Echocardiographic estimation of pulmonary hypertension in COVID-19 patients.

INTRODUCTION: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cause of a devastating global pandemic and is not likely to be fully resolved in the near future. In most cases COVID-19 presents with mild symptoms, but in a minority of patients respiratory and multi-organ failure may ensue. Previous research has focused on the correlation between COVID-19 and a variety of cardiovascular complications. However, the effect of COVID-19 on pulmonary hypertension (PH) and correlated cardiovascular parameters has not been evaluated extensively. METHODS: This study was designed as a single-centre, semi-quantitative analysis. PH was considered to be present if echocardiographic measurements estimated right ventricular systolic pressure at rest to be 36 mm Hg or higher in combination with indirect indicators of right ventricular overload. RESULTS: In total, 101 patients (67.3% male) were included in this study, with a mean age of 66 years (range 23-98 years). PH was diagnosed by echocardiographic estimation in 30 patients (29.7%). Echocardiographically estimated PH (eePH) was not correlated with a diagnosis of heart failure or pulmonary embolism. Mortality was significantly higher among COVID-19 patients with eePH (p = 0.015). In all 10 of 20 surviving eePH patients in whom echocardiographic follow-up was obtained, echocardiographic estimations of pulmonary pressures showed a significant decrease after a median of 144 ± 72 days. CONCLUSION: eePH is frequently observed in COVID-19 patients and is correlated with increased mortality. COVID-19-related eePH appears to be reversible after recovery. Vigilant attention and a low threshold for performance of echocardiography in COVID-19 patients seems warranted, as eePH may be applicable as a prognostic risk factor.

Visualisation of coronary venous anatomy by computed tomography angiography prior to cardiac resynchronisation therapy implantation.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to illustrate the additive value of computed tomography angiography (CTA) for visualisation of the coronary venous anatomy prior to cardiac resynchronisation therapy (CRT) implantation. METHODS: Eighteen patients planned for CRT implantation were prospectively included. A specific CTA protocol designed for visualisation of the coronary veins was carried out on a third-generation dual-source CT platform. Coronary veins were semi-automatically segmented to construct a 3D model. CTA-derived coronary venous anatomy was compared with intra-procedural fluoroscopic angiography (FA) in right and left anterior oblique views. RESULTS: Coronary venous CTA was successfully performed in all 18 patients. CRT implantation and FA were performed in 15 patients. A total of 62 veins were visualised; the number of veins per patient was 3.8 (range: 2-5). Eighty-five per cent (53/62) of the veins were visualised on both CTA and FA, while 10% (6/62) were visualised on CTA only, and 5% (3/62) on FA only. Twenty-two veins were present on the lateral or inferolateral wall; of these, 95% (21/22) were visualised by CTA. A left-sided implantation was performed in 13 patients, while a right-sided implantation was performed in the remaining 2 patients because of a persistent left-sided superior vena cava with no left innominate vein on CTA. CONCLUSION: Imaging of the coronary veins by CTA using a designated protocol is technically feasible and facilitates the CRT implantation approach, potentially improving the outcome.

Presence and extent of cardiac computed tomography angiography defined coronary artery disease in patients presenting with syncope.

BACKGROUND: In syncope patients, presence of coronary artery disease (CAD) is associated with poor prognosis. However, data concerning CAD prevalence in syncope patients without known cardiovascular disease are lacking. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate presence and extent of CAD in syncope patients. METHODS: We included 142 consecutive patients presenting with syncope at the outpatient cardiology clinic who underwent coronary computed tomography (CT) angiography. Syncope type was ascertained by two reviewers, blinded for coronary CT angiography results. Of the patients, 49 had cardiac syncope (arrhythmia or structural cardiopulmonary disease) and 93 had non-cardiac syncope (reflex [neurally-mediated], orthostatic or of unknown cause). Cardiac syncope patients were compared with matched stable chest pain patients regarding age, gender, smoking status, diabetes mellitus type 2 and systolic blood pressure. RESULTS: Distribution of CAD presence and extent in cardiac and non-cardiac syncope patients was as follows: 72% versus 48% any CAD; 31% versus 26% mild, 8% versus 14% moderate and 33% versus 7% severe CAD. Compared with non-cardiac syncope, patients with cardiac syncope had a significantly higher CAD presence and extent (p = 0.001). Coronary calcium score, segment involvement and stenosis score were also higher in cardiac syncope patients (p-values ≤0.004). Compared to the chest pain control group, patients with cardiac syncope showed a higher, however, non-significant, prevalence of any CAD (72% versus 63%) and severe CAD (33% versus 19%). CONCLUSION: Patients with cardiac syncope show a high presence and extent of CAD in contrast to non-cardiac syncope patients. These results suggest that CAD may play an important role in the occurrence of cardiac syncope.

