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Heart failure (HF) associated with atrial fibrillation increases patients' physical inactivity, worsening their clinical condition and mortality. Exercise training is safe and has clear benefits in HF. However, little is known about the effects of exercise training on patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction and permanent atrial fibrillation (HFAF).The purpose of this study was to test the hypothesis that exercise training improves functional capacity, cardiac function, and quality of life in patients with HFAF.This randomized clinical trial was conducted at the Heart Institute. Patients with HFAF, left ventricular ejection fraction ≤40%, and resting heart rate (HR) ≤80 beats/min were included in the study. Cardiopulmonary testing, echocardiography, nervous system, and quality of life assessment were performed before and after the 12-week protocol period.Twenty-six patients (mean age 58 ± 1 years) were randomized to exercise training (HFAF-trained group; n = 13) or no training (HFAF-untrained group; n = 13). At baseline, no differences between the groups were found. Exercise improved peak oxygen consumption, slope of ventilation per minute/carbon dioxide production, and quality of life. The HFAF-trained group had significantly decreased resting HR (from 73 ± 2 to 69 ± 2 beats/min; P = .02) and recovery HR (from 148 ± 11 to 128 ± 9 beats/min; P = .001). Concomitantly, left ventricular ejection fraction increased (from 31% ± 1% to 36% ± 0.9%; P = .01), left atrial dimension decreased (from 52 ± 1.2 to 47 ± 1 mm; P = .03), and left ventricular end-systolic volume and left ventricular end-diastolic volume deceased (from 69 ± 2 to 64 ± 1.8 mL/mExercise training can improve exercise capacity, quality of life, and cardiac function in patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction and permanent atrial fibrillation.

Background: The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic led to the suspension or postponement of care for non-urgent conditions worldwide. Regula Mais Brasil is an initiative of the Unified Health System (SUS) in Brazil to optimize the management of referrals to specialized care by using telehealth. Objectives: To report the expansion of telehealth activities of Regula Mais Brasil in response to COVID-19 and to assess qualification of referrals in primary health care (PHC) units as well as the added value of teleconsultation in qualifying referral cases. Methods: Descriptive study of the teleconsultations carried out as an additional strategy to the remotely operated referral management system, responsible for navigating cases from PHC units to specialized care in Recife, Brazil, between May 6, 2020 and September 30, 2020. Teleconsultation was implemented as a tool for reducing delays in the access to health care due to COVID-19 and ultimately allowed for reclassification of the referral adequacy and priority. Changes in referral priority ratings and referral decisions after teleconsultation were analyzed. Results: A total of 622 referral cases were analyzed. Approved referrals represented 51.9% of cases. The main reason for approved referrals was the need for diagnostic resources. There was a reduction in priority ratings in 449 cases (72.2%) after teleconsultation. There was a statistically significant association between the change of priority ratings and the decision on referral (Pearson's χ2, p-value

AIMS: Left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) is a genetic heart disease, with heart failure, arrhythmias, and embolic events as main clinical manifestations. The goal of this study was to analyse a large set of echocardiographic (echo) and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) parameters using machine learning (ML) techniques to find imaging predictors of clinical outcomes in a long-term follow-up of LVNC patients. METHODS AND RESULTS: Patients with echo and/or CMRI criteria of LVNC, followed from January 2011 to December 2017 in the heart failure section of a tertiary referral cardiologic hospital, were enrolled in a retrospective study. Two-dimensional colour Doppler echocardiography and subsequent CMRI were carried out. Twenty-four hour Holter monitoring was also performed in all patients. Death, cardiac transplantation, heart failure hospitalization, aborted sudden cardiac death, complex ventricular arrhythmias (sustained and non-sustained ventricular tachycardia), and embolisms (i.e. stroke, pulmonary thromboembolism and/or peripheral arterial embolism) were registered and were referred to as major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) in this study. Recruited for the study were 108 LVNC patients, aged 38.3 ± 15.5 years, 48.1% men, diagnosed by echo and CMRI criteria. They were followed for 5.8 ± 3.9 years, and MACEs were registered. CMRI and echo parameters were analysed via a supervised ML methodology. Forty-seven (43.5%) patients had at least one MACE. The best performance of imaging variables was achieved by combining four parameters: left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (by CMRI), right ventricular (RV) end-systolic volume (by CMRI), RV systolic dysfunction (by echo), and RV lower diameter (by CMRI) with accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity rates of 75.5%, 77%, 75%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings show the importance of biventricular assessment to detect the severity of this cardiomyopathy and to plan for early clinical intervention. In addition, this study shows that even patients with normal LV function and negative late gadolinium enhancement had MACE. ML is a promising tool for analysing a large set of parameters to stratify and predict prognosis in LVNC patients. ispartof: Esc Heart Failure vol:7 issue:5 pages:2431-2439 ispartof: location:England status: published

