March 2020 News Roundup

Cath Lab Dispatch is TCTMD’s monthly roundup of recent news tidbits from journals and medical meetings around the globe.

Data from Wuhan, China, published in the Lancet, show that among hospitalized COVID-19 patients who survived to discharge, the median duration of viral shedding was 20 days, with the longest observed duration being 37 days.

In older patients with heart failure, baseline assessment of health literacy may help prevent unplanned hospital readmissions after discharge, a study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing concludes.

TAVR may be a reasonable option for patients who develop moderate-to-severe aortic regurgitation following implantation of a left ventricular assist device, findings from a small study in Structural Heart suggest.

Intimate partner violence may be an important risk factor for CVD development in women, according to a literature review published in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

Mobile ECG screenings located in community pharmacies could help detect early symptoms of A-fib, investigators conclude in Heart & Lung.

From JAMA Cardiology: hospitals awarded for high-quality cardiovascular care had a higher likelihood of being financially penalized under the Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program and the Hospital Value-Based Purchasing Program than those who didn’t receive that honor.

A study in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions found that recurrent/residual severe mitral regurgitation at 12 months, poor baseline LVEF, and male sex were inversely predictive of left ventricular reverse remodeling after MitraClip therapy (Abbott).

Nutrition interventions to improve diet quality and reduce sodium levels should be targeting heart failure patients and their family members/caregivers as a unit, researchers write in the Journal of Cardiovascular Nursing.

Commentary in Lancet Planetary Health argues that organizers of medical conferences “should set a standard of care for the environment,” by focusing on sustainable and carbon-neutral events.

A Korean study presented at CRT 2020 found that discontinuing antiplatelet therapy in patients with second-generation DES requiring noncardiac surgery did not increase the risk of net adverse clinical events, MACE, or major bleeding at 30 days unless the discontinuation extended beyond 9 days.

Also at CRT 2020, postmarket data for the MANTA vascular closure device (Essential Medical), for large-bore femoral artery access-site closure, show a vascular complication rate of 4%, similar to that seen in the SAFE MANTA IDE trial that supported US Food and Drug Administration approval of the device last year.

In older patients with heart failure, baseline assessment of health literacy may help prevent unplanned hospital readmissions after discharge, a study published in the Journal of Advanced Nursing concludes.

A nationwide study in Circulation: Heart Failure concludes that improvements in targeted use of advanced evidence-based therapies are needed to reduce regional disparities in care seen among acute MI patients with cardiogenic shock.

In high-risk patients undergoing percutaneous left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion, a cerebral protection device may lower risk of periprocedural stroke. In eight of 10 patients with LAA thrombus or spontaneous echo contrast “smoke,” the Sentinel device (Claret Medical) captured “visible, macroscopic debris,” with no patients experiencing intraprocedural or in-hospital embolic events, researchers write in Structural Heart.

Compared with standard management, an integrated primary care strategy was associated with a 45% reduction in all-cause mortality among a group of elderly A-fib patients enrolled in a Dutch study reported in the European Heart Journal.