Background Identifying the patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) in whom the risk of sudden cardiac death (SCD) justifies the implantation of a cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) in primary prevention remains challenging. Different risk stratification and criteria are used by the European and American guidelines in this setting. We sought to evaluate the role of cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in improving these risk stratification strategies. Methods We conducted a multicentric retrospective analysis of HCM patients who underwent CMR for diagnostic confirmation and/or risk stratification. Eligibility for ICD was assessed according to the HCM Risk-SCD score and the American College of Cardiology Foundation/American Heart Association (ACCF/AHA) algorithm. The amount of LGE was quantified (LGE%) and categorized as 0%, 0.1–10%, 10.1–19.9% and ≥ 20%. The primary endpoint was a composite of SCD, aborted SCD, sustained ventricular tachycardia (VT), or appropriate ICD discharge. Results A total of 493 patients were available for analysis (58% male, median age 46 years). LGE was present in 79% of patients, with a median LGE% of 2.9% (IQR 0.4–8.4%). The concordance between risk assessment by the HCM Risk-SCD, ACCF/AHA and LGE was relatively weak. During a median follow-up of 3.4 years (IQR 1.5–6.8 years), 23 patients experienced an event (12 SCDs, 6 appropriate ICD discharges and 5 sustained VTs). The amount of LGE was the only independent predictor of outcome (adjusted HR: 1.08; 95% CI: 1.04–1.12; p <  0.001) after adjustment for the HCM Risk-SCD and ACCF/AHA criteria. The amount of LGE showed greater discriminative power (C-statistic 0.84; 95% CI: 0.76–0.91) than the ACCF/AHA (C-statistic 0.61; 95% CI: 0.49–0.72; p for comparison < 0.001) and the HCM Risk-SCD (C-statistic 0.68; 95% CI: 0.59–0.78; p for comparison = 0.006). LGE was able to increase the discriminative power of the ACCF/AHA and HCM Risk-SCD criteria, with net reclassification improvements of 0.36 ( p = 0.021) and 0.43 ( p = 0.011), respectively. Conclusions The amount of LGE seems to outperform the HCM Risk-SCD score and the ACCF/AHA algorithm in the identification of HCM patients at increased risk of SCD and reclassifies a relevant proportion of patients. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1186/s12968-019-0561-4) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Coronary CT angiography (CTA) is currently considered a reliable method to exclude obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) before valvular heart surgery in patients with low pretest probability. However, its role in excluding obstructive CAD before transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is less well established. Single-center retrospective study where patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis underwent both CTA and invasive coronary angiography (ICA) as part of TAVI planning. CTA exams were conducted on a 64-slice dual source scanner, with a median interval of 45 days to ICA (IQR 25–75 [13–82]). In both tests, obstructive CAD was defined as a ≥50% stenosis in an epicardial vessel ≥2 mm diameter. Per-patient, per-vessel and per-proximal segment analyses were conducted, excluding and including non-evaluable segments. The study included 200 patients (120 women, mean age 83 ± 6 years). The prevalence of obstructive CAD on ICA was 35.5% (n = 71). On a per-patient analysis (assuming non-evaluable segments as stenotic), CTA showed sensitivity of 100% (95% CI, 95–100%), specificity of 42% (95% CI, 33–51%), and positive and negative predictive values of 48% (95% CI, 44–51%) and 100% (95% CI, 92–100%), respectively. CTA was able to exclude obstructive CAD in 54 patients (27%), in whom ICA could have been safely withheld. Despite the high rate of inconclusive tests, pre-procedural CTA is able to safely exclude obstructive CAD in a significant proportion of patients undergoing TAVI, possibly avoiding the need for ICA in roughly one quarter of the cases.

