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Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) provides better assessment of vessel size, lesion length and plaque characteristics. There is paucity of data regarding the impact of IVUS on stenting pattern during primary percutaneous intervention (PCI) for ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).We included patients with STEMI undergoing IVUS-guided primary PCI. Diagnostic angiograms were analysed by two different operators who were not part of procedure. They were asked to formulate a treatment plan which included choice of stent diameters, length and number of stents based on angiographic assessment alone. The data were then compared with actual metrics derived from IVUS evaluation.Sixty-two patients were included. Left anterior descending artery was involved in 38/62(61.3%) cases. Mean stent diameters assessed by angiogram were 2.94 ± 0.4 mm and 3.01 ± 0.32 mm by cardiologist 1 and 2, respectively. IVUS-derived mean stent diameter was 3.5 ± 0.65 mm (There was significant difference between IVUS derived and angiographically assessed culprit vessel metrics in patients undergoing primary PCI. Clinical outcomes of this discrepancy need further studies.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a multi-morbid chronic condition, which adversely affects the quality of life of the affected individual. Engaging the patient and their caregivers in self-care is known to reduce mortality, rehospitalisation and improve quality of life among HF patients. The PACT-HF trial will answer whether clinical benefits in terms of mortality and hospitalisation outcomes can be demonstrated by using a pragmatic design to explore the specific effects of physical activity, and cognitive behavioural therapy in HF patients in India. Methods: We will conduct a 2 × 2 factorial, randomized, open-label trial, which aims to see if rehabilitation strategies of structured physical activity training and cognitive behavioural therapy for depression and self-management reduce the risk of repeat hospitalisation and deaths in HF patients in India. Patients will be randomised to (1) physical activity + usual care (2) cognitive behaviour therapy + usual care, (3) physical activity + cognitive behaviour therapy + usual care, and (4) usual care at 1:1:1:1 ratio. Time to mortality will be the primary outcome. A composite of mortality and hospitalisation for HF will be the main secondary outcome. Additional secondary outcomes will include ‘days alive and out of hospital’, cumulative hospitalisation, quality of life, Minnesota Living with Heart Failure questionnaire score, depression score, six minutes walking distance, handgrip strength, and adherence to medicines and lifestyle. The effects of intervention on the primary outcome will be estimated from Cox proportional hazard models. For the continuous secondary outcome variables, differences between randomised groups will be estimated from linear mixed models or generalised estimating equations (GEE) as appropriate. Discussion: PACT-HF is designed to provide reliable evidence about the balance of benefits and risks conferred by physical activity and cognitive behavioural therapy-based cardiac rehabilitation for those with HF, irrespective of their initial disease severity.

Background: Heart failure (HF) is a debilitating condition associated with enormous public health burden. Management of HF is complex as it requires care and coordination with different cadres of health care providers. In resource poor settings, physician driven initiatives to improve HF management is difficult due to multiple barriers. We propose to develop a team based collaborative care model (CCM), facilitated by a trained nurse, for management of HF with the support of mHealth and evaluate their acceptability and effectiveness in Indian setting. Methods: The proposed study will use mixed-methods research for assessment. A formative qualitative research will identify barriers and facilitators for implementing CCM for the management of HF and develop components of the intervention. Subsequently, a cluster randomised controlled trial (RCT) involving 22 centres (tertiary hospitals) with more than 1500 HF patients will be conducted to assess the effectiveness of the CCM in improving the overall survival as well as days alive and out of hospital (DAOH) at two-years (CTRI/2021/11/037797). The DAOH will be calculated by subtracting days in hospital and days from death until end of study follow-up from the total follow-up time. Poisson regression with a robust variance estimate and an offset term to account for clustering will be employed in the analyses of DAOH. A rate ratio and its 95% confidence interval (CI) will be estimated. The scalability of the proposed intervention model will be assessed through economic analyses (cost-effectiveness) and the acceptability of the intervention at both the provider and patient level will be understood through process evaluation. Potential Impact: The TIME-HF trial will provide evidence on whether a nurse-led team based CCM with mHealth support is effective in improving the clinical outcomes of HF in India. The findings may change the practice of management of HF in financially constrained low and middle-income countries.

