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Europace : European Pacing,... Jul 2023Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a new, non-thermal ablation modality for pulmonary vein (PV) isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The multi-centre...
AIMS
Pulsed field ablation (PFA) is a new, non-thermal ablation modality for pulmonary vein (PV) isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). The multi-centre EUropean Real World Outcomes with Pulsed Field AblatiOn in Patients with Symptomatic AtRIAl Fibrillation (EU-PORIA) registry sought to determine the safety, efficacy, and learning curve characteristics for the pentaspline, multi-electrode PFA catheter.
METHODS AND RESULTS
All-comer AF patients from seven high-volume centres were consecutively enrolled. Procedural and follow-up data were collected. Learning curve effects were analysed by operator ablation experience and primary ablation modality. In total, 1233 patients (61% male, mean age 66 ± 11years, 60% paroxysmal AF) were treated by 42 operators. In 169 patients (14%), additional lesions outside the PVs were performed, most commonly at the posterior wall (n = 127). Median procedure and fluoroscopy times were 58 (interquartile range: 40-87) and 14 (9-21) min, respectively, with no differences due to operator experience. Major complications occurred in 21/1233 procedures (1.7%) including pericardial tamponade (14; 1.1%) and transient ischaemic attack or stroke (n = 7; 0.6%), of which one was fatal. Prior cryoballoon users had less complication. At a median follow-up of 365 (323-386) days, the Kaplan-Meier estimate of arrhythmia-free survival was 74% (80% for paroxysmal and 66% for persistent AF). Freedom from arrhythmia was not influenced by operator experience. In 149 (12%) patients, a repeat procedure was performed due to AF recurrence and 418/584 (72%) PVs were durably isolated.
CONCLUSION
The EU-PORIA registry demonstrates a high single-procedure success rate with an excellent safety profile and short procedure times in a real-world, all-comer AF patient population.
Topics: Humans; Male; Middle Aged; Aged; Female; Atrial Fibrillation; Poria; Treatment Outcome; Catheter Ablation; Fluoroscopy; Pulmonary Veins; Recurrence
PubMed: 37379528
DOI: 10.1093/europace/euad185 -
Nature Biotechnology Dec 2023The epicardium, the mesothelial envelope of the vertebrate heart, is the source of multiple cardiac cell lineages during embryonic development and provides signals that...
The epicardium, the mesothelial envelope of the vertebrate heart, is the source of multiple cardiac cell lineages during embryonic development and provides signals that are essential to myocardial growth and repair. Here we generate self-organizing human pluripotent stem cell-derived epicardioids that display retinoic acid-dependent morphological, molecular and functional patterning of the epicardium and myocardium typical of the left ventricular wall. By combining lineage tracing, single-cell transcriptomics and chromatin accessibility profiling, we describe the specification and differentiation process of different cell lineages in epicardioids and draw comparisons to human fetal development at the transcriptional and morphological levels. We then use epicardioids to investigate the functional cross-talk between cardiac cell types, gaining new insights into the role of IGF2/IGF1R and NRP2 signaling in human cardiogenesis. Finally, we show that epicardioids mimic the multicellular pathogenesis of congenital or stress-induced hypertrophy and fibrotic remodeling. As such, epicardioids offer a unique testing ground of epicardial activity in heart development, disease and regeneration.
Topics: Humans; Pericardium; Heart; Myocardium; Cell Differentiation; Cell Lineage; Biology
PubMed: 37012447
DOI: 10.1038/s41587-023-01718-7 -
Cerebellum (London, England) Jun 2024We describe a male patient presenting with cerebellar ataxia and behavioural frontotemporal dementia in whom imaging showed cerebellar atrophy. He had significantly low...
We describe a male patient presenting with cerebellar ataxia and behavioural frontotemporal dementia in whom imaging showed cerebellar atrophy. He had significantly low N-acetyl aspartate to creatine (NAA/Cr) area ratio on MR spectroscopy of the cerebellum, primarily affecting the vermis. CT body scan showed extensive abnormal tissue within the mesentery, the retroperitoneum and perinephric areas. PET-CT showed increased tracer uptake within the wall of the aorta suggestive of an aortitis and within the perinephric tissue bilaterally. Biopsy of the perinephric tissue confirmed IgG4 disease. Treatment with steroids and mycophenolate improved his clinical state, but he developed symptoms attributed to pericardiac effusion that necessitated treatment initially with drainage and subsequently with pericardial window. After a course of rituximab, he had an episode of sepsis that did not respond to appropriate treatment and died as a result. Both the imaging findings and neurological presentation with cerebellar ataxia and behavioural frontotemporal dementia are novel in the context of IgG4 disease.
Topics: Humans; Male; Cerebellar Ataxia; Immunoglobulin G4-Related Disease; Middle Aged; Frontotemporal Dementia
PubMed: 37558930
DOI: 10.1007/s12311-023-01592-8