Abstract Background Current guidelines suggest that patients with left bundle branch block (LBBB) be treated with cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT); however, one-third do not have a significant ...activation delay, which can result in nonresponse. By identifying characteristic opposing wall contraction, 2-dimensional strain echocardiography (2DSE) may detect true LBBB activation. Objectives This study sought to investigate whether the absence of a typical LBBB mechanical activation pattern by 2DSE was associated with unfavorable long-term outcome and if this is additive to electrocardiographic (ECG) morphology and duration. Methods From 2 centers, 208 CRT candidates (New York Heart Association classes II to IV, ejection fraction ≤35%, QRS duration ≥120 ms) with LBBB by ECG were prospectively included. Before CRT implantation, longitudinal strain in the apical 4-chamber view determined whether typical LBBB contraction was present. The pre-defined outcome was freedom from death, left ventricular assist device, or heart transplantation over 4 years. Results Two-thirds of patients (63%) had a typical LBBB contraction pattern. During 4 years, 48 patients (23%) reached the primary endpoint. Absence of a typical LBBB contraction was independently associated with increased risk of adverse outcome after adjustment for ischemic heart disease and QRS width (hazard ratio HR: 3.1; 95% CI: 1.64 to 5.88; p < 0.005). Adding pattern assessment to a risk prediction model including QRS duration and ischemic heart disease significantly improved the net reclassification index to 0.14 (p = 0.04) and improved the C-statistics (0.63 95% CI: 0.54 to 0.72 vs. 0.71 95% CI: 0.63 to 0.80; p = 0.02). Use of strict LBBB ECG criteria was not independently associated with outcome in the multivariate model (HR: 1.72; 95% CI: 0.89 to 3.33; p = 0.11. Assessment of LBBB contraction pattern was superior to time-to-peak indexes of dyssynchrony (p < 0.01 for all). Conclusions Contraction pattern assessment to identify true LBBB activation provided important prognostic information in CRT candidates.
Patients with infective endocarditis on the left side of the heart are typically treated with intravenous antibiotic agents for up to 6 weeks. Whether a shift from intravenous to oral antibiotics ...once the patient is in stable condition would result in efficacy and safety similar to those with continued intravenous treatment is unknown.
In a randomized, noninferiority, multicenter trial, we assigned 400 adults in stable condition who had endocarditis on the left side of the heart caused by streptococcus, Enterococcus faecalis, Staphylococcus aureus, or coagulase-negative staphylococci and who were being treated with intravenous antibiotics to continue intravenous treatment (199 patients) or to switch to oral antibiotic treatment (201 patients). In all patients, antibiotic treatment was administered intravenously for at least 10 days. If feasible, patients in the orally treated group were discharged to outpatient treatment. The primary outcome was a composite of all-cause mortality, unplanned cardiac surgery, embolic events, or relapse of bacteremia with the primary pathogen, from the time of randomization until 6 months after antibiotic treatment was completed.
After randomization, antibiotic treatment was completed after a median of 19 days (interquartile range, 14 to 25) in the intravenously treated group and 17 days (interquartile range, 14 to 25) in the orally treated group (P=0.48). The primary composite outcome occurred in 24 patients (12.1%) in the intravenously treated group and in 18 (9.0%) in the orally treated group (between-group difference, 3.1 percentage points; 95% confidence interval, -3.4 to 9.6; P=0.40), which met noninferiority criteria.
In patients with endocarditis on the left side of the heart who were in stable condition, changing to oral antibiotic treatment was noninferior to continued intravenous antibiotic treatment. (Funded by the Danish Heart Foundation and others; POET ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01375257 .).
