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Aims: Vericiguat has been used to treat patients with heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) who demonstrated worsening heart failure despite treatment with other guideline-directed medical therapies. The haemodynamic effects of vericiguat remain unclear., Methods and Results: This study enrolled 12 patients (median age, 63 [quartiles 53.5, 70] years; 16.7%(N=2) women) with symptomatic HFrEF (New York Heart Association functional class II-IV) who demonstrated worsening heart failure despite treatment with the four foundational guideline-recommended therapies between March and December 2022, with follow-ups completed in June 2023. A balloon-tipped pulmonary artery thermodilution catheter was placed in the right internal jugular vein to perform right heart catheterisation (RHC) on day 1. Haemodynamic data were acquired before and after vericiguat intake (2.5 mg) on days 2 and 3. The data on days 2 and 3 were averaged. RHC was repeated on day 105 (37, 168). Oral intake of vericiguat 2.5 mg decreased mean pulmonary artery pressure (19.3 [14.3, 26.8] mmHg) and pulmonary artery wedge pressure (PAWP) (11 [7.5, 15] mmHg) before the intake to mean pulmonary artery pressure (17.5 [12.5, 24] mmHg) and PAWP (9.3 [6.8, 14] mmHg) at 30 min after (both P < 0.05). Reduction in PAWP was also found from 14.5 [9.5, 19.5] mmHg on day 1 to 9.5 [6.5, 12.5] mmHg on day 105 (37, 168) (P < 0.05), when vericiguat was titrated to 2.5 mg 25% (N = 3), 5 mg 50% (N = 6), and 10 mg 25% (N = 3)., Conclusions: The consistent reduction in PAWP underscores the well-tolerated nature of vericiguat and its potential to enhance cardiac performance in patients with HFrEF., (© 2024 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: Little is known about clinical or sociodemographic factors that influence health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with adult congenital heart disease (ACHD)., Methods and results: We conducted a nationwide prospective cross-sectional multicenter study at 4 large ACHD centers in Japan. From November 2016 to June 2018, we enrolled 1,223 ACHD patients; 1,025 patients had an HRQoL score. Patients completed a questionnaire survey, including sociodemographic characteristics, and the 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). To determine factors associated with HRQoL, correlations between 2 SF-36 summary scores (i.e., physical component score [PCS] and mental component score [MCS]) and other clinical or sociodemographic variables were examined using linear regression analysis. In multivariable analysis, poorer PCS was significantly associated with 11 variables, including older age, higher New York Heart Association class, previous cerebral infarction, being unemployed, and limited participation in physical education classes and sports clubs. Poorer MCS was associated with congenital heart disease of great complexity, being part of a non-sports club, current smoking, and social drinking. Student status and a higher number of family members were positively correlated with MCS., Conclusions: This study demonstrates that HRQoL in ACHD patients is associated with various clinical and sociodemographic factors. Further studies are needed to clarify whether some of these factors could be targets for future intervention programs to improve HRQoL outcomes.

Aims: The pathophysiology of pulmonary hypertension (PH) due to left-sided heart disease (Group 2 PH) is distinct from that of other groups of PH, yet there are still no approved therapies that selectively target pulmonary circulation. The increase in pulmonary capillary pressure due to left-sided heart disease is a trigger event for physical and biological alterations of the pulmonary circulation, including the nitric oxide (NO)-soluble guanylate cyclase-cyclic guanosine monophosphate axis. This study investigated inhaled NO vasoreactivity tests for patients with Group 2 PH and hypothesized that these changes may have a prognostic impact., Methods and Results: This was a single-centre, retrospective study with a median follow-up of 365 days. From January 2011 to December 2015, we studied 69 patients with Group 2 PH [age, 61.5 ± 13.0 (standard deviation) years; male:female, 49:20; left ventricular ejection fraction, 50.1 ± 20.4%; mean pulmonary arterial pressure, ≥25 mmHg; and pulmonary arterial wedge pressure (PAWP), >15 mmHg]. No adverse events were observed after NO inhalation. Thirty-four patients with Group 2 PH showed increased PAWP (ΔPAWP: 3.26 ± 2.22 mmHg), while the remaining 35 patients did not (ΔPAWP: -2.11 ± 2.29 mmHg). Multivariate analysis revealed that increased PAWP was the only significant predictor of all-cause death or hospitalization for heart failure (HF) after 1 year (hazard ratio 4.35; 95% confidence interval, 1.27-14.83; P = 0.019). The acute response of PAWP to NO differed between HF with preserved and reduced ejection fractions., Conclusions: Patients with Group 2 PH were tolerant of the inhaled NO test. NO-induced PAWP is a novel prognostic indicator., (© 2023 The Authors. ESC Heart Failure published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd on behalf of European Society of Cardiology.)

