Evaluation of the Effect of Conversion of Nonvalvular Atrial Fibrillation to Sinus Rhythm on Cardiac Remodeling.

BACKGROUND: Atrial fibrillation (AF) represents the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia globally, with a significant burden on mortality and morbidity. While rhythm control strategies, particularly electrical cardioversion (EC), have gained traction in recent years, the precise impact of sinus rhythm (SR) restoration on cardiac reverse remodeling remains a subject of debate. METHODS: In this study, 23 AF patients underwent elective EC. AF diagnosis was made via ECG by a cardiologist, and candidates for cardioversion were selected by an electrophysiologist. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) by utilizing two-dimensional, three-dimensional, and tissue Doppler imaging modalities was performed before cardioversion. Patients who maintained SR after six months underwent a second TTE evaluation. RESULTS: SR was restored successfully in all 23 patients and 15 patients (65.2%) maintained SR after six months. SR group had significantly lower baseline cardiac output (CO) and indexed left ventricular end-systolic volume (LVESVi), and better European Heart Rhythm Association (EHRA) scores after six months. Within the SR group, patients exhibited significant changes in mitral regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation, EHRA score, LVESVi, stroke volume, left ventricle ejection fraction, left ventricle global longitudinal strain, indexed minimum left atrial volume, left atrial emptying fraction, and left and right atrial diameters. Reduced CO was associated with AF recurrence. Receiver operating curve analysis revealed that CO value can predict six-month AF recurrence with a cut-off point of 2.3. CONCLUSION: Our study underscores the beneficial effects of SR restoration on cardiac parameters in AF patients post EC. Notably, CO value emerged as a predictor of AF recurrence, emphasizing the importance of comprehensive assessments for predicting long-term outcomes.

Indications and Effectiveness of ICD for Primary and Secondary Prevention in Patients Admitted in Ahvaz Imam Khomeini Hospital since 2017.

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) have been established for primary and secondary prevention of fatal arrhythmias and effectively reduce the rate of sudden cardiac death (SCD). This study aims to evaluate the indications and effectiveness of ICD for primary and secondary prevention of SCD. Materials and Methods: This retrospective study was conducted on 229 patients (136 for primary and 93 for secondary prevention) with ICD implantations in Imam Khomeini Hospital, Ahvaz, between 2017 and 2020. The incidence of arrhythmic events after implantation of ICDs was saved in electrograms, and the performed treatments (antitachycardia pacing (ATP)/shock) were recorded from the device memory. Results: The indications for ICD implantation in primary and secondary prevention were different (P < 0.0001). The most common cause of ICD implantation for primary prevention was ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICMP, 90.4%) and for secondary prevention was ICMP (58.1%) followed by dilated cardiomyopathy (31.2%). During ICD implantation, 54 patients (39.7%) with ICD implantation for primary prevention and 50 patients (53.8%) for secondary prevention had arrhythmia (P = 0.043). The rate of appropriate therapies in patients with secondary prevention was higher than the primary prevention (57.9% vs. 42.1%), while the rate of inappropriate treatments in patients with primary prevention indication was more than the secondary prevention (63% vs. 37%) (P = 0.060). Conclusions: ICMP was the main cause of ICD implantation for the prevention of SCD in both groups. At follow-up, the high prevalence of appropriate ICD therapy was observed in both groups, and this risk was slightly higher in the secondary prevention group.

Prevalence and predictors of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis in hypertensive patients undergoing simultaneous coronary and renal artery angiography; a cross-sectional study.

INTRODUCTION: According to the non-specific presentation of atherosclerotic renal artery stenosis (ARAS), this disease is usually an under-diagnosed in clinical conditions. OBJECTIVES: The aim of the presence study was to evaluate the prevalence of renal artery stenosis (RAS) and its related risk factors in hypertensive patients undergoing coronary angiography. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In a cross-sectional study, between March 2009 and October 2010, all of hypertensive patients candidate for diagnostic cardiac catheterization, underwent nonselective renal angiography before completion of their coronary angiography procedure. A standardized questionnaire was used to collect demographics, cardiac history, indications for cardiac catheterization and angiographic data. The degree of ARAS was estimated visually by skilled cardiologist. Narrowing greater than 50% of the arterial lumen considered as arterial stenosis. Data was analyzed by SPSS version 19, and by chi-square test and logistic regression model. RESULTS: In overall 274 patients with mean age of 60.75 ± 10.92 years 108 (39.4%) were male and 166 (60.61%) were female. The prevalence of ARAS calculated 18.2%. According to the present study, heart failure and smoking were predictors of ARAS. However, old age, gender, diabetes mellitus, hyperlipidemia and family history of cardiovascular disease were not clinical predictors of significant ARAS in hypertensive patients, candidate for coronary angiography. CONCLUSION: According to present data, we suggest to consider renal artery angiography in combination with coronary artery angiography especially in hypertensive patients who are smoker or individuals who have heart failure.

Interesting Correlation Between the Circulating Pentraxin 3 and Cardiac Rehabilitation Program Outcomes in Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting Patients.

