Prognostic Impact of Landiolol in Patients with Acute Heart Failure and Atrial Fibrillation with Rapid Ventricular Rates: A Pilot Observational Study.

INTRODUCTION: Guidelines recommend ventricular rate control to <130 bpm during atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) to avoid aggravating deteriorations in cardiac outputs. We aimed to evaluate the prognostic impact of landiolol in patients with ADHF and AF. METHODS: This observational study included 60 patients who were urgently hospitalized with ADHF and presented with AF and a heart rate (HR) ≥130 bpm at admission. The patients were assigned to the landiolol group (n = 37) or the reference group (n = 23) based on their intravenous landiolol use within 24 h after admission. The primary endpoint was death from any cause. RESULTS: The groups' baseline characteristics were similar. A significant HR reduction occurred in the landiolol group at 2 h after admission. Compared with the reference group, the HR was significantly lower (111.6 vs. 97.9 bpm, p = 0.02) and the absolute HR reduction was greater (-32.2 vs. -50.0 bpm, p = 0.006) in the landiolol group at 48 h after admission. The landiolol group's mortality rate was significantly lower than that in the reference group (log-rank test, p = 0.032). landiolol use within 24 h after admission was independently associated with lower all-cause mortality (adjusted hazard ratio: 0.15, 95% confidence interval: 0.02-0.92). CONCLUSION: Patients with ADHF and AF who received landiolol for rate control during the acute phase had better prognoses than those who did not receive landiolol.

Impella Motor Current Amplitude Reflects the Degree of Left Ventricular Unloading under ECPELLA Support.

The combination of venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) and Impella, referred to as ECPELLA, is a powerful transient mechanical circulatory support for patients with severe cardiogenic shock (CS). During ECPELLA support, VA-ECMO loads the left ventricle (LV) and Impella unloads the LV. Therefore, evaluating the degree of LV unloading during ECPELLA may be a prerequisite to protect the injured myocardium. Here we report a patient with CS due to an inferior ST-elevation myocardial infarction in which the degree of LV unloading on ECPELLA was confirmed by direct LV pressure (LVP) measurement. After the percutaneous coronary intervention for the right coronary artery on ECPELLA, the aortic pressure became nonpulsatile and the peak systolic LVP was reduced at approximately 10 mmHg with 20 mA of the Impella motor current (MC) amplitude, which we referred to as the total LV unloading condition. We maintained the condition in the early phase of ECPELLA by monitoring the Impella MC amplitude at 20 mA and less with nonpulsatile aortic pressure. The patient was successfully weaned off VA-ECMO on day 3, and Impella was explanted on day 8. Prior to the Impella explant, the Impella MC amplitude increased more than 100 mA and the estimated pressure gradient between the aortic pressure and LVP was well matched with the directly measured LVP. In this case, the patient was successfully treated by ECPELLA with the total LV unloading condition, and we showed that the degree of LV unloading on ECPELLA can be estimated from the aortic pressure and Impella MC amplitude at given Impella flows.

Left ventricular systolic function affects right atrial pressure as prognosticator in patients with heart failure.

The effect of the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) on the prognostic impact of the right atrial pressure (RAP) in patients with heart failure (HF) requires clarification. We aimed to investigate whether LVEF affects the prognostic impact of RAP estimated from inferior vena cava (IVC) measurements in patients hospitalized with HF. Initially, this observational study included 1349 consecutive patients urgently hospitalized with HF. After patient exclusions, 506 and 484 patients with reduced (< 40%) and with non-reduced (≥ 40%) LVEF, respectively, were assigned according to maximum IVC diameter and its collapsibility, to the Normal-RAP (diameter ≤ 2.1 cm; collapsibility ≥ 50%), High-RAP (diameter > 2.1 cm; collapsibility < 50%), and Intermediate-RAP (others) groups. The endpoint comprised cardiovascular death after discharge and hospitalization for HF recurrence. During the observation period, 247 (49%) patients with LVEF < 40% and 178 (37%) patients with LVEF ≥ 40% experienced the endpoint. The patient subgroups with LVEF < 40% had comparable event rates (ptrend = 0.10). The High-RAP subgroup with LVEF ≥40% had a higher event rate than the other subgroups (p < 0.001). The RAP independently predicted the endpoint in patients with LVEF ≥ 40% (hazard ratio: 1.26; 95% confidence interval: 1.01-1.59). The interaction between the RAP groups and LVEF regarding the primary endpoint was significant (pinteraction = 0.007). Stratifying patients with HF according to IVC measurements may predict the post-discharge cardiovascular prognoses of patients with non-reduced LVEF, but not that of patients with reduced LVEF.

Prognostic impact of right ventricular function affected by pulmonary hypertension in hospitalized heart failure patients.

