Abstract
Background
Chronic mitral regurgitation (MR) is one of the most common valvular heart diseases and is associated with poor outcomes. Although other structural diseases are regularly seen in ...such patients, concomitant atrial septal defects (ASDs) remain a rarity in the elderly.
Case summary
We report a case of an 82-year-old woman with progressive right-sided heart failure (HF) due to MR and an ASD of secundum type, despite optimal medical therapy. Combined transcatheter mitral valve repair (MVR) by utilizing a separate transseptal puncture and ASD closure was performed resulting in amelioration of symptoms.
Discussion
Procedural planning for simultaneous transcatheter therapies of coupled structural heart disease entities remains complex. Our case illustrates feasibility of percutaneous edge-to-edge MVR and consecutive closure of a large secundum ASD. Different options of accessing the left atrium should be discussed on an individual basis, while additional ASD closure may be beneficial in terms of right ventricular function and symptoms of right HF.
Severe increase in right ventricular pressure can compromise left ventricular (LV) function because of impaired interventricular interaction and aggravate the symptoms.
To elucidate how nonsevere ...idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH) influences LV function because of impaired interventricular interaction.
Invasive pressure-volume (PV) loop analysis obtained by conductance catheterization was performed at rest and during atrial pacing in patients with mild IPAH (n = 10) compared with patients with isolated LV diastolic dysfunction (DD) (n = 10) and control subjects without heart failure symptoms (n = 9).
Patients with nonsevere IPAH (pulmonary artery pressure mean 29 ± 5 mm Hg) and patients with DD showed preserved systolic (ejection fraction 63 ± 12% and 62 ± 9%) and impaired LV diastolic function at rest (LV stiffness 0.027 ± 0.012 ml(-1) and 0.029 ± 0.014 ml(-1)). During pacing at 120 per minute patients with IPAH and DD decreased their stroke volume (-25% and -30%; P < 0.05) and failed to increase cardiac output significantly. Opposite to patients with DD and control subjects, temporary preload reduction during inferior vena cava occlusion initially induced an expansion of LV end-diastolic volume in IPAH (+7%; P < 0.05), whereas end-diastolic pressure continuously dropped. This resulted in an initial downward shift to the right of the PV loop indicating better LV filling, which was associated with a temporary improvement of cardiac output (+11%; P < 0.05) in the patients with IPAH, but not in patients with DD and control subjects.
Mild idiopathic pulmonary arterial pressure impairs LV diastolic compliance even in the absence of the intrinsic LV disease and contributes to the reduced cardiac performance at stress.
Up to one third of patients with chronic myocarditis (MC) have preserved left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (MCpEF). The purpose of this study was to evaluate the role of adding 2D ...speckle-tracking echocardiography (STE) to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) in the diagnosis of patients with MCpEF.
We analyzed 67 patients with suspected MCpEF who underwent endomyocardial biopsy (EMB). Thirty-two patients with confirmed chronic myocardial inflammation by EMB served as study group (MCpEF) and the remaining patients (n=35) served as control group. In all patients, 2D STE and cMRI were performed within 48h before EMB. Patients with MCpEF had significantly lower LV global longitudinal systolic strain (GLS) than controls (GLS: −17.01±2.42% vs. −19.39±3.81%, p<0.001; respectively). In line, an abnormal GLS had adequate diagnostic performance to detect MCpEF (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of 82%, 70%, and 76%, respectively), which was superior to cMRI based on the Lake-Louise criteria (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy 54%, 71%, and 67%, respectively). In addition, adding GLS to the Lake-Louise criteria improved significantly the diagnostic performance of cMRI to detect MCpEF (sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy 96%, 55%, and 75%, respectively).
The findings of this study suggest that GLS using 2D STE could play an important role in the diagnostic evaluation of patients with suspected chronic myocarditis with preserved LV ejection fraction (MCpEF).
Aims We tested the hypothesis that, in heart failure with normal ejection fraction (HFNEF), diastolic dysfunction is accentuated at increasing heart rates, and this contributes to impaired ...frequency-dependent augmentation of cardiac output. Methods and results In 17 patients with HFNEF (median age 69 years, 13 female) and seven age-matched control patients, systolic and diastolic function was analysed by pressure–volume loops at baseline heart rate and during atrial pacing to 100 and 120 min−1. At baseline, relaxation was prolonged and end-diastolic left ventricular stiffness was higher in HFNEF, whereas all parameters of systolic function were not different from control patients. This resulted in smaller end-diastolic volumes, higher end-diastolic pressure, and a lower stroke volume and cardiac index in HFNEF vs. control patients. During pacing, frequency-dependent upregulation of contractility indices (+dP/dtmax and Ees) occurred similarly in HFNEF and control patients, but frequency-dependent acceleration of relaxation (dP/dtmin) was blunted in HFNEF. In HFNEF, end-diastolic volume and stroke volume decreased with higher heart rates while both remained unchanged in control patients. Conclusion In HFNEF, frequency-dependent upregulation of cardiac output is blunted. This results from progressive volume unloading of the left ventricle due to limited relaxation reserve in combination with increased LV passive stiffness, despite preserved force–frequency relation.
