Kerala Atrial Fibrillation Registry: a prospective observational study on clinical characteristics, treatment pattern and outcome of atrial fibrillation in Kerala, India, cohort profile.

PURPOSE: Limited published data exist on the clinical epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) in South Asia including India. Most of the published data are from the Western countries and the Far East. The Kerala AF registry was initiated to collect systematic, prospective data on clinical characteristics, risk factors, treatment pattern and outcomes of consecutive AF patients who consulted cardiologists across the state of Kerala, India. PARTICIPANTS: All newly diagnosed and previously reported patients aged ≥18 years with documented evidence of AF on ECG were included. Patients with transient AF due to infection, acute myocardial infarction, alcohol intoxication, metabolic abnormalities and AF seen in postoperative cases and critically ill patients with life expectancy less than 30 days were excluded. FINDINGS TO DATE: A total of 3421 patients were recruited from 53 hospitals across Kerala from April 2016 to April 2017. There were 51% (n=1744) women. The median age of the cohort was 65 (IQR 56-74) years. Hypertension, diabetes mellitus and dyslipidaemia were present in 53.8%, 34.5% and 42.2% patients, respectively. Chronic kidney disease was observed in 46.6%, coronary artery disease in 34.8% and heart failure (HF) in 26.5% of patients. Mean CHA2DS2-VASc score of the cohort was 2.9, and HAS-BLED score was 1.7. Detailed information of antithrombotic and antiarrhythmic drugs was collected at baseline and on follow-up. During 1-year follow-up, 443 deaths (12.9%) occurred of which 332 (9.7%) were cardiac death and 63 (1.8%) were due to stroke. There were 578 (16.8%) hospitalisations mainly due to acute coronary syndrome, arrythmias and HF. FUTURE PLANS: Currently, this is the largest prospective study on AF patients from India, and the cohort will be followed for 5 years to observe the treatment patterns and clinical outcomes. The investigators encourage collaborations with national and international AF researchers. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: CTRI/2017/10/010097.

Prognostic value of soluble ST2 biomarker in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction - A multicenter study.

OBJECTIVE: To study the prognostic value of soluble Suppression of Tumorigenicity-2 (sST2) in heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF). METHODS: In this prospective, observational, multicenter study, patients with heart failure (HF) and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) <50% were included. Clinical evaluation and serum levels of sST2 were estimated at five time points during follow up. Study endpoint was the relationship of baseline and serial sST2 concentration in the blood to the composite endpoints of cardiac death and re-hospitalization for worsening of HF during one year follow up period. RESULTS: A total of 141 patients were enrolled. The mean age was 60±10.4years. At baseline evaluation, 49.6% patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class III and 36.2% in class IV. Adverse events were observed in 57 patients (40.4%); 25 (17.7%) were re-hospitalized due to worsening of HF and 32 (22.7%) died due to cardiac causes. The median value of baseline sST2 was 46.36ng/ml (IQR 31.30-78.38). sST2 concentration at baseline was significantly higher among patients with adverse events in comparison to patients without adverse events (p=<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) for baseline sST2 concentration identified 49ng/ml as optimal cut-off value to predict cardiac death and re-hospitalization, with a sensitivity and specificity of 72% and 75%, respectively. CONCLUSION: In patients with HFrEF, sST2 concentration at baseline as well as on serial testing was significantly correlated with cardiac death and re-hospitalization for worsening of HF.

Prospective study to evaluate safety and efficacy of Zotarolimus Eluting Stent (PSEZES) in patients with long coronary artery lesions.

BACKGROUND: Although the safety and effectiveness of Drug-Eluting Stents (DES) has been established extensively, reports on long term clinical outcome with angiographic findings in patients with long coronary artery lesions are not many. METHODS: In this single-center prospective registry of 100 patients, a total of 110 denovo long lesions (>20 mm) were treated with Resolute Zotarolimus Eluting Stent (R-ZES). The patients were followed up clinically at 3, 6 and 12 months and follow up coronary angiography was performed at 9-months. The primary end point was one year rate of target lesion failure (TLF) which is a composite of cardiac death, target lesion myocardial infarction or ischemia driven target lesion revascularization (TLR). The secondary end points included definite or probable stent thrombosis, 9-month angiographic restenosis and late lumen loss. RESULTS: The mean age of patients was 58.7 ± 9.50 years with prevalence of diabetes as high as 60%. The mean lesion length was 24.67 ± 4.87 mm with a mean reference vessel diameter of 2.85 ± 0.32 mm and 67.3% were Type C lesions (ACC/AHA classification). Two patients died during follow-up, of which one was non-cardiac death. One patient had target vessel myocardial infarction and five patients (4.5%) had ischemia driven TLR. The incidence of TLF was 6.36%. Binary restenosis was seen in 7 out of 93 lesions (7.5%). Median late lumen loss at 9 month was 0.22 mm. No stent thrombosis was noted in the study. CONCLUSION: Implantation of R-ZES in real-world patients with long coronary artery lesions is safe with comparable efficacy to what is observed in the treatment of less complex lesions.

New onset S wave in pulmonary embolism: revisited (something old and something new).

We report a case of a young man who had a new onset S wave in lead 1 in his ECG with typical symptoms of acute onset of dyspoena 2 months after an episode of deep vein thrombosis, S wave disappeared 6 days after thrombolysis. We report this case as the clinical course was very typical plus we have reviewed the literature regarding diagnosis and risk stratification of pulmonary embolism for the student, or the casualty medical officer.