Background: The impact of frailty and sarcopenia in patients with gastric cancer is unclear. This study aimed to comprehensively examine the impact of frailty and sarcopenia on the short- and long-term outcomes in elderly patients undergoing radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer., Methods: We retrospectively assessed 246 patients aged ≥ 65 years who underwent radical gastrectomy. Frailty and sarcopenia were assessed using the modified frailty index (mFI) and psoas muscle mass index (PMI), respectively., Results: There were 30 (12.2%) and 60 (24.4%) patients with High-mFI and Low-PMI, respectively. As the age increased, both sexes showed significant correlations with PMI and mFI (r = - 0.238, 0.322, P = 0.003 and 0.002, respectively). High-mFI and Low-PMI did not affect the short-term outcomes. However, High-mFI was an independent risk factor for non-home discharge (P = 0.004) and was a significant predictor of 3- and 5-year overall survival (OS) (HR = 2.76 and 2.26; P = 0.002 and 0.005, respectively) and 1-, 3- and 5-year non-cancer-specific survival (non-CSS) (HR = 4.88, 8.05, and 4.01; P = 0.017, < 0.001, < 0.001, respectively). Low-PMI was a significant predictor of only 5-year OS (HR = 2.03, P = 0.003) and non-CSS (HR = 2.10, P = 0.020)., Conclusions: Frailty is significant predictor of non-home discharge and 1-, 3-, 5-year OS and 3- and 5-year non-CSS. Sarcopenia is a significant predictor of 5-year OS and non-CSS. Preoperative assessment of both frailty and sarcopenia can help surgeons to select adequate treatment strategies for the elderly population., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Société Internationale de Chirurgie.)

Aims: Limited data exist on risk factors for the long-term outcome of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) associated with congenital heart disease (CHD-PAH). We focused on the index of pulmonary vascular disease (IPVD), an assessment system for pulmonary artery pathology specimens. The IPVD classifies pulmonary vascular lesions into four categories based on severity: (1) no intimal thickening, (2) cellular thickening of the intima, (3) fibrous thickening of the intima, and (4) destruction of the tunica media, with the overall grade expressed as an additive mean of these scores. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between IPVD and the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH., Methods: This retrospective study examined lung pathology images of 764 patients with CHD-PAH aged <20 years whose lung specimens were submitted to the Japanese Research Institute of Pulmonary Vasculature for pulmonary pathological review between 2001 and 2020. Clinical information was collected retrospectively by each attending physician. The primary endpoint was cardiovascular death., Results: The 5-year, 10-year, 15-year, and 20-year cardiovascular death-free survival rates for all patients were 92.0%, 90.4%, 87.3%, and 86.1%, respectively. The group with an IPVD of ≥2.0 had significantly poorer survival than the group with an IPVD <2.0 ( P  = .037). The Cox proportional hazards model adjusted for the presence of congenital anomaly syndromes associated with pulmonary hypertension, and age at lung biopsy showed similar results (hazard ratio 4.46; 95% confidence interval: 1.45-13.73; P  = .009)., Conclusions: The IPVD scoring system is useful for predicting the long-term outcome of CHD-PAH. For patients with an IPVD of ≥2.0, treatment strategies, including choosing palliative procedures such as pulmonary artery banding to restrict pulmonary blood flow and postponement of intracardiac repair, should be more carefully considered., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (© 2023 Chida-Nagai, Masaki, Maeda, Sasaki, Sato, Muneuchi, Ochiai, Murayama, Tahara, Shiono, Shinozuka, Kono, Machida, Toyooka, Sugimoto, Nakamura, Akagi, Kondo, Kasahara, Kotani, Koizumi, Oda, Harada, Nakajima, Murata, Nagata, Yatsunami, Kobayashi, Matsunaga, Inoue, Yamagishi, Nakagawa, Ohtani, Yamamoto, Ito, Hokosaki, Kuwahara, Masutani, Nomura, Wada, Sawada, Abiko, Takahashi, Ishikawa, Okada, Naitoh, Toda, Ando, Masuzawa, Hoshino, Kawada, Nomura, Ueno, Ohashi, Tachibana, Cao, Ueda, Yanagi, Koide, Mitsushita, Higashi, Minosaki, Hayashi, Okamoto, Kuraishi, Ehara, Ishida, Horigome, Murakami, Takei, Ishii, Harada, Hirata, Maeda, Tatebe, Ota, Hayabuchi, Sakazaki, Sasaki, Hirono, Suzuki, Yasuda, Takeda, Sawai, Miyaji, Kitagawa, Nakai, Kakimoto, Agematsu, Manabe and Saiki.)

Purpose: We determined the usefulness of the estimation of physiologic ability and surgical stress (E-PASS), initially reported as a predictive factor for postoperative morbidity and mortality, as a prognostic indicator in stage II colorectal cancer (CRC)., Methods: Overall, 739 patients who underwent proctocolectomy for CRC at Tottori University Hospital and affiliated hospitals and histologically diagnosed with stage II CRC were included in the current study., Results: A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis of the five-year recurrence-free survival indicated that the comprehensive risk score (CRS) of E-PASS predicted postoperative recurrence. A multivariate analysis revealed that the presence of preoperative perforation, T4, v ≥ 2, and CRS High (≥ 0.2267) were independent predictors of postoperative recurrence. Patients were assigned a score using these factors, as follows: the presence of perforation = 1, the absence of preoperative perforation = 0, T4 = 1, T3 = 0, v2/3 = 1, v0/1 = 0, CRS High  = 1, and CRS Low  = 0 (total score: 0-4). Accordingly, the respective 5-year relapse-free survival rates were 91.0%, 83.6%, 70.3%, and 52.0% among those with scores of 0, 1, 2, and both 3 and 4 (P < 0.001)., Conclusions: The CRS predicts postoperative recurrence in patients with stage II CRC., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.)