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Background: A significant number of patients experience recurrent atrial fibrillation (AF) after ablation. Various risk scores have been described that may predict outcomes after AF ablation. In this study, we aimed to compare ten previously described risk scores with regard to their predictive value for post-ablation AF recurrence and procedural complications. Methods: A total of 482 AF patients (63% paroxysmal AF, 66% male, mean age 62 ± 9 years) undergoing initial radiofrequency pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) were included in the present analysis. Prior to ablation, all patients underwent both transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and either cardiac CT imaging or CMR imaging. The following risk scores were calculated for each patient: APPLE, ATLAS, BASE-AF 2, CAAP-AF, CHADS 2, CHA 2DS 2-VASc, DR-FLASH, HATCH, LAGO and MB-LATER. Results: Median follow-up was 16 (12–31) months. AF recurrence after a 90-day blanking period was observed in 199 patients (41%), occurring after a median of 183 (124–360) days. AF recurrence was less frequent in paroxysmal AF patients compared to non-paroxysmal AF patients (34% vs. 54%, p < 0.001). Overall periprocedural complication rate was 6%. All scores, except the HATCH score, demonstrated statistically significant but poor predictive value for recurrent AF after ablation (area under curve [AUC] 0.553–0.669). CHA 2DS 2-VASc and CAAP-AF were the only risk scores with predictive value for procedural complications (AUC 0.616, p = 0.043; AUC 0.615, p = 0.044; respectively). Conclusions: Currently available risk scores perform poorly in predicting outcomes after AF ablation. These data suggest that the utility of these scores for clinical decision-making is limited.

Item does not contain fulltext OBJECTIVES: The aim of the present study was to determine the effect of a delayed versus an immediate invasive approach on final infarct size and clinical outcome up to 1 year. BACKGROUND: Up to 24% of patients with acute coronary syndromes present with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) but show complete resolution of ST-segment elevation and symptoms before revascularization. Current guidelines do not clearly state whether these patients with transient STEMI should be treated with a STEMI-like or non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome-like intervention strategy. METHODS: In this multicenter trial, 142 patients with transient STEMI were randomized 1:1 to either delayed or immediate coronary intervention. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging was performed at 4 days and at 4-month follow-up to assess infarct size and myocardial function. Clinical follow-up was performed at 4 and 12 months. RESULTS: In the delayed (22.7 h) and the immediate (0.4 h) invasive groups, final infarct size as a percentage of the left ventricle was very small (0.4% [interquartile range: 0.0% to 2.5%] vs. 0.4% [interquartile range: 0.0% to 3.5%]; p = 0.79), and left ventricular function was good (mean ejection fraction 59.3 +/- 6.5% vs. 59.9 +/- 5.4%; p = 0.63). In addition, the overall occurrence of major adverse cardiac events, consisting of death, recurrent infarction, and target lesion revascularization, up to 1 year was low and not different between both groups (5.7% vs. 4.4%, respectively; p = 1.00). CONCLUSIONS: At follow-up, patients with transient STEMI have limited infarction and well-preserved myocardial function in general, and delayed or immediate revascularization has no effect on functional outcome and clinical events up to 1 year.

Objectives This study evaluated the acute effect of dP/dtmax- versus stroke work (SW)-guided cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) optimization and the related acute hemodynamic changes to long-term CRT response. Background Hemodynamic optimization may increase benefit from CRT. Typically, maximal left ventricular (LV) pressure rise dP/dtmax is used as an index of ventricular performance. Alternatively, SW can be derived from pressure−volume (PV) loops. Methods Forty-one patients underwent CRT implantation followed by invasive PV loop measurements. The stimulation protocol included 16 LV pacing configurations using each individual electrode of the quadripolar lead with 4 atrioventricular (AV) delays. Conventional CRT was defined as pacing from the distal electrode with an AV delay of approximately 120 ms. Results Compared with conventional CRT, dP/dtmax-guided optimization resulted in a one-third additional dP/dtmax increase (17 ± 11% vs. 12 ± 9%; p Conclusions PV-guided hemodynamic optimization in CRT results in approximately one-third SW improvement on top of conventional CRT, caused by a mechanism of enhanced VA coupling. In contrast, dP/dtmax optimization favored LV contractility. Ultimately, acute changes in SW showed larger predictive value for long-term CRT response compared with dP/dtmax.

Objectives This review and meta-analysis reviews the prognostic value of cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in nonischemic dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Background Late gadolinium-enhanced (LGE) CMR is a noninvasive method to determine the underlying cause of DCM and previous studies reported the prognostic value of the presence of LGE to identify patients at risk of major adverse cardiovascular events. Methods PubMed was searched for studies describing the prognostic implication of LGE in patients with DCM for the specified endpoints cardiovascular mortality, major ventricular arrhythmic events including appropriate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator therapy, rehospitalization for heart failure, and left ventricular reverse remodeling. Results Data from 34 studies were included, with a total of 4,554 patients. Contrast enhancement was present in 44.8% of DCM patients. Patients with LGE had increased cardiovascular mortality (odds ratio [OR]: 3.40; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.04 to 5.67), ventricular arrhythmic events (OR: 4.52; 95% CI: 3.41 to 5.99), and rehospitalization for heart failure (OR: 2.66; 95% CI: 1.67 to 4.24) compared with those without LGE. Moreover, the absence of LGE predicted left ventricular reverse remodeling (OR: 0.15; 95% CI: 0.06 to 0.36). Conclusions The presence of LGE on CMR substantially worsens prognosis for adverse cardiovascular events in DCM patients, and the absence indicates left ventricular reverse remodeling.

Hemodynamic optimization of Cardiac Resynchronization Therapy (CRT) with quadripolar left ventricular (LV) leads can increase CRT benefits. Most often the maximum rate of LV pressure rise (dP/dtmax) is used but stroke work (SW) incorporates both pressure and volume changes. Previously we showed SW

Multi point pacing (MPP) with a quadripolar left ventricular (LV) lead may increase response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT), although factors associated with response to MPP are unknown. Heart failure patients with a left bundle branch block were analyzed during CRT implantation with a

In patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB), QRS duration (QRSd) is dependent on both myocardial conduction velocity and conduction path length. Previously, we demonstrated that normalizing QRSd to left ventricular (LV) dimension, to adjust for conduction path length, improved prediction of

Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is based on restoring left ventricular dyssynchrony. It is known that CRT induced changes in QRS duration poorly predict hemodynamic effect. This study assessed invasively obtained endocardial and epicardial left ventricular activation with and without CRT and

The main eligibility criterion (left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) ≤35%) for primary prevention implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) therapy is based on large clinical trials using Two-Dimensional Echocardiography (2DE). Presently, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) is

Background: Cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is an established therapy for end-stage heart failure. It is currently recommended to position the left ventricular (LV) lead at the postero-lateral (PL) wall. However, the position of the right ventricular (RV) lead remains controversial, since it may be associated with adverse hemodynamic effects. This may partly explain non-response to CRT. We hypothesized that RV pacing during biventricular pacing signiicantly modulates response. We studied the acute invasive hemodynamic response of RV, LV and biventricular pacing.

Background The incremental value of CAC over traditional risk factors to predict coronary vasodilator dysfunction and inherent myocardial blood flow (MBF) impairment is only scarcely documented (MBF). The aim of this study was therefore to evaluate the relationship between CAC content, hyperemic MBF, and coronary flow reserve (CFR) in patients undergoing hybrid 15O-water PET/CT imaging.