α/ß- and ß-Blocker Exposure in Pregnancy and the Risk of Neonatal Hypoglycemia and Small for Gestational Age.

BACKGROUND: α/ß- and ß-blockers are essential in pregnant women's perinatal congenital heart disease management. Nevertheless, data on the effects of α/ß- and ß-blockers on pregnant women and fetuses are limited. We examined the risks of neonatal hypoglycemia and small for gestational age (SGA) associated with maternal exposure to α/ß- and ß-blockers.Methods and Results: All consecutive pregnant women with heart disease admitted to our hospital between January 2014 and October 2020 were included. Of 306 pregnancies (267 women), 32 were in the α/ß-blocker group, 11 were in the ß-blocker group, and 263 were in the control group. All 32 pregnancies in the α/ß-blocker group were treated with carvedilol. In the ß-blocker group, 4 women were treated with bisoprolol, 3 were treated with propranolol, 2 were treated with atenolol, 1 was treated with metoprolol, and 1 was treated nadolol. The incidence of neonatal hypoglycemia was higher in pregnant women taking carvedilol than in the control group (P=0.025). SGA was observed significantly more frequently in pregnant women taking ß-blockers than in the carvedilol and control groups (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Carvedilol administration during pregnancy was associated with neonatal hypoglycemia; however, it did not occur in a time- or dose-dependent manner. Routine monitoring of blood glucose levels in newborns exposed to α/ß- and ß-blockers is essential.

Dramatically Improved Severe Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension Caused by Qing-Dai (Chinese Herbal Drug) for Ulcerative Colitis.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare and fatal disease for which some causative drugs have been developed. Qing-Dai is a Chinese herbal drug that is sometimes used as a specific treatment for ulcerative colitis in Asia, including Japan. Here, we report a case of severe Qing-Dai-induced PAH. A 19-year-old woman who has been taking Qing-Dai for 8 months was admitted for exertional dyspnea. Her mean pulmonary artery pressure dramatically improved from 72 to 18 mmHg with Qing-Dai discontinuation and PAH-specific therapy. After 6 years of onset, she had not relapsed with PAH with PAH-specific therapy.

Characteristics of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis and Anticentriole Autoantibodies.

Anticentriole autoantibodies-positive systemic sclerosis (SSc) has been reported to develop pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) at a high rate. In this report, we describe two patients with anticentriole antibodies-positive SSc-PAH who were treated with pulmonary vasodilators. Both cases were elderly women with poor physical conditions and clinical findings of SSc. Case 1 was resistant to combination therapy with pulmonary vasodilators; in Case 2, hemodynamic improvement was obtained by upfront combination therapy at an early stage. Because anticentriole antibodies-positive SSc-PAH rapidly deteriorates, careful hemodynamic observation and timely aggressive use of pulmonary vasodilators should be considered.

Erratum: Characteristics of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis and Anticentriole Autoantibodies.

The errors in the following list appeared in the article titled "Characteristics of Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension in Patients with Systemic Sclerosis and Anticentriole Autoantibodies" by Hisataka Maki, Kana Kubota, Masaru Hatano, Shun Minatsuki, Eisuke Amiya, Ayumi Yoshizaki, Yoshihide Asano, Hiroyuki Morita, Shinichi Sato, Issei Komuro (Vol 61, No.2, 413-418, 2020).

Combined Surgical and Medical Therapy for Candida Prosthetic Endocarditis in a Patient with Repaired Tetralogy of Fallot.

Candida prosthetic endocarditis (CPE) is an uncommon and fatal complication in adults with congenital heart disease. The current guidelines for the management of fungal endocarditis recommend a combination of surgical and medical therapy. However, it still remains uncertain when surgical management in CPE patients should be performed. Therefore, the prognosis of CPE patients is very poor. Here we report a case of CPE in a 31-year-old woman who had undergone surgical repair for tetralogy of Fallot during childhood and pulmonary valve replacement at the age of 21 years. She underwent re-pulmonary valve replacement after being sufficiently sterilized with a 5-week course of antifungal medical therapy, leading to clinical improvement. In CPE patients, it is necessary to perform surgical therapy while suppressing the activity of fungi as much as possible.