BackgroundWe report patient characteristics, treatment pattern and one-year clinical outcome of nonvalvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) from Kerala, India. This cohort forms part of Kerala Atrial Fibrillation (KERALA-AF) registry which is an ongoing large prospective study.MethodsKERALA-AF registry collected data of adults with previously or newly diagnosed atrial fibrillation (AF) during April 2016 to April 2017. A total of 3421 patients were recruited from 53 hospitals across Kerala state. We analysed one-year follow-up outcome of 2507 patients with NVAF.ResultsMean age at recruitment was 67.2 years (range 18-98) and 54.8% were males. Main co-morbidities were hypertension (61.2%), hyperlipidaemia (46.2%) and diabetes mellitus (37.2%). Major co-existing diseases were chronic kidney disease (42.1%), coronary artery disease (41.6%), and chronic heart failure (26.4%). Mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 3.18 (SD ± 1.7) and HAS-BLED score, 1.84 (SD ± 1.3). At baseline, use of oral anticoagulants (OAC) was 38.6% and antiplatelets 32.7%. On one-month follow-up use of OAC increased to 65.8% and antiplatelets to 48.3%. One-year all-cause mortality was 16.48 and hospitalization 20.65 per 100 person years. The main causes of death were cardiovascular (75.0%), stroke (13.1%) and others (11.9%). The major causes of hospitalizations were acute coronary syndrome (35.0%), followed by arrhythmia (29.5%) and heart failure (8.4%).ConclusionsDespite high risk profile of patients in this registry, use of OAC was suboptimal, whereas antiplatelets were used in nearly half of patients. A relatively high rate of annual mortality and hospitalization was observed in patients with NVAF in Kerala AF Registry.

In India, data from large HF registries has demonstrated significantly lower 5-year mortality rates for patients with HFrEF discharged on guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT), revealing an important target for intervention to improve clinical outcomes. Hospital-based quality improvement initiatives to increase rates of GDMT at hospital discharge have had limited effect, suggesting additional strategies are needed to improve GDMT rates in HFrEF patients. Polypills for HFrEF have been proposed as an implementation strategy to simplify the current treatment paradigm for undertreated patients with HFrEF. However, the potential effect of HFrEF polypills on increasing GDMT rates in target populations is unknown. The objective of this secondary analysis is to describe eligibility for a potential HFrEF polypill in the context of GDMT prescription rates for South Indian patients with HFrEF. We analyzed data from a prospective, interrupted time series study in 2018 (HFQUIK) that evaluated the effect of a quality improvement intervention on process of care measures and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with acute HFrEF in 8 hospitals in South India. The primary outcome was prescription of GDMT defined as an ACE-I or ARB or ARNi, along with a beta-blocker and aldosterone antagonist. Participants were eligible for a HFrEF polypill containing GDMT if LVEF

Background: Sex differences in presentation, management, and outcomes of heart failure (HF) have been observed, but it is uncertain whether these differences exist in South India.Objective: We describe sex differences in presentation, management, and in-hospital outcomes in patients hospitalized with HF in South India and explore sex-based differences in the effect of the quality improvement intervention in a secondary analysis of a prospective, interrupted time series study.Methods: The Heart Failure Quality Improvement in Kerala (HF QUIK) study evaluated the effect of a quality improvement toolkit on process of care measures and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized with HF in eight hospitals in Kerala using an interrupted time series design from February 2018 to August 2018. The primary outcome was guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) at hospital discharge for patients with HF with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). We performed sex-stratified analyses using mixed effect logistic regression models.Results: Among 1,400 patients, 536 (38.3%) were female. Female patients were older (69.6 vs. 65 years, p < 0.001), were less likely to have an ischemic etiology of HF (control period: 78.2% vs. 87.5%; intervention period: 83.6% vs. 91.5%; p < 0.05 for both) and were less likely to undergo coronary angiography or percutaneous coronary intervention. The quality improvement intervention had similar effects on the odds of GDMT at discharge in females with HFrEF (adjusted OR 1.79, 95% CI 0.92, 3.47) and males with HFrEF (adjusted OR 1.68, 95% CI 1.07, 2.64, pinteraction = 0.69).Conclusions: We observed sex-specific differences in presentation and procedural management of patients with HF but no differences in the effect of the quality improvement intervention on discharge GDMT rates. Both male and female patients with HFrEF remained undertreated in the study intervention period, demonstrating the need for implementation strategies to close the HFrEF treatment gap in South India.

