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We assessed the very long-term follow-up of a large cohort of unselected patients treated with coronary rotational atherectomy (RA). All 143 patients who underwent RA at our institution from 2000 to 2013 and with complete baseline and follow-up information were analyzed in a retrospective manner. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as the composite of target vessel revascularization (TVR), acute myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality. The mean follow-up was 8.2 years. The 10-year cumulative incidence of MACE for all patients was 57.9% (standard error [SE]: 5.0%). When comparing patients who received a drug-eluting stent (DES; n = 68) versus patients who did not (balloon only, bare-metal stent, or none of the aforementioned; n = 75), the RA + DES demonstrated very long-term MACE of 49.2% (SE: 7.5%) versus 62.7% (SE: 6.1%), P = .160 with TVR as the most discriminating factor, 10.7% (SE: 4.0%) versus 29.2% (SE: 6.0%), P = .016. Our results point to RA having reasonable long-term clinical results, especially in combined treatment with DES. To date, our study has the longest follow-up after RA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: It is unknown whether the existence of severe bystander damage will affect left ventricular (LV) healing following primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). The aim of the present analysis was to follow LV recovery using 2D speckle tracking echocardiography (2-D STE) in cases with single versus multiple vessel disease with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who underwent PPCI and to assess major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) within 3 months., Patients and Methods: This work was conducted at Assiut University Heart Hospital. Of 1026 screened subjects with AMI needing PPCI and assessed for eligibility, only 89 cases fulfilled the inclusion criteria. They were classified into Group A: single vessel and Group B: multiple vessel (≥ 2 vessels) disease. Their data were obtained on admittance and after 90 days., Results: In group A compared to group B, there was a statistically preferable value at baseline in the global longitudinal strain- Apical 2 chamber (GLS-A2C) (-12.05 ± 3.57 vs. -10.38 ± 3.92, P = 0.039). At follow-up, the improvement was in all 2-D STE variables, including GLS-long axis (GLS-LAX) (-13.09 ± 3.84 vs.-10.75 ± 3.96, P = 0.006), GLS- apical 4 chamber (GLS-A4C) (-13.23 ± 3.51 vs.-10.62 ± 4.08, P = 0.002), GLS-A2C (-13.85 ± 3.41 vs-10.93 ± 3.97, P < 0.001) and GLS- average (GLS-AVG, P = 0.001). There was a considerable negative correlation between the recovery of LV performance and the existence of multi-vessel lesions (P = 0.009). There was no variance between the groups regarding MACEs., Conclusions: Patients with single vessel lesions who underwent PPCI to the culprit lesion had better recovery of LV function than those with multi-vessel (≥ 2 vessels) lesions who underwent PPCI to the culprit lesion only. The presence of multivessel involvement was an independent risk factor for deterioration in GLS., Trial Registration: Registered in clinical trial, clinicalTrial.gov ID NCT04103008 (25/09/2019). IRB registration: 17,100,834 (05/11/2019)., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Background: Left ventricular diastolic dysfunction and nocturnal "nondipping" of blood pressure detected via ambulatory blood pressure monitoring are predictors of increased cardiovascular morbidity., Methods: A prospective cohort study including normotensive women with a history of preeclampsia in their current pregnancy was conducted. All cases were subjected to 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure monitoring and 2-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography 3 months after delivery., Results: This study included 128 women with a mean (SD) age of 28.6 (5.1) years and a mean (SD) basal blood pressure of 123.1 (6.4)/74.6 (5.9) mm Hg. Among the participants, 90 (70.3%) exhibited an ambulatory blood pressure monitoring profile illustrating nocturnal blood pressure "dipping" (the mean night to day time blood pressure ratio ≤ 0.9), whereas 38 (29.7%) were nondippers. Diastolic dysfunction (impaired left ventricular relaxation) was present in 28 nondippers (73.7%), whereas none of the dippers exhibited diastolic dysfunction. Women with severe preeclampsia were more frequently nondippers (35.5% vs 24.2%; P = .02) and experienced diastolic dysfunction (29% vs 15%; P = .01) than were those with mild preeclampsia. Severe preeclampsia (odds ratio [OR], 1.08; 95% CI, 1.05-10.56; P < .001) and history of recurrent preeclampsia (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 1.3-4.26; P ≤ .001) were significant predictors for nondipping status and diastolic dysfunction (OR, 1.55; 95% CI, 1.1-2.2; and OR, 1.23; 95% CI, 1.2-2.2, respectively; P < .05)., Conclusion: Women with a history of preeclampsia were at higher risk for developing late cardiovascular events. The severity and recurrence of preeclampsia were significant predictors of both nondipping profile and diastolic dysfunction., (© 2023 by the Texas Heart® Institute, Houston.)

