Organophosphate Pesticide Exposure: Effect on Farmers' Sperm Quality in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam.

OBJECTIVES: Using pesticides in the An Giang province is widespread. However, studies on the health effect of organophosphate pesticide have not been updated within the past 12 years. This study aimed to assess exposure to organophosphate pesticides and their effects on sperm quality among farmers in the An Giang Province, Mekong Delta, Vietnam. METHODS: During the winter - spring crop season of December 2021 to February 2022, a cross-sectional study was conducted on farmers aged 18 to 60 years-old based on seven communes' health checkup programs. The pesticide spray group included farmers who had sprayed pesticides in the previous week and had a history of working in agriculture for more than 2 years. The control group was defined as those who lived in the same community, had not worked in agriculture, and had never sprayed pesticides. Demographic characteristics and blood, urine, and semen samples were collected and analyzed. RESULTS: Data for 184 eligible participants were analyzed, including 116 farmers in the pesticide spray group and 68 non-farmers in the control group. Pesticide spray contributed to a decrease in the sperm quality index of 6.253 units (95% CI, 4.472-8.749). Increasing each pseudocholinesterase (PChE) unit (kIU/L) was associated with an increase of 1.181 units in the sperm quality index (95% CI, 0.757-0.947). CONCLUSIONS: Preventive methods for organophosphate pesticide exposure, such as administrative controls, engineering controls, substitution, and personal protective equipment should be applied to control health risks. In the An Giang setting, personal protective equipment is feasible, but most types of equipment are not used. The immediate priority is to determine the cause of personal protective equipment not being used and to find solutions to encourage people to use them.

Climate change and human health in Vietnam: a systematic review and additional analyses on current impacts, future risk, and adaptation.

This study aims to investigate climate change's impact on health and adaptation in Vietnam through a systematic review and additional analyses of heat exposure, heat vulnerability, awareness and engagement, and projected health costs. Out of 127 reviewed studies, findings indicated the wider spread of infectious diseases, and increased mortality and hospitalisation risks associated with extreme heat, droughts, and floods. However, there are few studies addressing health cost, awareness, engagement, adaptation, and policy. Additional analyses showed rising heatwave exposure across Vietnam and global above-average vulnerability to heat. By 2050, climate change is projected to cost up to USD1-3B in healthcare costs, USD3-20B in premature deaths, and USD6-23B in work loss. Despite increased media focus on climate and health, a gap between public and government publications highlighted the need for more governmental engagement. Vietnam's climate policies have faced implementation challenges, including top-down approaches, lack of cooperation, low adaptive capacity, and limited resources.

Risk stratification in patients with structurally normal hearts: Does fibrosis type matter?

OBJECTIVES: The study sought to assess the prognostic significance of nonischemic myocardial fibrosis (MF) on cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR)-both macroscopic MF assessed by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and diffuse microscopic MF quantified by extracellular volume fraction (ECV)-in patients with structurally normal hearts. BACKGROUND: The clinical relevance of tissue abnormalities identified by CMR in patients with structurally normal hearts remains unclear. METHODS: Consecutive patients undergoing CMR were screened for inclusion to identify those with LGE imaging and structurally normal hearts. ECV was calculated in patients with available T1 mapping. The associations between myocardial fibrosis and the outcomes of all-cause mortality, new-onset heart failure [HF], and an arrhythmic outcome were evaluated. RESULTS: In total 525 patients (mean age 43.1±14.2 years; 30.5% males) were included. Over a median follow-up of 5.8 years, 13 (2.5%) patients died and 18 (3.4%) developed new-onset HF. Nonischemic midwall /subepicardial LGE was present in 278 (52.9%) patients; isolated RV insertion fibrosis was present in 80 (15.2%) patients. In 276 patients with available T1 mapping, the mean ECV was 25.5 ± 4.4%. There was no significant association between LGE and all-cause mortality (HR: 1.36, CI: 0.42-4.42, p = 0.61), or new-onset HF (HR: 0.64, CI: 0.25-1.61, p = 0.34). ECV (per 1% increase) correlated with all-cause mortality (HR: 1.19, CI: 1.04-1.36, p = 0.009), but not with new-onset HF (HR: 0.97, CI: 0.86-1.10, p = 0.66). There was no significant association between arrhythmic outcomes and LGE (p = 0.60) or ECV (p = 0.49). In a multivariable model after adjusting for covariates, ECV remained significantly associated with all-cause mortality (HR per 1% increase in ECV: 1.26, CI: 1.06-1.50, p = 0.009). CONCLUSION: Nonischemic LGE in patients with structurally normal hearts is common and does not appear to be associated with adverse outcomes, whereas elevated ECV is associated with all-cause mortality and may be an important risk stratification tool.

