There is limited published information on bioprosthetic aortic valve durability. The purpose of this study was to assess the durability of bioprosthetic valves used for aortic valve replacement (AVR) in pediatric patients.

Accurate preprocedural planning is crucial for a successful transcatheter aortic valve implantation to ensure patient safety and valve longevity. Through 3-dimensional visualization, virtual reality (VR) offers the potential to enhance this process. The study investigated whether the inclusion of VR in preprocedural planning can improve the procedural preparation, impact intraprocedural parameters, and improve short-term patient outcomes.

Myocarditis is an inflammatory disease involving the heart muscle and potentially the pericardium. While there are many potential causative agents, commonly grouped into infectious (viral, bacterial, parasitic) or noninfectious (autoimmune, systemic disorders, drugs, cancer related), the main pathological pathways ultimately lead to an inflammatory process of the myocardium resulting in necrosis and edema. As there are specific therapies available for patients with myocarditis, reliable and early diagnosis is crucial. Multimodality imaging, especially cardiovascular magnetic resonance, has made a noninvasive diagnosis feasible. Cardiovascular magnetic resonance can not only provide a diagnosis based on the updated Lake Louise criteria, but it also functions as a diagnostic gateway, leading to other imaging modalities, for example, positron emission tomography or computed tomography. Finally, imaging results can help to initiate treatment options as well as determine when a patient can return to work or exercise. This review will cover multimodal imaging in patients with myocarditis with a focus on cardiovascular magnetic resonance, providing case examples of how imaging can guide care and treatment in these patients. In addition, the review focuses on the recent European Society for Cardiology guideline on the management of myocarditis and pericarditis comparing the recommendation to the American College of Cardiology expert consensus statements and the Japanese Circulation Society guidelines.

Lymphedema is a chronic condition characterized by the accumulation of fluid due to impaired lymphatic drainage, frequently occurring secondary to chronic venous insufficiency (CVI), malignancy, or obesity. Despite known environmental and clinical risk factors, the genetic contributors to lymphedema and CVI have been understudied.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is characterized by substantial heterogeneity in both clinical phenotype and risk of adverse outcomes, including heart failure and sudden cardiac death. This highlights the need for robust biomarkers for risk stratification, and while previous studies have identified the role of select plasma proteins, comprehensive large-scale proteomic analyses have been limited in HCM.

Among accepted US heart organs, listing centers accept organ offers earliest for White women, followed by Black women, White men, and Black men. Understanding the relationships of center- and geographic-level decisions is necessary to understand waitlist disparities. We sought to determine whether listing center and geography are associated with the first heart organ acceptance by candidate race, since race demographics vary regionally across the United States.

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a cornerstone treatment for coronary artery disease. As procedural volumes continue to rise, the associated radiation risk from angiography systems has drawn increasing concern. Thus, we developed a novel ultra-low-dose Noise-Free technology to optimize angiography systems. This study aims to investigate whether it effectively reduces radiation exposure in real-world coronary interventions.