Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists position paper-obesity in adults: a clinical primer.

Obesity is a chronic and relapsing disease characterized by the interaction between individual predispositions and an obesogenic environment. Recent advances in understanding the mechanisms of energetic homoeostasis paved the way to more effective therapeutic approaches compared with traditional treatments. Since obesity is a complex disease, it necessitates a multi-disciplinary approach whose implementation remains challenging. Nonetheless, emerging pharmacological interventions appear promising. Currently, therapeutic success is discreet in the short term but often fails to maintain long-term weight loss due to a high likelihood of weight regain. Cardiologists play a key role in managing patients with obesity, yet often lack familiarity with its comprehensive management. The aim of this document is to summarize knowledge to consolidate essential knowledge for clinicians to effectively treat patients living with obesity. The paper emphasizes the pivotal role of a strong patient-clinician relationship in navigating successful treatment. We analyse the criteria commonly used to diagnose obesity and point out the strengths and limitations of different criteria. Furthermore, we discuss the role of obesiologists and the contributions of cardiologists. In addition, we detail key components of effective therapeutic strategies, including educational aspects and pharmacological options.

Associazione Nazionale Medici Cardiologi Ospedalieri (ANMCO) scientific statement on the simplification of the drug regimen for secondary cardiovascular prevention.

The issue of suboptimal drug regimen adherence in secondary cardiovascular prevention presents a significant barrier to improving patient outcomes. To address this, the utilization of drug combinations, specifically single pill combinations (SPCs) and polypills, was proposed as a strategy to simplify treatment regimens. This approach aims to enhance treatment accessibility, affordability, and adherence, thereby reducing healthcare costs and improving patient health. The document is an Associazione Nazionale Medici Cardiologi Ospedalieri (ANMCO) scientific statement on simplifying drug regimens for secondary cardiovascular prevention. It discusses the underuse of treatments despite available, effective, and accessible options, highlighting a significant gap in secondary prevention across different socio-economic statuses and countries. The statement explores barriers to implementing evidence-based treatments, including patient, healthcare provider, and system-related challenges. The paper also reviews international guidelines, the role of SPCs and polypills in clinical practice, and their economic impact, advocating for their use in secondary prevention to improve patient outcomes and adherence.

Is surgery the fair competitor for MitraClip?

In the last decades, the overlapping areas of intervention between cardiac surgeons and interventional cardiologists are rocketing, especially in the field of treatment of heart valve disease. But, while for the aortic valve the competition, even for nonhigh risk patients, has become tightened, in the context of mitral regurgitation, the surgery seems to not have competitors. In fact looking the results of studies published so far, a question arises: Is surgery the fair competitor for the Mitraclip? The meta-analysis by Abdul Khader et al. summarized few evidences present in this field, only 11 observational studies and 1 randomized trial, providing an awesome response: "NO." Is therefore not a case if recently two trials, MITRA-FR and COAPT, chose to use as competitor for MitraClip, more rightly, medical therapy instead of surgery. In conclusions, in case of mitral regurgitation (MR), surgery is still largely the gold standard treatment and so MitraClip cannot be mention at all as competitor of surgery. It can be the right choice of case of primary MR where patients showed high risk for surgery. In case of secondary MR, especially with large and poor left ventricle we should wait for a clear answer on its role, yet.

Mitral valve repair for mitral regugitation in the elderly: Yes, we have to, but look at the etiologies!

The meta-analysis by Di Tommaso et al. demonstrated as elderly patients with mitral regurgitation (MR) undergoing mitral valve repair had lower short-term mortality and higher long-term survival with respect to patients undergoing mitral valve replacement. The benefit of repair is such, that initial surgical strategy is advisable in the elderly even in case of mild symptoms if compared with conservative management. However, even if repair can be performed in presence of some specific etiologies, as degenerative MR or secondary MR, there are always cases where a replacement can be an acceptable solution compared to a repair with uncertain future, regardless of our believes and our technical ability.

Left ventricular surgical remodeling 2.0.

Left ventricular surgical remodeling has been, for a long time, the procedure applied for large dyskinetic, or akinetic, areas as a consequence of a myocardial infarction, mainly located in the left anterior descending area. Many surgical techniques were developed, aimed to a pure reduction of the volume of the left ventricular (LV) cavity or to add to volume reduction a more physiologic conical shape. The expansion of interventional procedures invaded most of the fields before treated only by cardiac surgeons. In this issue, Pillay describes a hybrid technique, involving both interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons, aimed to LV volume reduction after an anterior myocardial infarction. A series of internal (right ventricular septum) and external (anterior wall) anchors are implanted to approximate the LV free wall to the anterior septum, consequently excluding the scarred myocardium. Although some limitations of this study, the authors have to be commended for having revitalized a procedure almost eliminated from the surgical scenario.

