Search

Cardiovascular disease and cancer are the leading causes of morbidity and mortality in the US. Despite the significant progress made in cancer treatment leading to improved prognosis and survival, ventricular arrhythmias (VA) remain a known cardiovascular complication either exacerbated or induced by the direct and indirect effects of both traditional and novel cancer treatments. Although interruption of cancer treatment because of VA is rarely required, knowledge surrounding this issue is essential for optimising the overall care of patients with cancer. The mechanisms of cancer-therapeutic-induced VA are poorly understood. This review will discuss the ventricular conduction (QRS) and repolarisation abnormalities (QTc prolongation), and VAs associated with cancer therapies, as well as existing strategies for the identification, prevention and management of cancer-treatment-induced VAs.

BackgroundThe sex differences in use, safety outcomes, and health-care resource use of patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) undergoing percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy are not well characterized.Research questionWhat are the sex differences in outcomes for patients diagnosed with PE who undergo percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy?Study design and methodsThis retrospective cross-sectional study used national inpatient claims data to identify patients in the United States with a discharge diagnosis of PE who underwent percutaneous thrombectomy between January 2016 and December 2018. We evaluated the demographics, comorbidities, safety outcomes (in-hospital mortality), and health-care resource use (discharge to home, length of stay, and hospital charges) of patients with PE undergoing percutaneous thrombectomy.ResultsAmong 1,128,904 patients with a diagnosis of PE between 2016 and 2018, 5,160 patients (0.5%) underwent percutaneous pulmonary artery thrombectomy. When compared with male patients, female patients showed higher procedural bleeding (16.9% vs 11.2%; P < .05), required more blood transfusions (11.9% vs 5.7%; P < .05), and experienced more vascular complications (5.0% vs 1.5%; P < .05). Women experienced higher in-hospital mortality (16.9% vs 9.3%; adjusted OR, 1.9; 95% CI, 1.2-3.0; P = .003) when compared with men. Although length of stay and hospital charges were similar to those of men, women were less likely to be discharged home after surviving hospitalization (47.9% vs 60.3%; adjusted OR, 0.7; 95% CI, 0.50-0.99; P = .04).InterpretationIn this large nationwide cohort, women with PE who underwent percutaneous thrombectomy showed higher morbidity and in-hospital mortality compared with men.

ImportancePrevious studies have described the secular trends of overall heart failure (HF) hospitalizations, but the literature describing the national trends of unique index hospitalizations and readmission visits for the primary management of HF is lacking.ObjectivesTo examine contemporary overall and sex-specific trends of unique primary HF (grouped by number of visits for the same patient in a given year) and 30-day readmission visits in a large national US administrative database from 2010 to 2017.Design, setting, and participantsThis cohort study used data from all adult hospitalizations in the Nationwide Readmission Database from January 1, 2010, to December 31, 2017, with a primary diagnosis of HF. Data analyses were conducted from March to November 2020.ExposuresAdmission for a primary diagnosis of HF at discharge.Main outcomes and measuresUnique and overall hospitalizations with a primary diagnosis of HF and postdischarge readmissions. Unique primary HF hospitalizations were grouped by number of visits for the same patient in a given year.ResultsThere were 8 273 270 primary HF hospitalizations with a single primary HF admission present in 5 092 626 unique patients, and 1 269 109 had 2 or more HF hospitalizations. The mean age was 72.1 (95% CI, 72.0-72.3) years, and 48.9% (95% CI, 48.7-49.0) were women. The primary HF hospitalization rates per 1000 US adults declined from 4.4 in 2010 to 4.1 in 2013 and then increased from 4.2 in 2014 to 4.9 in 2017. The rates per 1000 US adults for postdischarge HF readmissions (1.0 in 2010 to 0.9 in 2014 to 1.1 in 2017) and all-cause 30-day readmissions (0.8 in 2010 to 0.7 in 2014 to 0.9 in 2017) had similar trends.Conclusions and relevanceIn this analysis of a nationally representative administrative data set, for primary HF admissions, crude rates of overall and unique patient hospitalizations declined from 2010 to 2014 followed by an increase from 2014 to 2017. Additionally, readmission visits after index HF hospitalizations followed a similar trend. Future studies are needed to verify these findings to improve policies for HF management.

ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to examine the efficacy and safety of warfarin initiation following the diagnosis of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients with late-stage chronic kidney disease (CKD) who transitioned to dialysis.BackgroundThe clinical benefit of warfarin therapy for thromboprophylaxis after incident AF diagnosis in patients with late-stage CKD who are transitioning to dialysis is unknown.MethodsIn this retrospective cohort analysis, the study population was a national cohort of 22,771 U.S. veterans with incident end-stage renal disease who developed incident AF before initiating renal replacement therapy. This study examined the association of warfarin therapy following the diagnosis of incident AF with ischemic cerebrovascular accidents (CVAs) (ischemic stroke or transient ischemic attack), ischemic CVA-related hospitalization, major bleeding events (gastrointestinal or intracranial bleeding), bleeding event-related hospitalizations, and post-dialysis, all-cause mortality in multivariable adjusted Cox regression analyses that adjusted for demographic characteristics and comorbidities.ResultsThe mean ± SD age of the cohort was 73.5 ± 8.8 years, 13% were African American, and the mean CHA2DS2-VASc score was 5.7 ± 2.1. Of the overall cohort, 6,682 (29.3%) patients were started on warfarin during the follow-up period. The hazard ratios (95% confidence intervals) for ischemic CVA, bleeding events, and death for those started on warfarin were 1.23 (1.16 to 1.30), 1.36 (1.29 to 1.44), and 0.94 (0.90 to 0.97), respectively, compared with those who received no anticoagulation. Warfarin exposure was associated with higher risk for ischemic CVA and bleeding event-related hospitalizations.ConclusionsIn patients with late-stage CKD who transitioned to dialysis, warfarin use was associated with higher risk of ischemic and bleeding events but a lower risk of mortality. Future studies such as those comparing warfarin with newer oral anticoagulant agents are needed to granularly define the net clinical benefit of anticoagulation therapy in patients with advanced CKD with incident AF.

ObjectiveTo analyze the cardiovascular disease (CVD) burden in hospitalized patients with a diagnosis of coronavirus from the pre-coronavirus disease 2019 era in the United States.Patients and methodsWe identified hospitalized adults with a diagnosis of coronavirus in a large US administrative database, the National (Nationwide) Inpatient Sample, from January 1, 2016, to December 3, 2017, to study patient demographic characteristics, clinical comorbidities, and outcomes (in-hospital mortality and health care resource utilization) based on the presence or absence of CVD.ResultsA total of 21,300 hospitalized adults with a diagnosis of coronavirus in 2016 and 2017 from all across the United States were included in the final analysis; the mean age was 63.6 years, 11,033 (51.8%) were female, and 15,911 (74.7%) had public insurers. Among these hospitalized patients, 11,930 (56.0%) had a diagnosis of CVD. Compared with those without CVD, the patients with CVD were older (70.1 vs 55.4 years) and had higher Charlson comorbidity index scores (2.5 vs 1.6) and Elixhauser comorbidity index scores (4.3 vs 2.4) (all P

This article discusses the use of cardiac biomarkers in the diagnosis and prognosis of dyspnea, a symptom that can result from various medical conditions. The study compared the effectiveness of two biomarkers, cTnT and NT-proBNP, in predicting short-term outcomes in patients with acute dyspnea. The results showed that higher levels of cTnT were associated with increased risk of readmission or death within 30 days, regardless of the cause of dyspnea. However, NT-proBNP did not show a significant association with outcomes. The study suggests that cTnT measurements can be a valuable tool in identifying high-risk patients and improving their outcomes. [Extracted from the article]

Purpose Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in the setting of parenchymal lung disease adversely affects quality of life and survival. However, PH-specific drugs may result in ventilation/perfusion imbalance and currently, there are no approved PH treatments for this patient population. In the present retrospective study, data from 22 patients with PH associated with lung disease treated with inhaled treprostinil (iTre) and followed up clinically for at least 3 months are presented. Methods PH was defined by resting right heart catheterization as a mean pulmonary artery pressure (mPAP) [greater than or equal to] 35 mmHg, or mPAP [greater than or equal to] 25 mmHg associated with pulmonary vascular resistance [greater than or equal to] 4 Woods Units. Follow-up evaluation was performed at the discretion of the attending physician. Results From baseline to follow-up, we observed significant improvement in functional class (n = 22, functional class III-IV 82 vs. 59%, p = 0.041) and 6-min walk distance (n = 11, 243 [+ or -] 106 vs. 308 [+ or -] 109; p = 0.022), without a deleterious effect on resting peripheral oxygen saturation (n = 22, 92 [+ or -] 6 vs. 94 [+ or -] 4; p = 0.014). Most of the patients (86%, n = 19/22) were using long-term nasal supplemental oxygen at baseline. During follow-up, only one patient had increased supplemental oxygen requirement. The most common adverse events were cough, headache, and diarrhea. No severe adverse event was reported. Conclusions The results suggest that iTre is safe in patients with Group 3 PH and evidence of pulmonary vascular remodeling in terms of functional class, gas exchange, and exercise capacity. Additionally, iTre was well tolerated. The potential role of PH-specific drugs in Group 3 PH should be further assessed in larger prospective studies. Keywords Pulmonary hypertension * Lung disease * Treprostinil * Exercise capacity, Introduction Pulmonary hypertension (PH) in the setting of parenchymal lung disease, termed as World Health Organization (WHO) Group 3 PH, is frequently encountered and adversely affects patients' quality of life [...]