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Background: The New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class has extensively been used for risk stratification in patients suspected of heart failure, although its prognostic value differs between sexes and disease entities. Functional exercise capacity might explain the association between NYHA functional class and survival, and can serve as an objective proxy for the subjective nature of the NYHA classification. Therefore, we assessed whether sex-differences in exercise capacity explain the association between NYHA functional class and survival in patients suspected of cardiovascular disease. Methods: Electronic health record data from 7259 patients with cardiovascular symptoms, a documented NYHA functional class and cardiac stress electrocardiogram (ECG), was analysed. Followup for all-cause mortality was obtained through linkage with Statistics Netherlands. A sex-stratified mediation analysis was performed to assess to what extent the proportional heart rate and -workload during ECG stress testing explain the association between NYHA functional class and survival. Results: In men, increments in NYHA functional class were related to higher all-cause mortality in a dose-response manner (NYHA II vs III/IV: hazard ratio [HR] 1.59 vs 3.64, referenced to NYHA I), whilst in women those classified as NYHA functional class II and III/IV had a similar higher mortality risk (HR 1.49 vs 1.41). Sex-stratified mediation analysis showed that the association between NYHA and survival was mostly explained by proportional workload during stress ECG (men vs women: 22.9%, 95% CI: 18.9%-27.3% vs 40.3%, 95% CI: 28.5%-68.6%) and less so by proportional heart rate (men vs women: 2.5%, 95% CI: 1.3%-4.3% vs 8.0%, 95% CI: 4.1%-18.1%). Post-hoc analysis showed that NYHA classification explained a minor proportion of the association between proportional workload and all-cause mortality (men vs women: 15.1%, 95% CI: 12.0%-18.3% vs 4.4%, 95% CI: 1.5%-7.4%). Conclusions: This study showed a significant mediation in both sexes on the association between NYHA functional class and all-cause mortality by proportional workload, but the effect explained by NYHA classification on the association between survival and proportional workload is small. This implies that NYHA classification is not a sole representation of a patient's functional capacity, but might also incude other aspects of the patient's overall health status. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: To investigate the impact of a CT-first strategy on all-cause and cardiovascular mortality in patients presenting with chest pain in outpatient cardiology clinics.Methods: Patients with a first presentation of suspected angina pectoris were identified and their data linked to the registrations of Statistics Netherlands for information on mortality. The linked database consisted of 33 068 patients. CT-first patients were defined as patients with a CT calcium score and coronary CT angiography, within 6 weeks after their initial visit. Propensity score matching (1:5) was used to match patients with and without a CT-first strategy. After matching, 12 545 patients were included of which 2308 CT-first patients and 10 237 patients that underwent usual care.Results: Mean age was 57 years, 56.3% were women and median follow-up was 4.9 years. All-cause mortality was significantly lower in CT-first patients (n=43, 1.9%) compared with patients without CT (n=363, 3.5%) (HR: 0.51, 95% CI 0.37 to 0.70). Furthermore, CT-first patients were more likely to receive cardiovascular preventative and antianginal medication (aspirin: 44.9% vs 27.1%, statins: 48.7% vs 30.3%, beta-blockers: 37.8% vs 25.5%, in CT-first and without CT-first patients, respectively) and to undergo downstream diagnostics and interventions (coronary interventions: 8.5% vs 5.7%, coronary angiography: 16.2% vs 10.6% in CT-first and without CT-first patients, respectively).Conclusions: In a real-world regular care database, a CT-first strategy in patients suspected of angina pectoris was associated with a lowering of all-cause mortality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims The diagnostic performance of non-invasive imaging in patients with prior coronary artery disease (CAD) has not been tested in prospective head-to-head comparative studies. The aim of this study was to compare the diagnostic performance of qualitative single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), quantitative positron emission tomography (PET), and qualitative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with a prior myocardial infarction (MI) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and results In this prospective clinical study, all patients with prior MI and/or PCI and new symptoms of ischaemic CAD underwent 99mTc-tetrofosmin SPECT, [15O]H2O PET, and MRI, followed by invasive coronary angiography with fractional flow reserve (FFR) in all coronary arteries. All modalities were interpreted by core laboratories. Haemodynamically significant CAD was defined by at least one coronary artery with an FFR ≤0.80. Among the 189 enrolled patients, 63% had significant CAD. Sensitivity was 67% (95% confidence interval 58–76%) for SPECT, 81% (72–87%) for PET, and 66% (56–75%) for MRI. Specificity was 61% (48–72%) for SPECT, 65% (53–76%) for PET, and 62% (49–74%) for MRI. Sensitivity of PET was higher than SPECT (P  = 0.016) and MRI (P  = 0.014), whereas specificity did not differ among the modalities. Diagnostic accuracy for PET (75%, 68–81%) did not statistically differ from SPECT (65%, 58–72%, P  = 0.03) and MRI (64%, 57–72%, P  = 0.052). Using FFR < 0.75 as a reference, accuracies increased to 69% (SPECT), 79% (PET), and 71% (MRI). Conclusion In this prospective head-to-head comparative study, SPECT, PET, and MRI did not show a significantly different accuracy for diagnosing FFR defined significant CAD in patients with prior PCI and/or MI. Overall diagnostic performances, however, were discouraging and the additive value of non-invasive imaging in this high-risk population is