Prevalence of Diastolic Dysfunction in Adult Survivors of Childhood Cancer: A Report From SJLIFE Cohort.

Background: The prevalence of diastolic dysfunction has not been systematically evaluated in a large population of survivors of childhood cancer using established guidelines and standards. Objectives: This study sought to assess the prevalence and progression of diastolic dysfunction in adult survivors of childhood cancer exposed to cardiotoxic therapy. Methods: Comprehensive, longitudinal echocardiographic examinations of adult survivors of childhood cancer ≥18 years of age and ≥10 years from diagnosis in SJLIFE (St. Jude Lifetime Cohort Study) were performed. Diastolic dysfunction was defined based on 2016 American Society of Echocardiography/European Association of Cardiovascular Imaging guidelines. Results: Among 3,342 survivors, the median (25th-75th percentiles [quartile (Q)1-Q3]) age at diagnosis was 8.1 years (Q1-Q3: 3.6-13.7 years), 30.1 years (Q1-Q3: 24.4-37.0 years) at the baseline echocardiography evaluation (Echo 1), and 36.6 years (Q1-Q3: 30.8-43.6 years) at the last follow-up echocardiography evaluation (1,435 survivors) (Echo 2). The proportion of diastolic dysfunction was 15.2% (95% CI: 14.0%-16.4%) at Echo 1 and 15.7% (95% CI: 13.9%-17.7%) at Echo 2, largely attributable to concurrent systolic dysfunction. Less than 5% of survivors with preserved ejection fraction had diastolic dysfunction (2.2% at Echo 1, 3.7% at Echo 2). Using global longitudinal strain assessment in adult survivors with preserved ejection fraction (defined with a cutpoint worse than -15.9%), the proportion of diastolic dysfunction increased to 9.2% at baseline and 9.0% at follow-up. Conclusions: The prevalence of isolated diastolic dysfunction is low among adults who received cardiotoxic therapies for childhood cancer. The inclusion of left ventricular global longitudinal strain significantly increased the identification of diastolic dysfunction.

Parametric mapping by cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging in sudden cardiac arrest survivors.

Etiology of sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) is identified in less than 30% of survivors without coronary artery disease. We sought to assess the diagnostic role of myocardial parametric mapping using cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) in identifying SCA etiology. Consecutive SCA survivors undergoing CMR with myocardial parametric mapping were included in the study. The determination if CMR was decisive or contributory in identifying SCA etiology was made if the diagnosis was unclear prior to CMR, and the discharge diagnosis was consistent with the CMR result. Parametric mapping was considered essential for establishing probable SCA etiology by CMR if the SCA cause could not have been determined without its utilization. If the CMR diagnosis could have been potentially based on the combination of cine and LGE imaging, parametric mapping was considered contributory. Of the 35 patients (mean age 46.9 ± 14.1 years; 57% males) included, SCA diagnosis was based on CMR in 23 (66%) patients. Of those, parametric mapping was essential for the diagnosis of myocarditis and tako-tsubo cardiomyopathy (11/48%) and contributed to the diagnosis in 10 (43%) additional cases. Inclusion of quantitative T1 and T2 parametric mapping in the SCA CMR protocol has the potential to increase diagnostic yield of CMR and further specify SCA etiology, especially myocarditis.