Difference between morning and evening blood pressure at home and nocturnal hypoxia in the general practitioner-based J-HOP study.

The aim of this study was to determine the independent association of nocturnal hypoxia with morning minus evening home blood pressure (MEdif) in a cohort of outpatients with at least one cardiovascular risk. A total of 1053 participants underwent home blood pressure (BP) portable pulse oximetry measurements, and 147 (14%) had an MEdif ≥20 mmHg, where MEdif was defined as the difference between morning and evening home systolic BP. When participants were divided into quartiles according to the lowest oxygen saturation (SpO2) during the nighttime, those in the lowest quartile (range, 54-79%) were significantly more likely to have MEdif ≥20 mmHg than those in the top quartile (range, 89-97%) (adjusted odds ratio, 1.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.13-3.49). The present study revealed an association between lowest SpO2 during the nighttime and increased MEdif in a cohort of outpatients with at least one cardiovascular risk.

Relationship between Dasatinib-induced Pulmonary Hypertension and Drug Dose.

Objective Dasatinib, a second-generation tyrosine kinase inhibitor, is used for chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML) and Philadelphia chromosome-positive acute lymphoblastic leukemia (Ph+ ALL). It reportedly causes pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and the dose-dependent induction of apoptosis in pulmonary endothelial cells. However, no report has yet discussed the relationship between dasatinib-induced PAH and drug dose. We therefore investigated the incidence of dasatinib-induced PAH and the relationship between dasatinib-PAH and drug dose in consecutive patients with CML and Ph+ ALL who took dasatinib. Methods The clinical data of 128 patients with CML (94 patients) and Ph+ ALL (34 patients) were retrospectively analyzed. Patients All patients (>17 years old) who received dasatinib from January 2009 to March 2020 at Jichi Medical University (Tochigi, Japan) were included. Patients who transferred within one month of starting dasatinib administration were excluded. Results Four (4.3%) and three (8.8%) patients developed pulmonary hypertension (PH), which was considered present when the transtricuspid pressure gradient was ≥40 mmHg, in the CML and ALL groups, respectively. No significant difference was observed between the PH onset and the administration period, cumulative dose, or daily dose of dasatinib. PH occurred in seven patients (5.5%), and the period from the start of dasatinib administration to the PH onset ranged from 7 to 39 (median: 28) months. No patients died from PH in either group. Conclusion Dasatinib-induced PAH does not occur time- or dose-dependently. When administering dasatinib, cardiovascular diagnostic modalities should be routinely checked, and PAH occurrence should be promptly detected.

A framework of deep learning networks provides expert-level accuracy for the detection and prognostication of pulmonary arterial hypertension.

AIMS: To test the hypothesis that deep learning (DL) networks reliably detect pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and provide prognostic information. METHODS AND RESULTS: Consecutive patients with PAH, right ventricular (RV) dilation (without PAH), and normal controls were included. An ensemble of deep convolutional networks incorporating echocardiographic views and estimated RV systolic pressure (RVSP) was trained to detect (invasively confirmed) PAH. In addition, DL-networks were trained to segment cardiac chambers and extracted geometric information throughout the cardiac cycle. The ability of DL parameters to predict all-cause mortality was assessed using Cox-proportional hazard analyses. Overall, 450 PAH patients, 308 patients with RV dilatation (201 with tetralogy of Fallot and 107 with atrial septal defects) and 67 normal controls were included. The DL algorithm achieved an accuracy and sensitivity of detecting PAH on a per patient basis of 97.6 and 100%, respectively. On univariable analysis, automatically determined right atrial area, RV area, RV fractional area change, RV inflow diameter and left ventricular eccentricity index (P < 0.001 for all) were significantly related to mortality. On multivariable analysis DL-based RV fractional area change (P < 0.001) and right atrial area (P = 0.003) emerged as independent predictors of outcome. Statistically, DL parameters were non-inferior to measures obtained manually by expert echocardiographers in predicting prognosis. CONCLUSION: The study highlights the utility of DL algorithms in detecting PAH on routine echocardiograms irrespective of RV dilatation. The algorithms outperform conventional echocardiographic evaluation and provide prognostic information at expert-level. Therefore, DL methods may allow for improved screening and optimized management of PAH.

