Transcatheter valve interventions in heart failure: new answers to old questions

Transcatheter management of valvular regurgitation beyond the aortic valve (mitral - tricuspid valve): Literature overview and future perspectives

The growth of the available transcatheter treatment approaches for the mitral and tricuspid position was accompanied by important clinical trials and studies through the last years. The selection of appropriate candidates for transcatheter techniques requires significant insight into anatomical limitations of each patient undergoing clinical evaluation. Furthermore, technological characteristics of the available devices, and risks and benefits of each potential therapy, play the most important role in a physician's decision. This knowledge should be valuable to both interventional cardiologists and researchers. This paper aims to offer a concise overview of the technological advances in this field of Interventional Cardiology. Trials and studies announced at the major interventional cardiology congresses during 2018 and 2019 were systematically reviewed. Moreover, a literature search in PubMed for the same period identified an amount of publications eligible for inclusion, based on their relevance to the subject, and their potential impact on current guidelines of good clinical practice.

The Association of Autoantibodies in Hyperthyroid Heart Disease Combined with Pulmonary Hypertension

Hyperthyroidism is a clinical state that results from increased thyroid hormone levels which has a significant impact on cardiac function and structure. Graves' disease is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism in iodine-replete areas. Hyperthyroid heart disease may be associated with pulmonary hypertension in patients who have overt hyperthyroidism. To investigate the association of pulmonary hypertension induced by hyperthyroid heart disease and autoantibody, one hundred and one cases with hyperthyroid heart disease who were consecutively admitted to the inpatient department of endocrinology and metabolism of the Shandong Provincial Hospital between November 2014 and April 2018 were collected and analyzed statistically. According to the Independent samples T-test, variance analysis, chi-square test, Pearson linear correlation analysis, and logistic regression, there was a good correlation between pulmonary artery systolic pressure and thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) and receptor antibodies (TRAb) (r = 0.264, P=0.025) (OR = 1.037, P=0.029), but there was no significant correlation between the pulmonary artery systolic pressure and other thyroid-related parameters (FT3, FT4, TSH, anti-TPO, and anti-TG). Based on variance analysis, PASP rose as the level of TRAb gets higher. What is more, patients with HHD combined with PH showed a significantly higher serum level of TRAb; moreover, serum TRAb concentration was remarkably correlated with the PASP level. Therefore, TRAb participates in the process of pulmonary hypertension caused by hyperthyroid heart disease.