Aims Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCC) is considered a genetic cardiomyopathy with unknown pathophysiological mechanisms. We propose to evaluate echocardiographic predictors for rigid body rotation (RBR) in NCC using a machine learning (ML) based model. Methods and results Forty-nine outpatients with NCC diagnosis by echocardiography and magnetic resonance imaging (21 men, 42.8±14.8 years) were included. A comprehensive echocardiogram was performed. The layer-specific strain was analyzed from the apical two-, three, four-chamber views, short axis, and focused right ventricle views using 2D echocardiography (2DE) software. RBR was present in 44.9% of patients, and this group presented increased LV mass indexed (118±43.4 vs. 94.1±27.1g/m2, P = 0.034), LV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes (P< 0.001), E/e’ (12.2±8.68 vs. 7.69±3.13, P = 0.034), and decreased LV ejection fraction (40.7±8.71 vs. 58.9±8.76%, P < 0.001) when compared to patients without RBR. Also, patients with RBR presented a significant decrease of global longitudinal, radial, and circumferential strain. When ML model based on a random forest algorithm and a neural network model was applied, it found that twist, NC/C, torsion, LV ejection fraction, and diastolic dysfunction are the strongest predictors to RBR with accuracy, sensitivity, specificity, area under the curve of 0.93, 0.99, 0.80, and 0.88, respectively. Conclusion In this study, a random forest algorithm was capable of selecting the best echocardiographic predictors to RBR pattern in NCC patients, which was consistent with worse systolic, diastolic, and myocardium deformation indices. Prospective studies are warranted to evaluate the role of this tool for NCC risk stratification.

Aims The pathophysiological mechanisms of left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC) remain controversial. This study performed combined 18F-fluoro-2-deoxyglucose dynamic positron emission tomography (FDG-PET) and 99mTc-sestamibi single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) studies to evaluate myocardial glucose metabolism and perfusion in patients with LVNC and their clinical implications. Methods and results Thirty patients (41 ± 12 years, 53% male) with LVNC, diagnosed by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) criteria, and eight age-matched healthy controls (42 ± 12 years, 50% male) were prospectively recruited to undergo FDG-PET with measurement of the myocardial glucose uptake rate (MGU) and SPECT to investigate perfusion-metabolism patterns. Patients with LVNC had lower global MGU compared with that in controls (36.9 ± 8.8 vs. 44.6 ± 5.4 μmol/min/100 g, respectively, P = 0.02). Of 17 LV segments, MGU levels were significantly reduced in 8, and also a reduction was observed when compacted segments from LVNC were compared with the segments from control subjects (P

Diabetes can elicit direct deleterious effects on the myocardium, independent of coronary artery disease or hypertension. These cardiac disturbances are termed diabetic cardiomyopathy showing increased risk of heart failure with or without reduced ejection fraction. Presently, there is no specific treatment for this type of cardiomyopathy and in the case of type I diabetes, it may start in early childhood independent of glycemic control. We hypothesized that alterations in isolated myocyte contractility and cardiac function are present in the early stages of experimental diabetes in rats before overt changes in myocardium structure occur. Diabetes was induced by single-dose injection of streptozotocin (STZ) in rats with data collected from control and diabetic animals 3 weeks after injection. Left ventricle myocyte contractility was measured by single-cell length variation under electrical stimulation. Cardiac function and morphology were studied by high-resolution echocardiography with pulsed-wave tissue Doppler imaging (TDI) measurements and three-lead surface electrocardiogram. Triglycerides, cholesterol and liver enzyme levels were measured from plasma samples obtained from both groups. Myocardial collagen content and perivascular fibrosis of atria and ventricle were studied by histological analysis after picrosirius red staining. Diabetes resulted in altered contractility of isolated cardiac myocytes with increased contraction and relaxation time intervals. Echocardiography showed left atrium dilation, increased end-diastolic LV and posterior wall thickness, with reduced longitudinal systolic peak velocity (S') of the septum mitral annulus at the apical four-chamber view obtained by TDI. Triglycerides, aspartate aminotransferase and alkaline phosphatase were elevated in diabetic animals. Intertitial collagen content was higher in atria of both groups and did not differ among control and diabetic animals. Perivascular intramyocardial arterioles collagen did not differ between groups. These results suggest that alterations in cardiac function are present in the early phase in this model of diabetes type 1 and occur before overt changes in myocardium structure appear as evaluated by intersticial collagen deposition and perivascular fibrosis of intramyocardial arterioles.

