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The latest findings from the EMPA-REG OUTCOME trial show a 34% reduction in hospitalization for heart failure or cardiovascular death in patients receiving empagliflozin, a sodium/glucose cotransporter 2 (SGLT2) inhibitor, compared with placebo. These outstanding results call for discussion of the clinical implications, and in-depth studies of the mechanisms of action of SGLT2 inhibitors.
The long-term outcomes of operated and nonoperated patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension were reported in a large, prospective, multicentre, European and Canadian registry. The long-term prognosis of operated patients was superior to that of nonoperated patients, indicating that surgery should be the first-choice treatment in this patient cohort.
Distal embolization of thrombus resulting in microvascular obstruction can result in incomplete myocardial reperfusion after primary percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. In this Review, Mahmoud and Zijlstra discuss the use of thrombus aspiration to enhance myocardial reperfusion, and how this technique has improved our understanding of the pathophysiology of acute myocardial infarction.
A major goal of precision medicine is to improve disease prevention and therapy by using big data provided by genomic technology and electronic health records. In a new study, assessment of a patient population without a history of cardiac disease revealed that genetic variants putatively associated with a risk of sudden death were not linked with arrhythmia phenotypes.
Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) key opinion leaders, health ministers, clinicians, and industry representatives gathered in Ethiopia in February 2015. The question: how to eradicate RHD in Africa. The response: the Addis Ababa communiqué, a practical document outlining seven major barriers to RHD control in Africa and seven strategies to address them.
Heart failure (HF) is a global epidemic affecting >37.7 million individuals globally. HF is associated with increased morbidity and mortality, and confers a substantial burden on the health-care system. In this Review, Ziaeian and Fonarow summarize the latest epidemiological data on HF in both developed and developing countries, and provide an overview of associated risk factors and aetiologies contributing to the disease burden.
A large number of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) events originate from plaques with an intact fibrous cap (IFC). In this Review, Kanwar et al. provide an overview of the latest advances in our understanding of plaque morphology in ACS with IFC, reviewing contemporary data from multimodality imaging. They also discuss whether the use of such imaging might result in more effective management of patients with ACS.
Advanced noninvasive imaging techniques add diagnostic and prognostic value in patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome, complementing patient history, electrocardiogram, and cardiac biomarkers for timely identification or ruling out of acute coronary syndrome. In this Review, Garg and colleagues summarize the current guidelines and clinical use of the most common noninvasive imaging techniques, and provide an update on developments in noninvasive imaging.
