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Background: Cardio-Pulmonary Exercise Test (CPET) is the gold standard for evaluation of patients with heart failure (HF); however, its use is limited in everyday practice. We analyzed the use of CPET for HF management in the real world., Methods: From 2009 to 2022, 341 patients with HF underwent 12-16 weeks of rehabilitation in our Centre. We present data from 203 patients (60%), excluding those unable to perform CPET, those with anaemia and severe pulmonary disease. Before and after rehabilitation, we performed CPET, blood tests and echocardiography, tailoring individual physical training to the results of baseline test. The following variables were considered: peak Respiratory Equivalent Ratio (RER), peakVO 2 (ml/Kg/min), VO 2 at aerobic threshold (VO 2 AT,% maximal), VE/VCO 2 slope, P (ET) CO 2 , VO 2 /Work ratio (ΔVO 2 /ΔWork)., Results: Rehabilitation improved peak VO 2 , pulse O 2 , VO 2 AT and ΔVO 2 /ΔWork in all patients by about 13% (p < 0.01). Most patients (126, 62%) showed a reduced left ventricular ejection fraction (HFrEF), but rehabilitation was effective also in patients with mildly reduced (HFmrEF: n = 55, 27%) or preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF: n = 22, 11%)., Conclusions: Rehabilitation in patients with heart failure induces a significant recovery of cardiorespiratory performance easily assessed by CPET, that is applicable to the majority of them and should be used routinely in the programming and evaluating of cardiac rehabilitation programs., Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (© 2023 Published by Elsevier B.V.)

Aims: The angiotensin receptor and neprilysin inhibitor (ARNI) sacubitril/valsartan (LCZ696) is recommended for the treatment of patients with heart failure in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class II-III and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 35% or less. We examined the effects of sacubitril/valsartan on cardiac remodeling and their correlation with heart failure duration in patients enrolled in our heart failure clinic from March 2017 to December 2019., Methods: Echocardiographic and clinical/laboratory data were collected at baseline and at 6-month and 12-month follow-up visits in 69 patients (age 67 ± 12 years, disease duration 8.4 ± 5.8 years, 93% men)., Results: At both time points, mean NYHA class, NT-proBNP level, LVEF, LV end-systolic volume, and estimated systolic pulmonary pressure significantly (P < 0.05) improved versus baseline, as did the proportion of patients with diastolic dysfunction grade 3 or functional mitral regurgitation grade 3-4. In the subgroup with mean disease duration less than 8.5 years (n = 40), there was a significant improvement in all variables at both time points; in this group, a recovery of right ventricular function was also seen at the 12-month follow-up. On the contrary, patients with heart failure duration of at least 8.5 years (n = 29) showed only a slight improvement in LVEF and mitral regurgitation at 12 months. There were no significant changes in renal function and/or potassium levels in all patients., Conclusion: In patients with a relatively short disease duration, sacubitril/valsartan was associated with a strong favorable remodeling of the left ventricle and improvement in pulmonary circulation.

Background: Guidelines recommend early discharge and rehabilitation after ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) in low-risk patients. However, low risk is not established according to well-defined criteria and often it depends on subjective judgment. The aim of this real-life study is to confirm that early discharge is safe in patients at low risk according to selected criteria and subsequent outpatient rehabilitation is associated with clinical benefits., Methods: Patients with STEMI treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention from October 2010 to October 2017, identified as being at low risk (according to predefined criteria), discharged by day 5, were studied retrospectively. Basal characteristics and 30-day outcome were evaluated and a comparison was made between patients who completed or did not complete outpatient rehabilitation., Results: We enrolled 193 STEMI patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention for STEMI, early discharged and at low risk: 132 completed outpatient rehabilitation and 61 did not. The increase in cardiac enzymes and the occurrence of arrhythmias were the only independent predictors of completion of outpatient rehabilitation. After 30 days from discharge, adverse events were rare and not significantly different between groups. Optimal pharmacological therapy was achieved more often in the rehabilitation group (58.3% vs 44.3%; p<0.05)., Conclusions: Early discharge within 5 days of STEMI has been proved feasible and safe in our population of well-defined low-risk patients. Early participation in a rehabilitation program was associated with a more adequate titration of therapy.

Patients with many recurrences of acute pericarditis are commonly alarmed by the fear of constriction. We studied their long-term outcome and the possible presence of systemic diseases. Sixty-one Italian patients (36 men) were followed for an average of 8.3 years according to a predefined protocol, including testing for autoimmune diseases and familial Mediterranean fever. Symptomatic pericarditis lasted from 1 to 43 years (mean 5.4 years). Fifty-two patients had been referred to us after failure of previous therapies, including steroids. We observed 378 attacks with a mean of 1.6 per patient per year and 156 hospital admissions. Thirteen patients had a post-cardiac injury syndrome. In 43 (70.5%), the pericarditis remained idiopathic, whereas we made a new diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis in 1 and of Sjogren's syndrome in 4 patients, but in these patients pericarditis represented the dominant clinical manifestation. Cardiac tamponade occurred during the initial attacks in 4 patients (6.5%) but never recurred. Pleural effusions were present during the first attack in 22 patients (36.0%) and liver involvement in 5 (8%). No patients developed constrictive pericarditis. Echocardiographic examination produced no evidence of chronic myocardial disease. Response to therapy was good. Thirty-one patients (50.8%) are in sustained remission, without any therapy; their total observation period has averaged 10.3 years. In idiopathic patients, antinuclear antibodies were present in 56.2% and anti-Ro/SSA in 8.3%. Mutations linked to familial Mediterranean fever were absent. In conclusion, in this large series of difficult patients with recurrent acute pericarditis and a very long follow-up, the long-term prognosis is good.

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of the renal nerves in the regulation of renin synthesis in normotensive rats at different sodium balance., Methods: Forty-eight male Sprague-Dawley rats were divided in six experimental groups, combining three diets at different NaCl content (normal 0.4%, low 0.04% or high 4.0%), and the surgical, bilateral renal denervation or the sham procedure. After 7 days of dietary treatment, all rats were sacrificed and plasma renin activity (PRA) was measured. Renin messenger RNA (mRNA) levels in the renal cortex were determined by semiquantitative polymerase chain reaction., Results: PRA was higher in animals fed the low sodium diet compared with those at standard diet, while it was lower in animals fed the high sodium diet. Renal denervation decreased PRA in normal and low sodium groups, while it did not alter the PRA values in the high sodium group. Renin gene expression significantly increased in rats fed with the low sodium diet compared with the standard diet group, and significantly decreased in rats fed the high sodium diet Renal denervation significantly reduced renin mRNA levels in rats receiving the low sodium diet, but did not produce any significant change in normal or high-sodium groups., Conclusion: The activation of renin gene expression during sodium depletion in rats is dependent on the presence of the renal nerves, while the suppression of renin gene expression during a sodium load seems to be due to the macula densa mechanism alone.