Introdução: O miocárdio não compactado (MNC) é uma cardiomiopatia rara, cujas principais manifestações clínicas são insuficiência cardíaca, embolias e arritmias. A evolução desses pacientes é pouco conhecida. Dessa forma, o objetivo desse estudo é analisar o seguimento tardio de pacientes com MNC isolado ou associado a outras doenças, adultos e crianças com a doença, e de seus familiares, que foram acompanhados em hospital universitário de cardiologia, bem como avaliar os desfechos clínicos e de exames de imagem em cardiologia nesses pacientes. Métodos: Pacientes com diagnóstico de MNC confirmado por critérios ecocardiográficos e/ou ressonância magnética cardíaca (RMC) foram selecionados. Durante seu acompanhamento, foram convocados familiares de primeiro, segundo e terceiro graus para rastreamento da doença. Foram avaliados os seguintes desfechos: óbito, transplante cardíaco, eventos embólicos como acidente vascular cerebral (AVC) isquêmico, tromboembolismo pulmonar, embolia arterial periférica, internações hospitalares por insuficiência cardíaca (IC), ocorrência arritmias ventriculares complexas, e índices de exame de imagem como eletrocardiograma, Holter 24 horas, ecocardiograma transtorácico e RMC, que poderiam apresentar valor prognóstico nesses pacientes. Crianças (idade inferior a 12 anos) foram analisadas separadamente. Resultados: Foram acompanhados 215 pacientes com MNC, idade de 36,96 + 17,6 anos, 108 (50,2%) homens, que foram seguidos por 5,9 + 4,47 anos. Os pacientes foram divididos em 2 grupos: 193 com MNC isolado (Grupo 1) e 22 com MNC misto (associado a doenças genéticas, congênitas, doença de Chagas, coronariopatia, cardiomiopatia hipertrófica e miocardite de células gigantes; Grupo 2). A palpitação foi o sintoma clínico mais frequente, estando presente em 42,8% deles. A sobrevida foi menor nos pacientes do Grupo 2, nos que apresentaram FE do ventrículo esquerdo (VE) menor que 50% (p= 0,004), naqueles com aumento dos diâmetro e volume diastólicos finais do VE (p=0,018 e 0,017, respectivamente), com aumento do diâmetro do átrio esquerdo (p < 0,001), com disfunção diastólica do VE (p= 0,049), com disfunção sistólica do ventrículo direito (p= 0,003), nos que apresentaram internações hospitalares (p < 0,001), nos com eventos embólicos (p= 0,022), com arritmias ventriculares complexas (p= 0,010), com hipertensão arterial pulmonar pelo ecocardiograma (p < 0,001) . A ocorrência de FA foi estatisticamente significativa entre os pacientes com disfunção sistólica do VE (p= 0,0485) e todos os que apresentaram FA, tinham FEVE inferior a 40% (p= 0,048). Vinte e três pacientes eram crianças, seguidos por 4,41 ± 4,91 anos, idade média de 5,52 ± 3,62 anos, 12 (52,2%) do sexo masculino. A proporção de óbitos ou transplante cardíaco foi 3 vezes maior do que na população adulta (34,8%) e a IC foi o resultado mais comum. As arritmias cardíacas foram raras e os eventos embólicos não foram encontrados neste grupo. O rastreio familiar diagnosticou MNC em 36,7% dos pacientes. Na análise multivariada, a precocidade dos sintomas e a ocorrência de acidente vascular cerebral ou acidente isquêmico transitório foram os fatores mais importantes no prognóstico dos pacientes e capazes de predizer sobrevida (p < 0,001 e p= 0,008, respectivamente). Conclusão: O seguimento clínico e por métodos de imagens cardíacas por longo período de pacientes com MNC permite traçar um perfil dessa população e estimar o risco de complicações, reforçando a necessidade de diagnóstico e tratamento precoces. Em crianças, o MNC geralmente evolui de forma mais agressiva, com maior morbi-mortalidade. O rastreamento familiar consiste em uma ferramenta muito importante nesse contexto, permitindo a identificação de pacientes na fase subclínica da doença Background: Non-compaction cardiomyopathy (NCC) is a rare disease, which main clinical manifestations are heart failure, arrhythmias and embolic events. The evolution of these patients is poorly known. Thus, the aims of this study was to analyze the late follow-up of patients with isolated NCC or associated with other diseases, adult and children with the disease and their relatives, which were followed at a university cardiology hospital, and to evaluate the clinical and the cardiology imaging outcomes in these patients. Methods: Patients with NCC confirmed by echocardiographic (echo) and / or cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMRI) criteria were selected. During their follow-up, their first, second and third degree relatives were recruited to perform screening of the disease using echo. The following variables were included: death, cardiac transplantation, embolic events such as stroke, pulmonary embolism, peripheral arterial embolism, hospital admissions for heart failure, complex ventricular arrhythmias, and imaging indexes of imaging exams such as electrocardiogram, Holter 24 hours, echocardiogram and CMRI, which could have prognostic value in these patients. Children (under 12 years old) were analyzed separately. Results: Two hundred and fifteen patients with NCC were followed for 5.9 ± 4.47 years, mean age of 36,96 ±17,6 years, 108 (50.2%) males. Patients were divided into 2 groups: 193 with isolated NCC (Group 1) and 22 with mixed NCC (associated with genetic and congenital diseases, Chagas disease, coronary disease, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and giant cell myocarditis; Group 2). Palpitation was the most frequent clinical symptom, present in 42,8% of them. The survival rate was lower in Group 2 patients (p < 0.05), left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) less than 50% (p= 0.004), increased LV end-diastolic diameter and volume by echo (p= 0.018 and 0.017, respectively), with LV diastolic dysfunction (p= 0.049), with increased left atrium dimensions (p < 0,001), with right ventricular systolic dysfunction (p= 0.003), hospital admissions (p < 0.001), embolic events (p= 0.022), complex ventricular arrhythmias (p = 0.010) and pulmonary hypertension by echo (p < 0.001). All patients with isolated NCC and AF presented LVEF less than 0.40, and between patients without AF, only 41.7% presented LVEF less than 0.40 (p = 0.048). Twenty-three patients was children, followed for 4.41 ± 4.91 years, mean age of 5.52 ± 3.62 years, 12 (52.2%) males. The proportion of deaths or cardiac transplantation was 3 times higher than in the adult population (34,8%) and heart failure was the most common outcome. Cardiac arrhythmias were rare, and the embolic events were not found in this group. The familiar screening diagnosed NCC in 36.7% of the patients. In the multivariate analysis, the precocity of the symptoms and the occurrence of stroke or transient ischemic attack were the most important factors in the prognosis of this patients and it is able to predict survival (p < 0.001 and p= 0.008, respectively). Conclusion: The clinical and cardiac imaging methods allows us to draw a profile of this population and to estimate the risk of complications, emphasizing the need for early diagnosis and treatment. In children, NCC used to develop more severe disease. Family screening is a very important tool, allowing the identification of patients with subclinical stage of the disease