Background A classical strain pattern of early contraction in one wall and prestretching of the opposing wall followed by late contraction has previously been associated with left bundle branch block ...(LBBB) activation and short-term response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). Aims of this study were to establish the long-term predictive value of an LBBB-related strain pattern and to identify changes in contraction patterns during short-term and long-term CRT. Methods and Results Sixty-seven patients with standard CRT criteria were prospectively enrolled between early 2009 and late 2010. Echocardiography including regional strain analysis by 2-dimensional speckle tracking was performed 1 week before implantation, at day 1, and 6 months after. Response was defined as a decrease in left ventricular end-systolic volume ≥15%. The predictive ability of a classical pattern was compared with time-to-peak measurements from velocity and deformation analysis. Forty-three patients (65%) were classified as responders. The presence of a classical pattern showed 91% specificity and 95% sensitivity for response and performed significantly better than time-to-peak parameters in prediction of response to CRT ( P < .001, all). In responders, CRT acutely increased septal longitudinal peak systolic strain (−8.7% ± 3.6% to −11.1% ± 3%, P < .001) but not in nonresponders. Conclusions The classical pattern is highly predictive of response to CRT and superior to time-to-peak methods. Patients who obtain long-term reverse remodeling are characterized by short-term reversal of the classical strain pattern. These findings emphasize the value of recognizing potentially reversible strain patterns in selection of CRT candidates.
The benefit of an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in patients with symptomatic systolic heart failure caused by coronary artery disease has been well documented. However, the evidence ...for a benefit of prophylactic ICDs in patients with systolic heart failure that is not due to coronary artery disease has been based primarily on subgroup analyses. The management of heart failure has improved since the landmark ICD trials, and many patients now receive cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT).
In a randomized, controlled trial, 556 patients with symptomatic systolic heart failure (left ventricular ejection fraction, ≤35%) not caused by coronary artery disease were assigned to receive an ICD, and 560 patients were assigned to receive usual clinical care (control group). In both groups, 58% of the patients received CRT. The primary outcome of the trial was death from any cause. The secondary outcomes were sudden cardiac death and cardiovascular death.
After a median follow-up period of 67.6 months, the primary outcome had occurred in 120 patients (21.6%) in the ICD group and in 131 patients (23.4%) in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.87; 95% confidence interval CI, 0.68 to 1.12; P=0.28). Sudden cardiac death occurred in 24 patients (4.3%) in the ICD group and in 46 patients (8.2%) in the control group (hazard ratio, 0.50; 95% CI, 0.31 to 0.82; P=0.005). Device infection occurred in 27 patients (4.9%) in the ICD group and in 20 patients (3.6%) in the control group (P=0.29).
In this trial, prophylactic ICD implantation in patients with symptomatic systolic heart failure not caused by coronary artery disease was not associated with a significantly lower long-term rate of death from any cause than was usual clinical care. (Funded by Medtronic and others; DANISH ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT00542945 .).
Abstract
The modified Duke criteria requires that Enterococcus faecalis bacteremia must be both community-acquired and without known focus in order to be considered a microbiological “Major” ...diagnostic criterion in the diagnosis of infective endocarditis. We believe that the microbiological diagnostic criteria should be updated to regard E. faecalis as a “typical” endocarditis bacterium as is currently the case, for example, viridans group streptococci and Staphylococcus aureus. Using data from a prospective study of 344 patients with E. faecalis bacteremia evaluated with echocardiography, we demonstrate that designating E. faecalis as a “typical” endocarditis pathogen, regardless the place of acquisition or the portal of entry, improved the sensitivity to correctly identify definite endocarditis from 70% (modified Duke criteria) to 96% (enterococcal adjusted Duke criteria).
The modified Duke criteria fails to identify 30% of Enterococcus faecalisinfective endocarditis as definite endocarditis, and therefore we suggest recognizing Enterococcus faecalisas a typical endocarditis bacterium to increase sensitivity to 96% in the new “enterococcal adjusted Duke criteria.”
Enterococcus faecalis is the third most frequent cause of infective endocarditis (IE). Despite this, no systematic prospective echocardiography studies have examined the prevalence of IE in patients ...with E. faecalis bacteremia.
This study sought to determine the prevalence of IE in patients with E. faecalis bacteremia. The secondary objective was to identify predictors of IE.
From January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2016, a prospective multicenter study was conducted with echocardiography in consecutive patients with E. faecalis bacteremia. Predictors of IE were assessed using multivariate logistic regression with backward elimination.
