Aortic regurgitation: multimodal assessment of quantification and impact.

BACKGROUND: The assessment of severity of aortic regurgitation (AR) by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) remains challenging in routine practice. Contemporary guidelines recommend cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in patients with significant disease and suboptimal TTE images. The objective of this study was to assess the role of CMR in the evaluation of severity of AR and to compare both modalities in the quantification of regurgitation and left ventricular volumes. METHODS: Fifty consecutive patients who had isolated chronic AR and who underwent TTE and CMR within an interval of less than three months between May 2009 and June 2020 were included. The main indication for CMR was difficulties in quantifying AR, either because of lack of multiparametric analysis (only one method possible) or because of discrepancies in the different methods by TTE. RESULTS: In 25 patients, precise grading of AR was not possible by echocardiography. Among them, CMR finally detected seven patients with mild AR, 11 with moderate AR and seven with severe AR. For the 25 patients who had AR quantification by TTE, there was concordance between TTE and CMR in only seven patients (28%), and the AR was re-graded by CMR in 18 patients, including eight patients with severe AR by TTE and moderate AR by CMR. The concordance between TTE and CMR was weakly significant (intraclass correlation coefficient = 0.39, 95% confidence interval: 0.003-0.67, p = 0.02). There was a moderate correlation between left ventricular volumes measured by TTE and by CMR (left ventricular end-diastolic volume: r = 0.57; p = 0.01; left ventricular end-systolic volume: r = 0.47, p = 0.01) but regurgitant volumes were not correlated (r = 0.04; p = 0.8). No TTE parameter of quantification was correlated with regurgitant volume measured by CMR. CONCLUSIONS: The concordance of AR quantification by CMR and TTE was weak. CMR re-graded some patients with severe AR by TTE into moderate AR. This should motivate practitioners to systematically assess all significant AR by CMR in order to improve quantification and optimise clinical management.

[Career choice of ivorian medical students at the end of curriculum: influencing factors and aspirations]. / Choix de carrière des étudiants en médecine ivoiriens en fin de cursus : facteurs d'influence et aspirations.

Introduction: The implantation of health structures in Côte d'Ivoire to improve geographical accessibility to care remains unequal between rural and urban areas. The medical student has to decide on his or her career choice in this context, while also taking into account personal preferences. The aim of our study was to evaluate the factors influencing the speciality choice of medical students at the faculty of medicine of Félix Houphouët-Boigny University in Abidjan. Methodology: Medical students enrolled in the 6th year completed an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. The questionnaire was in paper format and was divided into three parts: socio-demographic criteria; speciality choice; and factors influencing career choice. Students were asked to rate the extent to which they perceived each of the 24 items as influencing their career choice using a Likert scale ranging from 1 (no influence) to 5 (strong influence). The factors were compared according to the speciality choice (medical or surgical). Results: The 3 most chosen specialties were: cardiology (17.9%), gynaecology-obstetrics (15.7%) and paediatrics (9.6%). The desire to take the internship competition was more frequent among students who chose a surgical speciality (p = 0.02). The choice of a medical speciality was more influenced by the willingness to work part-time (p = 0.04). Students who choose a medical speciality were more guided by social commitment than those who chose a surgical speciality (p = 0.04). In contrast, the latter were more influenced by prestige among colleagues (p = 0.04) and immediate postoperative outcomes (p = 0.01). Conclusion: The efficient equipment of health structures could contribute to the development of other less chosen specialities by making them more attractive. A reorganisation of the system with the deployment of teachers in regional hospitals with a minimum of equipment is indispensable in order to allow a "decentralization" of the specialization curriculum, especially for the surgical specialties.As for the aspiration to part-time work, it can be explained by the need to reconcile family and professional life, but also by a sometimes unspoken project to develop a lucrative extra-medical activity in order to make up insufficient wages.

[Do West African cardiologists adhere to the guidelines for the management of heart failure ?] / Les cardiologues ouest-africains suivent-ils les « guidelines ¼ sur la prise en charge de l'insuffisance cardiaque ?

INTRODUCTION: Adherence to guidelines for the management of heart failure (HF) has been shown to be a strong predictor of reduced hospitalisations. The aim of this study was therefore to investigate the adherence of West African cardiologists to guidelines for the management of HF. METHODOLOGY: This was a prospective cross-sectional multicentric study (Côte d'Ivoire, Togo, Benin and Burkina-Faso). The "ADDress your Heart" survey developed was administered online to assess cardiologists' adherence to the guidelines for the management of heart failure. RESULTS: 62.3% of the 106 participants reported that they followed the guidelines closely. The therapeutic classes indicated as first-line by the latest guidelines were insufficiently suggested by physicians: 57.5% for mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, 41.5% for gliflozins and 30.1% for sacubitril-valsartan In univariate logistic regression, affiliation with a teaching hospital OR [95% CI] = 3.0 [1.3-6.8], p < 0.01 ; access to scientific cardiology journals OR [95 % CI] = 3.4 [1.3-8.9], p = 0.01; and frequent attendance at conferences OR [95% CI]=1.8 [1.2-2.9], p < 0.01, were associated with guideline compliance. These factors persisted in multivariate analysis. CONCLUSION: Adherence of West African cardiologists to guidelines on the management of heart failure was moderate. If affiliation to a university hospital is difficult to apply to all cardiologists, access to scientific cardiology journals and frequent attendance in conference should be encouraged.