UNASSIGNED: Sepsis is a life-threatening organ dysfunction, and septic cardiomyopathy (SCM) may complicate the course of the disease. Infection with multidrug-resistant (MDR) pathogens has been linked with worse outcomes. This study aims to evaluate SCM in patients with infections caused by different antimicrobial-resistant phenotypes.
UNASSIGNED: This retrospective study included patients with sepsis/septic shock, hospitalized, and intubated in the intensive care unit of the University Hospital of Larissa between January 2022 and September 2023 with echocardiographic data during the first two days after infection onset. The patients were divided into two groups: non-MDR-SCM group and MDR-SCM group. The cardiac function was compared between the two groups.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 62 patients were included in the study. Forty-four patients comprised the MDR-SCM and 18 the non-MDR-SCM group. Twenty-six patients (41.9%) presented with left ventricular (LV) systolic dysfunction, and ≤35% right ventricular fractional area change (RVFAC) was present in 56.4%. LV systolic function was more severely impaired in the non-MDR-SCM group (left ventricular ejection fraction, 35.8% ±4.9% vs. 45.6%±2.4%, P=0.049; LV outflow tract velocity time integral, [10.1±1.4] cm vs. [15.3±0.74] cm, P=0.001; LV-Strain, -9.02%±0.9% vs. -14.02%±0.7%, P=0.001). The MDR-SCM group presented with more severe right ventricular (RV) dilatation (right ventricular end-diastolic area/left ventricular end-diastolic area, 0.81±0.03 vs. 0.7±0.05, P=0.042) and worse RV systolic function (RVFAC, 32.3%±1.9% vs. 39.6%±2.7%, P=0.035; tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion, [15.9±0.9] mm vs. [18.1±0.9] mm, P=0.165; systolic tissue Doppler velocity measured at the lateral tricuspid annulus, [9.9±0.5] cm/s vs. [13.1±0.8] cm/s, P=0.002; RV-strain, -11.1%±0.7% vs. -15.1%±0.9%, P=0.002).
UNASSIGNED: SCM related to MDR infection presents with RV systolic dysfunction predominance, while non-MDR-SCM is mainly depicted with LV systolic dysfunction impairment.

Left heart disease (LHD) is the leading cause of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Its recent growth has not been matched by the design of therapeutic agents directly targeting the disease. Effective therapies approved for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) have been shown to be inefficient in patients with PH-LHD. Hence, there is a need for an animal model that would closely mimic PH-LHD in preclinical experiments. The current study describes and compares a number of rodent models of left ventricular failure and their potential to induce PH. It also evaluates whether, and to what extent, common PH models could develop LV failure. Articles were identified in the Pubmed/Medline and Web of Science online electronic databases following the PRISMA Protocol between 1992 and 2022. Quality assessment was carried out using the SYRCLE risk-of-bias tool for animal studies. Publication bias across studies using Egger\'s regression test statistic, was performed together with sensitivity analysis. A wide spectrum of protocols-135 studies and 207 interventions, was examined, including systemic hypertensive models, pressure-overload-induced HF, model of ischemic heart failure, and metabolic approaches based on high fat diet or metabolic syndrome. The most pronounced alterations in PH-related parameters were demonstrated for the common PH models, but were also seen in animals with LV failure induced by ischemic conditions, pressure overload or metabolic conditions. Models based on aortic banding, transverse aortic constriction (TAC), or with myocardial infarction (MI) caused by coronary artery ligation, demonstrated more pronounced worsening in PH due to LV failure; however, they also demonstrated poor survival, especially the ischemic-HF model. Common PH models, excluding prolonged exposure to monocrotaline, do not promote LV hypertrophy. Prolonged exposure to a high-fat diet, or a two-hit model of an obese ZSF1 rat combined with SU5416-induced pulmonary endothelial impairment (a VEGF receptor antagonist) worsened PH and impaired diastolic dysfunction. Due to the limited number of protocols, further trials are needed to confirm the utility of such approaches for modeling PH in subjects with metabolic syndrome. This would provide a clearer insight into the complexity of LHD, PH and metabolic disorders in PH-LHD, and thus accelerate the development of new therapies in clinical trials.