Background: Myocardial ischemia and ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) increase QT dispersion (QTD) and corrected QT dispersion (QTcD), and are also associated with ventricular arrhythmia., Aim: To evaluate the effects of reperfusion strategy [primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) or fibrinolytic therapy] on QTD and QTcD in STEMI patients and assess the impact of the chosen strategy on the occurrence of in-hospital arrhythmia., Methods: This prospective, observational, multicenter study included 240 patients admitted with STEMI who were treated with either PPCI (group I) or fibrinolytic therapy (group II). QTD and QTcD were measured on admission and 24 hr after reperfusion, and patients were observed to detect in-hospital arrhythmia., Results: There were significant reductions in QTD and QTcD from admission to 24 hr in both group I and group II patients. QTD and QTcD were found to be shorter in group I patients at 24 hr than those in group II (53 ± 19 msec vs 60 ± 18 msec, P = 0.005 and 60 ± 21 msec vs 69+22 msec, P = 0.003, respectively). The occurrence of in-hospital arrhythmia was significantly more frequent in group II than in group I (25 patients, 20.8% vs 8 patients, 6.7%, P = 0.001). Furthermore, QTD and QTcD were higher in patients with in-hospital arrhythmia than those without ( P = 0.001 and P = 0.02, respectively)., Conclusion: In STEMI patients, PPCI and fibrinolytic therapy effectively reduced QTD and QTcD, with a higher observed reduction using PPCI. PPCI was associated with a lower incidence of in-hospital arrhythmia than fibrinolytic therapy. In addition, QTD and QTcD were shorter in patients not experiencing in-hospital arrhythmia than those with arrhythmia., Competing Interests: Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors declare having no conflicts of interest., (©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.)

Acute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is associated with left ventricular (LV) structural and functional consequences. We aimed to elucidate LV geometric changes following STEMI using three-dimensional (3D) echocardiography (3DE) and to assess their functional implications using two-dimensional (2D) speckle tracking echocardiography (STE). The study included 71 patients with STEMI who underwent baseline and 6-month follow-up 2D- and 3DE. Measured parameters included LV dimensions, biplane volumes, wall motion assessment, 2D LV global longitudinal strain (GLS), and 3D LV volumes, sphericity index and systolic dyssynchrony index. According to 3DE, LV geometric changes were classified as, adverse remodeling, reverse remodeling, and minimal LV volumetric changes. The occurrence of in-hospital and follow-up major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) was assessed among the study population. The incidence of developing adverse remodeling was 25.4% while that of reverse remodeling was 36.6%. Adverse remodeling patients had significantly higher in-hospital MACE. Reverse remodeling was associated with significantly improved GLS, that was less evident in those with minimal LV geometric changes, and non-significant improvement for adverse remodeling group. LV baseline 2D GLS significantly correlated with follow-up 3D volumes among both reverse and adverse remodeling groups. Female gender and higher absolute GLS change upon follow-up were significantly associated with reverse remodeling. ROC-derived cutoff for adverse remodeling reallocated a substantial number of patients from the minimal change group to the adverse remodeling. Following acute STEMI, two-dimensional GLS was associated with and potentially predictive of changes in LV volumes as detected by three-dimensional echocardiography., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Background: Myocarditis is a highly heterogeneous disorder with a challenging diagnostic work-up. We aimed to focus on the possible diagnostic workup for this condition in settings where endomyocardial biopsy as a gold standard is not always feasible, detect the etiologic cardiotropic viruses in our locality, and follow the clinical course in patients admitted with clinically suspected myocarditis., Methods: This is a prospective observational study. We recruited patients with clinically suspected myocarditis presenting at a university hospital from October 1st, 2020 until March 31st, 2021. All Patients had a diagnostic coronary angiography and were included only if they had a non-obstructive coronary artery disease. All patients also had cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) with contrast. Sera were obtained from all suspected patients for detection of antibodies against viruses using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, and viral genomes using polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and reverse transcription-PCR. Endomyocardial biopsy was done for patients with a typical CMR picture of myocarditis., Results: Out of 2163 patients presenting to the hospital within the 6 months, only 51 met the inclusion criteria. Males represented 73%, with a mean age of 39 ± 16 years. CMR showed an ischemic pattern in 4 patients and thus they were excluded. We classified patients into two categories based on CMR results: group A (CMR-positive myocarditis), 12 patients (25.5%), and group B (CMR-negative myocarditis), 35 (74.5%) patients. On serological analysis, 66% of patients (n = 31/47) showed antibodies against the common cardiotropic viruses. Parvovirus B19 IgM in 22 patients (47%) and coxsackievirus IgM in 16 (34%) were the most observed etiologies. Regarding the outcome, 42.5% of patients recovered left ventricular ejection fraction and three patients died at 6 months' clinical follow-up., Conclusion: Patients with Clinically suspected myocarditis represented 2.2% of total hospital admissions in 6 months. CMR is only a good positive test for the diagnosis of acute myocarditis. Parvovirus B19 and coxsackievirus were the most common pathogens in our locality., Trial Registration: Clinical trial registration no., NCT04312490; first registration: 18/03/2020. First recruited case 01/10/2020. URL: https://register., Clinicaltrials: gov/prs/app/action/SelectProtocol?sid=S0009O3D&selectaction=Edit&uid=U0002DVP&ts=2&cx=9zdfin ., (© 2022. The Author(s).)

