Trends in Incidence and Outcomes of Pregnancy-Related Acute Myocardial Infarction (From a Nationwide Inpatient Sample Database).

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) during pregnancy is rare but fatal complication. Recent incidence of pregnancy related AMI and trends in the related outcomes are unknown. The Nationwide Inpatient Sample database was utilized from years 2005 to 2014. International Classification of Disease-Ninth Revision were used to identify pregnancy related admissions and AMI. Primary outcome was incidence and trend of AMI related to pregnancy and Secondary outcomes were trends in mortality, resource utilization, and predictors of AMI during pregnancy. Simple logistic regression model was used to calculate predictors of AMI during pregnancy. p Values for trends were generated by Cochrane-Armitage test for categorical variables and simple linear regression for continuous variables. A total of 43,437,621 pregnancy related hospitalization and 3,786 cases of AMI (86% ante-partum and 14% postpartum) were noted during study period. The incidence of AMI during the study period was 8.7 per 100,000 pregnancies with an overall increase in incidence during the study period (relative increase of 18.9%, p <0.001). There was a concomitant decrease in mortality (relative decrease of 40.05%, p <0.001), cost of care (relative decrease of 8.70%, p <0.001), and length of stay (relative decrease of 13.53%, p <0.001). Significant predictors of AMI during pregnancy were higher age of pregnancy, black race, co-morbidities such as hypertension, thrombophilia, diabetes milletus, substance abuse, smoking, hyperlipidemia, heart failure, deep venous thrombosis, transfusion, fluid and electrolyte imbalance, and postpartum complications such as hemorrhage, infection, and depression. In conclusion, the incidence of AMI 2005 to 2014 rose with a concomitant decrease in mortality and resource utilization. High-risk patient characteristics were identified which could be utilized for resource allocation to further improve outcomes.

Short-term outcomes of atrial flutter ablation.

BACKGROUND: Understanding the factors associated with early readmissions following atrial flutter (AFL) ablation is critical to reduce the cost and improving the quality of life in AFL patients. METHOD: The study cohort was derived from the national readmission database 2013-2014. International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision (ICD-9-CM) diagnosis code 427.32 and procedure code 37.34 were used to identify AFL and catheter ablation, respectively. The primary and secondary outcomes were 90-day readmission and complications including in-hospital mortality. Cox proportional regression and hierarchical logistic regression were used to generate the predictors of primary and secondary outcomes respectively. Readmission causes were identified by ICD-9-CM code in primary diagnosis field of readmissions. RESULT: Readmission rate of 18.19% (n = 1,010 with 1,396 readmissions) was noted among AFL patients (n = 5552). Common etiologies for readmission were heart failure (12.23%), atrial fibrillation (11.13%), atrial flutter (8.93%), respiratory complications (9.42%), infections (7.4%), bleeding (7.39%, including GI bleed-4.09% and intracranial bleed-0.79%) and stroke/TIA (1.89%). Multivariate predictors of 90-day readmission (hazard ratio, 95% confidence interval, P value) were preexisting heart failure (1.30, 1.13-1.49, P < 0.001), chronic pulmonary disease (1.37, 1.18-1.58, P < 0.001), anemia (1.23, 1.02-1.49, P = 0.035), malignancy (1.87, 1.40-2.49, P < 0.001), weekend admission compared to weekday admission (1.23, 1.02-1.47, P = 0.029), and length of stay (LOS) ≥5 days (1.39, 1.16-1.65, P < 0.001). Note that 50% of readmissions happened within 30 days of discharge. CONCLUSION: Cardiac etiologies remain the most common reason for the readmission after AFL ablation. Identifying high risk patients, careful discharge planning, and close follow-up postdischarge can potentially reduce readmission rates in AFL ablation patients.

Role of total artificial heart in the management of heart transplant rejection and retransplantation: case report and review.

Cardiac allograft rejection and failure may require mechanical circulatory support as bridge-to-retransplantation. Prognosis in this patient group is poor and implantable ventricular assist devices have had limited success due to organ failure associated with the high dose immunosuppression required to treat ongoing rejection. We present a case from our institution and the world-wide experience utilizing the SynCardia CardioWest Total Artificial Heart (TAH-t; SynCardia Systems, Inc., Tucson, AZ, USA) for replacement of the failing graft, recovery of patient and end-organ failure with ultimate bridge to retransplantation. We present our experience and review of world-wide experience for use of TAH-t in this type patient.

Simultaneous heart and kidney transplantation after bridging with the CardioWest total artificial heart.

End-stage renal failure is often considered a relative contraindication for total artificial heart implantation due to the increased risk of mortality after transplantation. We report the successful treatment of a patient having heart and renal failure with the CardioWest (SynCardia Inc, Tucson, AZ) total artificial heart for bridge-to-cardiac transplantation of a heart and kidney.

The Thoratec Implantable Ventricular Assist Device (IVAD): initial clinical experience.

BACKGROUND: The Thoratec Implantable Ventricular Assist Device (IVAD) is the only FDA-approved intracorporeal biventricular cardiac assist device. It is a titanium-coated version of its predecessor, the Paracorporeal Ventricular Assist Device (PVAD). The blood pump is compatible with the portable TLC-II driver, making home discharge feasible. METHODS: Nine consecutive patients were implanted with the IVAD from June 2005 through March 2006. The indications for support were acute heart failure in 6 cases and chronic heart failure in 3 cases. All patients were managed with maximal medical therapies including intravenous inotropic drugs prior to implant. RESULTS: All patients survived the surgical implant. Six patients were considered successful: 3 patients discharged to home and subsequently received transplantation, 2 are awaiting transplantation (1 at home and 1 in-house), and 1 patient was successfully explanted. Three patients expired postoperatively because of multiple organ system failure (2 patients) and pulmonary hemorrhage (1 patient). There were no device malfunctions. There was 1 localized driveline site infection and 1 thromboembolic event with partial visual loss. CONCLUSIONS: The IVAD is a unique device capable of providing uni- or bi-ventricular support for either acute or chronic heart failure conditions. Its versatility permits bridge to transplant or recovery options. Home discharge is feasible.