A bibliometric analysis from 2013 to 2024 reveals research hotspots and trends in the connection between atrial fibrillation and cryoballoon: An observational study.

Using bibliometric analysis, this study attempted to provide an overview of the current state of research and key findings regarding the relationship between atrial fibrillation (AF) and cryoballoons in general. We gathered the literature from the Web of Science (WOS) database covering the last 11 years (2013-2024) pertaining to AF and cryoballoons, and we used Citespace to evaluate the mapping of knowledge. The findings demonstrated that there were 1986 articles concerning AF and cryoballoons, with a faster growth after 2018. The United States, Vrije Universiteit Brussel, and Chierchia, Gian-Battista are the nation, organization, and writer with the highest number of publications. Kuck KH (2016) is the most frequently mentioned reference as well (488). We know that Vrije Universiteit Brusse in the Belgium has emerged as 1 of this discipline's leading research forces based on a 10-year bibliometric investigation. Prominent universities and developed nations form the finest alliances for research on cryoballoons and AF.

High-resolution intravascular magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall at 3.0 Tesla: toward evaluation of atherosclerotic plaque vulnerability.

BACKGROUND: To validate the feasibility of generating high-resolution intravascular 3.0 Tesla (T) magnetic resonance imaging of the coronary artery wall to further plaque imaging. METHODS: A receive-only 0.014-inch diameter magnetic resonance imaging guidewire (MRIG) was manufactured for intravascular imaging within a phantom experiment and the coronary artery wall of the swine. For coronary artery wall imaging, both high-resolution images and conventional resolution images were acquired. A 16-channel commercial surface coil for magnetic resonance imaging was employed for the control group. RESULTS: For the phantom experiment, the MRIG showed a higher signal-to-noise ratio than the surface coil. The peak signal-to-noise ratio of the MRIG and the surface coil-generated imaging were 213.6 and 19.8, respectively. The signal-to-noise ratio decreased rapidly as the distance from the MRIG increased. For the coronary artery wall experiment, the vessel wall imaging by the MRIG could be identified clearly, whereas the vessel wall imaging by the surface coil was blurred. The average signal-to-noise ratio of the artery wall was 21.1±5.40 by the MRIG compared to 8.4±2.19 by the surface coil, where the resolution was set at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm. As expected, the high-resolution sequence clearly showed more details than the conventional resolution sequence set at 0.7 mm × 0.7 mm × 2.0 mm. Histological examination showed no evidence of mechanical injuries in the target vessel walls. CONCLUSIONS: The study validated the feasibility of generating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at 0.2 mm × 0.2 mm × 2 mm for the coronary artery wall using a 0.014 inch MRIG.

One-year clinical results of the NANO registry: A multicenter, prospective all-comers registry study in patients receiving implantation of a polymer-free sirolimus-eluting stent.

OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Nano+™ (Lepu Medical, Beijing, China) stent implantation in all-comer patients at the 1-year follow-up. BACKGROUND: The Nano+™ stent is a novel polymer-free sirolimus-eluting stent polymer that employs nanoporous stent surface technology to control drug-delivery. The Nano+™ stent is one of the most widely used drug-eluting stent (DES) in China. METHODS: A total of 2,481 consecutive patients were included in the multicenter and prospective NANO registry. In this study, the primary endpoint was target lesion failure (TLF) at 1-year follow-up, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target vessel nonfatal myocardial infarction (TV-MI), and clinically driven target lesion revascularization (TLR). The safety endpoint was the occurrence of definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST). RESULTS: Up to 40.2% of patients presented with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). A total of 63.9% of the 2,904 lesions were American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) type B2 or C lesions. One-year follow-up data were available for 98.4% of patients. The 1-year rate of TLF was 3.1% with rates of 1.3, 1.8, and 0.4% for clinically driven TLR, cardiac death, and TV-MI, respectively. ST occurred in 0.4% of patients. Diabetes mellitus, AMI, left ventricular ejection fraction <40% and long lesions (>40 mm) were independent predictors of 1-year TLF. CONCLUSIONS: The 1-year clinical outcomes were excellent for Nano+™ polymer-free SES implantation in an all-comer patient population. Follow-up will be extended up to 5 years, to further elucidate the potential long-term clinical benefits. CLINICAL TRIAL REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/. Unique identifier: NCT02929030.

