HEART INTERNATIONAL – VOLUME 18, ISSUE 2 – 2024

Welcome to this issue of Heart International. As ever, we aim to provide our readers with the latest developments, insights, and evidence-based discussions in cardiovascular care. This edition is particularly poignant, as we begin with a heartfelt tribute to an influential figure in interventional cardiology and a cherished member of our editorial board, Dr Richard […]

We are sorry to announce the death of one of our valued editorial board members, Dr Richard Heuser (November 17, 1950–May 23, 2024). Richard R Heuser, MD, FACC, FACP, FESC, MSCAI, was an internationally recognized cardiologist, inventor, educator and author, and was a diplomat of the American Board of Cardiovascular Diseases and the American Board […]

This corrects the article: “Ioannou A. Evolution of Disease-modifying Therapy for Transthyretin Cardiac Amyloidosis. Heart International. 2024;18(1):30-37”. Two typography errors were included incorrectly due to an editorial error. In Table 1, “eplontersen” was incorrectly written as “eplomtersen”. This has been corrected in the text. In the section “Eplontersen”, the administration schedule should be written as […]

The first-in-human implantation of a leadless pacing system occurred already more than 10 years ago.1 The first-generation ventricular leadless pacemaker could provide only asynchronous ventricular pacing (ventricular, ventricular, inhibited [VVI], or ventricular, ventricular, inhibited, rate response [VVIR]), limiting its indications to patients with atrial fibrillation and severe bradycardia, those precluded for implantation of a transvenous pacemaker […]

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). An estimated 60–80% of patients with T2DM die of cardiovascular events.1,2 A bidirectional relationship has been noted between heart failure (HF) and T2DM.3 HF was noted to be twice as high in male patients and five times as […]

Forty-seven years ago, Andreas Gruentzig introduced ‘percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty’ (PTCA) as a new approach to treating symptomatic occlusive coronary artery disease.1 The mechanism of balloon angioplasty (BA) formed the foundation around which newer equipment and technologies were developed, including plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA), bare-metal stents (BMS), drug-eluting stents (DES) and drug-coated balloons (DCBs), each […]

Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a frequent finding on echocardiography, with detection rates reaching up to 86% across the different ranges of severity, with moderate or greater TR being reported in at least 6–8% of patients.1–3 The prevalence of TR increases with age, affecting >4% of people above the age of 75 years, with women being more […]

Cardiovascular diseases are the most common cause of mortality and morbidity in adults worldwide.1 Coronary angiography (CAG) is the gold standard method for evaluating atherosclerotic coronary artery disease (CAD).2 It is conventionally performed via the trans-femoral (TF) route. Recently, however, the trans-radial (TR) route has become the preferred way.3 The TR route offers better procedure comfort, shorter hospitalization […]