Association of lower nighttime diastolic blood pressure and hypoxia with silent myocardial injury: The Japan Morning Surge-Home Blood Pressure study.

Whether marked nocturnal blood pressure (BP) reduction is associated with cardiovascular disease (CVD) is still controversial. In addition, no report has yet discussed the relationship between lower nocturnal BP and CVD, involving modification by nighttime hypoxia. We evaluated 840 patients who had one or more cardiovascular risk factors by measuring their high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (Hs-cTnT), N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (NT-pro BNP), and nighttime saturation levels and performing ambulatory BP monitoring. The lowest tertile in nighttime diastolic BP (DBP) (≤66 mmHg) had increased likelihood of the presence of ≥0.014 ng/ml of Hs-cTnT compared with the second tertile (odds ratio [OR] 1.91, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.01-3.63), and the lowest tertile of minimum blood oxygen saturation (≤81%) had increased likelihood of the presence of ≥0.014 ng/ml of Hs-cTnT compared with the third tertile (OR 2.15, 95% CI 1.13-4.10). Additionally, the patients with both lowest tertile of nighttime DBP and minimum SpO2 showed increased likelihood of the presence of ≥0.014 ng/ml of Hs-cTnT compared with those without this combination (OR 2.93, 95% CI 1.40-6.16). On the other hand, these associations were not found in the presence of ≥125 pg/ml of NT-pro BNP. In the clinical population, each of lower nocturnal DBP and nighttime hypoxia was associated with asymptomatic myocardial injury, which was represented as higher Hs-cTnT, and coexisting lower nocturnal DBP and nighttime hypoxia had an additive effect on the risk of myocardial injury.

Long-term survival without surgical intervention in a patient with a natural history of a single right ventricle: A case report.

Single ventricle (SV), a complex cardiac anomaly, if left untreated, is thought to lead to a poor prognosis. Herein, we report the case of a long-term survivor with an unrepaired SV with right ventricle (RV) morphology. A 55-year-old man presented with a SV with RV morphology, with a double outlet, large atrial septal defect, common atrioventricular valve, pulmonary valve stenosis (PS), and dextrocardia. Because the native PS provided adequate restriction of the pulmonary blood flow, he did not develop pulmonary hypertension; however, he had severe cyanosis. In patients with SV and moderate PS, even if the SV has RV morphology, long-term survival may be possible without surgical intervention. .

Noteworthy Cardiovascular Involvement with Sporadic Late-onset Nemaline Myopathy.

Cardiac involvement has recently been the focus of sporadic late-onset nemaline myopathy (SLONM). However, right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension, in addition to repetitive cardiac arrest, are noteworthy characteristics of SLONM. We herein report a 66-year-old woman with SLONM whose main symptoms were cardiac arrest, right ventricular failure, and pulmonary hypertension. Despite permanent pacemaker replacement, cardiac arrest occurred repetitively, and even with continuous positive airway pressure, right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension persisted. The patient was finally diagnosed with SLONM by a muscle biopsy. Our case suggests the possibility of cardiovascular involvement in SLONM, especially right ventricular failure and pulmonary hypertension.

Imatinib dramatically alleviates pulmonary tumour thrombotic microangiopathy induced by gastric cancer.

Pulmonary tumour thrombotic microangiopathy (PTTM) is a rare complication of cancer, which can be lethal due to progressive pulmonary hypertension (PH). Several case reports have demonstrated that imatinib, a platelet-derived growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor, can improve severe PH in patients with PTTM.We describe the case of a 56-year-old woman. Her mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) was 47 mm Hg, and her dyspnoea worsened rapidly over several days. Although pulmonary embolism was not observed on CT, enlargement of the para-aortic lymph nodes was detected. Gastro-oesophageal endoscopy revealed signet-ring cell carcinoma. We diagnosed her as having PTTM based on her clinical course, and started treatment with imatinib. Five days after its administration, her mPAP decreased dramatically. She was discharged and lived without symptoms of PH until her death due to systemic metastasis of carcinoma. In some cases of PTTM, imatinib may be an effective therapeutic option for PH.