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Cardiomyopathy, which is shortly defined as a disease of the myocardium, has a broad definition that includes many different diagnoses. Recent advances in cardiac imaging techniques, including basic and advanced echocardiography, computed tomography, nuclear medicine, and cardiac magnetic resonance, allow for a more accurate evaluation of volumes and thickness of cardiac chambers, systolic and diastolic function of the ventricules, and tissue structure. Multimodality imaging often provides the first clinical suspicion for specific etiologies, especially when the medical and family history is unclear, by identification of red flags of underlying systemic diseases. In this review, we aimed to evaluate the role of multimodality imaging in diagnosis of cardiomyopathies with key images and discussed the effects of genetics on the diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic guidance of cardiomyopathies.

There is an increasing incidence of diagnosing both congenital and acquired heart valve diseases in women during pregnancy. Factors such as elevated rates of pregnancy, older maternal age, and coexisting conditions like diabetes, hypertension, and obesity contribute significantly to the symptomatic manifestation and detection of valvular heart diseases in women planning for pregnancy. Pregnancy induces cardiovascular changes across the maternal physiology, posing a heightened risk of morbidity and mortality, especially in women afflicted with valvular heart diseases. In this article, we present a case of a 25-year-old patient who underwent mitral ring annuloplasty surgery at the age of 9. Her echocardiography revealed a mismatch of the mitral ring during a follow-up examination at the age of 20. Despite neglecting further follow-ups, the patient became pregnant and presented to us at the 6th week of pregnancy. She underwent evaluations at the 6th, 10th, and 22nd weeks of pregnancy, as well as before delivery. Following the resumption of follow-up appointments, intervention planning was initiated during the postpartum period. This case exemplifies successful management, resulting in a healthy delivery after navigating through the pregnancy.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most prevalent cardiac arrhythmia worldwide and is associated with an increased risk of thromboembolism, ischemic stroke, impaired quality of life, and mortality. The latest research that shows the prevalence and incidence of AF patients in Türkiye was the Turkish Adults' Heart Disease and Risk Factors study, which included 3,450 patients and collected data until 2006/07.The Turkish Real Life Atrial Fibrillation in Clinical Practice (TRAFFIC) study is planned to present current prevalence data, reveal the reflection of new treatment and risk approaches in our country, and develop new prediction models in terms of outcomes., Methods: The TRAFFIC study is a national, prospective, multicenter, observational registry. The study aims to collect data from at least 1900 patients diagnosed with atrial fibrillation, with the participation of 40 centers from Türkiye. The following data will be collected from patients: baseline demographic characteristics, medical history, vital signs, symptoms of AF, ECG and echocardiographic findings, CHADS2-VASC2 and HAS-BLED (1-year risk of major bleeding) risk scores, interventional treatments, antithrombotic and antiarrhythmic medications, or other medications used by the patients. For patients who use warfarin, international normalized ratio levels will be monitored. Follow-up data will be collected at 6, 12, 18, and 24 months. Primary endpoints are defined as systemic embolism or major safety endpoints (major bleeding, clinically relevant nonmajor bleeding, and minor bleeding as defined by the International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis). The main secondary endpoints include major adverse cardiovascular events (systemic embolism, myocardial infarction, and cardiovascular death), all-cause mortality, and hospitalizations due to all causes or specific reasons., Results: The results of the 12-month follow-up of the study are planned to be shared by the end of 2023., Conclusion: The TRAFFIC study will reveal the prevalence and incidence, demographic characteristics, and risk profiles of AF patients in Türkiye. Additionally, it will provide insights into how current treatments are reflected in this population. Furthermore, risk prediction modeling and risk scoring can be conducted for patients with AF.

Ankylosing spondylitis is a complex chronic disease that starts from the spine and sacroiliac joint, causes joint stiffness, and affects the quality of life. Aortic dilatation, aortic valve insufficiency, and heart block due to conduction system involvement are the leading accompanying cardiac pathologies. In this case report, we aimed to show a rare cardiac involvement of left atrial calcification, pericardial involvement, and formation of a calcified inflammatory mass that might be misdiagnosed as vegetation on the mitral valve in a late-stage ankylosing spondylitis patient, by using multimodality imaging and histopathological diagnosis.

Background/aim: Myocarditis in the acute phase usually presents with sinus tachycardia but many other arrhythmias might be seen as well. In this study we aimed to investigate repolarization abnormalities in baseline ECG of patients with myocarditis for the first time.Materials and methods: Thirty patients diagnosed with myocarditis and 25 healthy age-matched controls were included. Two different cardiologists measured corrected QT (QTc), QT dispersion (QTd), QT peak (QTp), T wave peak to T wave end (TpTe), TpTe/QT ratio, and TpTe/QTc ratio in 12-lead ECG.Results: When compared with the control group, QTp (P: 0.021), QT (P: 0.003), TpTe (P < 0.001), TpTe/QTc ratio (P < 0.001), and TpTe/QT ratio (P: 0.005) were significantly higher in patients with myocarditis. A comparison of receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves was conducted using the Hanley and McNeil method. The area under the curve (AUC) of the electrocardiographic characteristics QT (AUC: 0.736; 95% CI [0.600-0.846]), QTP (AUC: 0.680; 95% CI [0.540-0.799]), and TpTe (AUC: 0.771; 95% CI [0.638-873]) and TpTe/QTc (AUC: 0.774; 95% CI [0.641-0.876]) and TpTe/QT (AUC: 0.726; 95% CI [0.589-0.838]) in myocarditis were not significantly different from each other but all of them were different from 0.5.Conclusion: Baseline ECGs of patients with myocarditis were associated with repolarization abnormalities. These novel findings may be one of the reasons underlying arrhythmic events in patients with myocarditis.

