The American College of Cardiology Foundation (ACCF) and American Heart Association (AHA) define heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) as the clinical syndrome of heart failure (HF) with evidence of a left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) 50% or greater.…
Clinical Manifestations Pulmonary hypertension, defined hemodynamically, refers to a broad range of conditions with a final common feature of raised arterial pulmonary pressures. Symptoms are nonspecific and include lethargy, reduced exercise capacity, and breathlessness. Clinical signs, when present, are compelling—edema…
Cardiac transplantation remains the gold standard therapy for patients with end-stage heart failure that is refractory to optimal medical therapy (American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association stage D heart failure). Since the first cardiac transplantation in 1967, considerable advances in…
Acknowledgment Stephen N. Palmer, PhD, ELS, contributed to the editing of the manuscript. Mechanical Circulatory Support Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) refers to nonpharmacologic cardiac assist systems that provide hemodynamic support in the treatment of patients with cardiogenic shock. Temporary MCS…
As the population ages, the prevalence of heart failure continues to escalate. Heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) comprises approximately 50% of the admission diagnoses for heart failure. The American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association categorizes heart failure into…
The management of intracardiac masses is clinically challenging. Much of the difficulty arises from the fact that it is often difficult to describe the precise character and location of cardiac masses by current imaging techniques. Possible causes of intracardiac masses…
Endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) is a commonly performed procedure for the evaluation of cardiac tissue for transplant monitoring ( Video 173.1 ), myocarditis, drug toxicity, cardiomyopathy, and secondary cardiac involvement by systemic diseases and for diagnosis of cardiac masses. , This…
Paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) is a serious and underdiagnosed problem of prosthetic valves. It occurs in 7% to 17% of surgical mitral prosthetic valves and 2% to 10% of aortic prosthetic valves. Approximately 74% of PVR occur in the first year…
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia in the world, affecting more than 3 million people in the United States alone. AF is defined as a supraventricular tachyarrhythmia characterized by uncoordinated atrial activation and consequent deterioration of mechanical…
Left ventricular (LV) pseudoaneurysm is a rare but serious complication of myocardial infarction (MI), cardiac surgery, trauma, and infection. Medical treatment alone is frequently not effective and is associated with as much as 50% mortality. Until recently, the recommended treatment…