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Background Contemporary registries on atrial fibrillation (AF) are scare in North African countries. Hypothesis In the context of the epidemiological transition, prevalence of valvular AF in Tunisia has decreased and the quality of management is still suboptimal. Methods NATURE‐AF is a prospective Tunisian registry, involving consecutive patients with AF from March 1, 2017 to May 31, 2017, with a one‐year follow‐up period. All the patients with an Electrocardiogram‐documented AF, confirmed in the year prior to enrolment were eligible. The epidemiological characteristics and outcomes were described. Results A total of 915 patients were included in this study, with a mean age of 64.3 ± 22 years and a male/female sex ratio of 0.93. Valvular AF was identified in 22.4% of the patients. The mean CHA2DS2VASC score in nonvalvular AF was 2.4 ± 1.6. Monotherapy with antiplatelet agents was prescribed for 13.8% of the patients. However, 21.7% of the subjects did not receive any antithrombotic agent. Oral anticoagulants were prescribed for half of the patients with a low embolic risk score. In 341 patients, the mean time in therapeutic range was 48.87 ± 28.69%. Amiodarone was the most common antiarrhythmic agent used (52.6%). During a 12‐month follow‐up period, 15 patients (1.64%) had thromboembolism, 53 patients (5.8%) had major hemorrhage, and 52 patients (5.7%) died. Conclusions NATURE‐AF has provided systematic collection of contemporary data regarding the epidemiological and clinical characteristics as well as the management of AF by cardiologists in Tunisia. Valvular AF is still prevalent and the quality of anticoagulation was suboptimal.

The NATURE-HF registry was aimed to describe clinical epidemiology and 1-year outcomes of outpatients and inpatients with heart failure (HF). This is a prospective, multicenter, observational survey conducted in Tunisian Cardiology centers. A total of 2040 patients were included in the study. Of these, 1632 (80%) were outpatients with chronic HF (CHF). The mean hospital stay was 8.7 ± 8.2 days. The mortality rate during the initial hospitalization event for AHF was 7.4%. The all-cause 1-year mortality rate was 22.8% among AHF patients and 10.6% among CHF patients. Among CHF patients, the older age, diabetes, anemia, reduced EF, ischemic etiology, residual congestion and the absence of ACEI/ ARBs treatment were independent predictors of 1-year cumulative rates of rehospitalization and mortality. The female sex and the functional status were independent predictors of 1-year all-cause mortality and rehospitalization in AHF patients. This study confirmed that acute HF is still associated with a poor prognosis, while the mid-term outcomes in patients with chronic HF seems to be improved. Some differences across countries may be due to different clinical characteristics and differences in healthcare systems.

Toxicomania is a worldwide emerging problem threatening young population. Several reports highlighted its hazardous cardiovascular effects. Sudden cardiac death secondary to cardiac arrhythmias is the most occupying issue. Different forms of cardiac rhythm disorders may be induced by illicit drug abuse according to the type of drug and the mechanism involved. In this review, we exposed the main ventricular and supraventricular arrhythmia complicating the common recreational drugs, and we explained their different mechanisms as well as the particularities of management.

Key Clinical MessageIllicit drugs are an uncommon etiology of acute myocarditis but should be evocated in young population. This association may result in further complications, mainly ventricular arrhythmia and therefore increases sudden cardiac deaths among young abusers. Withholding drug intoxication to prevent recurrent events is a major key of management.