Objective: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Atrial fibrosis augments recurrence rate following AF catheter ablation. Osteopontin is a multifunctional molecule involved in several pathophysiological pathways, including fibrosis. Presently described is investigation of relationship between serum osteopontin level and AF recurrence after AF cryoablation., Methods: The study was designed to be prospective and observational; 60 patients with paroxysmal (n=47) and persistent (n=13) AF were included. Osteopontin level was measured both before and 6 months after AF ablation with cryoballoon., Results: Preprocedure and postprocedure osteopontin level did not differ between the 2 groups of AF patients (p=0.286, p=0.493, respectively). Postprocedure osteopontin level was significantly higher compared with preprocedure value (32.18 ng/mL vs 15.58 ng/mL; p=<0.001). Left atrial diameter, AF type, and preprocedure osteopontin level were related to AF recurrence (p≤0.05). An age-adjusted multivariate logistic regression analysis was conducted to determine independent predictors of AF recurrence. Among these, AF type (ß=2.211; p=0.004; odds ratio [OR]: 9.124; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 2.026-41.094) was found to be the most important factor related to AF recurrence. Preprocedure osteopontin level also predicted AF recurrence independently (ß=0.059; p=0.048; OR: 1.061; 95% CI 1.001-1.125)., Conclusion: Study results revealed persistency of AF and high preprocedure osteopontin level independently predicted AF recurrence in patients undergoing cryoballoon AF ablation. Association of a biochemical marker with AF recurrence might be beneficial to selection of appropriate patients for cryoballoon procedure and assessment of long-term procedural success.

Purpose: Systolic alterations in left ventricular (LV) myocardial function have been reported previously in patients with diastolic dysfunction (DD). Recent advances in real-time three-dimensional echocardiography (3DE) enable the measurement of a set of parameters previously difficult to obtain with standard two-dimensional echocardiography (2DE). The aim of this study was to evaluate global 3DE LV contraction in patients with and without DD who had normal ejection fraction (EF)., Methods: Sixty-five patients (average age 56 ± 6 years; 31 females and 34 males) with normal EF (>50 %) referred to echocardiographic examination for the evaluation of DD were included. In addition to measuring conventional echocardiographic parameters, they were also evaluated with 3DE. End diastolic volume, end systolic volume, EF, corrected standard deviation (SD) of time to minimal systolic volume for 16 segments its dispersion, average excursion of the segments and the SD of segmental motion (excursion-SD) were recorded., Results: When we tested the differences among three groups of diastolic function (normal, Grade 1, and Grade 2), the results showed that coronary artery disease, left atrial volume, septum, posterior wall, E, A, E/A, deceleration time, E' septum, E' lateral, and excursion-SD were significantly different. An ordered logistic regression analysis revealed that excursion-SD (p < 0.001) and septum (p < 0.001) measurements were statistically significant for predicting DD grade., Conclusion: In our patient population, a decline in excursion-SD values was observed with increasing DD grade. In other words, the amount of segmental difference in terms of excursion was reduced.

Takotsubo cardiomyopathy (TTC), also known as left ventricular apical ballooning syndrome or stress cardiomyopathy, is characterized by transient left ventricular systolic dysfunction and the absence of obstructive lesion in the epicardial coronary arteries. The most common presentation is acute substernal chest pain, although occasionally dyspnea and syncope, and rarely shock with ST-segment elevation and elevated cardiac biomarkers have been observed. Inverted (reverse) TTC is a rare pattern characterized hypokinesis of the basal and midventricular segments. Presently described was case of a 27-year-old woman with ventricular fibrillation following endoscopic nasal sinus surgery.

Pericardiocentesis is a life-saving procedure performed in cardiac tamponade cases occurring in infective, inflammatory or malignancy conditions, or following percutaneous coronary intervention, cardiac device implantation or catheter ablation. In spite of advanced imaging methods, a substantial risk of complication persists. Emergent surgical intervention may be required, in particular during advancement of the catheter into the heart chambers or in cases of wall rupture. Furthermore, in all these cases, patients have a high risk of surgery because of existing comorbidities. This case presents a patient suspected of tuberculous pericarditis who underwent diagnostic pericardiocentesis complicated by right ventricular puncture. The catheter in the right ventricle was withdrawn via a second catheter placed in the pericardial cavity. Spontaneous blood control was established, and with no increase in pericardial effusion surgical intervention was not required. This method can be applied in certain conditions, including cardiac injury caused by pericardiocentesis or intracardiac manipulations, thus eliminating the need for high-risk surgical intervention.

Obesity is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality, and it is becoming increasingly prevalent worldwide. Altered pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics of drugs in obese patients require dose adjustment according to body weight. New oral anticoagulants (NOACs), which are more frequently used for anticoagulation, are recommended to be used at a fixed dose based on data derived from phase 2 and 3 studies. However, the representation of obese patients [>100 kg or a body mass index (BMI) of >30 kg/m2] in subgroups with a small sample size and reports of various emboli cases under drug treatment have raised suspicions about the adequacy of fixed dose use. To address this issue, we analyzed several patients with a body weight of >100 kg or BMI of >30 kg/m2 participating in NOAC studies and evaluated whether these numbers were sufficient to enable an accurate recommendation of fixed dose use in obese patients.