The modern cardiothoracic intensive care unit (CTICU) developed as a result of advances in critical care, cardiology, and cardiac surgery. Patients undergoing cardiac surgery today are sicker, frailer, and have more complex cardiac and noncardiac morbidities. CTICU providers need to understand postoperative implications of different surgical procedures, complications that can occur in CTICU patients, resuscitation protocols for cardiac arrest, and diagnostic and therapeutic interventions such as transesophageal echocardiography and mechanical circulatory support. Optimum CTICU care requires a multidisciplinary team with collaboration between cardiac surgeons and critical care physicians with training and experience in the care of CTICU patients.

Levosimendan (LS) has been progressively used for the treatment of patients developing acute as well as chronic or advanced cardiac dysfunction. It has proven to be a better inotropic agent than its counterparts in terms of its ability to increase the cardiac output in an acutely or chronically decompensated heart without an increase in the myocardial oxygen demand. The purpose of this systematic review, which was carried out in accordance with Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses (PRISMA) 2020, was to determine the efficacy and advantages of utilizing LS in patients with both acute and chronic heart failure. We collected and reviewed articles, including clinical trials, literature reviews, randomized and non-randomized control trials, case-control and cohort studies, and systematic reviews and meta-analyses published between January 1, 2012, and November 27, 2022. The databases that were used to collect these articles included Pubmed, Pubmed Central, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar. After applying appropriate filters, a total of 143 reports were identified from these four databases. They were further screened and subjected to quality assessment tools which finally yielded 21 studies that were included in this systematic review. This review provides strong evidence that the pharmacological properties and different mechanisms of action of LS give it an upper hand over other inotropic agents for its successful administration in patients with either acute or advanced cardiac failure, which consists of left as well as right ventricular failure, either individually or in combination.

UNASSIGNED: Cardiomyopathies contribute about 18.2-40.2% (average- 21.4%) to the global burden of heart failure of which dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) is a major cause. DCM is the second commonest cause of heart failure in Ibadan. The gender differences in the clinical profile has not been described in our setting.
UNASSIGNED: In this study, we set out to describe the gender differences in the pattern and presentation of DCM at the University College Hospital, Ibadan, Nigeria.
UNASSIGNED: This was an analysis of a prospectively collected data over a period of 5 years (August 1, 2016 to July 31, 2021).
UNASSIGNED: A total of 117 subjects, 88 males (75.3%) and 29 females (24.8%) aged 50.30 ± 14.7 years (range, 17 to 86 years). Males had significantly achieved a higher educational level than females (p = 0.004). Males were more likely to be employed and had more monthly income compared to females. Males were significantly more likely to use alcohol and smoke cigarette (p = 0.0001 and 0.001 respectively). Females were more likely to be in NYHA class III/IV. There was no statistically significant difference in the relationship between any medication and gender of participants (p > 0.05).
UNASSIGNED: DCM is a disease of young and middle-aged adults in our population. The commonest age group was 20-39 years and there was male preponderance. There were some gender differences in the clinical profile of the disease in our environment.

Presence of right heart failure (RHF) is associated with a worse prognosis in patients with left ventricular failure (LVF). While the cause of RHF secondary to LVF is multifactorial, an increased right ventricular (RV) afterload is believed as the major cause of RHF. However, data are scarce on the adaptive responses of the RV in patients with LVF. Our aim was to understand the relationship of right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) with RHF and RV systolic and diastolic properties in patients with LVF. 55 patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction of 40% or less were included in the present study. A comprehensive two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiographic examination was done to all participants. 12 patients (21.8%) had RHF, and patients with RHF had a significantly lower right ventricular free wall thickness (RVFWT) as compared to patients without RHF (5.3 ± 1.7 mm vs. 6.6 ± 0.9 mm, p = 0.02) and the difference remained statistically significant after adjusting for confounders (Δx̅:1.34 mm, p = 0.002). RVFWT had a statistically significant correlation with tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (r = 0.479, p < 0.001) and tricuspid annular lateral systolic velocity (r = 0.360, p = 0.007), but not with the indices of the RV diastolic function. None of the patients with concentric RVH had RHF, while 22.2% of patients with eccentric RVH and 66.7% of patients without RVH had RHF (p < 0.01 as compared to patients with concentric RVH). In patients with left ventricular systolic dysfunction, absence of RVH was associated with worse RV systolic performance and a significantly higher incidence of RHF.

