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BackgroundPatients with severe aortic stenosis and concomitant active cancer (AC) are considered high-risk patients and usually are not allowed to undergo surgical valve replacement. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) may be an attractive option for them; however, little is known about the outcomes of TAVR in this subset of complex patients.Methods and resultsIn this meta-analysis, Medline, Cochrane Library and Scopus databases were searched (anytime up to April 2019) for studies evaluating the outcomes of TAVR in patients with or without AC. We assessed pooled estimates (with their 95% CIs) of the risk ratio (RR) for the all-cause mortality at the 30-day and 1-year follow-ups, a 4-point safety outcome (any bleeding, stroke, need for a pacemaker and acute kidney injury) and a 2-point efficacy outcome (device success and residual mean gradient (mean difference)). Three studies (5162 patients) were included. Of those patients, a total of 368 (7.1%) had AC. Apart from a significantly higher need for a postprocedural pacemaker (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.06 to 1.58, p=0.01), TAVR in patients with AC resulted in similar outcomes for safety and efficacy at the 30-day follow-up compared with those without AC. Patients with AC experienced similar rates of the all-cause mortality at the 30-day follow-up compared with those without (RR 0.92, 95% CI 0.53 to 1.59, p=0.76); however, the all-cause mortality was significantly higher in patients with AC at the 1-year follow-up (RR 1.71, 95% CI 1.26 to 2.33, p=0.0006). This mortality difference was independent of cancer stage (advanced or limited) at the 30-day follow-up but not at the 1-year follow-up; only patients with limited cancer stages showed similar all-cause mortality rates compared with those without cancer at the 1-year follow-up (RR 1.22, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.91, p=0.37).ConclusionTAVR in patients with AC is associated with similar 30-day and potentially worse 1-year outcomes compared with those in patients without AC. The 1-year all-cause mortality appears to be dependent on the cancer stage. Involving a specialised oncologist who usually considers cancer stage in the decision-making process and applying additional preoperative scores such as frailty indices might refine the risk assessment process among these patients.PROSPERO registration numberCRD42019120416.

One hundred and ninety eight samples of human and animal sources from different areas in El-Sharkia Governorate were used in this study to isolate Staphylococcus species and to determine the presence of coagulase ( coa) gene ,a virulence gene detected in S. aureus (CoPS), by PCR. Primary isolation on mannitol salt agar, βhaemolysis, tube coagulase test (TCT) and other biochemical characterization revealed 32.8% (65/198) of the total samples were infected with staphylococci, only 35 isolates were biotyped as coagulase-positive Staphylococci (Cops) and represented as 8 (8.8%), 10 (22.2%) and 17 (26.9%) in milk, meat and human samples, respectively.Meanwhile, Coagulase-negative Staphylococci (CoNS) were obtained only from cows milk. Fifteen CoPS (5 milk samples, 4 meat products and 6 human samples) were subjected to analysis by PCR for detection of coa gene. The resulted amplicons were 648, 723, 812 and 913 bp. According to coa gene polymorphism, milk and meat isolates were grouped into 5 groups, while human isolates were grouped into 4 groups. It was noted that two of the strains, classified as coagulase negative by tube coagulase test, were found to be positive with PCR amplification of the gene which clearly emphasizes the use of molecular methods in detecting S. aureus. In conclusion, the coa amplification has been considered as a simple and accurate method for typing of S. aureus.

Background Patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and concomitant active cancer (AC) are considered high-risk patients and usually are not allowed to undergo surgical valve replacement. Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) may be an attractive option for them; however, little is known about the outcomes of TAVR in this subset of complex patients. Methods and results In this meta-analysis, Medline, Cochrane Library and Scopus databases were searched (anytime up to April 2019) for studies evaluating the outcomes of TAVR in patients with or without AC. We assessed pooled estimates (with their 95% confidence intervals [CIs]) of the risk ratio (RR) for the all-cause mortality at the 30-day and 1-year follow-ups, a 4-point safety outcome (any bleeding, stroke, need for a pacemaker and acute kidney injury) and a 2-point efficacy outcome (device success and residual mean gradient [mean difference]). Three studies (5162 patients) were included. Of those patients, a total of 368 patients (7.1%) had AC. Apart from a significantly higher need for a postprocedural pacemaker (RR 1.29, 95% CI: 1.06–1.58, P=0.01), TAVR in AC patients resulted in similar outcomes for safety and efficacy at the 30-day follow-up compared to those without AC. Patients with AC experienced similar rates of the all-cause mortality at the 30-day follow-up compared to those without (RR 0.92, 95% CI: 0.53 to 1.59, P=0.76); however, the all-cause mortality was significantly higher in patients with AC at the 1-year follow-up (RR 1.71, 95% CI: 1.26 to 2.33, P=0.0006). This mortality difference was independent of cancer stage (advanced or limited) at the 30-day follow-up but not at the 1-year follow-up; only patients with limited cancer stages showed similar all-cause mortality rates compared to those without cancer at the 1-year follow-up (RR 1.22, 95% CI: 0.79 to 1.91, P=0.37). Conclusion TAVR in patients with AC is associated with similar 30-day and potentially worse 1-year outcomes compared to those in patients without AC. The 1-year all-cause mortality appears to be dependent on the cancer stage. Involving a specialized oncologist who usually considers cancer stage in the decision-making process and applying additional preoperative scores such as frailty indices might refine the risk assessment process among these patients. All-cause mortality (cancer vs no) Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Background: Little are known about the prevalence of atherosclerosis risk factors in Egyptian patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Objective: Describe the prevalence of these risk factors with focus on gender-specific data and patients with premature presentation. Methods: From November 2015 to August 2018, data were collected from 3224 patients with ACS in 30 coronary care centers covering 11 governorates across Egypt, with focus premature ACS. Results: The vast majority were males (74%) and the most prevalent age group was (56-65 years) representing 37% of whole study population. Among female patients, 92% were post-menopausal. The prevalence of premature ACS was 51%. Forty five percent of total males and 69.6% of total females with ACS had premature presentation (P<0.001). Abdominal obesity was the most prevalent risk factor (66%). Nearly half of the entire study patients were current smokers (48%). We showed a high prevalence of documented dyslipidemia (48%) as well. Early invasive management strategy was employed in 65% of patients with no significant gender disparity noticed. Vascular access for coronary angiography was most commonly femoral (80% of time). Emergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was attempted in 53% of patients. Thrombolytic therapy (using Streptokinase) was used in 24% of included participants. Conclusion: Among Egyptian patients with ACS, premature presentation is common with greater male preponderance. Abdominal obesity is the most prevalent risk factor followed by hypertension. Most traditional risk factors (apart from smoking) were more prevalent in women than men.   * A complete list of contributors is available as ad hoc online appendix