Moderate Aortic Stenosis in Patients With Heart Failure.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Moderate aortic stenosis (AS) confers a surprisingly adverse prognosis, approaching that of severe AS. The objective of this study was to describe the clinical course of patients with moderate AS with evidence of concomitant heart failure manifesting as elevated brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels. METHODS: This is a single-center, retrospective cohort study of 332 patients with elevated BNP. 165 patients with moderate AS were compared with 167 controls with none-mild AS. The Median follow-up duration was 3.85 years. The primary outcome was a composite endpoint of all-cause hospitalizations and all-cause mortality. RESULTS: BNP levels were 530 and 515 pg/mL in the study and the control groups, respectively. Moderate AS had significantly higher rates of primary composite endpoint in both univariate analysis (hazard ratio [HR], 1.50; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.14-1.97; p=0.004) and adjusted analysis (HR, 1.45; 95% CI, 1.05-2.01; p=0.02). Moderate AS had 1.41 (95% CI, 1.18-1.69; p<0.001) times more all-cause hospitalization per patient-year of follow-up compared to controls in the univariate model. After adjustment for significant covariates, moderate AS remained an independent predictor of all-cause hospitalizations (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.45; 95% CI, 1.18-1.79; p=0.005). Furthermore, moderate AS was significantly associated with higher all-cause hospitalization rates in both heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (IRR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.02-1.75; p=0.038) and heart failure with preserved ejection fraction [IRR], 1.31; 95% CI, 1.03-1.67; p=0.026). CONCLUSIONS: Moderate AS in conjunction with elevated BNP portends a significantly worse prognosis than those without moderate AS and should be followed closely.

Impairment in quantitative microvascular function in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy as demonstrated using cardiovascular magnetic resonance.

BACKGROUND: Microvascular dysfunction (MVD) is present in various cardiovascular diseases and portends worse outcomes. We assessed the prevalence of MVD in patients with non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM) as compared to subjects with preserved ejection fraction (EF) using stress cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR). METHODS: We retrospectively studied consecutive patients with NICM and 58 subjects with preserved left ventricular (LV) EF who underwent stress CMR between 2011-2016. MVD was defined visually as presence of a subendocardial perfusion defect and semiquantitatively by myocardial perfusion reserve index (MPRI<1.51). MPRI was compared between groups using univariate analysis and multivariable linear regression. RESULTS: In total, 41 patients with NICM (mean age 51 ± 14, 59% male) and 58 subjects with preserved LVEF (mean age 51 ± 13, 31% male) were identified. In the NICM group, MVD was present in 23 (56%) and 11 (27%) by semiquantitative and visual evaluation respectively. Compared to those with preserved LVEF, NICM patients had lower rest slope (3.9 vs 4.9, p = 0.05) and stress perfusion slope (8.8 vs 11.7, p<0.001), and MPRI (1.41 vs 1.74, p = 0.02). MPRI remained associated with NICM after controlling for age, gender, hypertension, ethnicity, diabetes, and late gadolinium enhancement (log MPR, ß coefficient = -0.19, p = 0.007). CONCLUSIONS: MVD-as assessed using CMR-is highly prevalent in NICM as compared to subjects with preserved LVEF even after controlling for covariates. Semiquantitative is able to detect a greater number of incidences of MVD compared to visual methods alone. Further studies are needed to determine whether treatment of MVD is beneficial in NICM.

Bilateral Renal Artery Thromboembolism During Thrombolytic Therapy for Embolism-Induced Acute Limb Ischemia.

We report a case of bilateral renal infarction following thrombolytic and anticoagulant therapy for left ventricular embolism-induced lower leg artery ischemia. Imaging demonstrated thrombi from the left ventricle leading to bilateral renal arterial occlusion. Catheter embolectomy and long-term oral anticoagulant therapy were initiated, and the patient recovered with no residual complications. (Level of Difficulty: Intermediate.).

Left Ventricular Assist Device in Patients With Alcohol Abuse or Illicit Drug Use.

