and therefore reduce local adipogenesis, improve fat utilization and induce brown fat differentiation. As EAT lies in direct contiguity to myocardium and coronary arteries, the beneficial effects of GLP-1 activation may extent to the heart. The increased levels of circulating GLP-1 and GLP-2 and EAT GLP-2R may be compensatory mechanisms related to CAD and also EAT expansion, but the meaning of these observations needs to be further investigated.