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Background Following an acute coronary syndrome, ischemic myocardial dysfunction has several degrees of severity and different outcomes from a total or partial recovery to an irreversible injury. In this study led in non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) patients without otherwise previous non-ischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), we investigated the correlation between 2D global longitudinal strain (GLS) and angiographic prognostic factors. The ability of territorial longitudinal strain (TLS), defined as the sum of segmental strain in a coronary territory,to identify culprit artery occlusion was also assessed. Methods 82 consecutive NSTEMI patients were prospectively screened for inclusion; 70 of them without NICM were enrolled. Severe coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined as three-vessel disease or a left main disease. Group 1 and 2 were defined by the presence or not of severe CAD. Statics ‘analyses was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics (version 22). Results mean age of patients was 60, 2 ±10 years. 37 patients had diabetes mellitus (53%), 31 had hypertension (44%), 21 had dyslipidemia (30%) and 5 had renal insufficiency (7%). Severe CAD was present in 24 patients (34%). The first ultrasound exam showed that mean EF was 49 ± 11, mean WMSI was 1.43 ± 0.4 and mean GLS was -14.9 ± 4. GLS was higher in group 1 (-12.82 ± 0.95 vs -16.04 ± 0.42; p < 0.001); LVEF and WMSI in group 1 and 2 were (43.3 ± 13.5% Vs 52.7 ± 7.9%; p < 0.001) and (1.64 ± 0.1 Vs 1.32 ± 0.04; p < 0.001) respectively. Correlations were found between LVEF and GLS (p = 0.004), and between WMSI and GLS (p = 0.002) . TLS was able to discriminate between coronary stenosis of LAD, LCX or RCA and to predict the occlusion of the culprit vessel: 7 patients had acute coronary occlusion (10%). TLS was -7.4 ± 5.1 in patients with coronary occlusion and -14.1 ± 6 in the absence of coronary occlusion (p < 0.001). A cut off of -9.5 was able to detect this occlusion with a specificity of 82% and a sensitivity of 85%. The second ultrasound exam, performed after a median of 10 ± 3.1 months, showed a statistically significant improvement of EF (53 ± 10, p =0.02), WMSI (1.35 ± 0.39, p= 0.01) as well as GLS (-17.1 ± 4.2, p =0.004). Patients who received only medical treatment (n = 11) had the lowest variation of EF (47% to 48 %; p = 0.7), WMSI (1.62 to 1.59; p = 0.69) and GLS (14.2 to 15.2; p = 0.2) with no statistical correlation between the two exams. While patients who had PCI or bypass revascularization, had the best outcome with improvement of EF (49% to 53%; p = 0.002), WMSI (1.4 to 1.32;p = 0.01) and GLS (15 to 17.4;p = 0.004). Conclusion GLS is a strong diagnostic and prognostic ultra sound parameter for NSTEMI patients correlated to CAD severity. Strain is a reliable parameter during follow up.TLS can be used to localize the culprit coronary artery and especially to predict its occlusion during the acute phase of NSTEMI which can lead to a different therapeutic strategy.

In the acute phase of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) viability imaging techniques are not validated and/or not available. This study aimed to evaluate the ability of strain parameters assessed in the acute phase of STEMI, to predict myocardial viability after revascularization. Thirty-one STEMI patients whose culprit coronary artery was recanalized and in whom baseline echocardiogram showed an akinesia in the infarcted area, were prospectively included. Bidimensional left ventricular global longitudinal strain (GLS), and territorial longitudinal strain (TLS) in the territory of the infarct related artery were obtained within 24 hours from admission. Delayed enhancement (DE) cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (CMR) was used as a reference test to assess post-revascularization myocardial viability. DE-CMR was performed 3 months after percutaneous coronary intervention. According to myocardial viability, patients were divided into 2 groups; CMR viable myocardium patients with more than half of infarcted segments having a DE <50% (group V) and CMR nonviable myocardium patients with half or more of the infarcted segments having a DE >50% (group NV). GLS and TLS were lower in group V compared to group NV (respectively: −14.4% ± 2.9% vs −10.9% ± 2.4%, P = .002 and −11.0 ± 4.1 vs −3.2 ± 3.1, P = .001). GLS was correlated with DE-CMR (r = 0.54, P = .002) and a cut off value of −13.9% for GLS predicted viability with 86% sensitivity (Se) and 78% specificity (Sp). TLS showed the strongest correlation with DE-CMR (r = 0.69, P < .001). A cut off value of −9.4% for TLS yielded a Se of 78% and a Sp of 95% to predict myocardial viability. GLS and TLS measured in the acute phase of STEMI predicted myocardial viability assessed by 3 months DE-CMR. They are prognostic indicators and they can be used to guide the priority and usefulness of percutaneous coronary intervention in these patients.