Citations

Summary Introduction Peroral plication of the esophagus (POPE) can reduce sump size and improve symptoms in end-stage achalasia. However, its long-term efficacy and safety are unknown. Methods Patients with end-stage achalasia who underwent POPE at our institution (2016–2024) were identified. Data were abstracted for patient demographics, procedural details, and clinical and radiographic outcomes. Results Twelve patients underwent POPE. The technical success rate was 100%, with mean procedural time of 57 minutes and without adverse events. Symptomatic improvement occurred in 75% of patients (mean follow-up of 15 months), while 86% had radiographic improvement in sump size. Repeat POPE in 6 (50%) patients a mean of 2.6 years after index POPE and a third POPE in four (33%) patients a mean of 3.1 years later was performed, with similar technical success rates and outcomes to the index POPE. Conclusions POPE is a safe and repeatable long-term therapeutic option in end-stage achalasia.

Abstract Introduction: Low-dose computed tomography (CT) has been increasingly utilized in FAI due to its improved ability to characterize the complex and variable hip morphologies of FAI patients, compared to plain radiographs. This study defined FAI morphology between females and males as well as across adolescents, young adults, and older adults. Methods: A multi-center, prospective cohort of FAI patients undergoing primary arthroscopy was performed. Patients 14-45 years of age with idiopathic FAI were included. Low-dose CT was used for preoperative planning. Analysis focused on acetabular and femoral morphology and the differences between females/males and adolescents (A,14-18.9)/young adults (Y,19-24.9)/older adults (O,25+). Adolescents were the reference group during analysis. Results: There were 604 patients with CT data. Mean age was 24.9 years with 55.9% female. Males had more anterosuperior coverage (i.e. 64.2% vs 62.5% at 1:00), lower version (14.1° vs 18.0°), smaller femoral neck-shaft angles (130.9° vs 133.4°), and larger alpha angles (i.e. 72.1° vs 58.6° at 1:00) compared to females. Multivariable analysis demonstrated that females had associations with more femoral anteversion (OR: 1.05,CI: 1.03-1.07) and larger femoral neck-shaft angles (OR: 1.11,CI: 1.06-1.16). Males has associations with larger alpha angles at 1:00 (OR: 1.05,CI: 1.02-1.07) and 1:30 (OR: 1.03,CI: 1.00-1.06) as well as radial coverage at 1:00 (OR: 1.18,CI: 1.11-1.26). For females, adolescents had slightly less radial coverage at 2:00 (49.9%) compared to young (51.2%) and older adults (51.4%). Femoral neck-shaft angle decreased across age groups (A: 134.4°,Y: 133.0°,O: 132.7°). Alpha angles increased at 2:00 with age (A:54.6°,Y:55.3°,O:58.7°). Multivariable analysis had femoral neck-shaft angle decreasing for young (OR: 0.932,CI: 0.87) and older adults (OR:0.92,CI: 0.86-0.98) and it also had alpha angle at 1:15 increasing for young adults (OR: 1.03,CI: 1.00-1.06) and older adults (OR: 1.03,CI: 1.01-1.06). Males did not have any appreciable differences alpha angles, femoral version, or acetabular coverage across age groups. Conclusion: Differences in morphology identified on CT exist between females and males as well as across age groups for females. These differences may offer insight into disease pathomechanics between these patient populations. Further studies should confirm these findings and look at how they affect patient outcomes after treatment.

Abstract Background: Long-term outcomes of FAI surgery are critical to understand it’s hip preserving ability, yet few studies have reported mid to long-term survivorship following FAI surgery. The purpose of this study was to report rates of treatment failure after first-generation FAI surgery at an average 10- year follow-up. Methods: A prospective, multicenter cohort study assessed patients treated for FAI with hip arthroscopy or surgical dislocation by seven surgeons at four institutions from 2008 to 2012. Inclusion criteria included primary surgery and diagnosis of isolated cam or combined cam/pincer type FAI. At an average 10-year follow-up, 362/452 eligible hips (80.1%) achieved follow-up. Cox proportional hazards model was used to identify predictors of conversion to total hip arthroplasty (THA). Results: Three hundred and sixty two hips were evaluated at a mean of 10.0 ± 2.3 years follow-up. At time of final follow-up, 34 hips (9.2%) had undergone conversion to THA at a mean of 5.2 ± 3.1 years post-operatively. An additional 18 patients (4.9%) underwent non-arthroplasty revision preservation surgery at a mean of 2.0 ± 1.5 years post-operatively. The Kaplan Meier survivorship rates after 5 and 10 years of surgery were 94.9% and 95.2% for conversion to THA and 91 % and 95.2% for revision hip preservation. Older age (HR:1.06, CI: 1.01-1.10; p=0.009), BMI≥30 (HR:4.14, CI:1.52-11.24, p=0.005), male sex (HR:3.23, CI: 1.18-9.09, p=0.02), and lower baseline mHHS (HR:1.03, CI: 1.01-1.04, p=0.01) were significant predictors of conversion to THA. Conclusion: This study demonstrates that FAI surgery yields durable outcomes with the majority of patients (85.9%) not requiring revision surgery or conversion to total hip arthroplasty at an average 10 years. Age 30 years, male sex, and obesity were significantly associated with the risk of THA conversion.

