For patients with acute myocarditis, follow-up cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging at 6 months after the original CMR provides an evolution of cardiac involvement to evaluate prognosis, according to study results published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Continue reading →

A new study observed a correlation between pulmonary hypertension (pHTN) and increased mortality after transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) using the MitraClip. Pulmonary hypertension (pHTN) is associated with increased risk of mortality after mitral valve surgery for mitral regurgitation. However, its association with clinical outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVr) with a commercially available system (MitraClip) is unknown, stated the study authors in describing why they undertook this study, which was published in JAMA Cardiology. Continue reading →

God will prepare everything for our perfect happiness in heaven, and if it takes my dog being there, I believe he'll be there.~The Reverend Billy Graham Its peculiar that the origin of the word dog is essentially unknown. It is true that theories abound such as that the term was derived from the Old Germanic Word docga stemming from the word dukkon meaning power and strength Continue reading →

LONDON, EnglandTreatment with the self-expanding Evolut PRO/R transcatheter heart valve (Medtronic) for severe symptomatic aortic stenosis significantly improves hemodynamics and effectively enlarges the valve area in patients with bicuspid aortic valves (BAV), according to preliminary data from the BIVOLUT-X registry. But while the echocardiographic outcomes looked good in the study, investigators did observe an increased risk of stroke. In an interim look at the first 75 BAV patients treated with an Evolut device, there were four disabling strokes at 30 days, amounting to a rate of 5.3%. Continue reading →