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Heart failure (HF) is an important, yet under recognized and under diagnosed complication of diabetes. This communication describes the clinical features of heart failure, and shares a validated tool which helps identify HF. This information will be of help to all health care professionals, especially those who work in primary care settings with minimal access to advanced imaging and biochemical investigations.

Cardiorenal syndrome (CRS) in people with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) illustrates the bidirectional link between the heart and the kidneys, with acute or chronic dysfunction of one organ adversely impacting the function of the other. Of the five subtypes identified, type 1 and 2 CRS occur because of the adverse impact of cardiac conditions on the kidneys. Type 3 and 4 occur when renal conditions affect the heart, and in type 5, systemic conditions impact the heart and kidneys concurrently. The cardiovascular and renoprotective benefits evidenced with sodium-glucose cotransporter-2 (SGLT2) inhibitors make them a potential choice in the management of CRS. Cardiovascular protection is mediated by a reduction in cardiac workload, blood pressure, and body weight; with improvement in lipid profile, uric acid levels, and adaptive ketogenesis process. Renoprotection is facilitated by reduction in albuminuria and hypoxic stress, and restoration of tubuloglomerular feedback. The favourable effect on cardiovascular complications and death, as well as renal complications and progression to end-stage kidney disease, has been confirmed in clinical trials. Guidelines endorse first-line use of SGLT2 inhibitors after metformin in patients with T2DM with high cardiovascular risk, chronic kidney disease or both. Since most trials with SGLT2 inhibitors excluded subjects with acute illness, patients with CRS subtypes 1 and 3 have not been studied adequately, making SGLT2 initiation in clinical practice challenging. Ongoing trials may provide evidence for SGLT2 inhibitor use in CRS. This review aims to enhance understanding of CRS and provide guidance for judicious use of SGLT2 inhibitors in T2DM., Competing Interests: Disclosures: Bharath Srinivasan and Amit Kumar are employees of AstraZeneca Pharma India Ltd. Sanjay Kalra, Hasan Aydin, Manisha Sahay, Sujoy Ghosh, Sundeep Ruder, Mangesh Tiwaskar, Gary Kilov, Kamal Kishor, Tiny Nair, Vikas Makkar, Ambika Gopalakrishnan Unnikrishnan, Dinesh Dhanda and Nikhil Gupta have no financial or non-financial relationships or activities to declare in relation to this article. Sanjay Kalra is a member of the journal’s Editorial Board., (© Touch Medical Media 2020.)

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality across the globe. Prevention and management of the CVD pandemic calls for concerted action on part of all health care professionals, as well as other concerned stakeholders. We call for cardiovigilance in healthcare and define it as "the action or state of keeping careful watch, to prevent, screen, diagnose and manage cardiovascular disease (CVD) in a timely and appropriate manner". We expand upon the concept of cardiovigilance, describe its utility, and suggest various taxonomic rubrics to simplify its practice.

The COVID19 (Corona Virus Disease: pandemic started in 2019) pandemic has created not only a public health problem, but as a clinical challenge as well. To the cardiologist, COVID 19 presents a wide spectrum of possibilities for clinical decision-making intervention and improvement. Cardiac dysfunction has been identified as a risk factor, a prognostic factor, a diagnostic tool, differential diagnosis, a complication of COVID 19, and a side effect of its treatment. Certain cardiotropic drugs have been implicated in the pathogenesis of COVID 19. The risk of transmission of COVID 19 is an occupational hazard which cannot be ignored by cardiologists. This review discusses the need and scope of cardio vigilance in COVID 19 management.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most commonly encountered arrhythmia in cardiology practice. A diagnosis of AF implies a greater need for hospitalization, a higher risk of stroke and heart failure, and earlier mortality. These complications can be avoided if AF is diagnosed and treated in a timely manner. To achieve this, physicians need to maintain a high index of clinical suspicion, practice cardiovigilance, and screen for AF in appropriate clinical settings. This review describes the vast spectrum of endocrine and metabolic disease that are associated with AF. Through this perspective, it encourages physicians and endocrinologists to play an active role in AF detection, referral and long term management.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia (FH) is a common disorder of lipid metabolism. However, it is rarely diagnosed in time, leading to a high burden of preventable cardiovascular (CV) morbidity. The authors describe a lipophenotypic screening tool, which can be used by clinicians to screen for FH. This simple construct is based on history, physical examination, lipid profile and non-invasive cardioimaging. Structured as a bidirectional three column rubric, this tool should be able to improve clinical skills and teaching related to FH.

This communication highlights the concept of angina equivalents as an important symptom of cardiovasculardisease in diabetes. The authors share two mnemonics, as simple as ABCDE, which can help identify atypical cardiovascular disease. Use of these learning tools should help improve early detection and management of cardiovascular disease.

Atrial fibrillation (AF), the commonest arrhythmia in clinical practice, is also the commonest arrhythmia for which hospitalization is required. AF is associated with a 5 fold increase in stroke, a 2 fold increase in all-cause mortality, and a higher risk of heart failure. Hence, it is imperative to focus on the risk factors and clinical features of this condition, so that it can be prevented and managed in a timely manner. AF is linked with multiple metabolic and endocrine morbidities. This implies that the endocrinologist has an important role to play in AF detection and referral. This review, the first of a two part series, encourages preventive cardiovigilance, and especially electro-cardiovigilance, in diabetes practice.

One of the major endpoints to be considered while choosing glucose-lowering therapy is their impact on cardiovascular outcomes. As a corollary, the cardiovascular health assessment of a person with diabetes informs the choice of glucose-lowering treatment. The clinical aspects included in this bidirectional relationship are described in this review as the cardiovascular phenotype. Vital signs, cardiac autonomic function, myocardial health and coronary status influence, and are influenced by, choice of glucose-lowering therapy. Such therapy also has an impact on cerebrovascular and peripheral arterial health. These aspects should be considered while planning treatment for type 2 diabetes mellitus.

Background: Percutaneous coronary procedures are undergoing a paradigm shift from femoral to forearm approach due to obvious advantages in terms of patient safety and comfort, and faster time to ambulation. Transradial access (TRA) has been established as a primary forearm access site. We have tried to use ulnar artery access as an alternative to radial route and found that transulnar access (TUA) is an excellent alternative and non-inferior to TRA if performed by an experienced operator., Methods: This was a prospective, single-center study involving 2532 patients who were randomized in a 1:1 manner to either TUA (n = 1270) or TRA (n = 1262). All cannulations were performed by operators who were experienced in radial artery (RA) cannulation and had performed a minimum of 50 ulnar artery (UA) cannulations. The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac events during hospital stay, crossover to another arterial access route, major vascular events during hospital stay (large hematoma with hemoglobin drop of ≥3 g%) or vessel occlusion rate. To prove non-inferiority of TUA, a margin of 1.93 was derived by fixed-margin method (preserving 50% of difference of procedural failure rate [4.87%] between radial and femoral access from meta-analysis)., Results: The composite primary endpoint occurred in 14.6% of TUA and 14.4% of TRA patients (risk ratio, 1.01; 95% confidence interval, 0.83-1.2; P=.92 at α=0.05). All assessed parameters (except large hematoma, for which non-inferiority could not be proved conclusively) were non-inferior in TUA when compared with TRA., Conclusions: TUA is non-inferior to TRA when performed by an experienced operator. The utilization of TUA as an access site option increases the chance of success with forearm access and reduces the need for crossover to femoral route.