This consensus statement has been compiled on behalf of the International Society for Holter and Noninvasive Electrophysiology. It reviews the topic of heart rate turbulence (HRT) and concentrates on technologies for measurement, physiologic background and interpretation, and clinical use of HRT. It also lists suggestions for future research. The phenomenon of HRT refers to sinus rhythm cycle-length perturbations after isolated premature ventricular complexes. The physiologic pattern of HRT consists of brief heart rate acceleration (quantified by the so-called turbulence onset) followed by more gradual heart rate deceleration (quantified by the so-called turbulence slope) before the rate returns to a pre-ectopic level. Available physiologic investigations confirm that the initial heart rate acceleration is triggered by transient vagal inhibition in response to the missed baroreflex afferent input caused by hemodynamically inefficient ventricular contraction. A sympathetically mediated overshoot of arterial pressure is responsible for the subsequent heart rate deceleration through vagal recruitment. Hence, the HRT pattern is blunted in patients with reduced baroreflex. The HRT pattern is influenced by a number of factors, provocations, treatments, and pathologies reviewed in this consensus. As HRT measurement provides an indirect assessment of baroreflex, it is useful in those clinical situations that benefit from baroreflex evaluation. The HRT evaluation has thus been found appropriate in risk stratification after acute myocardial infarction, risk prediction, and monitoring of disease progression in heart failure, as well as in several other pathologies.

AimsTo investigate the combination of heart rate turbulence (HRT) and deceleration capacity (DC) as risk predictors in post-infarction patients with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) > 30%.Methods and resultsWe enrolled 2343 consecutive survivors of acute myocardial infarction (MI) (<76 years) in sinus rhythm. HRT and DC were obtained from 24 h Holter recordings. Patients with both abnormal HRT (slope ≤ 2.5 ms/RR and onset ≥ 0%) and abnormal DC (≤4.5 ms) were considered suffering from severe autonomic failure (SAF) and prospectively classified as high risk. Primary and secondary endpoints were all-cause, cardiac, and sudden cardiac mortality within the first 5 years of follow-up. During follow-up, 181 patients died; 39 deaths occurred in 120 patients with LVEF ≤ 30%, and 142 in 2223 patients with LVEF>30% (cumulative 5-year mortality rates of 37.9% and 7.8%, respectively). Among patients with LVEF > 30%, SAF identified another high-risk group of 117 patients with 37 deaths (cumulative 5-year mortality rates of 38.6% and 6.1%, respectively). Merging both high-risk groups (i.e. LVEF ≤ 30% and/or SAF) doubled the sensitivity of mortality prediction compared with LVEF ≤ 30% alone (21.1% vs. 42.1%, P < 0.001) while preserving 5-year mortality rate (38.2%).ConclusionIn post-MI patients with LVEF>30%, SAF identifies a high-risk group equivalent in size and mortality risk to patients with LVEF ≤ 30%.

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Introduction Radical prostatectomy (RP) is associated with erectile dysfunction (ED). A single, placebo-controlled, human study has assessed the effects of regular sildenafil use after RP and demonstrated an increased chance of preservation of preoperative erectile function. Aim This study was undertaken to define the effects of such a regimen in an animal model. Methods Using the cavernous nerve (CN) crush injury model, animals were divided into a number of groups: no CN injury (sham), bilateral CN injury exposed to either no sildenafil (control) or sildenafil at two doses (10 and 20 mg/kg) subcutaneously daily for three different durations (3, 10, 28 days). Main Outcome Measures At these time points, CN electrical stimulation was used to assess erectile function by mean intracavernosal pressure (ICP)/mean arterial pressure (MAP) ratio. For the structural analyses, whole rat penes were harvested. Staining for Masson's trichrome was utilized to calculate the smooth muscle-collagen ratio. Immunohistochemical antibody staining was performed for endothelial (CD31 and eNOS) and neural (GAP43, NGF, and nNOS) factors and immunoblotting was performed to analyze the AKT/eNOS pathway. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase biotin-dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL) assay was used for the assessment of apoptotic indices and the CN architecture was evaluated by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Results Erectile function was improved with sildenafil in a time- and dose-dependent fashion with maximization of erectile function recovery occurring with daily 20 mg/kg at the 28-day time point. Sildenafil use resulted in smooth muscle-collagen ratio protection and CD31 and eNOS expression preservation. Sildenafil reduced apoptotic indices significantly compared with control. Animals exposed to sildenafil had increased phosphorylation of akt and eNOS. Tem demonstrated distinct differences in architecture between control and sildenafil groups toward an increased amount of myelinized nerve fibers. Conclusions Sildenafil use in the CN crush injury model preserves erectile function that appears to be mediated predominantly through preservation of smooth muscle content and endothelial function as well as through reduction in apoptosis.

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