Objective: Hypertensive pulmonary edema is a fatal condition unless early and properly diagnosed and managed. Central blood pressure (cBP) has been proven to be more associated with adverse cardiovascular events. We aimed to study the correlation between cBP and heart damage in patients with Hypertensive pulmonary edema., Methods: We included 50 patients admitted to the emergency department in a university hospital for hypertensive pulmonary edema, 27 women and 23 men aged 50 to 70 years. We excluded patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome, significant valvular heart disease, and pericardial diseases. We measured cBP non-invasively from pulse wave analysis of the brachial artery. Brain natriuretic peptide (BNP) and cBP were repeatedly measured for every patient., Results: The median BNP levels of patients significantly decreased from 284 pg/ml (232-352.5) to 31.5 pg/ml (24-54) on discharge, P < 0.001. We found a significant correlation between admission BNP and central SBP (cSBP), urea, creatinine, arterial blood gases parameters, and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter (LVEDD). Concurrently, BNP at discharge was correlated with age, central DBP (cDBP), urea, creatinine, LVEDD, partial oxygen pressure (pO2), and oxygen saturation (SO2). Delta BNP was correlated with cSBP, peripheral SBP, urea, creatinine, pO2, and SO2. Linear regression analysis revealed that creatinine, and cSBP, were independent predictors of admission BNP, while urea and cDBP were the independent predictors of discharge BNP., Conclusion: This simple, noninvasive method of cBP measurement was significantly associated with the extent of myocardial damage in patients presenting with hypertensive pulmonary edema., (Copyright © 2021 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is associated with an increase in the risk of COPD exacerbation, increased hospitalization, and worse survival in this patient population. No specific treatment is available for PH in COPD. However, reported out-of-proportion PH may benefit from a certain type of treatment. This study shows that the use of selexipag in the treatment of out-of-proportion PH in COPD patients was associated with an improvement in functional status evaluated by a six-minute walk test (6MWT) and a mean pulmonary artery pressure at 6 +/- 2 months of treatment., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright © 2021, Abuserewa et al.)