Aims Data on the burden of acute heart failure (AHF) admissions, practice patterns, and outcomes are rare from India and other low- and middle-income countries. We aimed to describe the baseline characteristics, guideline-directed medical therapy (GDMT) prescribing patterns and 90-day mortality rates in patients admitted with AHF in Kerala, India. Methods and results The Cardiology Society of India-Kerala Acute Heart Failure Registry (CSI-KHFR) is an observational registry from 50 hospitals in Kerala, India, with prospective follow-up. Consecutive patients with AHF, who consented to participate, were enrolled. The 2016 European Society of Cardiology criteria were used for the diagnosis of AHF. Kaplan–Meier survival analysis and Cox-proportional hazard models were used for data analysis. The variables in the MAGGIC risk score were used in the multivariable model. A total of 7507 patients with AHF (37% female) participated in the CSI-KHFR. The mean age was 64.3 (12.9) years. More than two-third had reduced ejection fraction (EF) (67.5%). Nearly one-fourth (28%) of patients with heart failure (HF) with reduced EF received GDMT. Overall, in-hospital and 90-day mortality rates were 7% and 11.6%, respectively. Prescriptions of different components of GDMT were independently associated with 90-day mortality. Conclusion The CSI-KHFR recorded an in-hospital and 90-day mortality of 7% and 11.6%, respectively. Only one of four patients received GDMT. AHF mortality was independently associated with GDMT initiation. Quality improvement initiatives that focus on increasing GDMT prescription may improve the survival of HF patients in India.

BACKGROUND: Although quality improvement interventions for acute heart failure have been studied in high-income countries, none have been studied in low- or middle-income country settings where quality of care can be lower. We evaluated the effect of a quality improvement toolkit on process of care measures and clinical outcomes in patients hospitalized for acute heart failure in 8 hospitals in Kerala, India utilizing an interrupted time series design from February 2018 to August 2018. METHODS: The quality improvement toolkit included checklists, audit-and-feedback reports, and patient education materials. The primary outcome was rate of discharge guideline-directed medical therapy for patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We used mixed effect logistic regression and interrupted time series models for analysis. RESULTS: Among 1400 participants, mean (SD) age was 66.6 (12.2) years, and 38% were female. Mean (SD) left ventricular ejection fraction was 35.2% (9.7%). The primary outcome was observed in 41.3% of participants in the intervention period and 28.1% of participants in the control period (difference 13.2%; 95% CI 6.8, 19.0; adjusted OR = 1.70; 95% CI 1.17, 2.48). Interrupted time series model demonstrated highest rate of guideline-directed medical therapy at discharge in the initial weeks following intervention delivery with a concomitant decline over time. Improvements were observed in discharge process of care measures, including diet counseling, weight monitoring instructions, and scheduling of outpatient clinic follow-up but not hospital length of stay nor inpatient mortality. CONCLUSIONS: Higher rates of guideline-directed medical therapy at discharge were observed in Kerala. Broader implementation of this quality improvement intervention may improve heart failure care in low- and middle-income countries. SUMMARY TWEET: QI toolkit in Kerala, India shows improvements in GDMT at discharge for patients with HFrEF. Centre for Chronic Disease Control, Cardiological Society of India, @DukeGHI, @Fogarty_NIH, @NMCardioVasc, @FSMGlobalHealth

Cardiac toxicity following snakebite envenomation has been previously observed, but not studied in detail, especially the involvement in neurotoxic bites. This prospective observational case study evaluates the incidence of cardiac toxicity along with the difference between vasculotoxic and neurotoxic bites and analysing the predictors for development of cardiotoxicity.96 patients who had snake bite envenomation were evaluated for features of cardiotoxicity with clinical features, ECG, echocardiogram and troponin-I levels.Cardiac toxicity was observed in 42.7% of patients, the majority were either ECG changes, noted in 34.3% and rise in troponin-I, noted in 21.9% of patients. Other changes included echocardiographic changes in 4.2%, and Takotsubo cardiomyopathy in 1%. There was no significant difference in the incidence of cardiotoxicity between the neurotoxic (41.7%) and vasculotoxic (42.9%) (p value =1) snake bites, even though the predominant changes seen in neurotoxic snake bites were ECG changes. There were no deaths in the current study. None of the demographic or clinical parameters studied could predict the development of cardiac events.Cardiac toxicity is a well defined complication of poisonous snake bite and incidence is more frequent than previously thought. Both vasculotoxic and neurotoxic snake bites are associated with cardiac toxicity and is not associated with increase in mortality.