Abstract Introduction: Femoroacetabular impingement commonly causes labral and cartilage damage. Understanding what clinical and CT-morphological factors are associated with increased labral and acetabular cartilage damage may give insight into the FAI pathophysiology. The present study aims to identify factors associated with labral and cartilage damage. Method: This is a prospective, multicenter cohort of patients undergoing primary arthroscopy for treatment of symptomatic FAI. Enrollment was between 2020 and 2022. The current study investigated predictive factors of advanced labral damage (detachment or full-thickness tear length >4cm) and advanced acetabular cartilage damage (delamination or full-thickness defect ≥200mm2). Finally, we performed external validation for the previously reported RAPID score that predicts high-grade cartilage injury. Results: There were 647 patients in the cohort. For labral injuries, there were 384/647 (59.4%) detachments and 154/647 (23.8%) full-thickness defects, with labral tears ≥4cm was present in 100/558 (17.9%) hips. Older age (OR:1.04, p=0.002), males (OR:1.83,p=0.005), and larger alpha angles at 2:00 (OR:1.02,p=0.04) were associated with full-thickness labral injuries. Older age (OR:1.06,p<0.001) and larger alpha angles at 2:00 (OR:1.03,p=0.01) were associated with tears ≥4cm. 258/679 (38.0%) patients had delamination or full-thickness cartilage defects. Older age (OR:1.09,p<0.001), males (OR:1.91 p=0.003), decreased IRF (OR:0.95,p<0.001), higher femoral version (OR:1.02,p=0.04), and larger alpha angles at 1:30 (OR:1.06,p<0.001) were associated with delamination or defect cartilage injuries. Advanced acetabular cartilage damage ≥200mm2 was present in 109/679 (16.8%) hips and was associated with larger alpha angles at 2:00 (OR:1.07,p<0.001), decreased IRF (OR:0.95,p<0.001), and males (OR:2.52,p=0.002), and age (OR:1.05,p=0.002). For RAPID score external validation, we used our data for their model (sex, Tonnis OA Grade, radiographic alpha angle) and found an AUC of 0.685. With an adjusted model using CT alpha angles, AUC improved to 0.703. Our final model improved the AUC to 0.809 and included age, sex, IRF, femoral version, and CT alpha angles. Conclusion: FAI commonly has associated labral and cartilage injuries. The current study found multiple predictive factors for advanced labral and cartilage injuries as well as for larger lesions. A model including age, sex, IRF, femoral version, and CT alpha angles appears to best predict acetabular cartilage damage. Further research should investigate how these affect outcomes.

Abstract Background and Aims Classification and risk stratification in aortic (AR), mitral (MR), and tricuspid regurgitation (TR) remains a significant clinical challenge. This study aimed to develop an artificial intelligence (AI) system to assess valvular regurgitation and stratify MR-progression risk. Methods Using transthoracic echocardiograms (TTEs) at two sites (internal development/test, external test), the DELINEATE-Regurgitation system was developed to classify AR, MR, and TR severity using colour Doppler videos. Methods of summating video-level classifications into study-level predictions were tested, comparing single-view with multiview approaches integrating predictions across multiple videos. Model agreement with cardiologists was assessed by weighted kappa. A separate AI system (DELINEATE-MR-Progression) analysing colour Doppler videos was developed to predict which patients with mild, mild–moderate, and moderate MR were most likely to progress to moderate–severe or severe MR with analysis by Kaplan–Meier and Cox proportional hazards models. Results A total of 71 660 TTEs with 1 203 980 colour Doppler videos were included. The weighted kappa in internal/external test sets for regurgitation classification was 0.81/0.76 for AR, 0.76/0.72 for MR, and 0.73/0.64 for TR using a multiview approach taking all colour Doppler videos in a study, demonstrating substantial agreement with cardiologist interpretation with superiority of multiview over single view approaches. In the progression analysis, the AI score stratified MR-progression risk even when controlled for clinical factors known to be associated with MR progression [internal test set hazard ratio 4.1 (95% confidence interval 2.5–6.6)]. Conclusions An AI system can accurately classify AR, MR, and TR and predict MR progression beyond currently known risk factors.

Hypertension is the leading modifiable risk factor for atrial fibrillation (AF) and is estimated to be present in >70% of AF patients. This Frontiers Review was prepared by 29 expert members of the AF-SCREEN International Collaboration to summarize existing evidence and knowledge gaps on links between hypertension, AF, and their cardiovascular sequelae; simultaneous screening for hypertension and AF; and the prevention of AF through antihypertensive therapy. Hypertension and AF are inextricably connected. Both are easily diagnosed, often silent, and frequently treated inadequately. Together, they additively increase the risk of ischemic stroke, heart failure, and many types of dementia, resulting in greater all-cause mortality, considerable disease burden, and increased health care expenditures. Automated upper arm cuff blood pressure devices with implemented technology can be used to simultaneously detect both hypertension and AF. However, positive screening for AF with an oscillometric blood pressure monitor still requires ECG confirmation. The current evidence suggests that high-risk individuals aged ≥65 years or with treatment-resistant hypertension could benefit from AF screening. Since antihypertensive therapy effectively lowers AF risk, particularly in individuals with left ventricular dysfunction, hypertension should be the key target for AF prediction and prevention rather than merely a comorbidity of AF. Nevertheless, several important gaps in knowledge need to be filled over the next years, including the ideal method and selection of patients for simultaneous screening of hypertension and AF and the optimal antihypertensive drug class and blood pressure targets for AF prevention.