Background and aim Left ventricular thrombus is a frequent complication of myocardial infarction (MI) and heart failure with severely depressed ejection fraction. Once diagnosed, anticoagulation for up to 6-months is recommended, but clinical experience with direct oral anticoagulation (DOAC) is limited to a few case reports. Our aim is to test DOAC LV thrombus resolution efficacy against warfarin. Methods Single-centre retrospective cohort study of consecutive patients with recently diagnosed LV thrombus, either after acute myocardial infarction or heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, from January 2009 till December 2018. Thrombus diagnosis and subsequent assessments were performed with echocardiography and complemented with cardiac magnetic resonance, when appropriate. Decisions regarding the type, dose and duration of anticoagulation and any concomitant antiplatelet therapy were left to physician's judgement. Results In a population of 66 patients (51 male, mean age 69±12 years), 13 received DOAC therapy, with the remainder receiving vit. K antagonists. One from each group was lost to follow up. The DOAC subgroup had higher prevalence of atrial fibrillation, higher left ventricular end-diastolic volumes and worse wall motion severity score index (WMSI). The duration of anticoagulant therapy, concomitant single or dual antiplatelet therapy and overall follow up were similar between strategies. Thrombus remission was observed in 91.7% (n=11) and 59.6% (n=31) patients within DOAC and warfarin group, respectively. Risk of unsuccessful resolution was reduced by 35% relative to the warfarin group (RR 0.65; 95% CI [0.491–0.862]; p-value 0.035) (figure). figure Conclusion DOAC seems to be an effective alternative to vitamin-K antagonists in patients with LV thrombus.

Background: Patients with acute pulmonary embolism are at intermediate–high risk in the presence of imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction plus one or more elevated cardiac biomarker. We hypothesised that intermediate–high risk patients with two elevated cardiac biomarkers and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction have a worse prognosis than those with one cardiac biomarker and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction. Methods: We analysed the cumulative presence of cardiac biomarkers and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction in 525 patients with intermediate risk pulmonary embolism (intermediate-high risk = 237) presenting at the emergency department in two centres. Studied endpoints were composites of all-cause mortality and/or rescue thrombolysis at 30 days (primary endpoint; n=58) and pulmonary embolism-related mortality and/or rescue thrombolysis at 30 days (secondary endpoint; n=40). Results: Patients who experienced the primary endpoint showed a higher proportion of elevated troponin (47% vs. 76%, P<0.001), elevated N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (67% vs. 93%, P<0.001) and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction (47% vs. 80%, P<0.001). Multivariate analysis revealed N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide (hazard ratio (HR) 3.6, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.3–10.3; P=0.015) and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction (HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.5–5.2; P=0.001) as independent predictors of events. In the intermediate–high risk group, patients with two cardiac biomarkers performed worse than those with one cardiac biomarker (HR 3.3, 95% CI 1.8–6.2; P=0.003). Conclusions: Risk stratification in normotensive pulmonary embolism should consider the cumulative presence of cardiac biomarkers and imaging signs of right ventricular dysfunction, especially in the intermediate–high risk subgroup.

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One in four patients with systolic HF followed in a heart failure outpatient clinic would fulfill the reference study criteria for treatment with the new drug, sacubitril/valsartan.

Aims This study aims to assess the prevalence of relative apical sparing pattern (RASP) in patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis (AS), referred for surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR), to evaluate its significance, possible relation to amyloid deposition, and persistence after surgery. Methods and results Prospective study of 150 consecutive patients [age 73 (interquartile range: 68–77), 51% women], with severe symptomatic AS referred to surgical AVR. All patients underwent cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) before surgery. RASP was defined by [average apical longitudinal strain (LS)/(average basal LS + average mid LS)] &gt; 1 by echocardiography. AVR was performed in 119 (79.3%) patients. Both Congo red and sodium sulphate-Alcian blue (SAB) stain were used to exclude amyloid on septal myocardial biopsy. LV remodelling and tissue characterization parameters were compared in patients with and without RASP. Deformation pattern was re-assessed at 3–6 months after AVR. RASP was present in 23 patients (15.3%). There was no suspicion of amyloid at pre-operative CMR [native T1 value 1053 ms (1025–1076 ms); extracellular volume (ECV) 28% (25–30%)]. None of the patients had amyloid deposition at histopathology. Patients with RASP had significantly higher pre-operative LV mass and increased septal wall thickness. They also had higher N-terminal pro b-type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) levels [1564 (766–3318) vs. 548 (221–1440) pg/mL, P = 0.010], lower LV ejection fraction (53.7 ± 10.5 vs. 60.5 ± 10.2%, P = 0.005), and higher absolute late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) mass [9.7 (5.4–14.1) vs. 4.8 (1.9–8.6) g, P = 0.016] at CMR. Follow-up evaluation after AVR revealed RASP disappearance in all except two of the patients. Conclusion RASP is not specific of cardiac amyloidosis. It may also be found in severe symptomatic AS without amyloidosis, reflecting advanced LV disease, being mostly reversible after surgery.