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Background: The perception of takotsubo syndrome (TTS) has evolved significantly over the years, primarily driven by increased recognition of acute complications and mortality., Objectives: This study aimed to explore temporal trends in demographic patterns, risk factors, clinical presentations, and outcomes in patients with TTS., Methods: Patients diagnosed with TTS between 2004 and 2021 were enrolled from the InterTAK (International Takotsubo) registry. To assess temporal trends, patients were divided into 6 groups, each corresponding to a 3-year interval within the study period., Results: Overall, 3,957 patients were included in the study. There was a significant demographic transition, with the proportion of male patients rising from 10% to 15% (P = 0.003). Although apical TTS remained the most common form, the diagnosis of midventricular TTS increased from 18% to 28% (P = 0.018). The prevalence of physical triggers increased from 39% to 58% over the years (P < 0.001). There was a significant increase in 60-day mortality over the years (P < 0.001). However, a landmark analysis excluding patients who died within the first 60 days showed no differences in 1-year mortality (P = 0.150)., Conclusions: This study of temporal trends in TTS highlights a transition in patients demographic with a growing prevalence among men, increasing recognition of midventricular TTS type, and increased short-term mortality and rates of cardiogenic shock in recent years. This transition aligns with the rising prevalence of physical triggers, as expression of increased recognition of TTS in association with acute comorbidities., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Templin has received institutional grants from Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, and SMT; and has received consulting grants from Biotronik, Microport, and Innova. Dr Airaksinen has received grants or has contracts with the Finnish Foundation for Cardiovascular Research; and has received payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Bayer, Pfizer, Boehringer Ingelheim, and AstraZeneca. Dr Bauersachs has received grants from or has contracts with Abiomed, CVRx, Norgine, Roche, and Zoll; holds patents PCT/EP2007/008772 and PCT/EP2009/051986 for microRNA and downstream targets for diagnostics and therapeutic purposes; has received consulting fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardior, Corvia, CVRx, Edwards, Norgine, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche, and Vifor; and has received payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cardior, CVRx, Norgine, Novartis, Pfizer, and Vifor. Dr Boehm has received grants from or has contracts with Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft research support (DFG, SFB-TTR 219, S-01); has received speaker honoraria from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Novartis, Servier, and Vifor; and is on the advisory board of Amgen, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Cytokinetics, Medtronic, Novartis, Pfizer, ReCor, Servier, and Vifor. Dr Ferreira has received payments for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from A Menarini, Medinfar, Bayer, AstraZeneca, Biotronik, and Medtronic; and has received payments for participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board from Medtronic. Dr Dichtl has received consulting fees from Reata. Dr Kaiser has received consulting fees from the Swiss Federal Office of Public Health; and has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from Medtronic, Abbott, and Europa Organization. Dr Kobza has received institutional grants on behalf of the Luzerner Kantonsspital from Biosense Webster, Boston Scientific, Biotronik, Medtronik, and Sis-Medical; and has received consulting fees from Biosense Webster, Biotronik, and Medtronic. Dr Koenig has received grants and provision of reagents to the institution from Singulex, Dr.Beckmann Pharma, Abbott, and Roche Diagnostics; has received consulting fees from AstraZeneca, Novartis, Amgen, Pfizer, The Medicines Company, DalCor Pharmaceuticals, Kowa, Corvidia Therapeutics, OMEICOS, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novo Nordisk, New Amsterdam Pharma, TenSixteen Bio, Esperion, and Genentech; and has received lecture fees from Bristol Myers Squibb, Novartis, Amgen, Berlin-Chemie, Sanofi, and AstraZeneca. Dr Lüscher has received research or educational grants to the institution from Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Sanofi, and Vifor; is the president elect of the European Society of Cardiology; is chairman of the research committee of the Swiss Heart Foundation; is President of the Board of the Zurich Heart House; and is Trustee of the London Heart House. Dr Karakas has received grants or has contracts with Vifor Pharma and Daiichi-Sankyo; has received consulting fees or payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Vifor, Pharmacosmos, and Sphingotec; and has received equipment, materials, drugs, medical writing, gifts or other services from Sphingotec and Vifor Pharma. Dr Niederseer has received consulting fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Gerson Lehmann Group (GLG) Consulting, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer and Zoll; has received payment or honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, and Pfizer; and has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from Abbott, Amgen, Bayer, and Novo Nordisk. Dr Roffi has received institutional research grants from Boston Scientific, Cordis, Terumo, Biotronik, and Medtronic. Dr Ruschitzka has not received personal payments by pharmaceutical companies or device manufacturers in the last 3 years; the Department of Cardiology (University Hospital of Zurich/University of Zurich), however, reports research, educational, and/or travel grants from Abbott, Abiomed, Alexion, Amgen, AstraZeneca, At the Limits Ltd, Bayer, Berlin Heart, B. Braun, Biosense Webster, Biosensors Europe AG, Biotronik, Bristol Myers