TY - JOUR A1 - Seydelmann, Nora A1 - Liu, Dan A1 - Krämer, Johannes A1 - Drechsler, Christiane A1 - Hu, Kai A1 - Nordbeck, Peter A1 - Schneider, Andreas A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Bijnens, Bart A1 - Ertl, Georg A1 - Wanner, Christoph A1 - Weidemann, Frank T1 - High-Sensitivity Troponin: A Clinical Blood Biomarker for Staging Cardiomyopathy in Fabry Disease JF - Journal of the American Heart Association N2 - Background High‐sensitivity troponin (hs‐TNT), a biomarker of myocardial damage, might be useful for assessing fibrosis in Fabry cardiomyopathy. We performed a prospective analysis of hs‐TNT as a biomarker for myocardial changes in Fabry patients and a retrospective longitudinal follow‐up study to assess longitudinal hs‐TNT changes relative to fibrosis and cardiomyopathy progression. Methods and Results For the prospective analysis, hs‐TNT from 75 consecutive patients with genetically confirmed Fabry disease was analyzed relative to typical Fabry‐associated echocardiographic findings and total myocardial fibrosis as measured by late gadolinium enhancement (LE) on magnetic resonance imaging. Longitudinal data (3.9±2.0 years), including hs‐TNT, LE, and echocardiographic findings from 58 Fabry patients, were retrospectively collected. Hs‐TNT level positively correlated with LE (linear correlation coefficient, 0.72; odds ratio, 32.81 [95% CI, 3.56–302.59]; P=0.002); patients with elevated baseline hs‐TNT (>14 ng/L) showed significantly increased LE (median: baseline, 1.9 [1.1–3.3] %; follow‐up, 3.2 [2.3–4.9] %; P<0.001) and slightly elevated hs‐TNT (baseline, 44.7 [30.1–65.3] ng/L; follow‐up, 49.1 [27.6–69.5] ng/L; P=0.116) during follow‐up. Left ventricular wall thickness and EF of patients with elevated hs‐TNT were decreased during follow‐up, indicating potential cardiomyopathy progression. Conclusions hs‐TNT is an accurate, easily accessible clinical blood biomarker for detecting replacement fibrosis in patients with Fabry disease and a qualified predictor of cardiomyopathy progression. Thus, hs‐TNT could be helpful for staging and follow‐up of Fabry patients. KW - biomarker KW - cardiomyopathy KW - fabry disease KW - myocardial fibrosis KW - troponin T Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-165682 VL - 5 IS - e002839 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Liu, Dan A1 - Hu, Kai A1 - Nordbeck, Peter A1 - Ertl, Georg A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Weidemann, Frank T1 - Longitudinal strain bull's eye plot patterns in patients with cardiomyopathy and concentric left ventricular hypertrophy JF - European Journal of Medical Research N2 - Despite substantial advances in the imaging techniques and pathophysiological understanding over the last decades, identification of the underlying causes of left ventricular hypertrophy by means of echocardiographic examination remains a challenge in current clinical practice. The longitudinal strain bull’s eye plot derived from 2D speckle tracking imaging offers an intuitive visual overview of the global and regional left ventricular myocardial function in a single diagram. The bull’s eye mapping is clinically feasible and the plot patterns could provide clues to the etiology of cardiomyopathies. The present review summarizes the longitudinal strain, bull’s eye plot features in patients with various cardiomyopathies and concentric left ventricular hypertrophy and the bull’s eye plot features might serve as one of the cardiac workup steps on evaluating patients with left ventricular hypertrophy. KW - speckle tracking imaging KW - bull’s eye plot KW - cardiomyopathy KW - left ventricular hypertrophy Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-146373 VL - 21 IS - 21 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Dueñas-Espín, Ivan A1 - Vela, Emili A1 - Pauws, Steffen A1 - Bescos, Cristina A1 - Cano, Isaac A1 - Cleries, Montserrat A1 - Contel, Joan Carles A1 - Keenoy, Esteban de Manuel A1 - Garcia-Aymerich, Judith A1 - Gomez-Cabrero, David A1 - Kaye, Rachelle A1 - Lahr, Maarten M. H. A1 - Lluch-Ariet, Magí A1 - Moharra, Montserrat A1 - Monterde, David A1 - Mora, Joana A1 - Nalin, Marco A1 - Pavlickova, Andrea A1 - Piera, Jordi A1 - Ponce, Sara A1 - Santaeugenia, Sebastià A1 - Schonenberg, Helen A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Tegner, Jesper A1 - Velickovski, Filip A1 - Westerteicher, Christoph A1 - Roca, Josep T1 - Proposals for enhanced health risk assessment and stratification in an integrated care scenario JF - BMJ Open N2 - Objectives Population-based health risk assessment and stratification are considered highly relevant for large-scale implementation of integrated care by facilitating services design and case identification. The principal objective of the study was to analyse five health-risk assessment strategies and health indicators used in the five regions participating in the Advancing Care Coordination and Telehealth Deployment (ACT) programme (http://www.act-programme.eu). The second purpose was to elaborate on strategies toward enhanced health risk predictive modelling in the clinical scenario. Settings The five ACT regions: Scotland (UK), Basque Country (ES), Catalonia (ES), Lombardy (I) and Groningen (NL). Participants Responsible teams for regional data management in the five ACT regions. Primary and secondary outcome measures We characterised and compared risk assessment strategies among ACT regions by analysing operational health risk predictive modelling tools for population-based stratification, as well as available health indicators at regional level. The analysis of the risk assessment tool deployed in Catalonia in 2015 (GMAs, Adjusted Morbidity Groups) was used as a basis to propose how population-based analytics could contribute to clinical risk prediction. Results There was consensus on the need for a population health approach to generate health risk predictive modelling. However, this strategy was fully in place only in two ACT regions: Basque