Automated Clinical Pathway Utilizing Custom Risk Stratification Identifies Substantial Rates of Overdue Follow-up Among Patients With Inflammatory Bowel Disease and Facilitates Population Health Interventions

We describe the development and implementation of a dynamic clinical pathway, the IBD CarePath, integrated into the electronic health record that applies custom risk stratification to identify patients with IBD who are overdue for clinical follow-up.

Persistent Atrium Standstill Post Atrial Fibrillation Ablation Therapy

Atrial standstill is a rare condition in which the atrium loses its mechanical contraction with or without losing the electrical conduction. In this report, we discuss a case of a 64-year-old male patient with a history of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) and persistent refractory atrial fibrillation (AF). He underwent ablation therapy with a successful return to sinus rhythm. However, post-procedure echocardiography imaging showed the absence of left atrium mechanical activity. We aim to highlight the importance of assessing atrial mechanical activity by imaging after sinus cardioversion in order to treat any preventable complications promptly.

Heart Failure Associated With Ventricular Septal Defect, Mitral Valve Prolapse, Non-stenotic Bicuspid Aortic Valve, and Patent Foramen Ovale

Ventricular septal defect (VSD) and bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) are the two most common congenital heart defects. BAV may occur sporadically or in association with other cardiac malformations. VSDs have decreased incidence in the adult population due to spontaneous closure. Mitral valve prolapse (MVP) and patent foramen ovale (PFO) can be associated with these conditions but the simultaneous association of these defects has never been reported in the literature. We report the case of a 35-year-old male patient with persistent VSD, BAV, and PFO associated with new-onset heart failure and MVP. We aim to study the association between the coexistence of structural heart malformations and the increased risk of heart failure.