Background: At intensive care units (ICUs), multiple physiological signals are continuously monitored so as to detect the onset of critical health events and generate alarms. In current systems, most such alarms happen to be false and correspond to innocuous events such as muscle movement or electrical disconnection. High rate of such false alarms (FAs) undesirably reduces staff responsiveness and annoys patients. Indeed, reducing the harm associated with clinical alarm systems is listed as a national patient safety goal of 2019. Objective: We seek to reduce FA rate in ICUs, while preserving true alarms, by collating information from interdependent vital signals including electrocardiogram, photoplethysmogram and arterial blood pressure signals. In this regard, we propose an approach that generalizes to various arrhythmic conditions, and hence simplifies design. Methods: We propose FARIC, a method of False Alarm Reduction in ICU based on Convolutional neural network (CNN). In particular, we use CNNs as building blocks (see Figure) to glean the heartbeat location and morphology information from multiple physiological signals by suitably modifying the training data. Here, as the features are algorithmically learnt from the example waveforms, we eliminate the need for handcrafted signal-specific and arrhythmia-specific features, thus making our method generalizable. Results: We evaluated FARIC on the PhysioNet/CinC 2015 Challenge dataset, consisting of 1250 patient records collected at four hospitals in the USA and Europe. Our model was trained on the 750 public records, and tested on all records including 500 hidden ones. The Challenge at hand compares the efficacy of competing techniques in reducing ICU FA rate using a standardized score that penalizes false negatives heavily. Alongside an overall score, individual score was given for each of the following arrhythmias: Asystole, Extreme Bradycardia, Extreme Tachycardia, Ventricular Tachycardia and Ventricular Fibrillation/Flutter. Encouragingly, FARIC either matched or exceeded each of hitherto leading arrhythmia-specific scores and added more than 4 percent points to the leading overall score (see Table). Conclusion: Our method promises to significantly reduce the FA rate in ICUs, and can be extended to additional arrhythmic conditions.

Caseous Mitral Annular Calcification (CMAC) is seen in 0.6% of Mitral annular Calcification (MAC) and carries an increased risk for ischemic stroke. The typical location is Posterior Mitral Annular area and arises as degeneration of MAC. Typical Echocardiographic features along with Cardiac MRI and CT imaging features are diagnostic.

Tropical endomyocardial fibrosis (EMF) is endemic in southern districts of Kerala state in India, and sporadic cases are reported from other parts of Kerala. Transthoracic echocardiogram (TTE) is the initial imaging tool and is diagnostic for this condition. The inherent limitation of TTE is its limited sensitivity in the detection of intracardiac thrombus. Transthoracic echocardiography, contrast-enhanced cardiac computed tomography, and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) are the imaging modalities for the detection of intracardiac thrombus. This report describes a 46-year-old male with right ventricular EMF (RVEMF) who presented with right heart failure. The TTE diagnosed RVEMF but failed to demonstrate the right atrial thrombus which was clearly seen on CMR. The merits of different imaging modalities for the detection of intracardiac thrombus are discussed.

Cholesterol embolism is a rare complication of percutaneous vascular procedures. It usually is diagnosed from the typical cutaneous manifestations and delayed development of renal failure. Here we report a patient who developed incessant vomiting following a vascular procedure who later developed the typical manifestations of cholesterol embolism. Even though gastrointestinal manifestations may be seen up to 20% of patients, this is the first case report in which gastrointestinal symptoms are seen as the initial presentation of cholesterol embolism.

Item does not contain fulltext BACKGROUND: The effect of intensified platelet inhibition for patients with unstable angina or myocardial infarction without ST-segment elevation who do not undergo revascularization has not been delineated. METHODS: In this double-blind, randomized trial, in a primary analysis involving 7243 patients under the age of 75 years receiving aspirin, we evaluated up to 30 months of treatment with prasugrel (10 mg daily) versus clopidogrel (75 mg daily). In a secondary analysis involving 2083 patients 75 years of age or older, we evaluated 5 mg of prasugrel versus 75 mg of clopidogrel. RESULTS: At a median follow-up of 17 months, the primary end point of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or stroke among patients under the age of 75 years occurred in 13.9% of the prasugrel group and 16.0% of the clopidogrel group (hazard ratio in the prasugrel group, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.79 to 1.05; P=0.21). Similar results were observed in the overall population. The prespecified analysis of multiple recurrent ischemic events (all components of the primary end point) suggested a lower risk for prasugrel among patients under the age of 75 years (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% CI, 0.72 to 1.00; P=0.04). Rates of severe and intracranial bleeding were similar in the two groups in all age groups. There was no significant between-group difference in the frequency of nonhemorrhagic serious adverse events, except for a higher frequency of heart failure in the clopidogrel group. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with unstable angina or myocardial infarction without ST-segment elevation, prasugrel did not significantly reduce the frequency of the primary end point, as compared with clopidogrel, and similar risks of bleeding were observed. (Funded by Eli Lilly and Daiichi Sankyo; TRILOGY ACS ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00699998.).