Atrial fibrillation, diabetes and anticoagulation with direct oral anticoagulants: time to reconsider duration of the disease to evaluate the bleeding risk?

Atrial fibrillation and diabetes: time to reconsider duration of the disease to evaluate the bleeding risk? Impact of diabetes status in patients suffering of non-valvular atrial fibrillation requiring anticoagulation have been analysed previously and risk/benefit balance of NOACs have been confirmed in these patients. The implication of that pathology in the evaluation of the thrombotic risk is discussed but more importantly bleeding risk in this growing population is analysed, perhaps neglected until now.

Management of patients with combined arterial hypertension and aortic valve stenosis: a consensus document from the Council on Hypertension and Council on Valvular Heart Disease of the European Society of Cardiology, the European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI), and the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).

Aortic valve stenosis (AS) is the third most common cardiovascular disease. The prevalence of both AS and arterial hypertension increases with age, and the conditions therefore often co-exist. Co-existence of AS and arterial hypertension is associated with higher global left ventricular (LV) pressure overload, more abnormal LV geometry and function, and more adverse cardiovascular outcome. Arterial hypertension may also influence grading of AS, leading to underestimation of the true AS severity. Current guidelines suggest re-assessing patients once arterial hypertension is controlled. Management of arterial hypertension in AS has historically been associated with prudence and concerns, mainly related to potential adverse consequences of drug-induced peripheral vasodilatation combined with reduced stroke volume due to the fixed LV outflow obstruction. Current evidence suggests that patients should be treated with antihypertensive drugs blocking the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, adding further drug classes when required, to achieve similar target blood pressure (BP) values as in hypertensive patients without AS. The introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation has revolutionized the management of patients with AS, but requires proper BP management during and following valve replacement. The purpose of this document is to review the recent evidence and provide practical expert advice on management of hypertension in patients with AS.

Management of Asymptomatic Severe Aortic Stenosis: Evolving Concepts in Timing of Valve Replacement.

New insights into the pathophysiology and natural history of patients with aortic stenosis, coupled with advances in diagnostic imaging and the dramatic evolution of transcatheter aortic valve replacement, are fueling intense interest in the management of asymptomatic patients with severe aortic stenosis. An intervention that is less invasive than surgery could conceivably justify pre-emptive transcatheter aortic valve replacement in subsets of patients, rather than waiting for the emergence of early symptoms to trigger valve intervention. Clinical experience has shown that symptoms can be challenging to ascertain in many sedentary, deconditioned, and/or elderly patients. Evolving data based on imaging and biomarker evidence of adverse ventricular remodeling, hypertrophy, inflammation, or fibrosis may radically transform existing clinical decision paradigms. Clinical trials currently enrolling asymptomatic patients have the potential to change practice patterns and lower the threshold for intervention.

Serum albumin level and long-term outcome in acute heart failure.

Objective: Hypoalbuminemia is common in heart failure (HF), especially in elderly patients. It is associated with an increased risk of death. The present study sought to examine the prognostic significance of serum albumin level in the prediction of long-term mortality in patients admitted for acute HF.Methods and results: We examined the association between albumin and hospital mortality in a cohort of 509 patients admitted for acute HF. None of the patients had infectious disease, severe arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation), required invasive ventilation or presented with acute coronary syndrome or primary valvular disease. Sixty-nine patients (14%) died during the 1-year follow-up. With multivariable analysis, haemoglobin level (p = .003), systolic blood pressure (p = .004) and serum albumin level (p = .003) emerged as independent predictors of long-term mortality. Hypoalbuminemia (<35.7 g/L) had a hazard ratio of 2.01 (95% CI 1.24-3.25) and haemoglobin of 2.6 (95% CI 1.29-5.22) for predicting long-term mortality.Conclusions: Serum albumin level measured at admission, especially if combined with anaemia, can serve as a simple prognostic factor in acute HF for predicting long-term outcome.

Outcomes of Patients With Asymptomatic Aortic Stenosis Followed Up in Heart Valve Clinics.

Importance: The natural history and the management of patients with asymptomatic aortic stenosis (AS) have not been fully examined in the current era. Objective: To determine the clinical outcomes of patients with asymptomatic AS using data from the Heart Valve Clinic International Database. Design, Setting, and Participants: This registry was assembled by merging data from prospectively gathered institutional databases from 10 heart valve clinics in Europe, Canada, and the United States. Asymptomatic patients with an aortic valve area of 1.5 cm2 or less and preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) greater than 50% at entry were considered for the present analysis. Data were collected from January 2001 to December 2014, and data were analyzed from January 2017 to July 2018. Main Outcomes and Measures: Natural history, need for aortic valve replacement (AVR), and survival of asymptomatic patients with moderate or severe AS at entry followed up in a heart valve clinic. Indications for AVR were based on current guideline recommendations. Results: Of the 1375 patients included in this analysis, 834 (60.7%) were male, and the mean (SD) age was 71 (13) years. A total of 861 patients (62.6%) had severe AS (aortic valve area less than 1.0 cm2). The mean (SD) overall survival during medical management (mean [SD] follow up, 27 [24] months) was 93% (1%), 86% (2%), and 75% (4%) at 2, 4, and 8 years, respectively. A total of 104 patients (7.6%) died under observation, including 57 patients (54.8%) from cardiovascular causes. The crude rate of sudden death was 0.65% over the duration of the study. A total of 542 patients (39.4%) underwent AVR, including 388 patients (71.6%) with severe AS at study entry and 154 (28.4%) with moderate AS at entry who progressed to severe AS. Those with severe AS at entry who underwent AVR did so at a mean (SD) of 14.4 (16.6) months and a median of 8.7 months. The mean (SD) 2-year and 4-year AVR-free survival rates for asymptomatic patients with severe AS at baseline were 54% (2%) and 32% (3%), respectively. In those undergoing AVR, the 30-day postprocedural mortality was 0.9%. In patients with severe AS at entry, peak aortic jet velocity (greater than 5 m/s) and LVEF (less than 60%) were associated with all-cause and cardiovascular mortality without AVR; these factors were also associated with postprocedural mortality in those patients with severe AS at baseline who underwent AVR (surgical AVR in 310 patients; transcatheter AVR in 78 patients). Conclusions and Relevance: In patients with asymptomatic AS followed up in heart valve centers, the risk of sudden death is low, and rates of overall survival are similar to those reported from previous series. Patients with severe AS at baseline and peak aortic jet velocity of 5.0 m/s or greater or LVEF less than 60% have increased risks of all-cause and cardiovascular mortality even after AVR. The potential benefit of early intervention should be considered in these high-risk patients.