The secret life of the mitral valve.

In secondary mitral regurgitation, the concept that the mitral valve (MV) is an innocent bystander, has been challenged by many studies in the last decades. The MV is a living structure with intrinsic plasticity that reacts to changes in stretch or in mechanical stress activating biohumoral mechanisms that have, as purpose, the adaptation of the valve to the new environment. If the adaptation is balanced, the leaflets increase both surface and length and the chordae tendineae lengthen: the result is a valve with different characteristics, but able to avoid or to limit the regurgitation. However, if the adaptation is unbalanced, the leaflets and the chords do not change their size, but become stiffer and rigid, with moderate or severe regurgitation. These changes are mediated mainly by a cytokine, the transforming growth factor-ß (TGF-ß), which is able to promote the changes that the MV needs to adapt to a new hemodynamic environment. In general, mild TGF-ß activation facilitates leaflet growth, excessive TGF-ß activation, as after myocardial infarction, results in profibrotic changes in the leaflets, with increased thickness and stiffness. The MV is then a plastic organism, that reacts to the external stimuli, trying to maintain its physiologic integrity. This review has the goal to unveil the secret life of the MV, to understand which stimuli can trigger its plasticity, and to explain why the equation "large heart = moderate/severe mitral regurgitation" and "small heart = no/mild mitral regurgitation" does not work into the clinical practice.

Transcatheter bicaval valve system for the treatment of severe isolated tricuspid regurgitation. Features from a single-Centre experience.

BACKGROUND: The isolated tricuspid valve (TR) has evolved into an entity in its own right. In contrast to TR treatment in left valve surgery, the benefit of surgery for isolated TR remains controversial. In this context, transcatheter valve interventions (TTVI) are becoming increasingly important. In this report, we present our experience with TricValve in a single center. METHODS: From March 2022 to September 2023, 13 patients with at least severe isolated TR were scheduled for TricValve implantation. The mean age was 81 years (77-87), 5 were female and 8 were male. All patients were older than 70 years and had at least severe TR, hepatic or peripheral congestion and high surgical risk. RESULTS: No procedure failure or device embolization was recorded. One case died in hospital 6 days after implantation and 1 case died after 124 days from irreversible renal and hepatic failure. The survival rate was 80.2% ± 12.8; the proportion of patients in NYHA class I increased significantly to 45% at follow-up. Among the 11 survivors, the median NT -proBNP decreased from 2873 to 148 pg/mL at follow-up (p = 0.003). In addition, a significant reduction in furosemide dosage from 125 mg to 50 mg at follow-up was observed over time. Finally, TR grade improved significantly along with RV size. CONCLUSIONS: This procedure appears to be safe and effective in carefully selected patients. Given the extreme simplicity of the procedure, the TricValve will increasingly represent one of the most viable treatment options for this patient group in the future.

Coronary Sinus Narrowing Improves Coronary Microcirculation Function in Patients With Refractory Angina: A Multicenter Prospective INROAD Study.

BACKGROUND: The underlying mechanisms responsible for the clinical benefits following coronary sinus narrowing and pressure elevation remain unclear. The present study aims to investigate whether coronary sinus narrowing improves the indexes of coronary microcirculatory function. METHODS: Patients with refractory angina who had a clinical indication for reducer implantation underwent invasive physiological assessments before and 4 months after the procedure. The primary outcome was the change in the values of the index of microcirculatory resistance. Secondary end points included changes in coronary flow reserve and the resistive resistance ratio values. Angina status was assessed with the Canadian Cardiology Society class and the Seattle Angina Questionnaire. RESULTS: Twenty-four patients with a history of obstructive coronary artery disease and prior coronary revascularization (surgical and percutaneous) treated with reducer implantation were enrolled, and 21 of them (87%) underwent repeated invasive coronary physiological assessment after 4 months. The index of microcirculatory resistance values decreased from 33.35±19.88 at baseline to 15.42±11.36 at 4-month follow-up (P<0.001; mean difference, -17.90 [95% CI, -26.16 to -9.64]). A significant (≥20% from baseline) reduction of the index of microcirculatory resistance was observed in 15 (71.4% [95% CI, 47.8%-88.7%]) patients. The number of patients with abnormal index of microcirculatory resistance (≥25) decreased from 12 (57%) to 4 (19%; P=0.016). Coronary flow reserve increased from 2.46±1.52 to 4.20±2.52 (mean difference, 1.73 [95% CI, 0.51-2.96]). Similar findings were observed for resistive resistance ratio values. Overall, 16 patients (76.1%) had an improvement of 1 Canadian Cardiology Society class. Seattle Angina Questionnaire summary score increase of around 3 points (3.01 [95% CI, 1.39-4.61]). CONCLUSIONS: Coronary sinus reduction implantation is associated with a significant improvement in the parameters of coronary microcirculatory function. These findings provide insights into the improvement of angina symptoms and may have implications for the treatment of coronary microvascular dysfunction. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT05174572.

