Feasibility of Utilizing Telehealth in a Multidisciplinary Postpartum Hypertension Clinic.

Introduction: Remote delivery of care improves outcomes following hypertensive disorders of pregnancy, but little is known about the implementation of a multidisciplinary clinic in the virtual space. In this study, we developed a multidisciplinary postpartum hypertension clinic with a telehealth component run jointly with Maternal-Fetal Medicine and Cardiology. Materials and Methods: Women were referred from Cardiology and Obstetrics providers or through our postpartum remote blood pressure (BP) program and were offered the option of an in-person or telemedicine visit. For virtual visits, BP was recorded by home measurement. We compared clinical and demographic characteristics by visit type (virtual vs. in-person). Results: Of 175 patients scheduled (2019-2021), 140 attended visits (80% show rate) a mean of 11 weeks postpartum, with 92 (65.7%) seen virtually and 48 (34.2%) seen in-person. Clinical and demographic factors, including self-reported race and insurance type, did not differ between women seen virtually versus in-person. Overall, 97 (69.3%) of women were still on antihypertensive agents at the time of their visit with 33 (34.0%) on more than one antihypertensive agent, which did not differ by visit type. Women who were seen virtually lived a farther distance from the clinic (median 11.6 [interquartile range; IQR 7.7, 30.8] vs. median 7.9 [IQR 5.8, 21.1] miles; p = 0.02). Conclusions: Implementation of a multidisciplinary postpartum hypertension clinic in the virtual space is feasible, targets women at high risk for persistently elevated postpartum BP, and maintains equal attendance compared with in-person visits. Virtual visits deliver care equitably across different racial and socioeconomic groups and may improve access to care in rural areas.

Estratificación de riesgo para enfermedad coronaria en adultos mayores / Risk stratification for coronary disease in old adults

La población de adultos mayores ha tenido muy poca representación en los diferentes estudios clínicos, afectando el conocimiento sobre el tratamiento adecuado de este grupo etario. Las determinaciones de excluir a este tipo de población de dichos estudios se hacen basadas en un incremento en la probabilidad de presentar mayores eventos adversos, aumentando la complejidad del análisis de los resultados. Se hace necesario utilizar escalas válidas que permitan evaluar el verdadero riesgo de estos pacientes para desarrollar complicaciones secundarias a procedimientos invasivos. Escalas como: CRUSADE, Italian Elderly ACS, THE STORM y el Consenso Francés, demuestran que al estratificar estos pacientes se logra de forma objetiva determinar la población de adultos mayores que se benefician de una intervención intensiva para lograr mejores desenlaces.

Old adult population has suffered from under-representation in different clinical studies, thus affecting knowledge regarding best treatments for this age group. Reasons to exclude this type of patients in those studies are based on the increased likelihood of presenting more adverse effects, thus raising the complexity of results analysis. It is necessary to use valid scales that can allow to assess the real risk for these patients to develop complications secondary to invasive procedures. Scales such as: CRUSADE, Italian Elderly ACS, THE STORM and French Consensus reveal that stratification of these patients allows for and objective determination of the population of old adults that benefit from an intensive surgery to improve outcomes.

Conceptos actuales sobre el envejecimiento y la enfermedad cardiovascular / Current concepts of aging and cardiovascular disease

En los últimos años se ha presentado un notable incremento en la proporción de población mayor de 65 años de edad, de la mano con el incremento de las enfermedades cardiovasculares, específicamente la enfermedad coronaria. No obstante, los mecanismos fisiopatológicos del envejecimiento y su relación con la salud cardiovascular son un campo de reciente investigación. Resulta fundamental conocer aspectos como: la teoría del acortamiento de telómeros, el papel de la actividad física, el endotelio y los mecanismos moleculares que participan en este proceso, pues ofrecerá herramientas para hacer un manejo acertado de este grupo poblacional, sobre el cual son pocos los estudios y la mayoría de las conductas son extrapoladas de grupos etarios con condiciones fisiológicas completamente diferentes.

In recent years there has been a marked increase in the proportion of the population over 65 years of age, which has gone hand in hand with the escalation of cardiovascular diseases, particularly coronary disease. However, pathophysiological mechanisms of aging and its relationship to cardiovascular health is a recent field of research. It is fundamental to know aspects such as the theory of telomere shortening, the role of physical activity, the endothelium and the molecular mechanisms involved in this process, as they will offer tools for a correct management of this population group, upon which few studies are carried out and most behaviours are extrapolated from age groups with completely different physiological conditions.

Denervación renal percutánea mediante el uso de catéter con balón en pacientes con hipertensión arterial resistente / Percutaneous renal denervation using balloon catheter in patients with resistant hypertension

La hipertensión arterial afecta a más de 1.200 millones de personas en el mundo y constituye uno de los factores de riesgo más importantes en la incidencia del infarto agudo de miocardio y el accidente cerebrovascular. Solo el 35% de los pacientes hipertensos se encuentran con valores de la presión arterial (PA) controlados con el uso de medicamentos antihipertensivos. Surge una alternativa, la denervación renal como técnica invasiva, la cual ha demostrado disminuir significativamente los valores de la PA en pacientes con hipertensión arterial resistente, y aunque ha sido debatida y controvertida luego de la publicación del estudio SYMPLICITY HTN-3, en el que no se apreció reducción significativa de las cifras de la presión arterial utilizando el Monitoreo Ambulatorio de Presión Arterial (MAPA), como herramienta de evaluación, surgen muchos interrogantes por resolver sobre esta nueva técnica y su aplicación en el campo clínico. El objetivo del presente reporte es describir detalladamente dos casos de hipertensión arterial resistente, tratados mediante ablación con radiofrecuencia con el nuevo dispositivo Vessix® de la compañía Boston Scientific.

Hypertension affects more than 1,200 people in the world, and constitutes one of the most important risk factors for the incidence of acute myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident. Only 35% of hypertensive patients show controlled blood pressure (BP) values with the use of hypertensive drugs. Al alternative becomes available: renal denervation as an invasive technique. It has shown to significantly reduce the BP levels in patients with resistant hypertension, and though it was discussed and controversial after the publication of the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial, where no significant reduction of BP values using the ambulatory blood pressure monitoring (ABPM) was noted, many questions have yet to be answered regarding this new technique and its application in the clinical field. The motivation for this report is to accurately describe two cases of resistant hypertension treated with radiofrequency ablation with the new Vessix® device from the company Boston Scientific.