Aims  The aim of this study was to determine the contemporary use of reperfusion therapy in the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) member and affiliated countries and adherence to ESC clinical practice guidelines in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Methods and results  Prospective cohort (EURObservational Research Programme STEMI Registry) of hospitalized STEMI patients with symptom onset <24 h in 196 centres across 29 countries. A total of 11 462 patients were enrolled, for whom primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (total cohort frequency: 72.2%, country frequency range 0–100%), fibrinolysis (18.8%; 0–100%), and no reperfusion therapy (9.0%; 0–75%) were performed. Corresponding in-hospital mortality rates from any cause were 3.1%, 4.4%, and 14.1% and overall mortality was 4.4% (country range 2.5–5.9%). Achievement of quality indicators for reperfusion was reported for 92.7% (region range 84.8–97.5%) for the performance of reperfusion therapy of all patients with STEMI <12 h and 54.4% (region range 37.1–70.1%) for timely reperfusion. Conclusions  The use of reperfusion therapy for STEMI in the ESC member and affiliated countries was high. Primary PCI was the most frequently used treatment and associated total in-hospital mortality was below 5%. However, there was geographic variation in the use of primary PCI, which was associated with differences in in-hospital mortality.

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Aims Mild or moderate aortic regurgitation (AR) has only little effect on cardiovascular outcome in people with normal left ventricular ejection fraction (EF); therefore, it is not perceived as a major clinical problem. This study investigates whether mild or moderate AR is associated with increased short-term mortality in patients hospitalized for treatment of acute heart failure (AHF) and whether mild or moderate AR impacts differently on short-term mortality in AHF patients with reduced EF (AHFrEF), mid-range EF (AHFmrEF), or preserved EF (AHFpEF). Methods and results This mono-centric study included 505 consecutive adult patients hospitalized for de novo or worsening chronic HF not related to acute ischaemia or severe valvular pathology in the echocardiogram at index hospitalization. Cox regression analysis studied the impact of AR on all-cause mortality (ACM) over the 150 days' study period. Mild or moderate AR was associated with increased ACM (HR 1.75 [95% CI: 1.1-2.7]; P = 0.009). The prevalence of mild or moderate AR in the study population was 42% and not significantly different between AHFpEF (n = 227), AHFmrEF (n = 86), and AHFrEF (n = 192) study participants (37.9% vs. 50.0% vs. 42.7%; P = 0.144). In AHFpEF patients, the age-adjusted hazard for ACM was increased in patients with AR compared with patients without AR (HR 2.17 [95% CI: 1.1-4.2]; P = 0.002). The age-adjusted hazard for ACM was increased by a trend in AHFmrEF with AR (HR 7.11, [95% CI: 0.9-57.8]; P = 0.067) and not different between the AHFrEF groups (HR 0.95 [95% CI: 0.5-1.8]; P = 0.875). Conclusions Mild or moderate AR increased ACM only in AHFpEF patients, highlighting a distinct clinical relevance.

BackgroundThe prognostic role of decongestion-related change of cardiac morphology and in particular right heart function has not been investigated comprehensively in AHF patients. Methods and resultsThis prospective observational single-centre study included consecutive patients hospitalized for treatment of AHF with reduced, mildly-reduced or preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Comprehensive transthoracic echocardiography at admission and discharge assessed decongestion-related change of cardiac function and morphology. The combined endpoint of 1 year all-cause mortality and cardiovascular rehospitalization explored the prognostic importance of decongestion-related change. The 176 study participants were 83 years old [74-87] and 54% were men. Fifty one (29%) had rLVEF, 65 (37%) mrLVEF, and 60 (34%) pLVEF. The proportion of de novo or worsening chronic HF was not different between LVEF groups. HF aetiology and cardiovascular risk factors were equally distributed across all groups except for a higher BMI in the pLVEF group. Decongestion equally reduced body weight, heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, tricuspid regurgitation gradient, and inferior vena cava diameter across all groups (P < 0.004 for all). Decongestion-related increase in TAPSE independent of the LVEF was associated with improvement of right-ventricular-pulmonary artery coupling and a lower incidence of the combined outcome in the Cox proportional hazard risk analysis (unadjusted HR 0.50 95% CI 0.33-0.78, P = 0.002; adjusted HR 0.46 95% CI: 0.33-0.78, P = 0.001). Conclusions Decongestion-related increase in TAPSE and recovery of RV/pulmonary artery coupling was observed across all LVEF groups and associated with a risk reduction for the combined endpoint highlighting the important prognostic role of right heart recovery after an AHF episode.

