Multimodality Cardiac Imaging in COVID-19 Infection.

COVID-19 infection often produces cardiovascular complications, which can range from mild to severe and influence the overall prognosis. Imaging is the cornerstone for diagnosing initial COVID-19 cardiovascular involvement as well as treatment guidance. In this review, we present the current state of the literature on this subject while also emphasizing possible algorithms for indicating and executing these investigations.

Prevalence of asymptomatic valvular heart disease in the elderly population: a community-based echocardiographic study.

AIMS: With an ageing population, the presence of asymptomatic valvular heart disease (VHD) in the community remains unknown. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence and associated factors of asymptomatic VHD in individuals ≥60 years old and to evaluate the feasibility of echocardiographic screening for VHD in this population. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a prospective cohort study conducted between 2007 and 2016 in the UK. Asymptomatic patients with no prior indication for echocardiography were invited to participate and evaluated with a health questionnaire, clinical examination, and transthoracic echocardiography. A total of 10,000 individuals were invited through their general practices. A total of 5429 volunteered to participate, of whom 4237 were eligible for inclusion. VHD was diagnosed in more than a quarter of patients (28.2%). The most common types of VHD were regurgitation of the tricuspid (13.8%), mitral (12.8%), and aortic (8.3%) valves (trivial regurgitation was not included). The rate of prevalence of clinically significant VHD was 2.4% (2.2% moderate and 0.2% severe), with mitral and aortic regurgitation being the most common. The only parameter associated with significant VHD was age (odds ratio 1.07 per 1 year increment, 95% confidence interval 1.05-1.09, P < 0.001). The number needed to scan to diagnose one clinically significant case of VHD is 42 for individuals ≥60 and 15 for those ≥75 years old. CONCLUSION: Asymptomatic VHD is present in a significant proportion of otherwise healthy individuals without known VHD over 60 years old. Age is strongly associated with an increased incidence of significant VHD.

Intracardiac mass presenting as acute myocardial infarction.

Cardiac tumors, although rare, present intricate diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, necessitating timely intervention for optimal patient outcomes. This case report focuses on a 65-year-old woman admitted with chest pain and loss of consciousness, ultimately diagnosed with a left ventricular cardiac myxoma. The patient's presentation mimicked acute coronary syndrome, highlighting the diagnostic complexity associated with cardiac tumors. Advanced imaging modalities, including transthoracic echocardiography, computed tomography, and invasive coronary angiography, played a pivotal role in characterizing the intracardiac mass. Histopathological (HP) examination, utilizing immunohistochemistry, confirmed the tumor as a cardiac myxoma. The patient management involved a multidisciplinary approach, leading to surgical resection of the mass and mitral valve replacement. The case underscores the importance of the HP confirmation in patients with cardiac masses, especially when multimodality cardiac imaging suggests various tumor types, simultaneously emphasizing the need for a comprehensive diagnostic approach that includes advanced imaging and histopathology to ensure an accurate diagnosis and tailored management of cardiac tumors.

The Many Lives of a Complex Marfan Syndrome Patient: Staged Therapeutic Decisions.

We present a complex Marfan case, with previous type A aortic dissection, subsequent progressing aortic arch aneurysm, type B chronic aortic dissection, and Barlow disease with severe mitral regurgitation, all expressions of the same phenotype, all needing staged complex surgical therapies. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.).

Finite Element Analysis of a Novel Aortic Valve Stent.

Worldwide, one of the leading causes of death for patients with cardiovascular disease is aortic valve failure or insufficiency as a result of calcification and cardiovascular disease. The surgical treatment consists of repair or total replacement of the aortic valve. Artificial aortic valve implantation via a percutaneous or endovascular procedure is the minimally invasive alternative to open chest surgery, and the only option for high-risk or older patients. Due to the complex anatomical location between the left ventricle and the aorta, there are still engineering design optimization challenges which influence the long-term durability of the valve. In this study we developed a computer model and performed a numerical analysis of an original self-expanding stent for transcatheter aortic valve in order to optimize its design and materials. The study demonstrates the current valve design could be a good alternative to the existing commercially available valve devices.

In-hospital and short-term prognostic factors in acute pulmonary edema: clinical and morphological features.

INTRODUCTION: There are extensive records which have included patients with acute heart failure (AHF), but specific studies about prognosis in acute pulmonary edema (PE) are scarce and have enrolled a small number of patients. The objectives of this study were to evaluate the predictive factors of short-term evolution in patients with PE. PATIENTS, MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a prospective, two-center survey of 70 consecutive patients admitted for acute cardiogenic PE. The follow-up was performed one month after discharge. The composite endpoint was in-hospital death, and death of any cause or readmission for heart failure (HF) at one month after discharge. Heart and lung tissue analysis was performed postmortem to identify morphological features of PE. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was 4.2%, another 14.2% died in the first month, and an additional 10% required rehospitalization for HF. The characteristics significantly associated with end-point occurrence were: history of kidney disease, anemia, diabetes mellitus, lack of prior angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor÷angiotensin-receptor blocker treatment, lower systolic blood pressure (BP) at admission, lower diastolic BP at admission, creatinine at admission and at discharge, an increase in creatinine during stay, glomerular filtration rate at admission, serum sodium at admission, decrease in serum sodium during hospitalization, N-terminal prohormone of brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) at discharge, right ventricle fractional area change, left atrium volume index. We created a multiple logistic regression model and identified five prognostic factors: age, diabetes, creatinine, diastolic BP, serum sodium. This model correctly classified 48 (96%) patients without worsening and 13 (65%) patients with worsening, providing an overall accuracy of 87.1%. Necropsy was performed on five patients and fragments of left ventricle myocardium and lung were harvested for histopathological and immunohistochemical studies. The myocardium exhibited fibrosis areas where the myocytes were completely or partially replaced by collagen fibers. Lung tissue analysis revealed some case-to-case differences, but the common finding was alveoli size larger than normal, with the lumen completely or almost completely covered by an eosinophilic liquid. CONCLUSIONS: The factors that best predicted the short-term outcome in PE were age, diabetes, diastolic BP, creatinine, serum sodium.