The impact of substance abuse, including alcohol abuse or illicit drug use, on outcomes after left ventricular assist device (LVAD) implantation, has not been fully elucidated. Accordingly, to test the hypothesis that such a history would be associated with worse outcomes, we analyzed the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support registry. All patients from the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support registry who received a continuous-flow LVAD from June 2006 to December 2017 were included. The median follow-up duration was 12.9 months (interquartile range, 5.3 to 17.5). The final study group consisted of 15,069 patients, of which 1,184 (7.9%) had a history of alcohol abuse and 1,139 (7.6%) had a history of illicit drug use. The overall mortality rates in the alcohol, illicit drug, and control groups were 25%, 21%, and 29%, respectively. Cox regression analysis showed that having a history of alcohol abuse (hazard ratio, 0.97, 95% confidence interval, 0.84 to 1.13, p = 0.72) or illicit drug use (hazard ratio, 1.02, 95% confidence interval, 0.86 to 1.21, p = 0.81) was not significantly associated with increased risk of all-cause mortality when compared with general LVAD population. On the contrary, after adjusting for other covariates, a history of alcohol abuse or illicit drug use was significantly associated with increased device malfunction/pump thrombosis, device-related infection, or all-cause hospitalization (all p <0.05). Furthermore, After LVAD implantation, these patients had a lower quality of life assessed by the Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire compared with those who did not. In conclusion, our findings suggest that patients with a history of alcohol abuse or illicit drug use are at risk for adverse device-related events with a lower quality of life after continuous-flow LVAD implantation compared with the general LVAD population.

Patent Ductus Arteriosus Stent Versus Surgical Aortopulmonary Shunt for Initial Palliation of Cyanotic Congenital Heart Disease with Ductal-Dependent Pulmonary Blood Flow: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Background In patients with ductal-dependent pulmonary blood flow, initial palliation includes catheter-based patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) stent or surgical aortopulmonary shunt (APS). This meta-analysis aimed to compare outcomes between PDA stent and APS. Methods and Results A comprehensive literature search yielded six retrospective observational studies. Pooled adjusted hazard ratios (HR) were included to control for covariates and assess time to event analysis. Of 757 patients, 243 (32.1%) underwent PDA stent and 514 (67.9%) underwent APS. Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum and expected biventricular repair were more common with PDA stent compared with APS (39.6% versus 21.2%, P<0.001 and 57.9% versus 46.6%, P=0.007, respectively). There was no statistically significant difference in mortality between PDA stent and APS (HR, 0.71; [95% CI, 0.26-1.93]; P=0.50). PDA stent was associated with lower risk of postprocedural complications (odds ratio [OR], 0.45; [95% CI, 0.25-0.81]; P=0.008), mechanical circulatory support (OR, 0.27; [95% CI, 0.09-0.79]; P=0.02), and shorter intensive care unit length of stay (-4.03 days; [95% CI, -5.99 to -2.07]; P<0.001), hospital length of stay (-5.54 days; [95% CI, -9.20 to -1.88]; P=0.003), and duration of mechanical ventilation (-3.41 days; [95% CI, -5.29 to -1.52]; P<0.001). There was no difference in pulmonary artery growth or hazard of unplanned reintereventions. Conclusions PDA stent has a similar hazard of mortality compared with APS. Benefits to PDA stent include shorter duration of mechanical ventilation, shorter hospital length of stay, and fewer complications. Differences in patient characteristics exist with more patients with pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum and expected biventricular repair undergoing PDA stent.

Prevalence and haemodynamic profiles of pulmonary hypertension in cardiac amyloidosis.

