Cooperation between cardiology and palliative care: time to change the paradigms of care after the publication of the European Association for Palliative Care position paper

Cooperation between cardiology and all other disciplines including palliative care should bear the hallmarks of care in the 21st century: caring for all dimensions of needs, always when they emerge and involving all disciplines needed.

Concomitant atrial fibrillation ablation and left atrial appendage occlusion using Amplatzer devices – a single centre experience

LAA occlusion using Amplatzer devices combined with AF ablation during the same procedure, under local anaesthesia and conscious sedation and without periprocedural TOE, seems feasible and effective regarding stroke prevention and safety in the long term but is associated with a high periprocedural complication rate.

Prognostic role of atrial fibrillation in acute coronary syndromes: a real-life, contemporary analysis

Atrial fibrillation (AF) is common in the ACS setting and associated with increased risk of in-hospital mortality. Although AF did not represent an independent prognosticator in ACS, a progressive increase on in-hospital death was observed when combining type of ACS and presence/absence of AF.

Repolarisation in patients with ischaemic and nonischaemic cardiomyopathy: assessment of parameters of transmural dispersion of repolarisation using the 65-lead surface ECG

ICMP had a longer Tpeak-Tend-duration and Tpeak-Tend-integral compared to DCMP despite normal parameters of depolarization. This may reflect the different arrhythmogenic morphological substrate and explain why ventricular tachycardias are more common in ICMP.

Heyde’s syndrome: “It may stimulate some replies or statistical studies”

Heyde’s syndrome is defined by the association of calcified aortic stenosis and gastrointestinal bleeding due to an acquired form of von Willebrand syndrome. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation reverses von Willebrand factor abnormalities and reduces bleeding events. The clinical management is challenging and requires an interdisciplinary approach.

Mitral regurgitation in a complex clinical setting: the importance of a patient-tailored approach

Choosing an alternative, transcatheter technique seems to offer a very good outcome in selected patients with severe valve dysfunction waiting for a high-risk and urgent non-cardiac procedure.

A “hidden” ECG abnormality …

A 52-year-old man was referred to the cardiology consultation by his general physician for work-up. The patient had no particular symptoms, but his family history was relevant.

Diastolic mitral regurgitation in a patient with 2:1 atrioventricular block

For diastolic mitral regurgitation to occur, diastolic left ventricular pressure must exceed the left atrial pressure. In the case presented here, this was due to isolated atrial contraction, not followed by a ventricular systole.

Letter in relation to “Patients with syncope remaining unexplained after a structured work-up share the characteristics of patients with neurally mediated syncope”

Forschungspreis 2021 der schweizerischen Herzstiftung