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Introduzione. L’ipertensione arteriosa resistente è correlata ad un alto rischio di eventi cardiovascolari maggiori (MACE), e non tutti i pazienti sono in grado di tollerare le terapie, o di ottenere una risposta adeguata a causa di una risposta incompleta ai farmaci o di una ridotta aderenza alla terapia. La denervazione renale transcatetere è un trattamento non farmacologico che potrebbe migliorare il controllo dell’ipertensione resistente. Ad oggi la sua applicazione clinica è limitata dai risultati contrastanti degli studi eseguiti per verificarne l’efficacia. Scopo. Questo studio si pone l’obiettivo di analizzare l’efficacia a lungo termine della denervazione renale transcatetere nel trattamento dell’ipertensione arteriosa (IA) resistente. Si sono ricercati inoltre criteri preoperatori predittivi di efficacia della procedura, confrontando vari sottogruppi di pazienti, e considerando le diverse tecniche esecutive (cateteri unipolari, cateteri multipolari o a palloncino). Metodi e risultati. In questo studio multicentrico sono stati coinvolti 38 pazienti con un’età media di 61,2 anni trattati con denervazione renale transcatetere tra luglio 2012 e dicembre 2018 in cinque centri toscani: Azienda Ospedaliero- Universitaria Careggi (Firenze), Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Pisana, Azienda Ospedaliero-Universitaria Senese, Fondazione Toscana Gabriele Monasterio per la Ricerca Medica e di Sanità Pubblica – CNR Regione Toscana (Pisa) ed Ospedale di Lucca. Sono stati registrati i dettagli tecnici delle procedure di denervazione e le immagini acquisite tramite procedure diagnostiche in preparazione agli interventi e durante il loro svolgimento. L’efficacia della procedura è stata valutata con un follow-up clinico medio di 5,1 anni e con un follow-up strumentale con 24h ABPM di un anno. Inoltre, durante il follow-up, prolungato fino a settembre 2019, sono state eseguite misurazioni della funzionalità renale e sono state registrate le modifiche della terapia farmacologica fino a 7 anni dall’intervento mediante consultazione delle cartelle cliniche ed interviste ai pazienti. In seguito alla denervazione renale, sono state rilevate diminuzioni statisticamente significative dei valori di PA sistolica (– 10,7 ± 6,0 mmHg) e diastolica (5,3 ± 3,9 mmHg) al 24h ABPM. Inoltre, è stata osservata una diminuzione significativa della terapia farmacologica antiipertensiva (-1,2 farmaci). Non si sono verificate complicanze correlate alla procedura, ad eccezione di due lievi ematomi nel sito di accesso femorale. Non sono state rilevate differenze significative di efficacia analizzando i pazienti in base alla tipologia di catetere utilizzato per l’intervento, all’età, al sesso ed alla presenza di diabete mellito. Conclusioni. I risultati di questo studio confermano l’efficacia e la sicurezza a lungo termine della denervazione renale transcatetere nel trattamento dell’IA resistente. Non sono state individuati parametri clinici o procedurali per identificare pazienti più o meno responsivi alla terapia.

The coronary sinus (CS) Reducer is a novel device designed for the management of patients with severe angina symptoms refractory to optimal medical therapy and not amenable to further revascularization. Aim of this study was to investigate the efficacy and the safety of the CS Reducer device in a real-world, multicenter, and country-level cohort of patients presenting with refractory angina pectoris. The study included patients affected by refractory angina pectoris who underwent CS Reducer implantation in 16 centers. Clinical follow-up was carried as per each center's protocol. One hundred eighty-seven patients were included. Technical and procedural success were achieved in 98% and 95%, respectively. Minor peri-procedural complications were recorded in 8 patients. During a median follow-up of 18.4 months, 135 (82.8%) patients demonstrated at least 1 CCS class reduction after Reducer implantation, and 80 (49%) patients at least 2 CCS class reduction. Mean CCS class improved from 3.05 ± 0.53 at baseline to 1.63 ± 0.98 at follow-up (p < 0.001). Treatment benefit was also reflected in a significant improvement in quality of life scores and in a reduction of the mean number of anti-ischemic drugs prescribed for patient. In conclusion, in this multicenter, country-level study, the implantation of CS Reducer in patients with refractory angina pectoris resulted to be safe and effective in reducing of angina pectoris and improving quality of life.