Aim
Heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is associated with myocardial remodelling including severe pro‐fibrotic changes contributing to an increase in left ventricular stiffness ...and diastolic dysfunction. Serum C‐terminal propeptide of procollagen type I (PIP) strongly correlates with the turnover of extracellular cardiac matrix proteins and fibrosis. Torasemide, but not furosemide, was described to reduce collagen type I synthesis in clinically unstable patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction. We evaluated whether its effect translated to HFpEF patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and abnormal basal PIP levels.
Methods and results
We performed a relatively small, single‐centre, randomised, double‐blind, two‐arm parallel‐group, active controlled clinical trial in 35 HFpEF patients with T2DM to determine the effects of a 9‐month treatment with torasemide vs. furosemide on changes of serum PIP levels. Patients with increased PIP levels (≥110 ng/mL), or evidence of structural changes with a left atrial volume index (LAVI) >29 mL/m2 and abnormal PIP levels (≥70 ng/mL), were eligible to participate. Fifteen patients were female (42%), mean age was 69 years, body mass index was 34.7 kg/m2, 83% were in New York Heart Association class II/III. Echocardiographic characteristics showed a mean left ventricular ejection fraction of >60%, a left ventricular mass index >120 g/m2, an E/e' ratio of 14, and a LAVI of 40 mL/m2 with a NT‐proBNP of 174 ng/L and a 6‐minute walk distance of 421 m. Mean per cent change in PIP was 2.63 ± 5.68% (±SEM) in torasemide vs. 2.74 ± 6.49% in furosemide (P = 0.9898) treated patients. Torasemide was not superior to furosemide in improving functional capacity, diastolic function, quality of life, or neuroendocrine activation.
Conclusion
In this hypothesis‐generating, mechanistic trial in stable HFpEF patients with T2DM, neither long‐term administration of torasemide nor furosemide was associated with a significant effect on myocardial fibrosis, as assessed by serum PIP. Further studies are urgently needed in this field. More specific diuretic and anti‐fibrotic treatment strategies in T2DM and/or HFpEF are warranted.
An 86-year-old patient experienced progressive heart failure symptoms. Echocardiographic evaluation revealed severe tricuspid regurgitation, which was treated by transcatheter edge-to-edge repair. ...During the procedure, single leaflet device attachment occurred. On the basis of a prohibitive surgical risk, caval valve implantation was performed, with no notable complications. (
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Abstract Background Functional iron deficiency (FID) is an independent risk factor for poor outcome in advanced heart failure with reduced EF, but its role in heart failure with preserved EF (HFPEF) ...remains unclear. We aimed to investigate the impact of FID on cardiac performance determined by pressure–volume loop analysis in HFPEF. Methods 26 HFPEF patients who showed an increase in LV stiffness by pressure–volume (PV) loop analysis obtained by conductance-catheterization, performed exercise testing, echocardiographic examination including tissue Doppler and determination of iron metabolism: serum iron, ferritin and transferrin saturation. HFPEF patients who provided ferritin < 100 μg/l or ferritin of 100–299 μg/l in combination with transferrin saturation < 20% were defined as having FID. In 14 patients the expression of transferrin receptor was determined from available endomyocardial biopsies. Results Fifteen out of 26 HFPEF patients showed FID without anemia. Compared to control subjects and HFPEF patients without FID, HFPEF patients with FID showed an up-regulation of the myocardial transferrin receptor expression (p < 0.05). No differences between HFPEF patients with and without iron deficiency were found in heart dimensions, systolic and diastolic function obtained by PV-loop and echocardiography analysis. According to the linear regression analysis, LV stiffness was correlated with peak oxygen uptake (r = − 0.636, p < 0.001) but not with the ferritin level or transferrin saturation. No relation was found between FID and exercise capacity. The association of LV stiffness with exercise performance was independent from the level of iron deficiency. Conclusion In non-anemic HFPEF patients, cardiac dysfunction and impaired exercise capacity occur independently of FID.
To address the mechanisms responsible for the increase in LV filling pressures induced by acute hypertension transients in patients with heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF).
...Multiple-beat pressure-volume loops were recorded during inferior vena cava occlusion in 39 HFpEF patients and 20 controls during handgrip and atrial pacing. We measured the contribution of relaxation, elastic recoil, and stiffness to instantaneous diastolic pressure using a novel processing method. Fibrosis was quantified from endomyocardial biopsies. HFpEF patients showed higher diastolic pressures and stiffness constant than controls (P < 0.05 for all). As opposed to controls, all intrinsic global diastolic properties were sensitive to acute changes in systolic pressure in the HFpEF group. In fact, the stiffness constant increased by more than 50% during handgrip in HFpEF patients (P < 0.05), tightly related to changes in systolic pressure (fixed-effect = 0.26 mm Hg per mm Hg 95% CI = 0.15-0.37; P < 0.0001). Incomplete relaxation contributed to increasing pressure before atrial contraction, but changes in end-diastolic pressure was mostly caused by the increase in stiffness. The degree of pressure-sensitivity of stiffness correlated with myocardial collagen volume and crosslinking (R = 0.40 to 0.82 for all).
Acute chamber stiffening is the main mechanism responsible for rising late-diastolic pressures when HFpEF patients undergo hypertension transients. This stiffening behaviour is related to impaired dynamic systolic-diastolic interactions and correlates with matrix remodelling. Ventricular-vascular relationships are a promising target in HFpEF and should be taken into account when assessing diastolic function.
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