Saphenous vein to the right coronary system from the right thoracic artery or the aorta. Long-term propensity-matched results of 2 groups.

OBJECTIVES: Since 2000, we anastomosed the saphenous vein graft to the right coronary artery system using the stump of the right internal thoracic artery as inflow. The long-term results of patients where the right coronary artery was grafted with the right internal thoracic artery or the ascending aorta as saphenous vein inflow has not been reported. METHODS: From 2000 to 2018, 699 consecutive patients had right internal thoracic artery elongated with saphenous vein (I-graft group, n = 358, 51.2%) or saphenous vein from the aorta (Ao-graft group, n = 341, 48.8%) on right coronary artery system. Inclusion criteria were age ≤75 years, bilateral internal thoracic arteries as a Y graft on the left system (three-vessel disease, n = 603, 86.3%) or as a left internal thoracic artery on left anterior descending and right internal thoracic artery elongated with saphenous vein on the right coronary artery system (two-vessel disease, n = 96, 13.7%), only 1 saphenous vein per patient. Propensity-matching identified 272 patients per group. One-hundred and twenty-two patients underwent coronary computed tomographic angiography to asses grafts patency after a median follow-up of 88 (65-93) months. RESULTS: In the paired samples, there was no difference in the early outcome. Ten-year survival and freedom from death, non-fatal acute myocardial infarction and repeat revascularization were higher in I-graft group: 90.6 [standard error (SE): 2.0] vs 78.2 (SE: 5.3), P = 0.0266, and 85.2 (SE: 2.4) vs 69.9 (SE: 5.3), P = 0.0179. Saphenous vein graft, at a long-time follow-up, showed a higher patency rate (81.6% (SE: 7.0) vs 50.7% (SE: 7.9), P < 0.0001) and a smaller internal lumen diameter (2.7, standard deviation: 0.4 vs 3.4, standard deviation: 0.6 mm, P < 0.0001) when right internal thoracic artery was the inflow. CONCLUSIONS: Grafting the right coronary artery with saphenous vein may entail higher patency rate and better outcome when the inflow is the right internal thoracic artery than when is the ascending aorta. Prospective randomized data are needed to test this hypothesis.

[ANMCO Position paper: States General 2023 - Scientific societies and training: the role of ANMCO]. / Position paper ANMCO: Stati Generali 2023 ­ Società scientifiche e formazione: il ruolo dell'ANMCO.

Scientific societies promote numerous activities, including the training of professionals. With the continuous growing of knowledge and the availability of new evidence in the cardiological field, the achievement and maintenance of knowledge and know-how is difficult. The evolving educational needs of professionals in cardiology have been analyzed during the 2023 ANMCO General States. Furthermore, the initiatives implemented to meet professionals' needs after the university medical training have been discussed. In this document, we report the main and most innovative training activities promoted by ANMCO, from distance training to simulation training, including courses for master's degree, training to and through clinical research and the potential role of teaching hospitals.

[ANMCO Position paper: Obesity in adults - A clinical primer]. / Position paper ANMCO: Obesità nell'adulto ­ Clinical primer.

Obesity is a chronic and relapsing disease due to the coexistence of a patient with predisposing individual characteristics and an obesogenic environment. The recent acquisition of detailed knowledge on the mechanisms underlying the energetic homeostasis paved the way to more effective therapeutic hypotheses as compared to traditional treatments. Since obesity is a complex issue, it requires a multidisciplinary approach which is difficult to implement. However, new drugs appear promising. Currently, therapeutic success is discrete in the short term, but unsatisfying in the long term due to the high probability of body weight gain. Cardiologists play a key role in managing patients with obesity, but they are not used to manage them. The aim of this document is to summarize knowledge that clinicians need to have to appropriately manage these patients. The paper emphasizes the pivotal role of an appropriate relationship with the patient to embark on a successful treatment journey. We analyze the criteria commonly used to diagnose obesity and point out strengths and limitations of different criteria. Furthermore, we discuss the figure of the obesitologist and the role of the cardiologist. In addition, we report the main components of an effective therapeutic strategy, from educational questions to pharmacological options.

[ANMCO Scientific statement on combination therapies and polypill in secondary prevention]. / Scientific statement ANMCO sulla semplificazione del regime terapeutico farmacologico in prevenzione secondaria.