Aims From pathophysiological mechanisms to risk stratification and management, much debate and discussion persist regarding left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy (LVNC). This study aimed to characterize myocardial T1 mapping and extracellular volume (ECV) fraction by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR), and investigate how these biomarkers relate to left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and ventricular arrhythmias (VA) in LVNC. Methods and results Patients with LVNC (n = 36) and healthy controls (n = 18) were enrolled to perform a CMR with T1 mapping. ECV was quantified in LV segments without late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) areas to investigate diffuse myocardial fibrosis. Patients with LVNC had slightly higher native T1 (1024 ± 43 ms vs. 995 ± 22 ms, P = 0.01) and substantially expanded ECV (28.0 ± 4.5% vs. 23.5 ± 2.2%, P

Background Noncompaction cardiomyopathy (NCC) is a rare genetic cardiomyopathy characterized by a thin, compacted epicardial layer and an extensive noncompacted endocardial layer. The clinical manifestations of this disease include ventricular arrhythmia, heart failure, and systemic thromboembolism. Case presentation A 43-year-old male was anticoagulated by pulmonary thromboembolism for 1 year when he developed progressive dyspnea. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging showed severe biventricular trabeculation with an ejection fraction of 15%, ratio of maximum noncompacted/compacted diastolic myocardial thickness of 3.2 and the presence of exuberant biventricular apical thrombus. Conclusion Still under discussion is the issue of which patients and when they should be anticoagulated. It is generally recommended to those presenting ventricular systolic dysfunction, antecedent of systemic embolism, presence of cardiac thrombus and atrial fibrillation. In clinical practice the patients with NCC and ventricular dysfunction have been given oral anticoagulation, although there are no clinical trials showing the real safety and benefit of this treatment. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1471-2261-15-7) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.