Usefulness of catestatin to predict malignant arrhythmia in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Catestatin (CST) displays potent vasodilatory effect and acts on lowering blood pressure in vivo. The clinical utility of CST in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has not been clearly delineated. The aim of this study was to investigate the predictive value of CST for the development of in-hospital malignant arrhythmia and other adverse cardiac events in patients with AMI. A total of 125 consecutive patients diagnosed with AMI were included. The clinical characteristics and previous history of the patients were collected. Malignant arrhythmia and other major adverse cardiac events (MACE) such as postinfarction angina pectoris or reinfarction and death were recorded during hospitalization. The levels of plasma CST, norepinephrine (NE) and amino-terminal pro-brain sodium peptides (NT-proBNP) were determined by sandwich ELISA. A multiple logistic regression model was used to predict the influence factors of malignant arrhythmia and other MACE during hospitalization of AMI patients. The results showed that the levels of plasma cystatin-C (CysC), high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), NE and NT-proBNP increased in a CST concentration dependent manner. The incidence of malignant arrhythmia significantly increased as the elevation of CST level (P<0.05). Age, CST and NT-proBNP were independent predictors for the MACE occurred during hospitalization. Increased blood glucose (≥6.1mmol/L) and CST were independent predictors for the complicated malignant arrhythmia of AMI patients. These data demonstrated that CST can be used as a new biological marker for prediction of malignant arrhythmia in patients with AMI.

[Prognostic value of circulating catestatin levels for in-hospital heart failure in patients with acute myocardial infarction].

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether circulating level of catestatin (CST) could provide prognostic information independently of conventional risk markers for the development of in-hospital heart failure in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS: The data of 120 STEMI patients (mean age: 61 years, 73% male) were collected from the Second Hospital of Shanxi Medical University and Taiyuan Central Hospital between November 2010 and September 2011.The patients were categorized into 4 groups according to CST (ng/L) quartile: ≤ 74.72, 74.73-79.67, 79.68 - 84.21 and ≥ 84.22 ng/L. Clinical features, therapeutic approaches were compared among groups. The patients were also grouped according to Killip class: Killip level I (n = 68), Killip level II (n = 23), Killip level III (n = 18), Killip level IV (n = 11). CST, NE and NT-proBNP were compared among groups. The Spearma rank correlation and multivariate logistic regression analysis were applied to determine the association between risk factors and in-hospital heart failure. Receiver-operator characteristic (ROC) curve was performed to evaluate the power of CST and NT-proBNP on predicting in-hospital heart failure. RESULTS: Gender, hospital days, past history of smoking, hypertension, myocardial infarction, CK-MB peak level, TnI peak level, heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose, blood lipid levels on admission and early reperfusion therapy were similar among groups. Patients with higher CST values were more likely to be older, to have lower body mass index, to have higher white blood cell count, CysC, hs-CRP, NE, NT-proBNP, past history of angina, diabetes mellitus, being diuretic users, and to have a lower ejection fraction (all P < 0.05). Higher CST levels were also associated with increased risk of heart failure (P < 0.05). In proportion with the deterioration of the cardiac function, CST, NE, NT-proBNP concentration gradually increased (all P < 0.05). Spearman rank correlation analysis showed that the CST was negatively correlated with LVEF (r(s) = -0.923, P < 0.001) and positively correlated with NT-proBNP (r(s) = 0.884, P < 0.001). After multivariate adjustment, CST remained to be an independent risk factor for the development of in-hospital heart failure (OR = 1.125, 95%CI: 1.056 - 1.198;P < 0.001). The area under the ROC curve of CST and NT-proBNP was 0.777 and 0.874. Using CST = 77.29 ng/L as a cut-off value, the sensitivity was 92.8% and specificity was 70.6% for predicting the development of in-hospital heart failure. CONCLUSION: The plasma CST level is an independent predictor for the development of in-hospital heart failure in patients with STEMI.