Patients with a transient ischemic attack (TIA) or minor stroke have an increased risk of subsequent stroke that persists for at least 10 years. We aimed to identify prognostic factors associated with long-term risk of stroke in this patient group, and estimate their population attribution fraction (PAF).

The current guidelines contraindicate intravenous amiodarone in patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome presenting with preexcited atrial fibrillation (AF) due to the risk of degeneration into ventricular fibrillation (VF). However, these recommendations are based predominantly on isolated case reports, which is concerning given the drug's widespread global use as a first-line antiarrhythmic in resource-limited settings. To evaluate the safety of intravenous amiodarone in this context, we conducted a systematic review of (1) studies enrolling patients with electrocardiographically confirmed preexcited AF who received intravenous amiodarone and (2) studies quantifying antegrade accessory-pathway effective refractory period during intravenous amiodarone administration. All observational and interventional studies assessing patients with preexcited AF were pooled under a conjugate β-binomial model with prespecified weak priors to estimate the risk of VF during or following infusion. Concomitantly, to assess real-world access to alternative class IIa/IIb European Society of Cardiology-recommended antiarrhythmic agents for preexcited AF, we performed a multinational survey of Latin American emergency departments. Twelve studies comprising 177 patients were included in the review (7 case reports, 2 cohorts, 3 before-and-after interventional studies). Four case reports described transient ventricular rate acceleration or VF following intravenous amiodarone. However, across the observational and interventional cohorts assessing patients with preexcited AF (n=146), no acceleration or VF was observed. The posterior mean estimates of VF risk ranged 0.12% to 0.68% over priors. Across 3 interventional before-and-after studies, there was a significant increase in the anterograde effective refractory period of the atrioventricular node and AP following amiodarone administration. The survey responses from 10 emergency centers indicated that none had access to class IIa/IIb indicated agents, while all had intravenous amiodarone available. Taken together, population-level evidence suggests that the risk of VF in preexcited AF following intravenous amiodarone administration is rare. In settings where guideline-recommended drugs are inaccessible, intravenous amiodarone may represent a clinically reasonable alternative for rhythm or rate control.

Pathogenic variants in ALPK3 (α-protein kinase 3), an atypical α‑kinase acting as a sarcomeric M-band scaffold, cause cardiomyopathy with severity linked to zygosity. We present a comprehensive review with systematic curation of peer-reviewed clinical and experimental reports through June 9, 2025, encompassing 156 patient-level variants and all published preclinical models. Biallelic loss-of-function variants lead to severe, often lethal cardiomyopathy with prenatal or early onset presentation and extracardiac involvement. Heterozygous protein-truncating variants, defined as nonsense or frameshift (resulting from insertion/deletion events or splicing mutations), explain ≈1% to 4% of adult hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, often with apical/septal hypertrophy, right ventricular involvement, fibrosis, and risk of progression. ALPK3 lacks catalytic activity and maintains sarcomeric proteostasis by scaffolding MYOMs (myomesins), MuRF (muscle ring-finger protein) E3 ligases, and SQSTM1 (sequestosome-1)/p62. Loss of this scaffolding function displaces MYOMs, drives thick‑filament protein aggregation, and precipitates severe contractile dysfunction in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes and multiple mouse models. Therapeutic proof‑of‑concept has now been achieved on 2 fronts: (1) pharmacological correction of sarcomeric hypercontractility with the myosin inhibitor mavacamten and (2) durable phenotypic rescue in global knockout mice using an adeno-associated virus-delivered miniALPK3 gene‑replacement construct. Together, these data position ALPK3 cardiomyopathy as a compelling target for precision medicine. Early genetic diagnosis, genotype-tailored surveillance, and focused development of gene-replacement or editing strategies, potentially combined with modulators of the ALPK3-MuRF proteostatic axis, offer a realistic path to disease-modifying therapy for this once enigmatic condition.

Drug-coated balloons (DCBs) are now a Food and Drug Administration-approved treatment option for the management of in-stent restenosis (ISR) based on superior outcomes compared with plain old balloon angioplasty (POBA) alone. However, the efficacy of DCB compared with drug-eluting stent (DES; repeat stenting) for ISR is uncertain, with prior studies showing inferiority of DCB. We aimed to compare the outcomes of DES, DCB, or POBA in patients with coronary ISR.

Multifocal ectopic Purkinje-related premature contractions syndrome presents as a rare cardiac disorder characterized by frequent multifocal ectopic ventricular beats with narrow QRS complexes, originating from various ectopic foci along the fascicular-Purkinje system. It is characterized by mutations in the SCN5A gene, inducing a gain-of-function in the human cardiac voltage-gated Na+ channel (Nav1.5), which causes an alteration in the action potentials of the cardiomyocytes. The syndrome was initially delineated in 2012 by Laurent et al in 3 Dutch families, subsequently garnering recognition through several reported cases worldwide. Clinically, it often manifests with a familial predisposition to other arrhythmogenic cardiac diseases, alongside symptoms such as palpitations and syncope. A key diagnostic hallmark is the high daily burden of multifocal premature ventricular contractions observed on 24-hour dynamic ECG, with evidence of repetitive ventricular arrhythmias. This can potentially induce a reversible form of left ventricular dilation with systolic dysfunction, known as premature ventricular contraction-induced cardiomyopathy. Diagnosis may be challenging, requiring exclusion of the most frequent causes of ventricular arrhythmias first. The disappearance of arrhythmias during a stress test and the inefficacy of catheter ablation procedures may serve as additional elements to bolster the suspicion of multifocal ectopic Purkinje-related premature contractions syndrome. Genetic testing and electrophysiological studies are pivotal in confirming the diagnosis. Therapeutic management of this syndrome primarily involves medical therapy with class I antiarrhythmic drugs, such as flecainide and quinidine, which may reduce ventricular arrhythmias and associated symptoms. In this systematic review, our aim was to provide an exhaustive insight into the genetic basis, diagnosis, and treatment strategies for this intriguing yet relatively underexplored syndrome.

