Clostridioides (Clostridium) difficile Pacemaker Infection.

Clostridioides difficile is the leading cause of antibiotic-associated nosocomial diarrhea, but extra-intestinal manifestations are rare. We describe the first documented case of bacteraemia with pacemaker pocket and lead infection with the toxigenic C. difficile ribotype 014 with a lack of abdominal symptoms. The patient underwent pacemaker extraction and treatment with intravenous and oral vancomycin. Genotyping and molecular subtyping revealed clonality between pacemaker and intestinal isolates. This case illustrates the risk of intravascular device infections due to C. difficile. Even asymptomatic C. difficile colonization might pose a risk for prosthetic material infection.

Predicting factors for long-term survival in patients with out-of-hospital cardiac arrest - A propensity score-matched analysis.

BACKGROUND: Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, with acute coronary syndromes accounting for most of the cases. While the benefit of early revascularization has been clearly demonstrated in patients with ST-segment-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), diagnostic pathways remain unclear in the absence of STEMI. We aimed to characterize OHCA patients presenting to 2 tertiary cardiology centers and identify predicting factors associated with survival. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 519 patients after OHCA from February 2003 to December 2017 at 2 centers in Munich, Germany. Patients undergoing immediate coronary angiography (CAG) were compared to those without. Multivariate regression analysis and inverse probability treatment weighting (IPTW) were performed to identify predictors for improved outcome in a matched population. RESULTS: Immediate CAG was performed in 385 (74.1%) patients after OHCA with presumed cardiac cause of arrest. As a result of multivariate analysis after propensity score matching, we found that immediate CAG, return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) at admission, witnessed arrest and former smoking were associated with improved 30-days-survival [(OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.26-0.84), (OR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.10-0.45), (OR, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.26-0.97), (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.23-0.81)], and 1-year-survival [(OR, 0.39; 95% CI, 0.19-0.82), (OR, 0.29; 95% CI, 0.12-0.7), (OR, 0.43; 95% CI, 0.2-1.00), (OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.14-0.63)]. CONCLUSIONS: In our study, immediate CAG, ROSC at admission, witnessed arrest and former smoking were independent predictors of survival in cardiac arrest survivors. Improvement in prehospital management including bystander CPR and best practice post-resuscitation care with optimized triage of patients to an early invasive strategy may help ameliorate overall outcome of this critically-ill patient population.

Left ventricular assist devices-current state and perspectives.

Mechanical circulatory support devices have become an important treatment tool for severe acute and chronic heart failure, since heart transplantation cannot meet the demands because of a lack of available donor organs. Since implantation of the first ventricular assist device a constant development of the suitability of these devices has been made. This review will introduce different generations of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) and elaborate on clinical indications, risk stratification and current literature.

Expiration-Triggered Sinus Arrhythmia Predicts Outcome in Survivors of Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: Respiratory sinus arrhythmia (RSA), a measure of cardiac vagal modulation, provides cardiac risk stratification information. RSA can be quantified from Holter recordings as the high-frequency component of heart rate variability or as the variability of RR intervals in individual respiratory cycles. However, as a risk predictor, RSA is neither exceptionally sensitive nor specific. OBJECTIVES: This study aimed to improve RSA determination by quantifying the amount of sinus arrhythmia related to expiration (expiration-triggered sinus arrhythmia [ETA]) from short-term recordings of electrocardiogram and respiratory chest excursions, and investigated the predictive power of ETA in survivors of acute myocardial infarction. METHODS: Survivors of acute myocardial infarction (N = 941) underwent 30-min recordings of electrocardiogram and respiratory chest excursions. ETA was quantified as the RR interval change associated with expiration by phase-rectified signal averaging. Primary outcome was 5-year all-cause mortality. Univariable and multivariable Cox regression was used to investigate the association of ETA with mortality. RESULTS: ETA was a strong predictor of mortality, both in univariable and multivariable analysis. In a multivariable model including respiratory rate, left ventricular ejection fraction, diabetes mellitus, and GRACE score, ETA ≤0.19 ms was associated with a hazard ratio of 3.41 (95% confidence interval: 1.10 to 5.89, p < 0.0001). In patient subgroups defined by abnormal left ventricular ejection fraction, increased respiratory rate, high GRACE score, or presence of diabetes mellitus, patients were classified as high or low risk on the basis of ETA. CONCLUSIONS: Expiration-triggered sinus arrhythmia (ETA) is a potent and independent post-infarction risk marker.

Electrocardiographic and Cardiac Autonomic Indices - Implications of Sex-Specific Risk Stratification in Women After Acute Myocardial Infarction.

BACKGROUND: The debate on whether sex-specific predictive models improve risk stratification after myocardial infarction is ongoing. METHODS: This review summarises the current clinical knowledge on sex-specific differences in post-infarction risk stratification parameters. Particular focus is given to electrocardiographic risk factors and indices of cardiac autonomic status. RESULTS: Differences in the underlying pathophysiology between men and women are known. However, clinical findings often lead to uncertain conclusions for a number of risk predictors including, among others, resting heart rate, heart rate variability, heart rate turbulence, QT interval duration, and QRS-T angle. The review links recent findings in prognostic parameters with successful approaches in sex-specific non-invasive risk stratification. CONCLUSION: Disparities are described in the current clinical opinions on the relevance of investigated parameters in women and possible directions for further research in the field are given.

[Fragmented QRS. Relevance in clinical practice]. / Fragmentierter QRS-Komplex. Bedeutung in der klinischen Praxis.

The QRS complex represents the electrical depolarization of ventricular myocardium. In the case of an undisturbed depolarization, the QRS complex has a normal configuration and duration, but abnormal electrical conduction leads to widening of the QRS complex. The block of one of the Tawara branches results in a typical bundle branch block pattern. A QRS complex that cannot be classified as bundle branch block due to an atypical configuration and contains notched R or S waves is called a fragmented QRS. The underlying pathophysiologies are manifold and include myocardial scars induced by ischemic heart disease, myocardial fibrosis due to other diseases, primary cardiac pathologies as well as systemic diseases with cardiac involvement. Pathologies on the cellular level, such as ion channel dysfunctions, also correlate with fragmented QRS. Besides the diagnostic relevance, fragmented QRS is known to have prognostic properties, for example in identifying high risk patients with coronary artery disease, cardiomyopathy, Brugada syndrome and acquired long QT syndrome; however, fragmented QRS may also be detected in ECGs of healthy individuals.