Open Heart

Association between delayed transcatheter aortic valve replacement beyond 6 months and clinical outcomes in severe aortic stenosis: a retrospective observationa…

Objective Early intervention for asymptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) has shown prognostic benefits; however, some ...
Open Heart

Prevalence of aortic findings among patients with multifocal fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) seen at a specialised referral centre

Background Fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD) is a non-atherosclerotic vascular disease that affects medium-sized arteries with multifocal (beaded) or focal stenotic lesions, aneurysms, dissections and ...
Open Heart

Long-term incidence and risk factors of atrial fibrillation after percutaneous patent foramen ovale occlusion: a retrospective cohort study

Background Percutaneous patent foramen ovale (PFO) closure is an established intervention for secondary prevention of ...
Open Heart

Development of a heart failure with preserved ejection fraction risk prediction score in primary care settings with a high HIV prevalence

Background Antiretroviral therapy (ART)-treated people with HIV (PWH) have increased risk of heart failure with preserved ...
Open Heart

Ultra-rapid outpatient treatment of patients with severe aortic stenosis presenting with acute valve syndrome: evaluation of a novel pathway for urgent TAVI

Background Up to 30% of patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) have presented to hospital with ...
Open Heart

Does increasing model complexity improve HEART-based chest pain risk stratification? A multicentre development and held-out emergency department vali…

Background and objectives The History, ECG, Age, Risk factors and Troponin (HEART) score is widely used for emergency ...
openheart.bmj

Smokeless tobacco use and circulatory disease risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Objective Smokeless tobacco use is a public health issue throughout the world, but reviews and analyses of circulatory disease risks associated with smokeless tobacco use may be outdated or incomplete ...
openheart.bmj

Pulsed-field ablation of atrial fibrillation with a pentaspline catheter across National Health Service England centres

Introduction Pulsed-field ablation (PFA) is a novel modality for pulmonary vein isolation in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We describe the initial uptake and experience of PFA using a ...
openheart.bmj

Relationships between hyperinsulinaemia, magnesium, vitamin D, thrombosis and COVID-19: rationale for clinical management

Risk factors for COVID-19 patients with poorer outcomes include pre-existing conditions: obesity, type 2 diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease (CVD), heart failure, hypertension, low oxygen ...
openheart.bmj

Bleeding after percutaneous coronary intervention: can we still ignore the obvious?

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is the most common cardiac invasive procedure to treat patients with coronary artery disease. In the USA, it is estimated that more than one million patients ...
openheart.bmj

Incidence of cardiovascular events and gastrointestinal bleeding in patients receiving clopidogrel with and without proton pump inhibitors: an updated meta-analysis

Background Dual antiplatelet therapy is the standard of care after coronary stent placement but increases the bleeding risk. The effects of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs) on clopidogrel metabolism have ...
openheart.bmj

Ivermectin may be a clinically useful anti-inflammatory agent for late-stage COVID-19

Ivermectin, on the WHO’s List of Essential Medications, has been in clinical use since 1981 as an orally and topically active agent for treating a range of parasitic infections in humans, including ...