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The year of 2022 was marked by many novelties in the fields of interventional cardiology, heart failure, electrophysiology, cardiac imaging, and congenital heart disease. These advances will certainly change our daily practice, on top of improving the diagnosis and treatment of many heart conditions. In addition, the European Society of Cardiology has updated its guidelines on pulmonary hypertension, ventricular arrhythmias and sudden death, cardiovascular assessment of patients undergoing non-cardiac surgery. The members of the Cardiology division of Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) here present the publications which they considered to be the most important of the past year., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Thromboembolic complications in adults with congenital heart disease are frequent and responsible for significant morbidity and mortality. Their prevention frequently requires long-term thromboprophylaxis. In this article, we discuss the specificities that must be considered when stratifying the thromboembolic risk in these patients, the different therapeutic strategies, particularly the place of direct oral anticoagulants., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common arrhythmia encountered in adults; it is associated with a significant morbidity and mortality. Obesity is a risk factor contributing to AF occurrence. Recently, interest has focused on epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), defined as a fatty deposit located between the epicardium and the visceral pericardium. Its characteristics are distinct from classic adipose deposits: it infiltrates the epicardial myocardium and secretes cytokines, which modulate cardiomyocyte electrophysiology and cardiac remodeling. Different studies show that EAT can be an independent risk factor for AF and that EAT thickness, as measured by CT or MRI, could predict the presence, severity and recurrence of AF., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

The gene SCN5A encodes the cardiac sodium channel which, through the conduction of Na+ current into the cell, generates the fast upstroke of the action potential of cardiomyocytes. Pathogenic variants of SCN5A have been causally associated to several hereditary cardiac diseases including, among others, Brugada syndrome, congenital long QT syndrome and sinus node dysfunction. Recently, overlap syndromes have been described that are characterized by the simultaneous expression of mixed clinical phenotypes among two or more hereditary cardiac diseases associated to the gene SCN5A (HCD-SCN5A). For this reason, it is time to rethink about HCD-SCN5A as different expressions of the same complex spectrum encompassing multiple clinical phenotypes with pronounced overlaps instead of as distinct clinical entities., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

In 2019, the guidelines on the new entity « chronic coronary syndrome » have been published. They influence importantly the work-up and treatment of patients with stable coronary artery disease. We will also report on publications showing the benefit of percutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in patients with aortic stenosis and low risk surgical risk. With regard to infectious endocarditis, we elucidate the importance of the vegetation's size for predicting mortality and the prognostic value of the positron emission tomography in predicting septic embolism. We highlight the spectacular results of the DAPA-HF study in patients with heart failure and review publications showing the important role of the detection of myocardial fibrosis and scar by cardiac MRI for risk stratification of sudden cardiac death., Competing Interests: Le Pr. J. Schwitter reçoit du soutien pour la recherche par Bayer Healthcare Suisse. Les autres auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflitd’intérêtsen relation avec cet article.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) is routinely used in oncology to treat non-invasively solid tumors with high precision and efficacy. Recently, this technology has been evaluated in the treatment of ventricular tachycardia (VT). This article presents the basic underlying principles, proofs of concept and main results of clinical studies that used SBRT for the treatment of VT., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

This review article provides a broad overview of the novelties in cardiology in 2018. Advances in interventional cardiology and cardiovascular prevention, heart failure, electrophysiology and non-invasive cardiovascular imaging have provided important new insights in the pathophysiology, diagnosis and treatment of ischemic and valvular heart disease, heart failure, rhythm disorders and cardiomyopathies. This article provides an overview of the most relevant articles published in 2018., Competing Interests: Les auteurs n’ont déclaré aucun conflit d’intérêts en relation avec cet article.

Early diagnosis of cardiac sarcoidosis remains difficult in the absence of specific symptoms. The evolution and prognosis of the disease are strongly correlated to an early and appropriate treatment. The multi-modality assessment based on cardiac MRI and positron emission tomography associated with computed tomography (PET/CT) has significantly improved the detection of cardiac sarcoidosis over the last two decades. These approaches appear as useful and suitable imaging strategy for the early diagnosis, the assessment of the disease extent as well as the management and therapeutic follow-up. This article is a didactic review on cardiac sarcoidosis, with a special focus on recent diagnostic and therapeutic modalities, prognosis and interest of imaging techniques.