OBJECTIVES: While cardiac amyloidosis (CA) classically involves the left ventricle (LV), less is known about its impact on the right ventricle (RV) and pulmonary vasculature. We performed a retrospective analysis to identify the prevalence and types of pulmonary hypertension (PH) profiles in CA and to determine haemodynamic and cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) predictors of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). METHODS: Patients with CA who underwent CMR and right heart catheterisation (RHC) within 1 year between 2010 and 2019 were included. Patients were assigned the following haemodynamic profiles based on RHC: no PH, precapillary PH, isolated postcapillary PH (IPCPH), or combined precapillary and postcapillary PH (CPCPH). The relationship between PH profile and MACE (death, heart failure hospitalisation) was assessed using survival analysis. CMR and RV parameters were correlated with MACE using Cox-regression analysis. RESULTS: A total of 52 patients were included (age 69±9 years, 85% men). RHC was performed during biopsy in 44 (85%) and for clinical indications in 8 (15%) patients. Rates of no PH, precapillary PH, IPCPH and CPCPH were 5 (10%), 3 (6%), 29 (55%) and 15 (29%), respectively. Haemodynamic PH profile did not correlate with risk of death (p=0.98) or MACE (p=0.67). Transpulmonary gradient (TPG) (HR 0.88, CI 0.80 to 0.97), RV, (HR 0.95, CI 0.92 to 0.98) and LV ejection fraction (HR 0.95, CI 0.92 to 0.98) were significantly associated with MACE. CONCLUSIONS: PH is highly prevalent in CA, even at the time of diagnosis. While IPCPH was most common, CPCPH is not infrequent. TPG and RV ejection fraction (RVEF) are prognostic markers in this population.

Application of machine learning in screening for congenital heart diseases using fetal echocardiography.

There is a growing body of literature supporting the utilization of machine learning (ML) to improve diagnosis and prognosis tools of cardiovascular disease. The current study was to investigate the impact that the ML framework may have on the sensitivity of predicting the presence or absence of congenital heart disease (CHD) using fetal echocardiography. A comprehensive fetal echocardiogram including 2D cardiac chamber quantification, valvar assessments, assessment of great vessel morphology, and Doppler-derived blood flow interrogation was recorded. The postnatal echocardiogram was used to ascertain the diagnosis of CHD. A random forest (RF) algorithm with a nested tenfold cross-validation was used to train models for assessing the presence of CHD. The study population was derived from a database of 3910 singleton fetuses with maternal age of 28.8 ± 5.2 years and gestational age at the time of fetal echocardiography of 22.0 weeks (IQR 21-24). The proportion of CHD was 14.1% for the studied cohort confirmed by post-natal echocardiograms. Our proposed RF-based framework provided a sensitivity of 0.85, a specificity of 0.88, a positive predictive value of 0.55 and a negative predictive value of 0.97 to detect the CHD with the mean of mean ROC curves of 0.94 and the mean of mean PR curves of 0.84. Additionally, six first features, including cardiac axis, peak velocity of blood flow across the pulmonic valve, cardiothoracic ratio, pulmonary valvar annulus diameter, right ventricular end-diastolic diameter, and aortic valvar annulus diameter, are essential features that play crucial roles in adding more predictive values to the model in detecting patients with CHD. ML using RF can provide increased sensitivity in prenatal CHD screening with very good performance. The incorporation of ML algorithms into fetal echocardiography may further standardize the assessment for CHD.

Atrial function and geometry differences in transthyretin versus immunoglobulin light chain amyloidosis: a cardiac magnetic resonance study.

To determine the differences in left atrial (LA) function and geometry assessed by cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) between transthyretin (ATTR) and immunoglobulin light chain (AL) cardiac amyloidosis (CA). We performed a retrospective analysis of 54 consecutive patients (68.5% male, mean age 67 ± 11 years) with confirmed CA (24 ATTR, 30 AL) who underwent comprehensive CMR examinations. LA structural and functional assessment including LA volume, LA sphericity index, and LA strain parameters were compared between both subtypes. In addition, 15 age-matched controls were compared to all groups. Patients with ATTR-CA were older (73 ± 9 vs. 62 ± 10 years, p < 0.001) and more likely to be male (83.3% vs. 56.7%, p = 0.036) when compared to AL-CA. No significant difference existed in LA maximum volume and LA sphericity index between ATTR-CA and AL-CA. LA minimum volumes were larger in ATTR-CA when compared with AL-CA. There was a significant difference in LA function with worse strain values in ATTR vs AL: left atrial reservoir [7.4 (6.3-12.8) in ATTR vs. 13.8 (6.90-24.8) in AL, p = 0.017] and booster strains [3.6 (2.6-5.5) in ATTR vs. 5.2 (3.6-12.1) in AL, p = 0.039]. After adjusting for age, LA reservoir remained significantly lower in ATTR-CA compared to AL-CA (p = 0.03), but not LA booster (p = 0.16). We demonstrate novel differences in LA function between ATTR-CA and AL-CA despite similar LA geometry. Our findings of more impaired LA function in ATTR may offer insight into higher AF burden in these patients.