Conventional synthesis of the phthalazine has already allowed affording the phthalazin-1-one phthalazin-1-ol dynamic equilibrium that decreases the anticancer activity due to diminishing the concentration of the phthalazin-1-ol product. Nowadays, pure phthalazin-1-ol ( 5 ) can be gaining by using green microwave tools that increase the power of the phthalazine nucleus as an anticancer drug. A microscopic thermal kinetic parameter like activation energy and the pre-exponential factor of the chemical plasma organic reactions affording pure phthalazin-1-ol (5) is calculated by using DFT simulation is obtained. Then we fed these parameters into the exact Arrhenius model to evaluate the distribution of chemical equilibrium conditions for producing phthalazin-1-ol. The proposed novel models that matching between microscopic and macroscopic show that the thermal stability of the equivalent temperature of phthalazin-1-ol is more stable than phthalazinone-1-one ( 4 ) in case of using plasma organic effect (green microwave) at 485 K. The structures of the prepared compounds were explained by physical and spectral data like FT-IR, 1H-NMR. Moreover, the theoretical calculations of Gibbs entropy of the phase transfer confirmed the equilibrium state of phthalazin-1-ol with the experimental result is achieved. Briefly, we introduce a good study for obtaining more stable phthalazin-1-ol isomer by using a green microwave method which is considered as good anticancer reagents of phenolic group (OH) and p-propenyl-anisole precursor as anise oil analogous., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (© 2021 The Authors.)

The mitral valve surgery decision is made mainly according to echocardiographic (ECHO) criteria. As the asymptomatic patients are still candidates for surgery in some situations, this makes the accurate assessment of mitral regurgitation (MR) severity and cardiac dimensions even more important. We aimed to compare ECHO and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) in the assessment of MR severity and cardiac dimensions. In this prospective study, we included all patients with more than mild MR by ECHO and referred to our university hospital from 1st of April 2017 and 1st of April 2019. Exclusion criteria were critically ill patients, presence of other valve lesions, planned revascularization, pregnancy and contraindication for CMR. All patients had full history taking, examination, body surface area, and ECG. MR severity and left atrial and left ventricular dimensions were assessed in 50 patients with both 2D-ECHO and CMR in the same day. There were no significant differences in baseline clinical characteristics between moderate (24 patients) and severe MR (26 patients) groups. Poor degree of agreement was present between CMR and ECHO assessment for MR severity (same degree of MR only in 36% (18/50 patients) with kappa grade = 0.19). Furthermore, ECHO overestimated grades of MR compared to CMR (severe MR in 52% vs. 38.4%, p = 0.01 respectively). Based on the etiology of MR, primary (30 patients) vs. secondary MR (20 patients) showed the same dis-agreement between CMR and ECHO assessment of MR severity. Left atrial and ventricular dimensions showed good agreement between CMR and ECHO. Our results suggest that CMR could be more accurate than ECHO in assessing the severity of MR especially in severe cases that need surgery.

Aims: This analysis evaluates gender differences in the Egyptian cohort of patients hospitalized for acute heart failure (AHF) in the European Society of Cardiology Heart Failure Long-Term Registry., Methods and Results: From April 2011 to September 2014, 1634 patients hospitalized with AHF were enrolled by 20 hospitals all over Egypt. Of these patients, 1112 (68%) patients were male and 522 (32%) were female. Women presented with a higher admission systolic blood pressure and resting heart rate. Compared with men, women had a higher body mass index (32.5 ± 9.0 vs. 29.3 ± 4.9, P < 0.001), more frequent atrial fibrillation (34.7% vs. 22.4%, P < 0.001), and anaemia defined by haemoglobin < 12 g/dL (83.1% vs. 58.4%, P < 0.001). Women were more likely to present with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (29.7% vs. 10.6%, P < 0.001). Women had more frequent diabetes mellitus (48.1% vs. 41.6%, P < 0.05) and hypertension (48.7% vs. 39.3%, P < 0.001) than had men, whereas smoking was rare among them (8.8% vs. 82.9%, P < 0.005). There was no significant difference in the primary aetiology of heart failure between both sexes. ACE inhibitors, beta-blockers, mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists, antiplatelets, statins, and nitrates were less frequently prescribed to women, whereas they more often received digoxin, amiodarone, anticoagulants, and calcium channel blockers. There was no significant difference in in-hospital (5.7% vs. 4.6%, P = 0.39) and 1 year mortality (27.9% vs. 25.9%, P = 0.48) between women and men, respectively., Conclusions: Men and women with AHF differ significantly in baseline clinical characteristics and management but not in adverse outcomes. These findings emphasize the importance of individualized management and need for more comprehensive recruitment of women in clinical trials., (© 2018 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Coronary tortuosity (CT) had different definitions and scores in literature with unclear pathophysiological impact., Objectives: To study degree of CT and it's relation to ischemic changes in patients with angina but normal coronary angiography (CA)., Methods: We conducted a prospective study at University hospitals between May 2016 and January 2017. We included 200 consecutive patients who underwent CA due to chest pain assumed to be of cardiac origin, and their CA was normal (no diameter stenosis >30%, nor myocardial bridging). Patients were prospectively divided into 2 groups based on the presence (n = 113) or absence (n = 87) of ischemic changes during stress study and compared for clinical, echocardiographic and CA characteristics. A newly proposed Tortuosity Severity Index (TSI) was developed into significant (mild/moderate CT with more than 4 curvatures in total, or severe/extreme CT with any number of curvatures) or not significant TSI (mild CT with curvatures less than or equal to 4 curvatures in total)., Results: Patients with ischemic changes had the highest rate of CT (76.5 vs 18%, p = 0.004) compared to those without. CT mostly affects the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery in mid and distal segments. Females, elderly, and hypertensives with left ventricular hypertrophy were strongly related to CT. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified CT with significant TSI as the only predictor of ischemic changes in these patients (OR = 6.2, CI = 2.5-15.3, P = <0.001)., Conclusions: Coronary tortuosity is a strong predictor of anginal pain among patients with normal CA, despite positive stress study. This finding is more pronounced among elderly, hypertensive female patients.