Exercise Testing and Stress Imaging in Aortic Valve Disease.

OPINION STATEMENT: Aortic valve disease and especially aortic stenosis (AS) is a growing cardiac pathology. Aortic valve replacement (AVR) is still the only treatment with proven benefit on survival in symptomatic patients and in patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50%. The benefit of prophylactic AVR in asymptomatic patients is still unproven. Once symptoms develop, the prognosis worsens. Exercise testing has emerged as a tool to unmask the "pseudo-asymptomatic" patients with AS (those without self-reporting symptoms), to link "exercise induced dyspnea" more confidently and more objectively to aortic valve disease and to allow for a safe "watchful waiting strategy" in "pseudo-symptomatic" patients (those with dyspnea unrelated to aortic valve disease). In cases in which exercise testing is unable to link dyspnea to aortic valve disease, exercise stress echocardiography and cardiopulmonary exercise testing may be helpful. Whatever the results of exercise testing with regard to symptom development, an increase in mean aortic valve pressure gradient >18-20 mmHg was associated with an increased risk of cardiac related events in severe AS patients (class IIb indication for AVR in the ESC guidelines). The decrease in LVEF during exercise as well as the development of exercise induced pulmonary hypertension, as revealed by exercise stress echocardiography, may be also useful in the risk stratification of these asymptomatic patients with severe AS. Data on the role of exercise echocardiography in asymptomatic severe aortic regurgitation patients is still scarce and further studies are needed. It seems that an exercise induced decrease in LVEF by 5% may be a better predictor of LV systolic dysfunction after AVR in asymptomatic patients or in patients with minimal symptoms. Exercise testing and exercise echocardiography are safe in the asymptomatic patients with aortic disease, provide useful clinical information that may help in risk assessment of these complicated patients and their use should be encouraged especially in heart valve clinics.

Appropriateness criteria for the use of cardiovascular imaging in heart valve disease in adults: a European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging report of literature review and current practice.

Heart valve disease is common and a major indication for imaging. Echocardiography is the first-line imaging technique for diagnosis, assessment, and serial surveillance. However, other modalities, notably cardiac magnetic resonance imaging and computerized tomography, are used if echocardiographic imaging is suboptimal or to obtain complementary information, particularly to aid risk assessment in individual patients. This review is a summary of current evidence for state-of-the-art clinical practice to inform appropriateness criteria for heart valve disease. It is divided according to common clinical scenarios: detection of valve disease, assessment of the valve and other cardiac structures, risk assessment, screening, and intervention.

Serum albumin level and hospital mortality in acute non-ischemic heart failure.

AIMS: Hypoalbuminemia is common in heart failure (HF), especially in elderly patients. It is associated with an increased risk of death. The present study sought to examine the prognostic significance of serum albumin level in the prediction of hospital mortality in patients admitted for acute non-ischemic HF. METHODS AND RESULTS: We examined the association between albumin and hospital mortality in a cohort of 546 patients admitted for acute non-ischemic HF. None of the patients had infectious disease, severe arrhythmias (atrial fibrillation, ventricular tachycardia, ventricular fibrillation), required invasive ventilation, or presented with acute coronary syndrome or primary valvular disease. Thirty-six patients (7%) died during the hospital stay. These patients were significantly older (78 ± 9 vs. 72 ± 12 years; P = 0.006), had higher heart rate (P < 0.0001), increased creatinine level (P = 0.01), lower systolic and diastolic blood pressures (P < 0.05), elevated leucocyte count (P = 0.001), and lower albumin levels (31.3 ± 5.6 g/L vs. 36.9 ± 4.1 g/L; P < 0.001). With multivariable analysis, age (P = 0.01), heart rate (P < 0.0003), diastolic blood pressure (P < 0.01), leukocyte count (P = 0.009), and serum albumin level (P < 0.0001) emerged as independent predictors of hospital mortality. Hypoalbuminemia (<34 g/L) yielded the best sensitivity (78.8%) and specificity (75%) for predicting hospital death. CONCLUSIONS: Serum albumin level measured at admission can serve as a simple prognostic factor in acute non-ischemic HF. Hypoalbuminemia is associated with increased risk of hospital mortality, especially in elderly patients.

Multimodality imaging for the diagnosis and assessment of aortic stenosis severity.

INTRODUCTION: Aortic stenosis (AS) is the most common cause of valvular heart disease. Imaging plays a major role in the diagnosis and evaluation of AS severity. AREAS COVERED: The present review focuses on new emerging concepts in AS by stressing the substantial value of imaging into the understanding of the complex pathophysiology and management of AS. Expert commentary: Though, standard 2D echocardiography is often diagnostic multi-modality imaging can be required in patients with doubtful results or to refine the evaluation of AS.