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Background: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) often have sleep apnea (SA), but diagnosis of SA with polysomnography is costly. SA monitoring is a pacemaker feature that measures respiratory disturbance index, the sum of abnormal respiratory events divided by sleep duration., Objective: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the incidence and severity of SA and its association with AF in an unselected population fitted with pacemakers., Methods: RESPIRE (REgistry of Sleep APnea monItoring and Atrial Fibrillation in pacemakeR patients) was a multicenter, international, observational, open-label study following adult subjects for 18 months after implantation with an SA monitoring-enabled dual-chamber pacemaker. Severe SA was defined as average respiratory disturbance index ≥20 from implantation to follow-up visit. The first co-primary end point was the difference in significant AF (cumulative AF episodes lasting ≥24 hours over 2 consecutive days) between subjects with severe and those nonsevere SA at 12 months in the full analysis set (N = 553). The second co-primary end point was the rate of major serious adverse events at 18 months in the modified intention-to-treat set (N = 1024)., Results: Severe SA was detected in 31.1% (172 of 553). A higher incidence of significant AF was reported in patients with severe SA than in patients with nonsevere SA (25.0% vs 13.9%; difference 11.1%; 95% confidence interval 3.7%-18.4%; P = .002). Significant AF increased with time in both groups, but at a faster rate in the severe SA group. No intergroup difference in the overall rate of major serious adverse events was observed (P = .065)., Conclusion: SA screening over 12 months identified severe SA in almost one-third of unselected patients fitted with pacemakers. Severe SA was associated with a higher incidence of significant AF., (Copyright © 2019 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

We report a patient with non-ischemic dilated cardiomyopathy and low left ventricular systolic function (28%) presenting with an electrical storm originated in epicardial scar and ablated by radiofrequency. This case report suggests that a strategy of epicardial catheter ablation is reasonable for the patient presenting with electrical storm related to structural disease with a low left ventricular ejection fraction., (Copyright © 2016 Cardiological Society of India. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is a central procedure for the treatment of paroxysmal atrial fibrillation (PAF). However, in patients with PAF and structural atrial disease, PVI may fail and cause progressive atrial remodeling, often leading to persistent/permanent atrial fibrillation., Objective: We performed a prospective, single-blind, 2-center randomized controlled trial to compare the efficacy of PVI alone with that of PVI plus stepwise ablation in achieving sinus rhythm and nonatrial arrhythmia inducibility in patients with PAF refractory to antiarrhythmic therapy., Methods: Patients were randomized to perform a first catheter ablation procedure either through PVI alone or through PVI plus substrate modification in stepwise ablation. Data were recorded at 3, 6, and 12 months after both ablation procedures. Patients who experienced atrial fibrillation/atrial tachycardia (AF/AT) recurrence were encouraged to undergo repeat ablation using the technique of the first ablation procedure., Results: A total of 150 patients were enrolled (mean age 62.8 ± 8.7 years; 92 (61.3%) men; 104 (69.3%) hypertensive; AF mean duration 10.7 months), with 75 patients in each group. After 12 months of the first procedure, patients who were converted to sinus rhythm using stepwise ablation showed a significantly lower rate of AF/AT recurrence (26.7%) than did those who were treated using PVI alone (46.7%; P < .001). Similar results were observed in the 52 patients who underwent a second catheter ablation procedure. After adjusting for several potential confounders, the hazard ratio of 12-month AF/AT recurrence after the first ablation procedure was 0.53 (95% confidence interval 0.30-0.91) for those treated using stepwise ablation., Conclusion: In addition to PVI, stepwise ablation achieving sinus rhythm and nonatrial arrhythmia inducibility has relevantly improved the clinical outcome of the PAF control strategy., (Copyright © 2015 Heart Rhythm Society. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Azathioprine-related side-effects occur in about 15% of treated patients. Liver toxicity is a rare complication of this drug, but is considered, in most cases, a contraindication to the continuation of treatment. However, abnormal liver tests may occur in patients under azathioprine treatment also due to infections. The distinction between toxic and infective causes of abnormal liver tests is important in order to identify patients that can be rechallenged with the drug. Cytomegalovirus infection is common in immunosuppressed transplant recipients, while the incidence is lower in patients with inflammatory bowel disease treated with immunosuppressive drugs. To our knowledge, only 2 cases of cytomegalovirus hepatitis occurring during azathioprine treatment for Crohn's disease had been reported so far. Here, we describe two patients who experienced mild hepatitis associated with the onset of cytomegalovirus infection during azathioprine treatment. The infection was documented by the appearance of IgM anti cytomegalovirus. Both cases were self-limiting. In one of the 2 patients, azathioprine was given again after resolution of the hepatitis with good control of Crohn's disease and without other complications. We also retrospectively evaluated the incidence of liver abnormalities assessed by blood tests in 58 consecutive patients with Crohn's disease treated with azathioprine at our institution. Abnormal results were obtained in 8 out of these 58 patients, requiring discontinuation of the drug in 3 patients, two of whom were the cytomegalovirus cases described above.