The recent discovery of human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has revolutionized the field of stem cells. iPSCs have demonstrated that biological development is not an irreversible process and that mature adult somatic cells can be induced to become pluripotent. This breakthrough is projected to advance our current understanding of many disease processes and revolutionize the approach to effective therapeutics. Despite the great promise of iPSCs, many translational challenges still remain. In this article, we review the basic concept of induction of pluripotency as a novel approach to understand cardiac regeneration, cardiovascular disease modeling and drug discovery. We critically reflect on the current results of preclinical and clinical studies using iPSCs for these applications with appropriate emphasis on the challenges facing clinical translation.

Aims: Our aim is to describe the clinical characteristics and management of patients hospitalized with acute heart failure (HHF) and ambulatory patients with chronic heart failure (CHF) in Egypt and compare them with heart failure (HF) patients from other countries in the European Society of Cardiology-Heart Failure (ESC-HF) registry., Methods and Results: The ESC-HF Long-term Registry is a prospective, multi-centre, observational study of patients presenting to cardiology centres in member countries of the ESC. From April 2011 to February 2014, a total of 2145 patients with HF were recruited from 20 centres all over Egypt. Of these patients, 1475 (68.8%) were hospitalized with HHF, while 670 (31.2%) had CHF. Less than one-third (32.1%) of all patients were females. HHF patients {median age of 61 years [interquartile range (IQR), 53-69]} were older than CHF patients [median age of 57 years (IQR,46-64)]; P < 0.0001. They had more diabetes mellitus (45.4% vs. 31.8%; P < 0.0001). Left ventricular ejection fraction > 45% was present in 22% of HHF vs. 25.6% of CHF (P = 0.17). Atrial fibrillation existed in about a quarter of all patients (24.5%). Ischaemic heart disease was the main cause of HF in Egyptian patients. All-cause in-hospital mortality was 5%. Egyptian patients presented at a much earlier age than in other regions in the registry. They had more diabetes mellitus. Atrial fibrillation prevalence was remarkably lower. Other co-morbidities (renal dysfunction, stroke, and peripheral arterial disease) occurred less frequently., Conclusion: Patients in the Egyptian cohort exhibited distinct features from HF patients in other countries in the ESC-HF Long-term Registry., (© 2015 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology.)

Accurate localization of myocardial viability is important in diagnosis of infarction. Regional strain function provides excessive information for clinical decision making but comparison of strain tensor profiles across differing tissue types is usually difficult due to multivariate nature of tensors. It is desirable to describe tensors with simplified scalar indices which are more mathematically and statistically intuitive. In this work, anisotropy of tensors in healthy and experimental infarct regions in a large animal model is assessed and compared to directional components of strain tensors which are currently the most popular indices in active use. Myocardial strain tensors are computed using zHARP, a magnetic resonance (MR) tagging technique that provides quantification of cardiac function with direct computation of three-dimensional tensors from two-dimensional short axis MR images. Fractional anisotropy of strain tensors shows high correlation with late gadolinium enhanced images and is capable of discrimination between healthy and infarcted regions.