Background: Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is a frequent and detrimental condition. Right heart catheterization (RHC) is the gold standard to identify PH subtype (precapillary from postcapillary PH) and is key for treatment allocation. In this study, the novel echocardiographic biventricular coupling index (BCI), based on the ratio between right ventricular stroke work index and left ventricular E/E′ ratio, was tested for the discrimination of PH subtype using RHC as the comparator. Methods: BCI was derived in 334 consecutive patients who underwent transthoracic echocardiography and RHC for all indications. BCI was then tested in a validation cohort of 1,349 patients. Results: The accuracy of BCI to identify precapillary PH was high in the derivation cohort (area under the curve, 0.82; 95% CI, 0.78-0.88; P < .001; optimal cut point, 1.9). BCI identified patients with precapillary PH with high accuracy also in the validation cohort (area under the curve, 0.87 [95% CI, 0.85-0.89; P < .001]; subgroup with PH: area under the curve, 0.91 [95% CI, 0.89-0.93; P < .001]; cut point, 1.9; sensitivity, 82%; specificity, 89%; positive predictive value, 77%; negative predictive value, 92%). BCI outperformed both the D'Alto score (Z = 3.56; difference between areas = 0.05; 95% CI, 0.02-0.07; P < .001) and the echocardiographic pulmonary–to–left atrial ratio index (Z = 2.88; difference between areas = 0.02; 95% CI, 0.01-0.04; P = .004). Conclusions: BCI is a novel, noninvasive index based on routinely available echocardiographic parameters that identifies with high accuracy patients with precapillary PH. BCI may be of value in the screening workup of patients with PH.

Aims Pulmonary hypertension (PH) affects millions of people worldwide. Right heart catheterization (RHC) is the gold standard to correctly classify the subtype of PH. Biventricular coupling index (BCI) is a new echocardiographic index defined as the ratio between non-invasive right ventricular stroke work index (RVSWI) and E/E′ ratio. Due to his comprehensive functional characterization of the right heart physiology, we hypothesized it might correctly identify pre-capillary PH. Methods and results BCI was derived in a cohort of 334 patients from the University Hospital of Trieste (Italy) and Karolinska University Hospital (Sweden) who underwent transthoracic echocardiography and RHC for all indications ( Conclusions BCI is a new non-invasive index based on standard echocardiographic parameters that allows, with high accuracy, the identification of patients with pre-capillary PH, outperforming previously proposed indexes. Routine use of BCI index could be implemented in the screening work-up of pre-capillary PH.

Several studies have focused on the role of epicardial fat in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disease (CVD). The main purpose of the study was to evaluate a computerized method for the quantitative analysis of epicardial fat volume (EFV) by non-contrast cardiac CT (NCT) for coronary calcium scan and coronary CT angiography (coronary CTA).Thirty patients (61±12.5 years, 73% male, body mass index (BMI) =25.9±6.3 kg/mThe total EFV was 103.62±50.97 and 94.96±67.91 cc in NCT and coronary CTA with non-significant difference (P=0.292). CR error was 10.22 cc for operator 1 and 11.31 cc for operator 2 in NCT and 7.99 cc for operator 1 and 7.75 cc for operator 2 in coronary CTA. To analyze the inter-observer variability CR and ICC were computed. CR was 8.17 and 8.39 cc with NCT and 7.07 and 7.21 cc with CTA for 6 and 3 SA slices respectively. ICC values0.99 were obtained in all cases. The right ventricular EFV was 67.23±31.4 and 57.41±34.3 cc for NCT and coronary CTA respectively; the corresponding values for left ventricular EFV were 38.01±19.1 and 35.27±25.9 cc.Both NCT and coronary CTA can be used with low intra- and inter-observer variability for computer-assisted measurements of EFV. Cardiac CT may allow a fast and reliable computation of EFV in clinical setting.

This study aimed to evaluate safety and efficacy of drug-coated balloon (DCB) at long-term follow-up; a large series of real-life patients underwent revascularization with DCB for a wide spectrum of clinical and angiographic situations.One hundred ten patients underwent percutaneous revascularization using paclitaxel eluting balloon (Sequent Please, Braun, Germany). End-points were major adverse cardiac events (MACE; all-cause death, myocardial infarction [MI], target vessel revascularisation [TVR], and vessel thrombosis). DCB were used for stable angina (58%), unstable angina/nonST elevation MI (31%) and ST elevation MI (11%). DCB were used for in-stent restenosis (61%), small vessel disease (25%), with bare metal stent (BMS) to avoid long dual antiplatelet therapy (10%) or for impossibility to place a stent (4%). Cumulative MACE at follow-up (median 23 months, IQR 13-32) was 12.7%, with 8.2% all-cause death (1 fatal MI), 4.5% TVR, 3.6% TLR, and no vessel thrombosis. Three of four TLRs occurred in patients who received DEB for DES restenosis.DCB are a very effective tool for a variety of clinical and angiographic situations. DCB use seems to be affected by a low rate of complications and adequate results at long-term follow-up.

Coronary artery fistulas (CAFs) are infrequent congenital malformations, although some may be acquired: iatrogenic (during thoracic surgery or PCI) or traumatic [1,2]. The incidence of CAFs has not been well defined but it is found in less than 0.2% of angiographic examinations. CAFs, even if rarely, may cause heart failure, spontaneous intrapericardial rupture or myocardial ischemia due to coronary “steal phenomenon” [3,4]. The literature reports very few cases of patients where a CAF was associated with a coronary artery disease (CAD) [5]. The consequences of this association on coronary haemodynamics and myocardial blood flow (BF) was poorly investigated.