Articles related to Cardiology, Interventional

Chest CT in this young woman with a history of smoking and chronic hypoxemia of unknown cause shows diffuse ground-glass opacities and some areas of peripheral consolidation with no basilar reticulations or honeycombing. Biopsy showed extensive alveolar filling with pigment-laden macrophages. What’s your diagnosis?

Key practice-changing points from the latest guidelines: • 1st line therapy is sacubitril plus valsartan, as this combination increases survival and reduces hospitalizations versus ACE inhibitors and ARBs.• ACE inhibitors should be used only in patients who cannot tolerate sacubitril-valsartan, and ARBs used only in those who cannot tolerate either the 1st- or 2nd-line recommended therapies.• Patients whose ejection fraction increases to more than 40% under therapy should continue to receive therapy.

Risks for ischemic stroke, hemorrhagic stroke, MI, and pulmonary embolism were all lower for older patients receiving a bivalent vaccine booster versus the monovalent vaccine. The results “provide reassurance regarding the continued use of this bivalent vaccine.”

Danish researchers assembled a prospective observational cohort study of 9,533 asymptomatic people aged 40 years or older with no known ischemic heart disease to define characteristics of subclinical coronary atherosclerosis associated with the development of myocardial infarction. The study’s findings are startling.

Swedish researchers have learned how to “grow” electrically conductive regions in tissue. The process involves injecting an enzyme-rich hydrogel into target tissues. The enzymes interact with molecules in the tissue and change the structure of the gel to make it conductive. The technique has potential application in areas as diverse as cardiac pacing to brain-computer interface development – all without the implanted electrodes that are used today and the physical limits they impose.

A faulty control arm makes a new trial for tricuspid valve regurgitation intervention seem positive. But in reality, the results probably aren’t.