HEART INTERNATIONAL -VOLUME 15, ISSUE 2 – 2021

Welcome to the latest issue of Heart International. The global coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has presented numerous challenges that have altered all areas of health care, including cardiology. Despite these challenges, the past year has shown significant innovation across the spectrum of cardiac care, as demonstrated in the diverse range of articles in this issue. COVID-19 […]

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with significant risk of thromboembolic events, particularly among hospitalized patients with elevated D-dimer levels.1–2 Recently, the COVID-19 Registry (CORE-19) study found that discharge anticoagulants were associated with a substantial decrease in the risk of thromboembolic disease or death in the post-discharge period.3 However, controversy has persisted around the […]

Roughly two decades ago, drug-eluting stents (DES) replaced bare metal stents as the most popular stent type used during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).1–3 However, soon after the introduction of these early-generation DES, their use was linked to an alarmingly high rate of late (>30 days) and very late (>1 year) stent thrombosis.4 An important predictor for this […]

Available evidence from randomized studies suggests that most bifurcation lesions are best managed with a provisional stenting (PS) approach, as this is associated with fewer complications, simpler procedures and better outcomes, compared with elective double stenting.1–6 However, the Achilles’ heel of single-stent strategies is represented by a higher risk of suboptimal result on the side branch, […]

Drug-eluting technology is a widely accepted, proven treatment for coronary artery stenosis and occlusions, with superior results when compared with bare metal stents or plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA).1,2 Many studies also proved drug-eluting stents (DES) and drug-coated balloons (DCB) to be superior to POBA when treating lower limb arteries.3,4 Paclitaxel is a cytostatic chemotherapy drug […]

Transcatheter-based therapies have become central to the treatment of valvular heart disease, particularly aortic stenosis.1–5 The first transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was performed in 2002 and, in two short decades, TAVR has become a mainstay for the treatment of aortic stenosis for all surgical risk categories.1,6–8 With the global success and adoption of TAVR, significant efforts […]

The first coronary stent was implanted by Sigwart and Puel in 1986.1 Coronary stents were initially used to treat failure of balloon angioplasty treatment, i.e. as bail-out for acute vessel closure (due to dissections) or restenosis (due to elastic recoil). After the BENESTENT and STRESS landmark randomized trials, the routine use of coronary stents for percutaneous […]

The true epidemiology of out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) is difficult to define, with wide variations in reporting, management and outcomes worldwide.1,2 In Europe, the incidence of OHCA is estimated to be between 67 and 170 per 100,000 people and it continues to be a major public health challenge that is reliant on multiple links in a […]

Lead displacement in pacemakers is a common implantation-related procedural complication, often resulting in prolonged hospital stays for patients and increased healthcare costs.1,2 The frequency of long-term lead displacement ranges between 1.8% and 8.0%.3,4 Recognizing lead displacement complications is an essential part of caring for patients with these cardiac devices.1 Case report An 89-year-old man underwent implantation of […]

A common complication of endovascular repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (EVAR) is the persistence of blood flow outside the lumen of the endoprosthesis, known as an endoleak. Endoleaks are a potentially lethal complication and occur following up to 25% of EVAR procedures.1,2 The classification of endoleaks includes five categories according to blood flow into the […]