CC chemokine ligands in patients presenting with stable chest pain: association with atherosclerosis and future cardiovascular events.

BACKGROUND: CC chemokine ligands (CCLs) are elevated during acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and correlate with secondary events. Their involvement in plaque inflammation led us to investigate whether CCL3-5-18 are linked to the extent of coronary artery disease (CAD) and prognostic for primary events during follow-up. METHODS: We measured CCL3-5-18 serum concentrations in 712 patients with chest discomfort referred for cardiac CT angiography. Obstructive CAD was defined as ≥50 % stenosis. The extent of CAD was measured by calcium score and segment involvement score (number of coronary segments with any CAD, range 0-16). Patients were followed up for all-cause mortality, ACS and revascularisation, for a mean 26 ± 7 months. RESULTS: Patients with obstructive CAD had significantly higher CCL5 (p = 0.02), and borderline significantly elevated CCL18 plasma levels as compared with patients with <50 % stenosis (p = 0.06). CCL18 levels were associated with coronary calcification (p = 0.002) and segment involvement score (p = 0.007). Corrected for traditional risk factors, only CCL5 provided independent predictive value for obstructive CAD: odds ratio (OR) 1.27 (1.02-1.59), p = 0.04. CCL5 provided independent predictive value for primary events during follow-up: OR 1.62 (1.03-2.57), p = 0.04. CONCLUSIONS: While CCL18 serum levels correlated with extent of CAD, CCL5 demonstrated an independent association with the presence of obstructive CAD, and occurrence of primary cardiac events.

Editorial to: Baseline MDCT findings after prosthetic heart valve implantation provide important complementary information to echocardiography for follow-up purposes by Suchá et al.

Over the last years a growing number of prosthetic heart valve (PHV) implantation procedures have been performed in sequence with the aging of the population and improving surgical techniques. Currently, echocardiography is the most important tool in the follow-up and evaluation of complications associated with the PHV (pannus, thrombus, endocarditis). However, echocardiographic examination of PHV associated disease may be hampered by poor acoustic window or scatter artefacts caused by the PHV. PHV related disease such as endocarditis is related with a poor prognosis, especially when complications such as periannular abcess formation occurs. Early treatment of PHV associated disease improves prognosis. Therefore, an unmet clinical need for early detection of complications exists. In the evaluation of PHV (dys)function, multidetector-row computed tomography (MDCT) has shown to be of additive value. A necessity for MDCT to be implemented in daily practice is to be able to distinguish between normal and pathological features. Key Points • Early detection of PHV related complications improves prognosis • MDCT has additive value to echocardiography in the evaluation of PHV • RCTs for MDCT evaluation of PHV are required for clinical implementation.

The role of labeled Annexin A5 in imaging of programmed cell death. From animal to clinical imaging.

Programmed cell death plays a critical role in embryology, homeostasis and disease. However, until recently no non-invasive imaging modality has been able to visualize this process directly. Annexin A5 binds to cells undergoing programmed cell death. When labeling this protein, Annexin A5 becomes a tool for the detection of programmed cell death in vitro and in vivo. Labeled Annexin A5 has enabled our group and others to detect programmed cell death non-invasively in animals and patients. This review will highlight the development of this imaging modality in cellular and animal models. Furthermore, we will discuss Annexin A5 imaging in human disease. We will focus on the clinical applications and their relevance, limitations and future perspectives of non-invasive imaging of programmed cell death using labeled Annexin A5.

Molecular imaging of cell death in intracardiac tumours: A new approach to differential diagnosis in cardiac tumours.

BACKGROUND: Primary endocardial tumours are rare, but may impose a difficult clinical problem. The definite diagnosis regarding the nature of the tumour is often made after surgery. This is due to the fact that current non-invasive imaging techniques are unable to inform us about the nature of the tumour. In addition, invasive techniques can not be used to obtain biological information of the tumour in these cases, because they carry a high risk of embolic complications. OBJECTIVE: To assess the possibility of a novel modality of imaging, molecular imaging, in the diagnosis of primary intracardiac tumours. METHODS: We evaluated two patients with a primary cardiac tumour. Prior to therapy, we infused human recombinant annexin-V Tc99-m and thallium 201. We used a dual isotope single photon emission computed tomography technique. This allowed us to obtain information about the relation between the anatomical position of the left ventricle and the uptake of the labelled annexin-V within the thoracic cavity. RESULTS: The patient with a malignant primary cardiac tumour showed uptake of labelled annexin-V within the area of the tumour. After surgery, the malignant nature was confirmed by histological analysis. The patient with a benignant intracardiac tumour showed no uptake of annexin-V within the area of the tumour. CONCLUSION: This novel imaging technique, molecular imaging, may be of help to differentiate non-invasively between a malignant and benignant primary intracardiac tumour.