Squibb, Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific, Bracco, Cardinal Health Switzerland, Concept Medical, Corteria, CSL, Daiichi-Sankyo, Diatools AG, Edwards Lifesciences, Guidant Europe NV, Hamilton Health Sciences, IHF, Innosuisse, Johnson/Johnson, Kaneka Corporation, Kantar, Kiniksa, Labormedizinisches Zentrum, MedAlliance, Medical Education Global Solutions, Medtronic, MicroPort, MSD, Mundipharma Medical Company, Novartis, Novo Nordisk, Orion, Pfizer, Quintiles Switzerland Sarl, RecorMedical, Roche Diagnostics, Roche Pharma, Sahajanand IN, Sanofi, Sarstedt AG, Servier, SIS Medical, Sorin CRM SAS, SSS International Clinical Research, Stromal, Terumo Deutschland, Trama Solutions, V-Wave, Vascular Medical, Vifor, Wissens Plus, and ZOLL. Prof Ruschitzka has not received personal payments by pharmaceutical companies or device manufacturers in the last 3 years; remuneration for the time spent in the following consulting activities were made directly to the University of Zurich and do not impact on his personal remuneration: AstraZeneca (IMC), Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Citi Research, Klub Class, Novo Nordisk, Radcliffe Group, Stiftung Pfizer Forschungspreis, and Vifor; remuneration for the following lectures were made directly to the University of Zurich and do not impact on his personal remuneration: Abbott, Amgen, AstraZeneca (A+ Science AB), Bayer (At the Limits), Boehringer Ingelheim, Boston Scientific (CCE Services), Brigham and Women’s Hospital Boston, C.T.I GmbH, FomF, Hôpitaux Universitaires des Genève (GECORE), Luzerner Kantonsspital, Sanofi-Aventis, Servier, Medcon, Medscape (WebMD), Medtronic, Medworld, Novartis, Roche, Ruwag, Swiss Heart Failure Academy, The Hong Kong Heart Failure Society, Trama Solutions SL, Inselspital Bern, Charité–Universitätsmedizin Berlin (Medical Education Global Solutions), Romanian Society of Cardiology, ÖKG Österreichische Gesellschaft für Kardiologie, and Zoll; has received support for attending meetings and/or travel from AstraZeneca (IMC/A+ Science AB), Boehringer Ingelheim, Centro Hospitaler de Vila Nova de Gaia, C.T.I. GmbH (Universitätsklinikum Düsseldorf), European Society of Cardiology, Monocle, Novartis, Spektar Putovanja, Austrian Heart Failure Association, and Heart Failure Association of the ESC; remuneration for following Advisory Boards were made directly to the University of Zurich and do not impact on his personal remuneration: Bayer, Roche, IMC/AstraZeneca, and Amgen; and he has received secretarial and administrative support of the HFA for his role as President/Past-President for 2018 to 2020. Dr Schunkert has received consulting fees from Amgen, Daiichi-Sankyo, Merck Sharp and Dohme, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Novartis, and Servier; has received honoraria for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events and support for attending meetings and/or travel from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Bristol Myers Squibb, Daiichi-Sankyo, Merck Sharp and Dohme, Novartis, Sanofi Aventis, Servier, and Synlab; and has received honoraria for his participation on a Data Safety Monitoring Board or Advisory Board of Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi-Sankyo, Novartis, and Amgen. Dr Wolfrum has received consulting fees from NVT/Biosensors as well as payments for lectures, presentations, speakers bureaus, manuscript writing, or educational events from NVT/Biosensors; and has equities in Hi-D Imaging, Winterthur, Switzerland. Dr Crea has received personal fees from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Abbott, Menarini, Chiesi, and Daiichi-Sankyo, outside of the submitted work. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2024 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Extracorporeal life support systems (ECLS) are life-sustaining measures for severe cardiovascular diseases, serving as bridging treatment either until cardiovascular function is restored or alternative treatment, such as heart transplantation or the implantation of permanent ventricular assist devices is performed. Given the insufficient evidence and frequent urgency of implantation without initial patient consent, the ethical challenges and psychological burden for patients, relatives and the interprofessional intensive care team are significant. As with any treatment, an appropriate therapeutic goal for ECLS treatment based on the indications and patient informed consent is mandatory. In order to integrate the necessary ethical considerations into everyday clinical practice, a structured algorithm for handling ECLS is proposed here, which takes ethical aspects into due account., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Patients with liver cirrhosis often exhibit complex alterations in their hemostatic system that can be associated with both bleeding and thrombotic complications. While prophylactic correction of abnormal coagulation parameters should be avoided, an individualized approach is recommended prior to invasive procedures, whereby specific preventive measures to stabilize hemostasis should be based on the periprocedural bleeding risk. While the haemostatic system of patients with compensated cirrhosis is often in a rebalanced haemostatic state due to a parallel decline in both pro- and anti-haemostatic factors, a decompensation of liver cirrhosis can lead to destabilization of this fragile equilibrium. Since conventional coagulation tests do not adequately capture the complex changes in the hemostatic system in cirrhosis, functional analysis methods such as viscoelastic tests or thrombin generation assays can be used for evaluating the coagulation status. This review describes the underlying pathophysiological changes in the hemostatic system in liver cirrhosis, provides an overview of diagnostic methods and discusses therapeutic measures in case of bleeding and thrombotic complications., Competing Interests: P. Kasper, F. Tacke, und G. Michels geben an, dass keine Interessenkonflikte im Zusammenhang mit dem Inhalt des Beitrags bestehen., (Thieme. All rights reserved.)

