Serial cardiac biomarkers, pulmonary artery pressures and traditional parameters of fluid status in relation to prognosis in patients with chronic heart failure: Design and rationale of the BioMEMS study.

AIMS: Heart failure (HF), a global pandemic affecting millions of individuals, calls for adequate predictive guidance for improved therapy. Congestion, a key factor in HF-related hospitalizations, further underscores the need for timely interventions. Proactive monitoring of intracardiac pressures, guided by pulmonary artery (PA) pressure, offers opportunities for efficient early-stage intervention, since haemodynamic congestion precedes clinical symptoms. METHODS: The BioMEMS study, a substudy of the MONITOR-HF trial, proposes a multifaceted approach integrating blood biobank data with traditional and novel HF parameters. Two additional blood samples from 340 active participants in the MONITOR-HF trial were collected at baseline, 3-, 6-, and 12-month visits and stored for the BioMEMS biobank. The main aims are to identify the relationship between temporal biomarker patterns and PA pressures derived from the CardioMEMS-HF system, and to identify the biomarker profile(s) associated with the risk of HF events and cardiovascular death. CONCLUSION: Since the prognostic value of single baseline measurements of biomarkers like N-terminal pro-B-type natriuretic peptide is limited, with the BioMEMS study we advocate a dynamic, serial approach to better capture HF progression. We will substantiate this by relating repeated biomarker measurements to PA pressures. This design rationale presents a comprehensive review on cardiac biomarkers in HF, and aims to contribute valuable insights into personalized HF therapy and patient risk assessment, advancing our ability to address the evolving nature of HF effectively.

Sex-specific cardiovascular protein levels and their link with clinical outcome in heart failure.

AIMS: This study aims to provide insight into sex-specific cardiovascular protein profiles and their associations with adverse outcomes, which may contribute to a better understanding of heart failure (HF) pathophysiology and the optimal use of circulating proteins for prognostication in women and men. METHODS AND RESULTS: In 250 stable patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF), we performed trimonthly blood sampling (median follow-up: 26 [17-30] months). We selected all baseline samples and two samples closest to the primary endpoint (PEP; composite of cardiovascular death, heart transplantation, left ventricular assist device implantation, and HF hospitalization) or one sample closest to censoring and applied the Olink Cardiovascular III panel. We used linear regression to study sex-based differences in baseline levels and joint models to study differences in the prognostic value of serially measured proteins. In 66 women and 184 men (mean age of 66 and 67 years, respectively), 21% and 28% reached the PEP, respectively. Mean baseline levels of fatty acid-binding protein 4, secretoglobin family 3A member 2, paraoxonase 3, and trefoil factor 3 were higher in women (Pinteraction : 0.001, 0.007, 0.018, and 0.049, respectively), while matrix metalloproteinase-3, interleukin 1 receptor-like 1, and myoglobin were higher in men (Pinteraction : <0.001, 0.001, and 0.049, respectively), independent of clinical characteristics. No significant differences between sexes were observed in the longitudinal associations of proteins with the PEP. Only peptidoglycan recognition protein 1 showed a suggestive interaction with sex for the primary outcome (Pinteraction  = 0.028), without multiple testing correction, and was more strongly associated with adverse outcome in women {hazard ratio [HR] 3.03 [95% confidence interval (CI), 1.42 to 6.68], P = 0.008} compared with men [HR 1.18 (95% CI, 0.84 to 1.66), P = 0.347]. CONCLUSIONS: Although multiple cardiovascular-related proteins show sex differences at baseline, temporal associations with the adverse outcome do not differ between women and men with HFrEF.

The early days of vascular and heart valve prostheses: a historical review.

This surgical heritage article provides a historical overview of the most important early advances of vascular- and valvular surgery, that lead to the development of currently used vascular- and valvular prostheses and materials. The first writings describing techniques in vascular surgery mainly focussed on hemorrhage control and date from around 1600 B.C. The strategy of vessel ligation was first mentioned in Western literature around 200 B.C. In the 18th century, techniques of ligation were expanded towards attempts of vessel restoration. The first artificial vascular prosthesis was made in 1894. From this time on, vascular prostheses were used in animal experiments and around 1900 for the first time in humans. More than 60 years later, in 1952, the first mechanical heart valve prosthesis was implanted. Four years later, the first successful biological heart valve implantation followed. In 2000, a transcatheter heart valve was successfully implanted in a human for the first time. Over time, procedures and techniques became more efficient and effective. This led to new developments, such as the manufacturing of a tissue engineered blood vessel in 1986. Nowadays, dozens of different valve prostheses have been devised, both mechanical and biological. Still, no ideal model of vascular and heart valve prosthesis exists.

A Novel Cardiovascular Prosthesis Made from Woven Ultrahigh-Molecular-Weight Polyethylene Fibers, Proof of Concept in a Sheep Model.

BACKGROUND: A patch made of woven ultrahigh-molecular-weight polyethylene (UHMWPE) fibers is thin, strong, and flexible and may be attractive for use in cardiovascular prostheses. This study assessed the hemocompatibility of this patch in a sheep model. METHODS: The UHMWPE patches were sutured in the right carotid artery and jugular vein in 12 adult sheep, and in the same animal, expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) patches were sutured as control patches in the left carotid artery and jugular vein. Follow-up (FU) was 4 hrs, 1 week, and 6 weeks (n = 4 for all time points). Patency of the vessels was assessed with qualitative observational short-axis echography, and thrombus formation and tissue deposition were assessed with histology. RESULTS: All vessels were fully patent at the end of the study. Thrombus formation was comparable for the UHMWPE and the ePTFE patches. Tissue deposition was not significantly different on the UHMWPE patches, except for patches in the jugular vein at 1 week of FU where it was significantly thicker. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest the noninferiority of the UHMWPE patch compared with the clinically used ePTFE patch; therefore, this novel cardiovascular prosthesis might be attractive for use as a cardiovascular patch.