questionable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: Women with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) may reach optimal treatment effect at half of the guideline-recommended medication dose. This study investigates prescription practice and its relation with survival of patients with HF in daily care.Methods: Electronic health record data from 13 Dutch outpatient cardiology clinics were extracted for HF receiving at least one guideline-recommended HF medication. Dose changes over consecutive prescriptions were modelled using natural cubic splines. Inverse probability-weighted Cox regression was used to assess the relationship between dose (reference≥50% target dose) and all-cause mortality.Results: The study population comprised 561 women (29% HFrEF (ejection fraction (EF)<40%), 49% heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (EF≥50%); HFpEF and 615 men (47% and 25%, respectively). During a median follow-up of 3.7 years, 252 patients died (48% women; 167 HFrEF, 84 HFpEF). Nine hundred thirty-four patients (46% women) received ACE inhibitors (ACEIs) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARBs), 795 (48% women) beta blockers and 178 (42% women) mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists (MRAs). In both sexes, the mean target dose across prescriptions was 50% for ACEI/ARBs and beta blockers, and 100% for MRAs. ACEI/ARB dose of <50% was associated with lower mortality in women but not in men with HFrEF. This was not seen in patients with HFpEF. Beta-blocker dose was not associated with all-cause mortality.Conclusion: Patients with HF seen in outpatient cardiology clinics receive half of the guideline-recommended medication dose. Lower ACEI/ARB dose was associated with improved survival in women with HFrEF. These results underscore the importance of (re)defining optimal medical therapy for women with HFrEF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Despite the increasing availability of clinical data due to the digitalisation of healthcare systems, data often remain inaccessible due to the diversity of data collection systems. In the Netherlands, Cardiology Centers of the Netherlands (CCN) introduced "one-stop shop" diagnostic clinics for patients suspected of cardiac disease by their general practitioner. All CCN clinics use the same data collection system and standardised protocol, creating a large regular care database. This database can be used to describe referral practices, evaluate risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) in important patient subgroups, and develop prediction models for use in daily care.Construction and Content: The current database contains data on all patients who underwent a cardiac workup in one of the 13 CCN clinics between 2007 and February 2018 (n = 109,151, 51.9% women). Data were pseudonymised and contain information on anthropometrics, cardiac symptoms, risk factors, comorbidities, cardiovascular and family history, standard blood laboratory measurements, transthoracic echocardiography, electrocardiography in rest and during exercise, and medication use. Clinical follow-up is based on medical need and consisted of either a repeat visit at CCN (43.8%) or referral for an external procedure in a hospital (16.5%). Passive follow-up via linkage to national mortality registers is available for 95% of the database.Utility and Discussion: The CCN database provides a strong base for research into historically underrepresented patient groups due to the large number of patients and the lack of in- and exclusion criteria. It also enables the development of artificial intelligence-based decision support tools. Its contemporary nature allows for comparison of daily care with the current guidelines and protocols. Missing data is an inherent limitation, as the cardiologist could deviate from standardised protocols when clinically indicated.Conclusion: The CCN database offers the opportunity to conduct research in a unique population referred from the general practitioner to the cardiologist for diagnostic workup. This, in combination with its large size, the representation of historically underrepresented patient groups and contemporary nature makes it a valuable tool for expanding our knowledge of cardiovascular diseases.Trial Registration: Not applicable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Innovative ways of healthcare delivery like m-Health, the practice of medicine by mobile devices and wearable devices are the promising new technique that may lead to improvement in quality of care at lower costs. While fully acknowledging the importance of m-Health development, there are challenges on privacy legislation. We address the legal framework, especially the General Data Protection Regulation, applied to m-Health and its implications for m-Health developments in Europe. We discuss how these rules are applied using a representative example of an m-Health programme with remote monitoring in the Netherlands. We consider informing patients about the data processing and obtaining their explicit consent as main responsibilities of healthcare providers introducing m-Health in their practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Mobile health (mHealth), an advanced form of eHealth is expected to drastically change the field of traditional healthcare in the near future as wearables and mobile applications are rapidly increasing in number. The majority of patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) now reach adulthood and this relative young patient population seems particularly suited for mHealth, as they require lifelong follow-up, experience high morbidity burden, and were raised in this digital era. In patients with acquired heart disease the potential of eHealth has been demonstrated, yet data are still inconclusive. Areas covered: In this review of the current literature we evaluated the effect of various eHealth interventions in patients with CHD. Our search resulted in a mere 10 studies, which comprised mostly of children or adolescents with severe CHD. Home-monitoring of saturation and weight through