Echocardiographic Reference Ranges of Non-invasive Myocardial Work Indices in Children.

Global myocardial work (GMW) is an emerging method to characterize left ventricle (LV) function with potential advantages over both ejection fraction and global longitudinal strain (GLS). We aimed to determine the feasibility and reproducibility for echocardiographic-derived GMW in a healthy pediatric population; establish normal reference values; and investigate the influence of age, gender, and other clinical factor on normal reference ranges. We prospectively enrolled 212 individuals (median age of 9 years; interquartile range, 6 to 12 years, 112 female). Global work index (GWI), global constructive work (GCW), global wasted work (GWW), and global work efficiency (GWE) were measured from LV pressure-strain loops. Quantification of GMW was performed using a GE Vivid E95 system and available software package (Echopac V.203, GE). The mean LV EF was 64 ± 3% with GLS of -21.3 ± 1.5%. GWI was 1688 ± 219 mmHg% with mean GWE of 96.5 ± 1.4%. The GCW was 1959 ± 207 mmHg%, and the mean GWW of 61.1 ± 30.9 mmHg%. No significant difference was found in MW indices across age group and gender (p > 0.05 for all). There were significant correlations between both GWI and GCW with GLS and systolic blood pressure (p < 0.001), but not with GWE and GWW. Linear regression model revealed that GWI and GCW were more closely correlated with systolic blood pressure than GLS. LV MW indices had good intra-observer and inter-observer reproducibility. This study establishes both the feasibility and reference ranges for non-invasive echocardiographic indices of GMW in healthy children. Myocardial work appears to be a complementary modality to assess LV performance in children.

Left Ventricular End-Diastolic Dimension and Clinical Outcomes After Centrifugal Flow Left Ventricular Assist Device Implantation.

The impact of preoperative end-diastolic left ventricular dimension (preLVEDD) on long-term outcomes with centrifugal continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) is not well established. Accordingly, we performed an analysis of the Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support (INTERMACS) registry to study this relationship. All patients with centrifugal CF-LVAD in the INTERMACS registry from June 2006 to December 2017 were screened. The final study group consisted of 3,304 patients. After a median follow-up of 9.0 months (interquartile range [IQR], 4.2-18.8 months), 2,596 (79%) patients were alive. After adjusting for significant covariates, increased preLVEDD was associated with lower mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.84-0.98; p = 0.01), stroke (HR, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.77-0.93; p < 0.001), and gastrointestinal bleeding (HR, 0.88; 95% CI, 0.80-0.97; p = 0.01), although there were more arrhythmias (HR, 1.14; 95% CI, 1.05-1.24; p = 0.003). Our study suggests that preLVEDD is an independent predictor of mortality and adverse events in patients treated with centrifugal CF-LVAD. preLVEDD should be considered an important preimplant variable for risk stratification when considering a CF-LVAD.

Ventriculo-arterial coupling in patients with stable ischemic heart disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