Country and Catalonia. We found marked differences among regions in health risk predictive modelling tools and health indicators, and identified key factors constraining their comparability. The research proposes means to overcome current limitations and the use of population-based health risk prediction for enhanced clinical risk assessment. Conclusions The results indicate the need for further efforts to improve both comparability and flexibility of current population-based health risk predictive modelling approaches. Applicability and impact of the proposals for enhanced clinical risk assessment require prospective evaluation. KW - health risk assessment Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-164743 VL - 6 IS - e010301 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Gaudron, Philipp Daniel A1 - Liu, Dan A1 - Scholz, Friederike A1 - Hu, Kai A1 - Florescu, Christiane A1 - Herrmann, Sebastian A1 - Bijnens, Bart A1 - Ertl, Georg A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Weidemann, Frank T1 - The septal bulge - an early echocardiographic sign in hypertensive heart disease JF - Journal of the American Society of Hypertension N2 - Patients in the early stage of hypertensive heart disease tend to have normal echocardiographic findings. The aim of this study was to investigate whether pathology-specific echocardiographic morphologic and functional parameters can help to detect subclinical hypertensive heart disease. One hundred ten consecutive patients without a history and medication for arterial hypertension (AH) or other cardiac diseases were enrolled. Standard echocardiography and two-dimensional speckle tracking -imaging analysis were performed. Resting blood pressure (BP) measurement, cycle ergometer test (CET), and 24-hour ambulatory BP monitoring (ABPM) were conducted. Patients were referred to "septal bulge (SB)" group (basal-septal wall thickness >= 2 mm thicker than mid-septal wall thickness) or "no-SB" group. Echocardiographic SB was found in 48 (43.6%) of 110 patients. In this SB group, 38 (79.2%) patients showed AH either by CET or ABPM. In contrast, in the no-SB group (n = 62), 59 (95.2%) patients had no positive test for AH by CET or ABPM. When AH was solely defined by resting BP, SB was a reasonable predictive sign for AH (sensitivity 73%, specificity 76%). However, when AH was confirmed by CET or ABPM the echocardiographic SB strongly predicted clinical AH (sensitivity 93%, specificity 86%). In addition, regional myocardial deformation of the basal-septum in SB group was significantly lower than in no-SB group (14 +/- 4% vs. 17 +/- 4%; P < .001). In conclusion, SB is a morphologic echocardiographic sign for early hypertensive heart disease. Sophisticated BP evaluation including resting BP, ABPM, and CET should be performed in all patients with an accidental finding of a SB in echocardiography. KW - Septal bulge KW - hypertension KW - blood pressure monitoring KW - echocardiography KW - heart disease Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-191433 VL - 10 IS - 1 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Weidemann, Frank A1 - Maier, Sebastian K. G. A1 - Störk, Stefan A1 - Brunner, Thomas A1 - Liu, Dan A1 - Hu, Kai A1 - Seydelmann, Nora A1 - Schneider, Andreas A1 - Becher, Jan A1 - Canan-Kühl, Sima A1 - Blaschke, Daniela A1 - Bijnens, Bart A1 - Ertl, Georg A1 - Wanner, Christoph A1 - Nordbeck, Peter T1 - Usefulness of an implantable loop recorder to detect clinically relevant arrhythmias in patients with advanced fabry cardiomyopathy JF - The American Journal of Cardiology N2 - Patients with genetic cardiomyopathy that involves myocardial hypertrophy often develop clinically relevant arrhythmias that increase the risk of sudden death. Consequently, guidelines for medical device therapy were established for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, but not for conditions with only anecdotal evidence of arrhythmias, like Fabry cardiomyopathy. Patients with Fabry cardiomyopathy progressively develop myocardial fibrosis, and sudden cardiac death occurs regularly. Because 24-hour Holier electrocardiograms (ECGs) might not detect clinically important arrhythmias, we tested an implanted loop recorder for continuous heart rhythm surveillance and determined its impact on therapy. This prospective study included 16 patients (12 men) with advanced Fabry cardiomyopathy, relevant hypertrophy, and replacement fibrosis in "loco typico." No patients previously exhibited clinically relevant arrhythmias on Holier ECGs. Patients received an implantable loop recorder and were prospectively followed with telemedicine for a median of 1.2 years (range 0.3 to 2.0 years). The primary end point was a clinically meaningful event, which required a therapy change, captured with the loop recorder. Patients submitted data regularly (14 +/- 11 times per month). During follow-up, 21 events were detected (including 4 asystole, i.e., ECG pauses >= 3 seconds) and 7 bradycardia events; 5 episodes of intermittent atrial fibrillation (>3 minutes) and 5 episodes of ventricular tachycardia (3 sustained and 2 nonsustained). Subsequently, as defined in the primary end point, 15 events leaded to a change of therapy. These patients required therapy with a pacemaker or cardioverter defibrillator implantation and/or anticoagulation therapy for atrial fibrillation. In conclusion, clinically relevant arrhythmias that require further device and/or medical therapy are often missed with Holier ECGs in patients with advanced stage Fabry cardiomyopathy, but they can be detected by telemonitoring with an implantable loop recorder. KW - Cardiovascular magnetic-resonance KW - Coronary artery disease KW - Ventricular-arrhythmias KW - Task force KW - Management KW - Enzyme replacement therapy KW - Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy KW - Myocardial fibrosis KW - Guidelines KW - Manifestation Y1 - 2016 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-188093 VL - 118 IS - 2 ER -