Background: In Europe, more than 300,000 persons per year experience out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA). Despite medical progress, only few patients survive with good neurological outcome. For many issues, evidence from randomized trials is scarce. OHCA often occurs for cardiac causes. Therefore, we established the national, prospective, multicentre German Cardiac Arrest Registry (G-CAR). Herein, we describe the first results of the pilot phase., Results: Over a period of 16 months, 15 centres included 559 consecutive OHCA patients aged ≥ 18 years. The median age of the patients was 66 years (interquartile range 57;75). Layperson resuscitation was performed in 60.5% of all OHCA cases which were not observed by emergency medical services. The initial rhythm was shockable in 46.4%, and 29.1% of patients had ongoing CPR on hospital admission. Main presumed causes of OHCA were acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and/or cardiogenic shock in 54.8%, with ST-elevation myocardial infarction being the most common aetiology (34.6%). In total, 62.9% of the patients underwent coronary angiography; percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) was performed in 61.4%. Targeted temperature management was performed in 44.5%. Overall in-hospital mortality was 70.5%, with anoxic brain damage being the main presumed cause of death (38.8%). Extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (eCPR) was performed in 11.0%. In these patients, the in-hospital mortality rate was 85.2%., Conclusions: G-CAR is a multicentre German registry for adult OHCA patients with a focus on cardiac and interventional treatment aspects. The results of the 16-month pilot phase are shown herein. In parallel with further analyses, scaling up of G-CAR to a national level is envisaged. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT05142124., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

In Germany, physicians qualify for emergency medicine by combining a specialty medical training-e.g. internal medicine-with advanced training in emergency medicine according to the statutes of the State Chambers of Physicians largely based upon the Guideline Regulations on Specialty Training of the German Medical Association. Internal medicine and their associated subspecialities represent an important column of emergency medicine. For the internal medicine aspects of emergency medicine, this curriculum presents an overview of knowledge, skills (competence levels I-III) as well as behaviours and attitudes allowing for the best treatment of patients. These include general aspects (structure and process quality, primary diagnostics and therapy as well as indication for subsequent treatment; resuscitation room management; diagnostics and monitoring; general therapeutic measures; hygiene measures; and pharmacotherapy) and also specific aspects concerning angiology, endocrinology, diabetology and metabolism, gastroenterology, geriatric medicine, hematology and oncology, infectiology, cardiology, nephrology, palliative care, pneumology, rheumatology and toxicology. Publications focussing on contents of advanced training are quoted in order to support this concept. The curriculum has primarily been written for internists for their advanced emergency training, but it may generally show practising emergency physicians the broad spectrum of internal medicine diseases or comorbidities presented by patients attending the emergency department., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

Ultrasound is used in cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) and advanced life support (ALS). However, there is divergence between the recommendations of many emergency and critical care societies who support its use and the recommendations of many international resuscitation organizations who either recommend against its use or recommend it only in limited circumstances. Ultrasound offers potential benefits of detecting reversable causes of cardiac arrest, allowing specific interventions. However, it also risks interfering with ALS protocols and increasing unhelpful interventions. As with many interventions in ALS, the evidence base for ultrasound use is weak, and well-designed randomized trials are needed. This paper reviews the current theory and evidence for harms and benefits.