A total of 344 patients with E. faecalis bacteremia were included, all examined using echocardiography, including transesophageal echocardiography in 74% of the cases. The patients had a mean age of 74.2 years, and 73.5% were men. Definite endocarditis was diagnosed in 90 patients, resulting in a prevalence of 26.1 ± 4.6% (95% confidence interval CI). Risk factors for IE were prosthetic heart valve (odds ratio OR: 3.93; 95% CI: 1.76 to 8.77; p = 0.001), community acquisition (OR: 3.35; 95% CI: 1.74 to 6.46; p < 0.001), ≥3 positive blood culture bottles (OR: 3.69; 95% CI: 1.88 to 7.23; p < 0.001), unknown portal of entry (OR: 2.36; 95% CI: 1.26 to 4.40; p = 0.007), monomicrobial bacteremia (OR: 2.73; 95% CI: 1.23 to 6.05; p = 0.013), and immunosuppression (OR: 2.82; 95% CI: 1.20 to 6.58; p = 0.017).
This study revealed a high prevalence of 26% definite IE in patients with E. faecalis bacteremia, suggesting that echocardiography should be considered in all patients with E. faecalis bacteremia.
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Aims/hypothesis
We aimed to examine whether individuals with initial omission of glucose-lowering drug treatment (GLDT), including those achieving initial remission of type 2 diabetes, may experience ...a higher risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) compared with well-controlled individuals on GLDT after a new type 2 diabetes diagnosis in real-world clinical practice. Furthermore, we examined whether a higher risk could be related to lower initiation of statins and renin–angiotensin system inhibitors (RASi).
Methods
In this cohort study, we used Danish registers to identify individuals with a first measured HbA
1c
between 48 and 57 mmol/mol (6.5–7.4%) from 2014 to 2020. Six months later, we divided participants into four groups according to GLDT and achieved HbA
1c
(<48 vs ≥48 mmol/mol 6.5%): well-controlled and poorly controlled on GLDT; remission and persistent type 2 diabetes not on GLDT. We reported how much the standardised 5 year risk of MACE could be reduced for each group if initiation of statins and RASi was the same as in the well-controlled group on GLDT.
Results
We included 14,221 individuals. Compared with well-controlled participants on GLDT, the 5 year standardised risk of MACE was higher in the three other exposure groups: by 3.3% (95% CI 1.6, 5.1) in the persistent type 2 diabetes group not on GLDT; 2.0% (95% CI 0.4, 3.7) in the remission group not on GLDT; and 3.5% (95% CI 1.3, 5.7) in the poorly controlled group on GLDT. Fewer individuals not on GLDT initiated statins and RASi compared with individuals on GLDT. If initiation of statins and RASi had been the same as in the well-controlled group on GLDT, participants not on GLDT could have reduced their risk of MACE by 2.1% (95% CI 1.2, 2.9) in the persistent type 2 diabetes group and by 1.1% (95% CI 0.4, 1.9) in the remission group.
Conclusions/interpretation
Compared with well-controlled individuals on GLDT, individuals not on initial GLDT had a higher 5 year risk of MACE, even among those achieving remission of type 2 diabetes. This may be related to lower use of statins and RASi.
Graphical Abstract
Purpose
Self-assessed poor health status is associated with increased risk of mortality in several cardiovascular conditions, but has not been investigated in patients with endocarditis. We examined ...health status and mortality in patients with endocarditis.
Methods
This is a re-specified substudy of the randomized POET endocarditis trial, which included 400 patients. Patients completed the single-question self-assessed health status from the Short-Form 36 questionnaire at time of randomization and were categorized as having poor or non-poor (excellent/very good, good, or fair) health status. Self-assessed health status and all-cause mortality were examined by a Cox regression model.
Results
Self-assessed health status was completed by 266 (67%) patients with a mean age of 68.0 years (± 11.8), 54 (20%) were females, and 86 (32%) had one or more major concurrent medical conditions besides endocarditis. The self-assessed health status distribution was poor (
n
= 21, 8%) and non-poor (
n
= 245, 92%). The median follow-up was 3.3 years and death occurred in 9 (43%) and 48 (20%) patients reporting poor and non-poor health status, respectively, and mortality rates mortality/100 person-years, 95% confidence interval (CI) were 18.1 (95% CI 9.4–34.8) and 5.4 (95% CI 4.1–7.2), i.e., the crude hazard ratio for death was 3.4 (95% CI: 1.7–7.0,
p
< 0.01).
Conclusion
Self-assessed poor health status compared with non-poor health status as assessed by a single question was associated with a threefold increased long-term mortality in patients with endocarditis. POET ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01375257.
Trial registry
POET ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01375257.
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