Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Idiopathic Dilatation Of The Right Atrium: Diagnosis And Management, Ljiljana Rankovic-Nicic, Milica Dragicevic-Antonic, Goran Loncar, Masa Petrovic, Zelimir Antonic, Milovan Bojic

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Idiopathic dilatation of the right atrium is a rare condition with an unknown etiology. It is characterized by a significant enlargement of the right atrium without the presence of other valvopathies, intracardiac shunts, or pulmonary hypertension. This report presents the case of a 50-year-old woman with a significantly enlarged right atrium that was identified at birth; however, a definitive diagnosis was made later in life. The patient did not have any genetic diseases. Through the help of regular follow-up, anticoagulant therapy, previous radio-frequency ablation, and antiarrhythmic medications, she was able to carry a pregnancy to full term and live a …

Cardioprotective Effects Of Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors And Their Possible Association With Normalization Of The Circadian Index Of Heart Rhythm, Nazile Bilgin Dogan, Hamiyet Yilmaz Yasar, Baris Kilicaslan

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

Background

Updated recommendations for the treatment of heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) include sodium-glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitors and other long-established HFrEF therapies. These drugs’ mechanisms of action have yet to be fully clarified.

Objective

This study evaluated the effects of SGLT2 inhibitors on the modulation of autonomic function at 1 month beyond conventional HF therapy.

Methods

This single-center, observational, prospective study was conducted from January 2020 to December 2022. Patients with type 2 diabetes who had ischemic HFrEF and met the study criteria were considered for SGLT2 inhibitor treatment with empagliflozin or dapagliflozin. Changes in the circadian …

Vertebral Tortuosity Is Associated With Increased Rate Of Cardiovascular Events In Vascular Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, Sara B Stephens, Sherene Shalhub, Nicholas Dodd, Jesse Li, Michael Huang, Seitaro Oda, Kalyan Kancherla, Tam T Doan, Siddharth K Prakash, Justin D Weigand, Federico M Asch, Taylor Beecroft, Alana Cecchi, Teniola Shittu, Liliana Preiss, Scott A Lemaire, Richard B Devereux, Reed E Pyeritz, Kathryn W Holmes, Mary J Roman, Ronald V Lacro, Ralph V Shohet, Rajesh Krishnamurthy, Kim Eagle, Peter Byers, Dianna M Milewicz, Shaine A Morris

Journal Articles

Background Arterial tortuosity is associated with adverse events in Marfan and Loeys-Dietz syndromes but remains understudied in Vascular Ehlers-Danlos syndrome. Methods and Results Subjects with a pathogenic

Successful Reuse Of A Donor Heart, Gabriel Esmailian, Qiudong Chen, Danny Ramzy, Jon A Kobashigawa, Joanna Chikwe, Fardad Esmailian

Journal Articles

At a time when transplantable organs are in a shortage, few cases have noted the reuse of donor hearts in a second recipient in an effort to expand the donor network. Here, we present a case in which an O Rh-positive donor heart was first transplanted into a B Rh-positive recipient and later successfully retransplanted into a second O Rh-positive recipient 10 days after the initial transplant at the same medical center. On postoperative day 1, the first recipient, a 21-year-old man with nonischemic cardiomyopathy, sustained a devastating cerebrovascular accident with progression to brain death. With preserved left ventricle and …

Cardiac Surgery For Treatment Of Covid-19-Associated Infectious Endocarditis, Ali Taghizadeh-Waghefi, Asen Petrov, Manuel Wilbring, Konstantin Alexiou, Utz Kappert, Klaus Matschke, Sems-Malte Tugtekin

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

BACKGROUND: Significant uncertainty exists about the optimal timing of surgery for infectious endocarditis (IE) surgery in patients with active SARS-CoV-2 infection. This case series and a systematic review of the literature were carried out to evaluate the timing of surgery and postsurgical outcomes for patients with COVID-19-associated IE.

METHODS: The PubMed database was searched for reports published from June 20, 2020, to June 24, 2021, that contained the terms infective endocarditis and COVID-19. A case series of 8 patients from the authors' facility was also added.

RESULTS: A total of 12 cases were included, including 4 case reports that met …

The Impact Of Bicuspid Aortic Valve Leaflet Fusion Morphology On The Ascending Aorta And On Outcomes Of Aortic Valve Replacement, Steve Bibevski, Mark Ruzmetov, Juan F Plate, Frank G Scholl

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

BACKGROUND: Patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAVs) tend to develop dilation of the ascending aorta. The aim of this study was to analyze the impact of leaflet fusion pattern on aortic root diameter and outcomes in patients undergoing surgery for BAV vs tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) disease.

METHODS: This is a retrospective review of 90 patients with aortic valve disease (mean [SD] age, 51.5 [8.2] years) who underwent aortic valve replacement for BAV (n = 60) and TAV (n = 30). Fusion of right-left (R/L) coronary cusps was identified in 45 patients, whereas the remaining 15 patients had right-noncoronary (R/N) …

Genetic Effect On Body Mass Index And Cardiovascular Disease Across Generations, Chloé Sarnowski, Matthew P Conomos, Ramachandran S Vasan, James B Meigs, Josée Dupuis, Ching-Ti Liu, Aaron Leong

Journal Articles

BACKGROUND: Whether genetics contribute to the rising prevalence of obesity or its cardiovascular consequences in today's obesogenic environment remains unclear. We sought to determine whether the effects of a higher aggregate genetic burden of obesity risk on body mass index (BMI) or cardiovascular disease (CVD) differed by birth year.

METHODS: We split the FHS (Framingham Heart Study) into 4 equally sized birth cohorts (birth year before 1932, 1932 to 1946, 1947 to 1959, and after 1960). We modeled a genetic predisposition to obesity using an additive genetic risk score (GRS) of 941 BMI-associated variants and tested for GRS-birth year interaction …

Kounis Syndrome Associated With The Use Of Diclofenac, Ana V Pejcic, Milos N Milosavljevic, Slobodan Jankovic, Goran Davidovic, Marko M Folic, Nevena D Folic

The Texas Heart Institute Journal

BACKGROUND: Diclofenac is a widely used analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antipyretic drug. In several case reports, its use was associated with the occurrence of Kounis syndrome. The aim of this review was to investigate and summarize published cases of Kounis syndrome suspected to be associated with the use of diclofenac.

METHODS: Electronic searches were conducted in PubMed/MEDLINE, Scopus, Web of Science, Google Scholar, and the Serbian Citation Index.

RESULTS: Twenty publications describing the 20 patients who met inclusion criteria were included in the systematic review. Specified patient ages ranged from 34 to 81 years. Eighteen (90.0%) patients were male. Five patients (25.0%) …