Background and Objective: Despite a measurable increase in recent years, the bystander resuscitation rate in Germany lags behind the European comparison. Special centers for the care of patients after cardiac arrest, so-called cardiac arrest centers (CAC), have been established. The aim of this work is to evaluate the role of CACs, in addition to in-hospital patient care, in improving the bystander resuscitation rate in Germany and what obstacles exist in the implementation of resuscitation training., Materials and Methods: Online survey by the working group cardiopulmonary resuscitation (AG42) of the German Society of Cardiology (DGK) and the German Resuscitation Council (GRC) RESULTS: Of the 74 participating clinics (78.4% certified as CAC), 23 (31.1%) conduct lay resuscitation training. These mainly take place within the framework of action days for resuscitation (82.6%) or in schools (39.1%). Permanent cooperation with at least one school existed in 52.2%. Basic life support (BLS) resuscitation dummies are available in 63.5% of these clinics and an automated external defibrillator (AED) demonstration device in 43.2%. According to the interviewees, the biggest obstacles to the consistent implementation of resuscitation courses in schools include lack of qualified instructors, lack of refinancing and difficulties with regard to coordinating activities between schools and providers., Conclusions: Direct training of lay rescuers by hospitals faces several obstacles. To increase the bystander resuscitation rate, focusing on targeted training of teachers as multipliers (train-the-trainer) can be a good approach for cardiac arrest centers., (© 2023. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Medizin Verlag GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature.)

Purpose: Evaluate optic nerve sheath and pial diameters (ONSD, ONPD) via sonography and computed tomography (CT) after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (CA) and to compare their prognostic significance with other imaging and laboratory biomarkers., Materials and Methods: A prospective observational study enrolling patients after successful resuscitation between December 2017 and August 2021. ONSD and ONPD were measured with sonography. Additionally, ONSD, and also grey-to-white ratio at basal ganglia (GWR BG ) and cerebrum (GWR CBR ), were assessed using CT. Lactate and neuron specific enolase (NSE) blood levels were measured., Results: Sonographically measured ONSD and ONPD yielded no significant difference between survival and non-survival (p values ≥0.4). Meanwhile, CT assessed ONSD, GWR BG , GWR CBR , and NSE levels significantly differed regarding both, survival (p values ≤0.005) and neurological outcome groups (p values ≤0.04). For survival prognosis, GWR BG , GWR CBR , and NSE levels appeared as excellent predictors; in predicting a good neurological outcome, NSE had the highest accuracy., Conclusions: CT diagnostics, in particular GWR BG and GWR CBR , as well as NSE as laboratory biomarker, appear as excellent outcome predictors. Meanwhile, our data lead us to recommend caution in utilizing sonography assessed ONSD and ONPD for prognostic decision-making post-CA., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: This nationwide routine data analysis evaluates if oral anticoagulant (OAC) use in patients with heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) leads to a lower mortality and reduced readmission rate. Superiority of new oral anticoagulants (NOACs), compared to vitamin K antagonists (VKA), was analyzed for these endpoints., Methods: Anonymous data of patients with a health insurance at the Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse and a claims record for hospitalization with the main diagnosis of HF and secondary diagnosis of AF (2017-2019) were included. A hospital stay in the previous year was an exclusion criterion. Mortality and readmission for all-cause and stroke/intracranial bleeding (ICB) were analyzed 91-365 days after the index hospitalization. Kaplan-Meier survival curves and multivariable Cox regression models were used to evaluate the impact of medication on outcome., Results: 180,316 cases were included [81 years (IQR 76-86), 55.6% female, CHA 2 DS 2 -VASc score ≥ 2 (96.81%)]. In 80.6%, OACs were prescribed (VKA: 21.7%; direct factor Xa inhibitors (FXaI): 60.0%; direct thrombin inhibitors (DTI): 3.4%; with multiple prescriptions per patient included). Mortality rate was 19.1%, readmission rate was 29.9% and stroke/ICB occurred in 1.9%. Risk of death was lower with any OAC (HR 0.77, 95% CI [0.75-0.79]) but without significant differences in OAC type (VKA: HR 0.73, [0.71-0.76]; FXaI: HR 0.77, [0.75-0.78]; DTI: HR 0.71, [0.66-0.77]). The total readmission rate (HR 0.97, [0.94 to 0.99]) and readmission for stroke/ICB (HR 0.71, [0.65-0.77]) was lower with OAC., Conclusions: Nationwide data confirm a reduction in mortality and readmission rate in HF-AF patients taking OACs, without NOAC superiority., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest M.M. received speakers and consulting fees from Bayer Healthcare, BMS, Boehringer Ingelheim, Daiichi Sankyo, Astra Zeneca, Sanofi, BRAHMS GmbH and Roche Diagnostics as well as research funding from German public funding authorities for Health Care Research and Roche Diagnostics; G.M. received speaker fees from Getinge, Orion Pharma and AOP Orphan Pharmaceuticals Germany GmbH; no other relationships or activities that could appear to have influenced the submitted work., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)