It remains unclear whether drug-coated balloons (DCBs) and drug-eluting stents are comparable in the treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) and whether limus versus paclitaxel DCBs yield similar clinical outcomes. We aimed to assess the clinical efficacy of limus and paclitaxel DCBs in patients with CAD through a network meta-analysis.

Evidence informing clinical guidelines assumes that all transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) devices have similar effectiveness, in other words, displaying a class effect across TAVI valves. We aimed to assess the comparative effectiveness of different TAVI platforms relative to other TAVI counterparts or surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR).

Although the effects of various combinations of treatments on mortality and morbidity outcomes in heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) have been evaluated, the impact on quality of life is unknown. This study evaluated and compared the composite impact of pharmacological therapies on quality of life in HFrEF using a frequentist network meta-analysis and systematic review methodology.

Noninvasive imaging is widely used for both initial diagnosis and guided management of ischemic heart disease. Older adults and women with ischemic heart disease may have different responses to imaging and subsequent treatment outcomes compared to younger adults and men. We aimed to study the representation of older adults and women in randomized controlled trials of noninvasive imaging among patients with acute and stable chest pain.

In the landmark WATCHMAN trials, transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) was used to evaluate peri-device leak (PDL) and device-related thrombus (DRT) after percutaneous left atrial appendage closure (LAAC). We aimed to investigate the diagnostic utility of cardiac computed tomography angiography (CCTA) compared with TEE for post-LAAC device surveillance.

Poor diet quality is a leading risk factor for cardiometabolic disease (ie, diabetes and diseases associated with metabolism and inflammation), which is present in about half of American adults. Support has grown for incorporating the provision of healthy food as a complement to or a component of clinical care. Such "Food Is Medicine" programs provide free or subsidized healthy food directly to patients in close coordination with the health care system. In this review, we systematically examined published randomized controlled trials examining Food Is Medicine programs in the United States, categorizing them into different stages of development using the National Institutes of Health Model for Behavioral Intervention Development. This review identified a total of 14 randomized controlled trials of Food Is Medicine interventions in the United States with noncommunicable disease outcomes, more than one-third of which were early-stage smaller-scale trials (stage 1 randomized controlled trials). Broad variations in populations enrolled; intervention design, duration, and intensity; and outcomes precluded many direct comparisons between studies. Randomized controlled trial data were generally consistent with findings in the observational literature, indicating that common Food Is Medicine approaches often positively influence diet quality and food security, which are theorized to be key mediators for clinical outcomes. However, the impact on clinical outcomes was inconsistent and often failed to reach statistical significance. These observations highlight the need for larger, higher-quality Food Is Medicine studies focusing on the measurement of clinical outcomes within well-designed programs and the need for additional randomized controlled trials that more systematically map out the relationship between participation in different types of Food Is Medicine programs and health outcomes.

Despite major advances in recent years, the timely detection and prevention of incipient congestion in patients with chronic heart failure remains challenging. Most approaches are either invasive or require the acquisition of additional hardware. Leveraging voice analysis for the purposes of diagnosing, predicting risks, and telemonitoring clinical outcomes of patients with heart failure represents a promising, cost-effective, and convenient alternative compared with hitherto deployed methods. To expand this field, close collaboration of several disciplines of medicine and computer science is an obligatory requirement. The current review aims to lay out the state-of-the-art in this quickly advancing area of research. It elucidates the foundation for voice feature extraction, describes the prospective capabilities of this evolving technology, and outlines the challenges involved in identifying vocal biomarkers both in general and in the context of heart failure.

Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides high-resolution intracoronary imaging. However, whether the addition of OCT to angiography to guide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of complex lesions affects clinical outcomes is debated.

Female patients are at greater risk of adverse events following non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome but less frequently receive guideline-recommended coronary angiography and revascularization. Routine invasive management benefits high-risk patients, but evidence informing the optimal timing of angiography specifically in female patients is lacking.

Pathogenic/likely pathogenic (LP) desmin (DES) variants cause heterogeneous cardiomyopathy and skeletal myopathy phenotypes. Limited data suggest a high incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs), including cardiac conduction disease, sustained ventricular arrhythmias (VA), and heart failure (HF) events (HF hospitalization, left ventricular assist device/cardiac transplant, HF-related death) in patients with pathogenic/LP DES variants. However, pleiotropic presentation and small cohort sizes have limited clinical phenotype and outcome characterization. We aimed to describe the natural history, phenotype spectrum, familial penetrance and outcomes in patients with pathogenic/LP DES variants through a systematic review and individual patient data meta-analysis using published reports.

Current clinical guidelines emphasize the significance of rhythm control with catheter ablation but lack guidance on the timing of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation relative to the diagnosis time. We aim to investigate the latest evidence on the impact of diagnosis to ablation time (DAT) on clinical outcomes after AF ablation.

Dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) appears to be diagnosed twice as often in male than in female patients. This could be attributed to underdiagnosis in female patients or sex differences in susceptibility. Up to 30% of cases have an autosomal dominant monogenic cause, where equal sex prevalence would be expected. The aim of this systematic review, meta-analysis, and population study was to assess the sex ratio in patients with DCM, stratified by genetic status, and evaluate whether this is influenced by diagnostic bias.