BACKGROUND: Heart transplantation remains the most durable treatment for patients with end-stage heart failure refractory to medical treatment. Central elements of the listing criteria for heart transplantation have remained largely unchanged in the last three decades whereas treatment of heart failure has significantly increased survival and reduced disease-related symptoms. It remains unknown whether the improvement of heart failure therapy changed the profile of heart transplantation candidates or affected post-transplant survival.  METHODS: The study investigated a total of 323 heart transplant recipients of the Lausanne University Hospital with 328 transplant operations between 1987 and 2018. Patients were separated into three groups on the basis of availability of heart failure therapy: period 1 (1987–1998; n = 115) when renin-angiotensin system blockade and diuretic treatment were available; period 2 (1999–2010; n = 106) marked by the addition of beta-blocker and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonist treatment in severe heart failure, and the establishment of cardiac defibrillator and resynchronisation therapy; period 3 (2011–2018; n = 107) characterised by the increasing use of ventricular assist devices for bridge to transplantation. RESULTS: The patient characteristics age (all: 53.4 years), male sex (all: 79%) and body mass index (all: 24.5 kg/m2) did not differ between periods. History of arterial hypertension was less prevalent in period 2 (period 1 vs 2 vs 3: 44 vs 28 vs 43%, p = 0.04) whereas other cardiovascular risk factors were equally distributed. Left ventricular ejection fraction, VO2max, and pulmonary vascular resistance were not different between the three periods. The prevalence of ischaemic cardiomyopathy was higher in periods 1 and 3; dilated non-ischaemic cardiomyopathy was more frequent in period 2. Post-transplant 1-year survival was highest in period 3 (1 vs 2 vs 3: 87.2 ± 3.2% vs 70.8 ± 4.4% vs 93.0 ± 2.6%, p always ≤0.02), and the Kaplan-Meier estimates of survivors of the  first year post-transplant were not different between the three periods. In descriptive analysis, early mortality was not associated with acknowledged pretransplant predictors of post-transplant mortality.  CONCLUSION: Availability of different medical heart failure treatments did not result in greatly different pretransplant characteristics of heart transplantation recipients across the three periods. This suggests that the maintained central criteria of listing for heart transplantation still identify end-stage heart failure patients with a similar profile. This finding can explain the unchanged overall mortality on condition of 1-year survival across the three periods, since pretransplant characteristics are relevant for long-term survival after heart transplantation.

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Introduction Acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF) is associated with a high mortality and rehospitalization rate. The aim of this study was to assess whether echocardiographic markers of systolic and diastolic function, and their changes under treatment during hospitalization for ADHF, would predict 12-months mortality. Methods Adult patients admitted to our emergency department for ADHF between June 2015 and January 2018 were included if a complete transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) could be obtained within 12 hours of admission. TTE was repeated upon discharge. Baseline clinical and echocardiographic characteristics were collected on admission and at discharge, and outcome at 12 months was obtained by telephone interview. All parameters are given as median [interquartile range]. Results A total of 221 patients were identified but 45 excluded because of in-hospital death (n=8), early transfer to another hospital (n=31) or refusal to perform discharge TTE (n=6), leaving 176 patients for final analysis. Age was 83 [74–87] years, 95 (54%) were men and 89 (51%) were in sinus rhythm. Baseline TTE was performed within 6.6h [4.1–11.9] of admission and median duration of hospital stay was 13 days [9–19]. Admission ejection fraction (EF) was 45% [37–54] (29% HFrEF, 37% HFmrEF, 34% HFpEF). Between admission and discharge, significant changes were observed for global longitudinal LV strain (−10.3 [−7.2 to 15.1] to −11.8% [−8.1 to 15.0], p=0.017), mitral E velocity (100 [80–124] to 96 cm/s [74–117], p=0.001), E/e' ratio (16 [12–20] to 15 [11–19], p=0.003, RV basal diameter (41 [36–45] to 41mm [34–44], p=0.007), tricuspid regurgitation gradient (41 [34–52] to 35 mmHg [28–44], p=0.0001 and vena cava diameter (22 [19–26] to 19 mm [15–23],. Deaths occurred in 35 (20%) at 12 months follow-up. In our multivariable model, none of the changes in TTE parameters was predictive of mortality. Age (OR 1.09, p0.01), LVEF (OR 0.95, p0.02) and TAPSE (OR 0.86, p0.01) measured at discharge, but not LV or RV strain, were identified as independent predictors of 12-months mortality (see figure). Survival according to LVEF and TAPSE Conclusion Several changes in TTE parameters were observed during hospitalization for ADHF, reflecting effective cardiac unloading with diuretic treatment. However, none of these changes appears to have prognostic significance. LVEF and TAPSE at discharge were identified as the only independent echocardiographic predictors of 12-months mortality, in addition to age. Acknowledgement/Funding Swiss Heart Foundation

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