OBJECTIVES To assess long-term outcomes of tricuspid valve replacement (TVR) after previous left-side heart surgery. METHODS We reviewed reoperative TVR after left-side heart surgery performed at our institution between March 1997 and June 2012. In-hospital data were retrieved from our institutional database or medical records; follow-up was performed through telephone call, surviving patient...

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Introduction Pulmonary hypertension (PH) is haemodynamically defined according to the latest ESC/ERS guidelines as a mean pulmonary arterial pressure (mPAP) > 20 mmHg at rest. Transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) non-invasive and widely available initial screening test for PH, though studies correlation between echo-derived...

Abstract Funding Acknowledgements Type of funding sources: None. Purpose. Cardiovascular involvement in systemic sclerosis (SSc) is frequent, often subtle, and associated with poor prognosis. Our aim was to compare echocardiographic data SSc patients controls, assess parameters able predict the development cardiovascular involvement. Methods. We enrolled 756 (Group 1) without a previous diagnos...

OBJECTIVE To investigate 25-OH vitamin D concentrations in 2 independent systemic sclerosis (SSc) populations from France and Italy. METHODS We studied 156 consecutive SSc patients comparable for demographic characteristics: 90 from Northern France and 66 from Southern Italy. 25-OH vitamin D, intact parathyroid hormone, and serum total calcium and phosphorus were measured in all patients. Vit...

Abstract Introduction Left atrial (LA) function has been associated to right chambers hemodynamics in the context of mitral valve regurgitation (MR). However, this physiological interplay between left function, and ventricular (RV) parameters not yet clarified patients with aortic stenosis (AS). Aim study To assess combination LA different MR grades performance pulmonary non-invasive status sev...

BACKGROUND In idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension (IPAH), peripheral airway obstruction is frequent. This is partially attributed to the mediator dysbalance, particularly an excess of endothelin-1 (ET-1), to increased pulmonary vascular and airway tonus and to local inflammation. Bosentan (ET-1 receptor antagonist) improves pulmonary hemodynamics, exercise limitation, and disease severit...

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE CGP 12177 not only inhibits agonist effects mediated through the catecholamine site of the β1 -adrenoceptor with high affinity, but also exhibits agonist effects of its own at higher concentrations through a secondary, low-affinity β1 -adrenoceptor site or conformation. β-blocker affinities for this 'CGP 12177' site of the human β1 -adrenoceptor have thus far only been ch...

BACKGROUND Pulmonary thromboendarterectomy (PTE) is an effective treatment for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH), but is a technically challenging operation for cardiothoracic surgeons. Starting a new program allows an opportunity to define a learning curve for PTE. METHODS A retrospective case review was performed of 134 consecutive PTEs performed from 1998 to 2016 at a s...