Mitral valve (MV) disease includes either mitral regurgitation or mitral stenosis or both. The incidence and prevalence of valvular heart disease is increasing with the increasing population age. Degenerative MV disease poses a global burden with a prevalence of 18.1 million cases in 2017. Further, its global prevalence increased by 94% from 1990 to 2017.1 Surgery is the gold standard of […]

The global prevalence of aortic stenosis (AS) has steadily increased over the past several decades.1 In high-income countries, degenerative calcific aortic valve disease is the primary aetiology for AS, whereas chronic rheumatic valve disease and infective endocarditis remain more common causes worldwide.2 Population-wide trends in developed countries suggest a strong relationship between advanced age and incidence of […]

In recent years, patients undergoing non-emergent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures have become increasingly older, with a more significant comorbidity burden and complex coronary disease.1 Many of the patients who undergo elective or urgent PCI are surgical turndown patients, for whom PCI is the only revascularization option.2 For these high-risk patients, more interventionalists are opting for […]

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has evolved considerably in both technique and technology since Andreas Grüntzig first intervened on a focal, proximal lesion in the left anterior descending artery in 1977.1 While this has resulted in increasingly complex anatomical subsets being treated, contemporary trials of PCI in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) have continued to […]

Welcome to the latest issue of Heart International. Cardiovascular science continues to evolve at an impressive rate, and the range of articles presented here highlights cutting-edge technology and innovation within cardiology. We begin with a commentary by Divaka Perera on the REVIVED study, which evaluated whether percutaneous coronary intervention could improve outcomes in patients with […]

Catheter ablation has emerged as an effective strategy for the treatment of atrial fibrillation (AF), even becoming a first-line option for selected patients.1 Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is the cornerstone of this procedure. Ablation beyond PVI is often practised, but scientific evidence from randomized clinical trials is still controversial.2–8 Point-by-point radiofrequency (RF) ablation has been, by […]

Heart failure (HF) is a complex syndrome caused by a variety of cardiac and non-cardiac diseases, and is associated with high mortality and hospitalization rates.1 Treatment has been traditionally based on a detailed history and physical examination. However, since cardiac biomarkers reflect the pathophysiology of HF, they add information to the clinical findings.1 The most widely used […]

Heart failure (HF) and atrial fibrillation (AF) are inexorably linked. They frequently coexist and share common risk factors, including ageing, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, sleep apnoea and coronary disease.1–4 Over half of patients with HF develop AF at some point,5 and when AF occurs, it is associated with an increase in total mortality of up to 40%.6 In addition, […]

Welcome to the latest edition of European Journal of Arrhythmia & Electrophysiology. Cardiac arrhythmias, the most common of which is atrial fibrillation, represent a substantial health and economic burden worldwide. In the last two decades we have observed major breakthroughs in the management of arrhythmias, particularly in the field of cardiac electrophysiology, and some of the […]