To investigate ventriculo-arterial coupling (VAC) and its components (Ea, Ees) in patients with stable ischemic heart disease and changes following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). 129 patients with stable ischemic heart disease (SIHD) undergoing PCI (study group) and 40 individuals without IHD (control group) were enrolled. VAC was calculated using echocardiography method at baseline and 1, 3, and 6 months after PCI. A linear mixed-effects models with restricted maximum likelihood were used to assess the impact of PCI on Ea, Ees, VAC over 6-month follow-up. Mean age of the SIHD group was 67.8 ± 8.1 (years), and predominantly men (73.6%). In the SIHD group, baseline median Ea, Ees and VAC were 2.52 (IQR 1.89-3.28) (mmHg/ml), 3.87 (IQR 2.90-4.95) (mmHg/ml), and 0.64 (IQR 0.54-0.79), respectively. Patients with SIHD had significantly lower Ees and higher VAC when compared to the control group (p < 0.05). Ees (p = 0.01) and VAC (p < 0.001) were significantly improved over 6 month follow-up after PCI. Notably, the degree of VAC improvement appears to be related to stented artery (Table 3). VAC obtained from echocardiographic methodology demonstrated a significant increase in patients with SIHD at baseline. This observation may represent a plausible mechanism for the benefit of PCI in SIHD. Hence, VAC may be a feasible parameter in the assessment of patients with SIHD.

Normal Ranges of Global Left Ventricular Myocardial Work Indices in Adults: A Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Recent studies have demonstrated that left ventricular myocardial work (MW) is incremental in diagnosis and prognostication compared with left ventricular ejection fraction and myocardial strain. The authors performed a meta-analysis of normal ranges of noninvasive MW indices including global work index, global constructive work, global wasted work, and global work efficiency and determined confounders that may contribute to variance in reported values. METHODS: Four databases (PubMed, Scopus, Embase, and the Cochrane Library) were searched through January 2021 using the key terms "myocardial work," "global constructive work," "global wasted work," "global work index," and "global work efficiency." Studies were included if the articles reported LV MW using two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography in healthy normal subjects, either in a control group or comprising the entire study cohort. The weighted mean was estimated by using the random-effect model with a 95% CI. Heterogeneity across included studies was assessed using the I2 test. Funnel plots and the Egger regression test were used to assess potential publication bias. RESULTS: The search yielded 476 articles. After abstract and full-text screening, we included 13 data sets with 1,665 patients for the meta-analysis. The reported normal mean values of global work index and global constructive work among the studies were 2,010 mm Hg% (95% CI, 1,907-2,113 mm Hg%) and 2,278 mm Hg% (95% CI, 2,186-2,369 mm Hg%), respectively. Mean global wasted work was 80 mm Hg% (95% CI, 73-87 mm Hg%), and mean global work efficiency was 96.0% (95% CI, 96%-96%). Furthermore, gender significantly contributed to variations in normal values of global work index, global wasted work, and global work efficiency. No evidence of significant publication bias was observed. CONCLUSIONS: In this meta-analysis, the authors provide echocardiographic reference ranges for noninvasive indices of MW. These normal values could serve as a reference for clinical and research use.

Long-term outcomes of primary cardiac malignant tumors: Difference between African American and Caucasian population.

BACKGROUND: The survival outcome for primary cardiac malignant tumors (PMCTs) based on race has yet to be fully elucidated in previously published literature. This study aimed to address the general long-term outcome and survival rate differences in PMCTs among African Americans and Caucasian populations. METHODS: The 18 cancer registries database from the Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results (SEER) Program from 1975 to 2016 were utilized. Ninety-four African American (AA) and 647 Caucasian (CAU) patients from the SEER registry were available for survival analysis. The log-rank test was used to compare the difference in mortality between two populations and presented by the Kaplan-Meier curves. A multivariate Cox proportional hazards regression was used to determine the independent predictors of all-cause mortality. RESULTS: The overall 30-day, 1-year, and 5-year survival rates were 74%, 44.3%, and 16.6%, respectively, with a median survival of 10 months. There was no significant difference in survival rate between the two races (p-value = 0.55). The 1-year survival rate improved significantly during the study timeline in the AA population (13.3% during 1975-1998, 40.9% during 1999-2004, 50% during 2005-2010, and 59.7% during 2011-2016, p-value = 0.0064). Age of diagnosis, type of tumor, disease stage, and chemotherapy administration are the main factors that predict survival outcomes of PMCT patients. Interactive nomogram was developed based on significant predictors. CONCLUSIONS: PMCTs have remained one of the most lethal diseases with poor survival outcome. Survival rate improved during the timeline in AA patients, but in general, racial differences in survival outcome were not observed.