International journal of cardiology
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The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility of two free-breathing late gadolinium-enhanced cardiovascular magnetic resonance (LGE-CMR) techniques (two-dimensional segmented navigator-gated [NAV-LGE] and single-shot [SS-LGE]) by comparing with breath-hold LGE-CMR (BH-LGE) as reference. ⋯ Although both NAV- and SS-LGE improve the image quality in patients with insufficient BH capability, NAV-LGE is superior to SS-LGE in infarct detection and infarct size measurement. NAV-LGE can be a possible first-line technique for patients with inability to perform sufficient BH.
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Multicenter Study Comparative Study Observational Study
Long-term survival after hospitalization for acute heart failure--differences in prognosis of acutely decompensated chronic and new-onset acute heart failure.
To analyze the five-year mortality after hospitalization for acute heart failure (AHF) and compare predictors of prognosis in patients with and without a previous history of heart failure. ⋯ The long-term prognosis after hospitalization for AHF is poor, with a significantly different survival observed in patients with de-novo AHF compared to ADCHF. A previous history of heart failure is an independent predictor of five-year mortality. Distinction between ADCHF and de-novo AHF may improve our understanding of patients with AHF.
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Multicenter Study
Provider profiling models for acute coronary syndrome mortality using administrative data.
Administrative data have been used to construct risk-adjustment models for provider profiling to benchmark hospital performance for acute myocardial infarction (AMI), but much less for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We assess the impact on risk model performance and hospital-level mortality rate ratios (SMRs) of three key issues: comorbidity measurement methods, inter-hospital transfers and post-discharge deaths. ⋯ Models for comparing hospitals' ACS mortality can be constructed with good discrimination using English administrative hospital data. Adjusting for transfers in and capturing post-discharge deaths are more important than the choice of comorbidity adjustment.
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In patients referred for aortic valve replacement (AVR) a pre-surgical assessment of coronary artery disease is mandatory to determine the possible need for additional coronary artery bypass grafting. The diagnostic accuracy of coronary computed tomography angiography (coronary CTA) was evaluated in patients with aortic valve stenosis referred for surgical AVR. ⋯ In patients with aortic valve stenosis referred for surgical AVR the diagnostic accuracy of coronary CTA to identify significant coronary artery disease is moderate. Coronary CTA may be used successfully in a subset of patients with low age, no chronic obstructive lung disease, NYHA function class