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) may affect right ventricular (RV) function; however, the prognostic implications of RV function in patients with heart failure and PH remain unclear. We aimed to investigate the impact of RV function on the prognosis of hospitalized heart failure patients with and without PH. METHODS: This observational study initially included 1,349 consecutive hospitalized heart failure patients. After excluding patients who died in hospital, whose left ventricular (LV) function was preserved, and whose echocardiography data were incomplete, 573 patients with heart failure and reduced LV ejection fractions (HFrEF) were analyzed. The patients were grouped according to RV dysfunction that was defined as an RV-tissue Doppler imaging systolic velocity (RV-TDI s') of ≤9.5 cm/s. The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular death and rehospitalization as a consequence of heart failure. RESULTS: Overall, the patients with reduced RV function had significantly higher event rates than those with preserved RV function (log-rank test p = 0.01). This prognostic impact was observed in the patients with PH (p = 0.001) and was not evident among the patients without PH (p = 0.39). In the patients with PH, reduced RV function independently predicted the prognosis after adjusting for the covariates (adjusted hazard ratio: 3.12; 95% confidence interval: 1.44 to 6.73). CONCLUSION: RV dysfunction that was estimated during hospitalization using the RV-TDI s', which is a simply determined index, may predict clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with HFrEF and PH after discharge, but not in those without PH.

Increased and continuous coronary arterial flow was induced by LV uncoupling condition using combined treatment of a microaxial heart pump and venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation.

An emerging therapeutic modality, ECPELLA, which combines a transvalvular microaxial left ventricular (LV) assist device, Impella, and venoarterial membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO), has been applied for patients with refractory cardiogenic shock. During ECPELLA support, VA-ECMO increases the LV load, whereas the Impella reduces the LV load. Studies reported that coronary perfusion is influenced by LV unloading conditions, and the effective degree of LV unloading to increase the coronary perfusion on ECPELLA support remains to be determined. Here, we reported a cardiogenic shock case whose coronary arterial flow was assessed by transesophageal echocardiography during ECPELLA support. The left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) peak blood flow velocity and the velocity time integral (VTI) were not significantly increased when blood was ejected from the LV (partial LV unloading). When the LV blood ejection was completely bypassed by Impella confirmed by non-pulsatile aortic pressure with significantly reduced LV pressure with no aortic valve opening (LV uncoupling: no blood ejection from the LV), both peak velocity and VTI of the LAD were markedly increased and the blood flow became continuous throughout the cardiac cycle. Our case suggests that the coronary arterial flow in the injured myocardium is sensitive to degrees of LV unloading on ECPELLA support.

Predictors of hypoxemia in type-B acute aortic syndrome: a retrospective study.

Acute aortic syndrome (AAS) can be life-threatening owing to a variety of complications, and it is managed in the intensive care unit (ICU). Although Stanford type-B AAS may involve hypoxemia, its predictors are not yet clearly understood. We studied clinical factors and imaging parameters for predicting hypoxemia after the onset of type-B AAS. We retrospectively analyzed patients diagnosed with type-B AAS in our hospital between January 2012 and April 2020. We defined hypoxemia as PaO2/FiO2 ≤ 200 within 7 days after AAS onset and used logistic regression analysis to evaluate prognostic factors for hypoxemia. We analyzed 224 consecutive patients (140 males, mean age 70 ± 14 years) from a total cohort of 267 patients. Among these, 53 (23.7%) had hypoxemia. The hypoxemia group had longer ICU and hospital stays compared with the non-hypoxemia group (median 20 vs. 16 days, respectively; p = 0.039 and median 7 vs. 5 days, respectively; p < 0.001). Male sex (odds ratio [OR] 2.87; 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.24-6.63; p = 0.014), obesity (OR 2.36; 95% CI 1.13-4.97; p = 0.023), patent false lumen (OR 2.33; 95% CI 1.09-4.99; p = 0.029), and high D-dimer level (OR 1.01; 95% CI 1.00-1.02; p = 0.047) were independently associated with hypoxemia by multivariate logistic analysis. This study showed a significant difference in duration of ICU and hospital stays between patients with and without hypoxemia. Furthermore, male sex, obesity, patent false lumen, and high D-dimer level may be significantly associated with hypoxemia in patients with type-B AAS.

Prognostic impact of additional mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in octogenarian heart failure patients.

AIMS: Guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) including beta-blockers and renin-angiotensin system inhibitors is shown to reduce mortality risk in patients with heart failure (HF) and reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). However, there is little evidence about the efficacy of additional administration of mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs) with GDMT in patients ≥80 years presenting with HF. We aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of GDMT with MRA in relation to the age of patients with HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: This observational study included patients admitted for HF with reduced LVEF who were discharged alive; among them, 224 patients were ≥80 years, and 661 patients were <80 years. Both populations were divided into three groups depending on whether they received GDMT with or without MRA or single/no GDMT drugs (GDMT+MRA+, GDMT+MRA-, or non-GDMT, respectively). The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality. In patients ≥80 years, all-cause mortality was the lowest in the GDMT+MRA+ group (log-rank trend, P = 0.034), and no significant differences were observed between the GDMT+MRA- and non-GDMT groups. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that GDMT+MRA+ was superior to GDMT+MRA-, even after adjusting for parameters at discharge (hazard ratio: 0.32, 95% confidence interval: 0.11-0.99). In patients <80 years, GDMT reduced all-cause mortality; however, additional MRA was not associated with an improved outcome. CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study suggest that additional MRA to GDMT at discharge is one of the therapeutic options for elderly HF patients with reduced LVEF. This finding is not well documented in previous clinical trials.