The Canadian journal of cardiology
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Low-risk syncope accounts for a large proportion of hospital admissions; however, inpatient investigations are often not necessary and are rarely diagnostic. Reducing the number of low-risk syncope admissions can likely lower health care resource consumption and overall expenditure. Application of syncope guidelines by physicians in the emergency department provides a standardized approach that may potentially reduce admissions and lead to health care resource utilization savings. ⋯ In conclusion, application of the current syncope guidelines to an emergency department population is unlikely to reduce low-risk hospital admissions.
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We report the case of a 65-year-old man referred to our department because of a complex coronary aneurysmal disease presenting as subacute ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction due to intraluminal thromboembolism. The patient's past medical history (recurrent episodes of lymphadenopathies, parotid swelling, prostatitis, and dacryoadenitis) raised the suspicion of a unifying systemic disorder with coronary involvement. An extensive infectious and autoimmune screening was performed, leading to the final diagnosis of IgG4-related disease. Our case highlights the importance to include this rare and recently described disease in the diagnostic workup of acquired coronary aneurysms.
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Differences in baseline characteristics and anatomy between female and male patients with aortic valve stenosis may influence outcomes after surgical and transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). We evaluated the effect of sex on in-hospital outcomes after transfemoral (TF-TAVR), transapical (TA-TAVR), or surgical (SAVR) aortic valve replacement in a nationwide cohort. ⋯ This nation-wide analysis of sex-specific outcomes after aortic-valve replacement procedures showed that women are higher-risk for bleeding, but lower-risk for stroke, mechanical ventilation, and TF-TAVR mortality. Understanding these differences and their basis may help improve outcomes.
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Worldwide, more than 230 million adults have major noncardiac surgery each year. Although surgery can improve quality and duration of life, it can also precipitate major complications. Moreover, a substantial proportion of deaths occur after discharge. ⋯ Reduced in-hospital ward monitoring, followed by no vital signs monitoring at home, leads to thousands of cases of undetected/delayed detection of hemodynamic compromise. In this article we review work to date on postoperative remote automated monitoring on surgical wards and strategy for advancing this field. Key considerations for overcoming current barriers to implementing remote automated monitoring in Canada are also presented.
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A 60-year-old man was diagnosed with melanoma. After receiving 13 infusions of nivolumab, he had fulminant myocarditis. ⋯ Programmed death-1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) was predominantly expressed on the surface of the damaged myocardium. Although it is reported that myocarditis induced by the human anti-programmed death-1 inhibitor nivolumab therapy rarely occurred at > 2 months use in clinical trials, this case showed that even if at a late phase, long-term use of immune checkpoint inhibitors might to lead immune-related adverse events including myocarditis.