暂无摘要。

Pulmonary hypertension due to left heart disease (PH-LHD) is regarded as the most prevalent form of pulmonary hypertension (PH). Indeed, PH is an independent risk factor and predicts adverse prognosis for patients with left heart disease (LHD). Clinically, there are no drugs or treatments that directly address PH-LHD, and treatment of LHD alone will not also ameliorate PH. To target the underlying physiopathological alterations of PH-LHD and to develop novel therapeutic approaches for this population, animal models that simulate the pathophysiology of PH-LHD are required. There are several available models for PH-LHD that have been successfully employed in rodents or large animals by artificially provoking an elevated pressure load on the left heart, which by transduction elicits an escalated pressure in pulmonary artery. In addition, metabolic derangement combined with aortic banding or vascular endothelial growth factor receptor antagonist is also currently applied to reproduce the phenotype of PH-LHD. As of today, none of the animal models exactly recapitulates the condition of patients with PH-LHD. Nevertheless, the selection of an appropriate animal model is essential in basic and translational studies of PH-LHD. Therefore, this review will summarize the characteristics of each PH-LHD animal model and discuss the advantages and limitations of the different models.

Background The tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE) / pulmonary artery systolic pressure (PASP) ratio has been a useful marker of right ventricular (RV)-pulmonary artery coupling. However, given the intricate functional and mechanical interdependence of the right and left ventricles, we believe this ratio would be less useful when assessing reduced left ventricular (LV) systolic function. Instead, we proposed using the tricuspid annular tissue Doppler imaging systolic velocity to LV outflow tract velocity time integral ratio (TA TDI s\' / LVOT VTI r) for this purpose.   Methods For this proof-of-concept study, a retrospective analysis was conducted on 60 patients with complete echocardiographic studies while in sinus rhythm. The population was divided as follows; Group 1 included 20 individuals with normal left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) as well as normal RV and PASP. Group 2 was composed of 20 patients known to have been evaluated or treated for pulmonary hypertension, while group 3 was comprised of 20 patients treated for heart failure (HF).  Results TAPSE/PASP ratios were no different from any of the studied groups. However, the proposed TA TDI s\' /LVOT VTI r was statistically different among all three groups (Group 1: 0.6 ± 0.1*; Group 2: 0.5 ± 0.1°; and Group 3: 0.8 ± 0.3#; p < 0.001). Conclusions Based on these results, there is now a need for additional prospective studies to explore the overall utility of using this TA TDI s\' / LVOT VTI r in day-to-day routine assessments not only for diagnostic purposes but also to determine how this ratio correlates with symptoms and changes with therapy.

UNASSIGNED: Heart failure [HF] hospital readmissions are a continued challenge in the care of HF patients, which contribute substantially to the high costs of the disease and high mortality rate in lower to middle income country. We implemented a quality improvement project to improve patient outcomes and resource utilization.
UNASSIGNED: This study was a prospective cohort design with a historical comparison group. It was conducted to assess the difference in 30-day readmissions and mortality and to assess compliance rate with HF guideline between the historical pre-intervention audit 1 cohort and prospective post-intervention audit 2 cohorts. Audit 1 cohort were recruited from January to February 2019, whereas, audit 2 cohort which received the bundled intervention program were recruited from July to December 2019. Clinical outcomes were compared between cohorts using 30-day readmissions and mortality.
UNASSIGNED: A total of 50 and 164 patients were included in audit 1 and audit 2 cohort, respectively. Patients in the audit 2 cohort were younger [63.0 ± 14.5 in audit 1 vs 56.5 ± 12.7 in audit 2, p = 0.003] and majority were male [50.0% in audit 1 vs 72.0% in audit2, p = 0.004]. Thirty-day readmissions were significantly different [36.0% audit 1 vs. 22.0% audit 2, p = 0.045], but the mortality rates were similar [4.0%% audit 1 vs. 5.5% audit 2, p = 0.677] between two cohorts.
UNASSIGNED: A significant decrease in 30-day readmissions was observed in the post-intervention audit 2 cohort in our setting. Further study in larger population and prolong study follow-up is warranted.