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Background: To systematically evaluate the prognostic utility of estimated plasma volume status (ePVS) on the outcomes of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)., Methods: The exposure variable of interest was the ePVS, enumerating the percentage change of the actual plasma volume from the ideal plasma volume, and being calculated on the basis of weight and hematocrit using sex-specific constants. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed after a systematic literature search in PubMed, Scopus and Web Of Science., Results: The systematic literature search yielded 5 eligible observational cohort studies encompassing a total of 7,121 patients undergoing TAVI. The meta-analysis suggested that "high ePVS" status was independently associated with increased risk for 1-year all-cause mortality (pooled adjusted hazard ratio: 1.63, 95 % confidence intervals: 1.36-1.95) compared to "low ePVS". Also, the pooled unadjusted odds for 1-year mortality, 30-day mortality, peri-procedural stroke, major bleeding, and acute kidney injury were significantly increased in the "high ePVS" group of patients. Conversely, the unadjusted risk of pacemaker implantation and major vascular complications did not differ significantly between the 2 groups., Conclusions: Plasma volume expansion appears to be linked with a worse peri-procedural and long-term prognostic course in TAVI. Its use in clinical practice could refine risk stratification and candidate selection practices., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

The increasing prevalence of valvular heart diseases, specifically mitral regurgitation (MR), underscores the need for a careful and timely approach to intervention. Severe MR, whether primary or secondary, when left untreated leads to adverse outcomes, emphasizing the critical role of a timely surgical or transcatheter intervention. While left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) remains the guideline-recommended measure for assessing left ventricle damage, emerging evidence raises concerns regarding its reliability in MR due to its volume-dependent nature. This review summarizes the existing literature on the role of LVEF and deformation imaging techniques, emphasizing the latter's potential in providing a more accurate evaluation of intrinsic myocardial function. Moreover, it advocates the need for an integrated approach that combines traditional with emerging measures, aiming to optimize the management of patients with MR. It attempts to highlight the need for future research to validate the clinical application of deformation imaging techniques through large-scale studies., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Diastolic dysfunction (DD) is a long-established marker of disease progression in patients with aortic valve stenosis (AS), indicating valvular myocardial damage. Recently, substantial observational data have emerged demonstrating that worse pre-operative DD assessed using echocardiography is associated with adverse long-term clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR)., Aim: To systematically appraise and quantitatively synthesize current evidence on the prognostic impact of echocardiographic severe DD derived by echocardiography before TAVR., Methods: A systemic literature review was undertaken in electronic databases to identify studies reporting the predictive value of severe DD in AS subjects undergoing TAVR. A random-effects meta-analysis was conducted to quantify the adjusted and unadjusted hazard ratios (HRs) for all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) for the presence of severe DD., Results: Ten studies were deemed eligible for inclusion. Of those, 9 provided appropriate quantitative data for the meta-analysis, encompassing a total of 4,619 patients. The presence of severe DD was associated with increased risk for all-cause mortality (pooled unadjusted HR=2.56 [1.46-4.48]; p<0.01; I 2 =76 %) and MACEs (pooled unadjusted HR=1.82 [1.29-2.58]; p<0.01; I 2 =86 %). When adjusted for clinically-relevant parameters, the presence of severe DD retained independent association with all-cause mortality (pooled adjusted HR=2.35 [1.26-4.37]; p<0.01; I 2 =79 %) and MACEs (pooled adjusted HR= 2.52 [1.72-3.65]; p<0.01; I 2 =0 %). In subgroup analysis there was no difference on post-TAVR risk between the use of different diastolic function grading scores., Conclusion: Presence of severe DD assessed by echocardiography pre-TAVR is a major determinant of long-term adverse outcomes after the procedure., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)