mHealth was found to be beneficial in patients after palliation procedures, and video conferencing was found to have a positive effect on anxiety and healthcare utilization. Expert commentary: Due to high morbidity and mortality in patients with CHD and the promising results of eHealth interventions, further research is desperately needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims There is growing evidence that coronary artery disease (CAD) affects not only the conduit epicardial coronary arteries, but also the microvascular coronary bed. Moreover, coronary microvascular dysfunction (CMVD) often precedes the stage of clinically overt epicardial CAD. Coronary artery calcium (CAC) and carotid intima-media thickness (C-IMT) measured with computed tomography (CT) and ultrasound, respectively, are among the available techniques to non-invasively assess atherosclerotic burden. An increased CAC score and C-IMT have also been associated with CMVD. It is therefore of interest to explore and compare the potential of CAC against C-IMT to predict minimal coronary vascular resistance (CVR). Methods and results We evaluated 120 patients (mean age 56 ± 9 years, 58 men) without a documented history of CAD in whom obstructive CAD was excluded. All patients underwent C-IMT measurements, CAC scoring, and vasodilator stress 15O-water positron emission tomography (PET)/CT, during which the coronary flow reserve (CFR) and minimal CVR were analysed. Minimal CVR increased significantly with increasing tertiles of C-IMT (22 ± 6, 27 ± 11, and 28 ± 9 mmHg mL−1min−1 g−1, P < 0.01), whereas the CFR was comparable across all C-IMT groups (P = 0.50). Minimal CVR increased significantly with an increase in CAC score (23 ± 9, 27 ± 8, 32 ± 10, and 32 ± 7 mmHg mL−1 min−1 g−1, P < 0.01), whereas the CFR did not show a significant decrease with higher CAC scores (P = 0.18). Multivariable regression analysis revealed that C-IMT (P = 0.03), but not CAC, was independently associated with minimal CVR. Conclusion C-IMT, but not CAC score, independently predicts minimal CVR in patients with multiple cardiovascular risk factors and suspected of CAD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Complete correction of Tetralogy of Fallot, the most common cyanotic congenital heart defect, has now become routine. However, late residual lesions, primarily chronic pulmonary valve insufficiency, may have a negative impact on right-ventricular function, leading to the need for reoperation to insert a competent valve at the right-ventricular outflow. The diagnostic modalities pertaining to the failing right ventricle, the timing for eventual reintervention and the various surgical reconstruction possibilities of the rightventricular outflow tract are still controversial and evolving, and are reviewed with a brief overview on current trends and future outlooks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: In patients with an intra-atrial correction for transposition of the great arteries (TGA) an abnormal response to stress testing is common. However, hemodynamic responses may vary substantially when different stress tests are used. We compared the hemodynamic response to dobutamine stress with the response to physical exercise in patients and controls. Methods: Thirty-nine patients and 25 age/sex-matched control subjects underwent either dobutamine stress (15 µg/kg/min) or submaximal physical exercise cardiovascular magnetic resonance. End-systolic and end-diastolic right ventricular volumes (ESV; EDV) were determined. Five representative patients underwent both stress tests. For these patients, wall thickening reserve was calculated as systolic wall thickening during stress minus systolic wall thickening at rest. Results: In controls, dobutamine stress and physical exercise showed similar responses: stroke volume, cardiac output, and ejection fraction increased significantly, whereas ESV decreased significantly and EDV was unchanged. In patients, stroke volume did not increase with either dobutamine or exercise (- 8.6% vs. 2.9%). Ejection fraction increased significantly with dobutamine (16%, p [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The recently developed green laser (GL; wavelength 543 nm) is thought to measure perfusion derived from a more superficial skin layer than does the standard near-infrared laser (RL; wavelength 780 nm). These lasers were used to investigate the disturbances in the different layers of skin perfusion in ischaemic legs before and after treatment and compared with capillary microscopy. Eighteen patients (20 legs) with different stages of leg ischaemia scheduled for a vascular intervention (11 males, 7 females; median age 73, range: 52–81 years; Fontaine stages II–IV) were investigated by means of capillary microscopy, visualising the nail fold capillary perfusion, and a laser Doppler, equipped with a special dual probe conducting both GL and RL. The probe was attached to the pulp and the dorsum of the big toe to assess skin perfusion at rest and during reactive hyperaemia, while sitting and while supine. Resting and hyperaemic perfusion using GL was low and significantly lower (p < 0.01) than with RL in both areas and positions. Laser Doppler perfusion was higher in the pulp than on the dorsum with both wavelengths (p < 0.05). The hyperaemia response was highest using GL and differed among the three techniques. Postural reduction of capillary and RL flow was reduced, but not with GL. After treatment, skin capillary perfusion improved more clearly than did the laser Doppler perfusion with either wavelength, while postural vasoconstriction improved only when measured with the capillary microscope. The differences found between RL and GL Doppler perfusion, but also between GL and capillary microscopy measurements suggest that the GL does measure the more superficial, but not exclusively the nutritive skin perfusion. Clinically, the use of the green laser in its present form in patients with leg ischaemia offers no advantage over the red laser.Copyright © 2000 S. Karger AG, Basel [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]