BACKGROUND: Pentraxin 3 (PTX3) is an inflammatory mediator, reaches to the high levels after ischemic heart diseases (IHD) and could be a helpful tool to predict cardiac rehabilitation (CR) outcomes. The aim of this study was to investigate the possibility of the circulating levels of PTX3 in prediction of CR outcomes in patients with IHD who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: One hundred patients who had undergone CABG were included in this study. The CR plan was started 6 weeks after CABG and then PTX3 level, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP), ejection fraction (EF) and metabolic equivalent (MET) were assessed before and after the CR program. Finally, all gathered data were analyzed using SPSS version 22. RESULTS: After a 3-month course of CR program, EF, MET, PTX3 and hs-CRP values changed. Statistically significant changes were observed in EF, MET and PTX3 values (P < 0.05) after the CR program and no statistically significant changes were seen in hs-CRP value (P = 0.546) at the end of CR program. Correlations between EF levels and MET with pre-PTX3 levels were also assessed and most changes were observed in the group with pre-PTX3 level more than 0.40 ng/dL. CONCLUSION: Our study showed that a regular sufficient CR program based on exercises in IHD patients after CABG increases EF and MET levels, particularly in those patients with pre-PTX3 levels more than 0.40 ng/dL.

Changes in Heart Rate Variability Parameters after Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

BACKGROUND: Patients with chronic stable angina often have a state of sympathetic hyperactivity. It is considered associated with myocardial ischemia and disappears after ischemia elimination. The aim of this study was to investigate the changes in heart rate variability parameters, a noninvasive technique for the evaluation of the autonomic nervous system activity, after successful revascularization in these patients to evaluate this theory. METHODS: The patients were enrolled among those who underwent successful percutaneous coronary intervention. Short-term heart rate variability analyses of all the patients were obtained, and time-domain indices (standard deviation of normal-to-normal intervals [SDNN], standard deviation of differences of successive R-R intervals [SDSD], root-mean square differences of successive R-R intervals [rMSSD], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 10 ms from the preceding one [PNN10], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 20 ms from the preceding one [PNN20], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 30 ms from the preceding one [PNN30], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 40 ms from the preceding one [PNN40], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 50 ms from the preceding one [PNN50], percentage of R-R intervals differing > 60 ms from the preceding one [PNN60], and percentage of R-R intervals differing > 70 ms from the preceding one [PNN70]) were analyzed. All the measurements were made before and after percutaneous coronary intervention. RESULTS: This study included 64 patients, comprising 27 men and 37 women at a mean age of 56.8 ± 9.1 years. There was a significant difference only between pre- and post-revascularization SDNN (27.5 ± 19.72 vs. 41 ± 41.4; p value = 0.013). The other parameters showed no significant differences after successful coronary intervention. Conclusion : Our data indicate that the increase in SDNN in patients with stable angina pectoris undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention seems to be prominent.

Posteroseptal accessory pathway in association with coronary sinus diverticulum: electrocardiographic description and result of catheter ablation.

AIMS: A precise knowledge of the coronary sinus (CS) anatomy and its potential anomalies seems essential to increase the rate of success in patients with a prior history of multiple ablation failures of the posteroseptal accessory pathway or in whom this procedure cannot be performed easily. We aimed to describe the anatomic and electrocardiographic characteristics of the CS diverticulum in association with the posteroseptal accessory pathway and subsequent catheter ablation results. METHODS: We retrospectively recruited 12 patients with posteroseptal accessory pathways associated with CS diverticula from patients referred to Tehran Heart Center for electrophysiological study and ablation between January 2004 and December 2011. RESULTS: The study population consisted of eight males and four females at a mean age of 48.2 ± 17.5 years with posteroseptal accessory pathways. The most frequent initial presentation was orthodromic atrioventricular re-entrant tachycardia and atrial fibrillation. The rate of acute success for radiofrequency ablation and the recurrence rate were 75 and 16.6 %, respectively. Larger diverticula tended to have more failure and recurrence rate, albeit not significant. None of the patient's characteristics could significantly predict the success of the ablation. CONCLUSION: Our total initial failure rate and subsequent recurrence was around 41 %. Better results might have been achieved had we applied irrigated tip catheters or NavX(TM)-guided cryoablation or subxiphoid epicardial mapping and ablation.

Randomized Prospective Comparison of Two Protocols for Head-up Tilt Testing in Patients with Normal Heart and Recurrent Unexplained Syncope.

BACKGROUND: This randomized study was aimed to compare the diagnostic value of two head-up tilt testing protocols using sublingual nitroglycerin for provocation in patients with recurrent unexplained syncope and normal heart. METHODS: The patients with normal findings in physical examination, electrocardiography and echocardiography were randomly submitted to one of upright tilt test protocols. The only difference between two protocols was that nitroglycerin was administered after a five minute resting phase in supine position during protocol B. We also considered eighty normal persons as the control group. RESULTS: Out of 290 patients that underwent tilt testing, 132 patients were in group A versus 158 patients in group B. Both groups had an identical distribution of clinical characteristics. Tilt test was positive in 79 patients in group A (25 in passive phase, 54 in active phase) versus 96 patients in group B (43 in passive phase, 53 in active phase). There was no significant difference between results in two groups (P value= 0.127). Forty cases were tested with protocol A and forty underwent tilt testing with protocol B. Tilt test was positive in 4 cases with protocol A versus 3 cases in protocol B. The positive rates of tilt testing with protocol A was 60% while it was 61% in protocol B. The specificity of testing with protocol A was 90% and it was 92.5% in protocol B. CONCLUSIONS: According to our data, adding a period of rest and returning to supine position before nitroglycerin administration had no additional diagnostic yield.