In hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the magnitude of hypertrophy is directly related to the risk of sudden death and is a strong and independent predictor of prognosis. Young patients with extreme hypertrophy, even those with few or no symptoms, appear to be at substantial long-term risk and deserve consideration for interventions to prevent sudden death. The majority of patients with mild hypertrophy are at low risk and can be reassured regarding their prognosis.

Stroke and peripheral embolizations showed a 6% prevalence rate and an incidence of 0.8%/year in a large, unselected HCM group. These profound complications of HCM, which may lead to disability and death, were substantially more common in the elderly, occurred almost exclusively in patients with paroxysmal or chronic atrial fibrillation and appeared to be reduced in frequency by anticoagulation.

No abstract

Background-Death resulting from hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), particularly when sudden, has been reported to be largely confined to young persons. These data emanated from tertiary HCM centers with highly selected referral patterns skewed toward high-risk patients. Methods and Results-The present analysis was undertaken in an international population of 744 consecutively enrolled and largely unselected patients more representative of the overall HCM spectrum. HCM-related death occurred in 86 patients (12%) over 8Ϯ7 years (meanϮSD). Three distinctive modes of death were as follows: (1) sudden and unexpected (51%; age, 45Ϯ20 years); (2) progressive heart failure (36%; age, 56Ϯ19 years); and (3) HCM-related stroke associated with atrial fibrillation (13%; age, 73Ϯ14 years). Sudden death was most common in young patients, whereas heart failure-and stroke-related deaths occurred more frequently in midlife and beyond. However, neither sudden nor heart failure-related death showed a statistically significant, disproportionate age distribution (Pϭ0.06 and 0.5, respectively). Stroke-related deaths did occur disproportionately in older patients (Pϭ0.002). Of the 45 patients who died suddenly, most (71%) had no or mild symptoms, and 7 (16%) participated in moderate to severe physical activities at the time of death. Conclusions-HCM-related cardiovascular death occurred suddenly, or as a result of heart failure or stroke, largely during different phases of life in a prospectively assembled, regionally based, and predominantly unselected patient cohort. Although most sudden deaths occurred in adolescents and young adults, such catastrophes were not confined to patients of these ages and extended to later phases of life. This revised clinical profile suggests that generally held epidemiological tenants for HCM have been influenced considerably by skewed reporting from highly selected populations. These data are likely to importantly affect risk stratification and treatment strategies importantly for the prevention of sudden death in HCM. (Circulation. 2000;102:858-864.)

BACKGROUND In the early 1980s, studies performed in highly selected referral patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy reported a strong association between the presence of brief episodes of ventricular tachycardia (VT) on ambulatory ECG monitoring and sudden death. These observations led to antiarrhythmic treatment in many patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and brief episodes of VT. In recent years, however, a growing awareness of the potential arrhythmogenic effects of antiarrhythmic medications has raised doubts regarding such a therapeutic approach, particularly in less selected and lower-risk patient populations. METHODS AND RESULTS In the present study, we examined the prognostic significance of nonsustained VT in a population of 151 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who were asymptomatic or had only mild symptoms at the time of their initial ambulatory ECG recording. Of the 151 study patients, 42 had episodes of VT and 109 did not. The runs of VT ranged from 3 to 19 beats, with 35 patients (83%) having < 10 beats. The number of runs of VT ranged from 1 to 12 in 24 hours, with 36 patients (86%) having < or = 5 episodes of VT. Thus, in most patients, the episodes of VT were brief and infrequent. Follow-up averaged 4.8 years. Of the 151 study patients, 6 died suddenly, 3 in the group with VT and 3 in the group without VT. Two other patients, both in the group without VT, died of congestive heart failure. The total cardiac mortality rate was 1.4% per year in the patients with VT (95% CI, 0.4% to 3.5%) and 0.9% in those without VT (95% CI, 0.4% to 2.0%; P = .43). The relative risk of cardiac death for patients with VT was 1.4 compared with patients without VT (95% CI, 0.6 to 6.1). The sudden death rate was 1.4% per year in the patients with VT (95% CI, 0.4% to 3.5%) and 0.6% in those without VT (95% CI, 0.2% to 1.5%; P = .24). The relative risk of sudden death for patients with VT compared with those without VT was 2.4 (95% CI, 0.5 to 11.9). Of the 151 patients included in the study, 88 (58%) remained asymptomatic and were not treated with cardioactive medications during follow-up. Of these 88 patients, 20 were in the group with VT and 68 in the group without VT. None of these patients died. CONCLUSIONS Our results show that cardiac mortality is low in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy who are asymptomatic or only mildly symptomatic and have brief and infrequent episodes of VT on ambulatory ECG monitoring. Our findings also suggest that brief and infrequent episodes of VT should not be considered, per se, an indication for antiarrhythmic treatment in such patients.

Altered passive eruption is described as a condition in which the relationship between teeth, alveolar bone and soft tissues creates an excessive display of gingiva, commonly known as a 'gummy smile'. While there are authors who consider altered passive eruption to be a risk to periodontal health, its impact is greatest in terms of oral esthetics. The aim of periodontal management in such cases is not only to improve patient esthetics but also to restore periodontal health by re-establishing the normal relationship between the gingival margin, alveolar bone crest and cemento-enamel junction. The aim of this article is to present a narrative review of the etiology, classification and management of altered passive eruption.

The diffusion of the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) worldwide prompted the World Health Organization to declare the status of pandemic. The molecular diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 infection is based on the detection of viral RNA on different biological specimens. Unfortunately, the test may require several hours to be performed. In the present study, we evaluated the diagnostic accuracy of lung point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) for SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia in a cohort of symptomatic patients admitted to one emergency department (ED) in a high-prevalence setting. This retrospective study enrolled all patients who visited one ED with suspected respiratory infection in March 2020. All the patients were tested (usually twice if the first was negative) for SARS-CoV-2 on ED admission. The reference standard was considered positive if at least one specimen was positive. If all the specimens tested negative, the reference was considered negative. Diagnostic accuracy was evaluated using sensitivity, specificity, and positive and negative predictive value. Of the 444 symptomatic patients who were admitted to the ED in the study period, the result of the lung POCUS test was available for 384 (86.5%). The sensitivity of the test was 92.0% (95% CI 88.2–94.9%), and the specificity was 64.9% (95% CI 54.6–74.4%). We observed a prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 infection of 74.7%. In this setting, the positive and negative predicted values were 88.6% (95% CI 84.4–92.0) and 73.3% (95% CI 62.6–82.2%), respectively. Lung POCUS is a sensitive first-line screening tool for ED patients presenting with symptoms suggestive of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (10.1007/s11739-020-02524-8) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

No abstract