Long-term clinical follow-up of patients undergoing percutaneous alcohol septal reduction for symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

BACKGROUND: Alcohol septal ablation (ASA) is an alternative treatment for symptomatic hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) patients refractory to pharmacological therapy. We sought to evaluate the immediate and long-term incidence of death and changes in life quality in a consecutive cohort submitted to ASA. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between October 1998 and December 2013, a total of 56 patients (mean age 53.2 ± 15.5) with symptomatic refractory HOCM were treated with ASA and followed during 15 years (mean 8 ± 4 years). There were 7 (12.5%) deaths, 2 (3.6%) being of cardiac cause. The Kaplan-Meier survival probability estimate was 96.4% at 1 year, 87.7 at 5 years and 81.0% at 12 years post-ASA. Significant improvement was observed in life quality assessed by DASI index and NYHA functional class as well as in the left ventricle outflow tract (LVOT) gradient reduction (from 92.8 ± 3.3 mm Hg to 9.37 ± 6.7 mm Hg, P < 0.001) and septum thickness (from 23.9 ± 0.6 mm to 12.9 ± 1.0 mm, P < 0.001). Only one patient (1.7%) required permanent pacemaker immediately after ASA. During follow-up, one patient had a repeated ASA, three patients underwent myectomy and other four required ICD/pacemaker. In the multivariate model only post-ASA LVOT residual gradient and left ventricle mass were associated with worse prognosis. CONCLUSIONS: In this long-term clinical follow-up without losses, ASA was effective in improving quality of life and NYHA functional class, with relatively low mortality and very low need for immediate permanent pacemaker implantation. © 2016 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Focused Endocardial Septal Ablation: A New Technique to Treat Postmyectomy Recurrent Gradient.

This report describes the case of a 64-year-old woman with a previous diagnosis of obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who underwent surgical myectomy but who had a persistent midventricular residual gradient. The patient was symptomatic despite medical treatment and chose to undergo percutaneous radiofrequency (RF) ablation focused on the gradient. RF delivery was performed, and the gradient was reduced from the initial 105/68 mm Hg (during Valsalva maneuver/at rest before ablation) to 24/10 mm Hg. This reduction was sustained for the next 12 months. Percutaneous RF ablation may be a reasonable option for second surgical myectomy, and the protocol can be easily reproduced.

High prevalence of subclinical atherosclerosis in Brazilian postmenopausal women with low and intermediate risk by Framingham score.

Cardiovascular diseases are the leading cause of mortality among women in several countries. Early detection of subclinical atherosclerosis (SA) could enable the adoption of preventive measures to avoid cardiovascular events. This study aimed to determine the prevalence of SA in Brazilian asymptomatic postmenopausal women in Framingham Risk Score (FRS) low and intermediate groups. Computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound (US) scans were performed in 138 asymptomatic postmenopausal women (56.1 ± 4.9 years of age) to survey for coronary artery and aortic calcification (CT scan) and assess carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT) and identify carotid plaques (US). The mean FRS was 2.64 ± 2.13 %. The prevalence of increased CIMT, carotid plaques, increased CIMT and/or plaques, coronary artery calcification (CAC) >0 and aortic calcification (AC) were, respectively, 45.7, 37.7, 62.3, 23.9 and 45.7 %. Normal imaging tests were found in 22.4 %. SA, defined as at least one abnormal imaging test, was associated with age, FRS, waist-to-rip ratio, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, HDL-c and ApoA1 levels, and ApoA1/ApoB ratio. In logistic regression, SA was associated with higher age (OR 1.108, 95 % CI 1.010-1.215, p = 0.029) and lower ApoA1 levels (OR 0.979, 95 % CI 0.960-0.998, p = 0.029). SA was prevalent in Brazilian postmenopausal women with low and intermediate risk groups (FRS) and was associated with higher age and lower levels of ApoA1. Carotid atherosclerosis was the most common presentation of SA in this group.