The issue of suboptimal drug regimen adherence in secondary cardiovascular prevention presents a significant barrier to improving patient outcomes. To address this, the utilization of drug combinations, specifically single pill combinations (SPCs) and polypills, was proposed as a strategy to simplify treatment regimens. This approach aims to enhance treatment accessibility, affordability, and adherence, thereby reducing healthcare costs and improving patient health. The document is an ANMCO scientific statement on simplifying drug regimens for secondary cardiovascular prevention. It discusses the underuse of treatments despite available, effective, and accessible options, highlighting a significant gap in secondary prevention across different socioeconomic statuses and countries. The statement explores barriers to implementing evidence-based treatments, including patient, healthcare provider, and system-related challenges. The paper also reviews international guidelines, the role of SPCs and polypills in clinical practice, and their economic impact, advocating for their use in secondary prevention to improve patient outcomes and adherence.

[ANMCO Position paper - 2023 ANMCO States General: The shortage of healthcare personnel in the cardiology field]. / Position paper ANMCO ­ Stati Generali ANMCO 2023: La carenza del personale sanitario in ambito cardiologico.

Over the latest years, a worrying progressive reduction of medical specialists has been observed in Italy and in other European and non-European countries. This trend is assuming alarming proportions, especially considering the continuous population aging and the concomitant increase in the prevalence of chronic cardiovascular disease. The underlying reasons are complex and multifactorial. The purpose of this document, derived from the collegial discussion held during the 2023 ANMCO States General is to highlight the current critical issues regarding the lack of healthcare personnel in the cardiology field, examining the current and future Italian situation and proposing some potential strategies to counteract this alarming phenomenon.

[ANMCO Position paper - 2023 ANMCO States General: Towards a modern Cardiological Community Care]. / Position paper ANMCO ­ Stati Generali ANMCO 2023: Verso una moderna Cardiologia Territoriale.

Over the last two decades, cardiovascular diseases have become the leading cause of chronic disease morbidity and mortality in Italy. Therefore, the chronic cardiovascular care landscape has evolved rapidly in an era of unprecedented demand. Furthermore, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted significant deficiencies in existing health and social care systems, especially in the management of chronic cardiovascular disease. In this scenario, the National Reform for Recovery and Resilience (PNRR) may represent a unique opportunity for the development of a new integrated care system between hospital and community. The Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO) recognizes the need for a statement on the integrated cardiological community care to guide health professionals caring for people with chronic cardiovascular conditions. The aim of the present statement is to outline the evidence for a modern integrated cardiological community care identifying challenges and offering advice for a future transdisciplinary and multi-organizational approach to ensure best practice in the management of chronic cardiovascular disease.

[ANMCO Position paper: States General 2023 - Role of ANMCO in the setting of clinical research in Cardiology in Italy: current state and future perspectives]. / Position paper ANMCO: Stati Generali 2023 ­ Ruolo dell'ANMCO nella ricerca clinica cardiologica in Italia: attualità e prospettive.

For over 40 years, clinical research has been one of the most important aims of the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO), being an essential tool in pursuing promotion and fulfillment of good clinical practices in prevention, treatment and rehabilitation of cardiovascular diseases. Since 1992, with the creation of the Research Center (now part of the Heart Care Foundation), ANMCO is capable of independently and professionally managing all the aspects related to planning, management, and publication of the results of clinical studies. The other strength of ANMCO is the network built in Cardiology Departments on the whole territory of Italy, a human capital that allows ANMCO to deal with the new scientific challenges, in a context of profound changes in the social, economic, technological, and methodological setting. This document is based on the debate about the state of clinical research in Italy and the role of ANMCO in this setting that took place during the 2023 ANMCO States General.

[ANMCO Position paper: States General 2023 - Digital medicine in cardiology: evidence and state of progress in Italy]. / Position paper ANMCO: Stati Generali 2023 ­ La medicina digitale in cardiologia: evidenze e stato di avanzamento in Italia.

Technological innovation provides easily accessible tools capable of simplifying healthcare processes. Notably, digital technology application in the cardiology field can improve prognosis, reduce costs, and lead to an overall improvement in healthcare. The digitization of health data, with the use of electronic health records and of electronic health files in Italy, represents one of the fields of application of digital technologies in medicine. The 2023 States General of the Italian Association of Hospital Cardiologists (ANMCO) provided an opportunity to focus attention on the potential benefits and critical issues associated with the implementation of the aforementioned digital tools, artificial intelligence, and telecardiology. This document summarizes key aspects that emerged during the event.

[The heart's food]. / Il cibo del cuore.

In our collective imagination, cooking - especially home cooking - has always been tied to the heart, perceived as the root and symbol of the universe of sentiments. In order to innovate, "haute cuisine" must speak to the intellect, but to do so, it must firstly pass through one's emotions, so that the message it intends to convey is not left futile. To speak of the heart is to speak of health, and as such, food remains an essential element; and well-researched cuisine can demonstrate that tastefulness and healthiness can be amalgamated. Hence, this idea of taste and well-being can be spread from haute cuisine to all levels of catering, right up to industrial production.