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Background and Aims: Current ESC guidelines on the management of patients after acute myocardial infarction only include the evaluation of left ventricular (LV) function by assessment of the ejection fraction in addition to clinical risk scores to estimate the patient's prognosis. We aimed to determine, whether comprehensive evaluation of cardiac function using LV and right ventricular (RV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) and left atrial (LA) reservoir strain improves the prediction of survival in patients with acute myocardial infarction., Methods: In patients with non-ST segment elevation or ST segment elevation myocardial infarction receiving echocardiography within 1 year after revascularisation, LV-GLS, RV-GLS and LA reservoir strain were quantified. In multivariable Cox regression analysis, HRs and 95% CIs were calculated per 1 SD increase in strain measure, adjusting for age, sex, systolic blood pressure, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol, smoking, diabetes and family history of premature coronary artery disease., Results: During a median follow-up of 1.5 (0.5-4.2) years, 157 (11.1%) out of 1409 patients (64.4±13.5 years, 24.7% female) died. LV-GLS (1.68 (1.37-2.06), p<0.001), RV-GLS (1.39 (1.16-1.67), p<0.001) and LA reservoir strain (0.57 (0.47-0.69), p<0.001) were associated with mortality. Adding LV ejection fraction, tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) or LA volume index to these models did not alter the association of strain measures of the LV (1.41 (1.06-1.89), p=0.02), RV (1.48 (1.03-2.13), p=0.04) or LA (0.61 (0.49-0.76), p<0.001). In receiver operating characteristics, combining the three strain measures improved the prediction of mortality above risk factors (AUC: 0.67 (0.63-0.71) to 0.75 (0.70-0.80)), while further addition of LV ejection fraction, TAPSE and LA volume index did not (0.75 (0.70-0.81))., Conclusion: The comprehensive evaluation of contractility of various cardiac chambers via transthoracic echocardiography using myocardial strain analysis, when routinely performed after acute myocardial infarction, may help to detect patients at increased mortality risk., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objectives: We evaluated the ability of the assessment of regional wall motion abnormalities (RWMA) detected via transthoracic echocardiography to predict the presence of obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients presenting with acute chest pain to the emergency department., Design: Prospective single-centre observational study., Setting: Tertiary care university hospital emergency unit., Participants: Patients presenting to the emergency department with acute chest pain suggestive of obstructive CAD., Primary Outcome Measure: The primary endpoint was defined as the presence of obstructive CAD, requiring revascularisation therapy., Results: Overall, 657 patients (age 58.1±18.0 years, 53% men) were included in our study. RWMA were detected in 76 patients (11.6%). RWMA were significantly more frequent in patients reaching the primary endpoint (26.2% vs 7.6%, p<0.001). In multivariable regression analysis, the presence of RWMA was associated with threefold increased odds of the presence of obstructive CAD (3.41 (95% CI 1.99 to 5.86), p<0.001). Adding RWMA to a multivariable model of the Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) risk score, cardiac biomarkers and traditional risk factors significantly improved the area under the curve for prediction of obstructive CAD (95% CI 0.777 to 0.804, p=0.0092)., Conclusion: RWMA strongly and independently predicts the presence of obstructive CAD in patients presenting with acute chest pain to the emergency department., Trial Registration: The study has been registered online (NCT03787797)., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2024. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Background and Aim of the Study: Epicardial fat tissue (EAT) is associated with coronary as well as aortic valve calcification. The study aim was to determine whether EAT thickness is different in patients with and without aortic valve stenosis (AVS)., Methods: A cohort of 200 consecutive patients with severe AVS and 200 matched patients without AVS were included retrospectively in the study. EAT thickness was quantified, using transthoracic echocardiography, as the space between the epicardial wall of the myocardium and the visceral layer of the pericardium. Unadjusted and risk factor-adjusted logistic regression analysis was used to determine the association of EAT thickness with the presence of AVS., Results: Overall, 400 patients (182 males, 218 females; mean age 79.6 ± 6.5 years) were included in the study. EAT thickness was significantly higher in patients with severe AVS (7.4 ± 0.3 mm versus 5.8 ± 0.2 mm; p <0.0001 for patients with and without AVS, respectively). In logistic regression analysis, an increase in EAT by one standard deviation was associated with a two-fold increased occurrence of AVS (OR [95%CI]: 2.10 [1.65-2.68]; p <0.0001). Associations remained stable upon adjustment for age, gender and traditional cardiovascular risk factors (2.08 [1.59-2.72]; p <0.0001). Body mass index (BMI) -specific subgroup analysis showed that the link between EAT and AVS was independent of BMI (1.78 [1.15-2.75], 2.62 [1.71- 4.02], and 2.22 [1.36- 3.62], for BMI <25 kg/m2, 25-30 kg/m2, and >30kg/ m2, respectively). EAT, in addition to traditional cardiovascular risk factors, significantly improved the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (from 0.70 to 0.76; p = 0.003)., Conclusions: EAT thickness is significantly associated with severe AVS, independent of traditional risk factors. While further studies are needed to confirm these results, the present findings support the hypothesis that EAT may influence sclerosis of the aortic valve.