Search

A combined right and left‐sided heart catheterization (RHC/LHC) protocol was recently reported to optimize patients supported by left ventricular assist device (LVAD). Using this platform, we sought to evaluate the prognostic significance of several hemodynamic indices, including left ventricular end‐diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and transaortic gradient (peak aortic pressure ‐ peak left ventricular pressure in systole, TAG). We evaluated all patients undergoing RHC/LHC at our institution from 2015 through 2018, and comprehensive clinical data were obtained. Primary end points were (1) a composite outcome that included hospitalization or death and (2) 1‐year overall survival after catheterization. Forty‐two patients were included in the analysis. Optimization resulted in normalization of hemodynamic parameters; all variables were significantly improved from baseline (P ≤.05). On univariate modeling, final LVEDP was associated with the primary end point (hazard ratio [HR], 1.2 per 1‐mm Hg increase; 95% CI, 1.1‐1.3; P =.002). After adjusting for LVAD speed, TAG, and cardiac index in a multivariate model, the association between LVEDP and the composite end point remained significant (HR, 1.2 per 1‐mm Hg increase; 95% CI, 1.1‐1.4; P =.001). In the setting of LVAD support, inadequate LV unloading was a significant marker of poor outcomes with time, suggesting that LVEDP is a central prognostic marker in this population. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Therapies for substrate‐related arrhythmias include ablation or drugs targeted at altering conductive properties or disruption of slow zones in heterogeneous myocardium. Conductive compounds such as carbon nanotubes may provide a novel personalizable therapy for arrhythmia treatment by allowing tissue homogenization. Methods: A nanocellulose carbon nanotube‐conductive hydrogel was developed to have conduction properties similar to normal myocardium. Ex vivo perfused canine hearts were studied. Electroanatomic activation mapping of the epicardial surface was performed at baseline, after radiofrequency ablation, and after uniform needle injections of the conductive hydrogel through the injured tissue. Gross histology was used to assess distribution of conductive hydrogel in the tissue. Results: The conductive hydrogel viscosity was optimized to decrease with increasing shear rate to allow expression through a syringe. The direct current conductivity under aqueous conduction was 4.3 × 10−1 S/cm. In four canine hearts, when compared with the homogeneous baseline conduction, isochronal maps demonstrated sequential myocardial activation with a shift in direction of activation to surround the edges of the ablated region. After injection of the conductive hydrogel, isochrones demonstrated conduction through the ablated tissue with activation restored through the ablated tissue. Gross specimen examination demonstrated retention of the hydrogel within the tissue. Conclusions: This proof‐of‐concept study demonstrates that conductive hydrogel can be injected into acutely disrupted myocardium to restore conduction. Future experiments should focus on evaluating long‐term retention and biocompatibility of the hydrogel through in vivo experimentation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aims: This study aims to explore long‐term clinical outcomes of cardiopoiesis‐guided stem cell therapy for ischaemic heart failure assessed in the Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART‐1) trial. Methods and results: CHART‐1 is a multinational, randomized, and double‐blind trial conducted in 39 centres in heart failure patients (n = 315) on standard‐of‐care therapy. The 'active' group received cardiopoietic stem cells delivered intramyocardially using a retention‐enhanced catheter. The 'control' group underwent patient‐level sham procedure. Patients were followed up to 104 weeks. In the entire study population, results of the primary hierarchical composite outcome were maintained neutral at Week 52 [Mann–Whitney estimator 0.52, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.45–0.59, P = 0.51]. Landmark analyses suggested late clinical benefit in patients with significant left ventricular enlargement receiving adequate dosing. Specifically, beyond 100 days of follow‐up, patients with left ventricular end‐diastolic volume of 200–370 mL treated with ≤19 injections of cardiopoietic stem cells showed reduced risk of death or cardiovascular hospitalization (hazard ratio 0.38, 95% CI 0.16–0.91, P = 0.031) and cardiovascular death or heart failure hospitalization (hazard ratio 0.28, 95% CI 0.09–0.94, P = 0.040). Cardiopoietic stem cell therapy was well tolerated long term with no difference in safety readouts compared with sham at 2 years. Conclusions: Longitudinal follow‐up documents that cardiopoietic stem cell therapy is overall safe, and post hoc analyses suggest benefit in an ischaemic heart failure subpopulation defined by advanced left ventricular enlargement on tolerable stem cell dosing. The long‐term clinical follow‐up thus offers guidance for future targeted trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The pathophysiology of osteonecrosis of the femoral head (ONFH) is poorly understood, and the diagnosis is idiopathic in as many as 40% of patients. Genetic and epigenetic etiologies have been postulated, yet no single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with intuitive biologic implications have been elucidated.Questions/purposes: (1) Do individuals with ONFH share common biologically relevant genetic variants associated with disease development? (2) What is the mechanism by which these SNPs may impact the expression or function of the affected gene or protein?Methods: This retrospective genome-wide association study (GWAS) evaluated participants from the Mayo Clinic Biobank and Mayo Clinic Genome Consortium between August 2009 and March 2017. We included every patient with atraumatic ONFH in each of these respective registries and every control patient in a previous GWAS with an acceptable platform to perform statistical imputation. The study was performed in two phases, with an initial discovery cohort and a subsequent validation cohort. The initial discovery cohort consisted of 102 patients with ONFH and 4125 controls. A logistic regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between SNPs and the risk of ONFH, adjusted for age and sex. Seven SNPs were identified in a gene of biological interest, peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), which were then evaluated in a subsequent validation cohort of 38 patients with ONFH and 464 controls. Age, sex, race, and previous steroid exposure were similar between patients with ONFH and controls in both the discovery and validation cohorts. Separate from the two-phase genetic investigation, we performed targeted pharmacosurveillance to evaluate the risk association between the use of antidiabetic thiazolidinediones, a class of PPARG agonists, and development of ONFH by referencing 9,638,296 patient records for individuals treated at Mayo Clinic.Results: A combined analysis of the discovery and validation cohorts revealed that seven SNPs were tightly clustered adjacent to the 3' end of PPARG, suggesting an association with the risk of ONFH (p = 1.58 x 10-5.50 x10). PPARG gene-level significance was achieved (p = 3.33 x 10) when all seven SNPs were considered. SNP rs980990 had the strongest association with the risk of ONFH (odds ratio [OR], 1.95; 95% CI, 1.46-2.59; p = 5.50 x 10).The seven identified SNPs were mapped to a region near the PPARG gene and fell in a highly conserved region consisting of several critical transcription factor binding sites. Nucleotide polymorphisms at these sites may compromise three-dimensional chromatin organization and alter PPARG 3' end interactions with its 5' promoter and transcription start site. Pharmacosurveillance identified that patients who were exposed to thiazolidinediones had an increased relative risk of developing ONFH of 5.6 (95% CI, 4.5-7.1).Conclusions: We found that disruption of PPARG regulatory domains is linked to an increased risk of ONFH. Mechanistically, aberrant regulation of PPARG compromises musculoskeletal differentiation because this master regulator creates a proadipogenic and antiosteogenic state. Furthermore, PPARG alters steroid metabolism and vasculogenesis, processes that are inextricably linked with ONFH. Pharmacologically, predisposition to ONFH was further exposed with thiazolidinedione use, which upregulates the expression of PPARG and is known to alter bone metabolism. Collectively, these findings provide a foundation to perform confirmatory studies of our proposed mechanism in preclinical models to develop screening diagnostics and potential therapies in patients with limited options.Level Of Evidence: Level III, prognostic study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]