Objectives:To observe the incidence of residual shunt post patent foramen ovale(PFO)closure and the effect of PFO closure in these migraine patients at one year after PFO. Methods:This retrospective study included patients who underwent PFO closure for migraine in the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine from January 2019 to June 2022,patients were divided into the grade 0 shunt group(n=67),the grade Ⅰ shunt group(n=10),the grade Ⅱ shunt group(n=13)and the grade Ⅲ shunt group(n=16)according to the results of contrast transthoracic echocardiography(cTTE)at 1 year after PFO closure.The incidence of postoperative migraine attacks among different groups of patients were compared.The risk factors of residual shunt after PFO closure were explored. Results:The mean age of enrolled 106 patients with migraine was(35.80±11.70)years,of which 83 patients(78.30%)were female.One year after PFO closure,the migraine attack and rating scale were significantly decreased compared to baseline in the grade 0 shunt group,in the grade Ⅰ shunt group and in the grade Ⅱ shunt group(all P<0.05),but not in the grade Ⅲ shunt group(P>0.05).The rate of significant and complete migraine was significantly higher in the grade 0 shunt group(58.21%),in the gradeⅠ shunt group(60.00%),in the grade Ⅱ shunt group(69.23%)as compared to the grade Ⅲ shunt group(18.75%,P=0.02)at one year after PFO.The rate of grade 0 shunt after PFO closure in patients with the microvesicles appearing in≥6 cardiac cycles in resting state before operation was significantly lower than in patients with the microvesicles appearing within 6 cardiac cycles and no microvesicles in resting state(24.00%vs.83.87%vs.70.00%,P=0.04).Logistic multivariate regression analysis showed that patients with microvesicles appearing beyond 6 cardiac cycles in resting state were more likely to have residual shunts in postoperative cTTE compared to the patients with negative cTTE and microvesicles appearing within 6 cardiac cycles in the cTTE in resting state before operation(OR=0.06,95%CI:0.02-0.23,P<0.01;OR=0.014,95%CI:0.05-0.41,P<0.01). Conclusions:Migraine patients who underwent PFO closure and with grade 0 to grade Ⅱ residual shunt at one year after PFO are most likely to have significant remission of migraine,while the incidence of migraine remission is low in patients with grade Ⅲresidual shunt.The incidence of residual shunt after PFO closure is higher in patients with the microvesicles appearing in 6 cardiac cycles in resting state in the cTTE before operation than in patients with the microvesicles appearing within 6 cardiac cycles and no microvesicles.

Objective:To evaluate the risk factors for the complexity and surgical prognosis in patients with proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR).Methods:A historical cohort study of the CONCEPT trial, including 97 patients (97 eyes) who were diagnosed with PDR and requiring three-channel 23-gauge transconjunctival pars plana vitrectomy (PPV) from June 2017 to January 2018 at the First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University.All patients received preoperative intravitreal injection of 0.5 mg conbercpet.Based on the PDR complexity score, patients were divided into >3 group or ≤3 group, and the systematic risk factors were compared between the two groups.The influence of sex, age, hypertension, renal insufficiency, duration of diabetes mellitus, and hemoglobin A1c level on the PDR complexity score was evaluated by multivariate logistic regression analysis.Based on age, patients were divided into <45 years group, 45-<60 years group, and ≥60 years group, and the differences in mean operative time, incidence of intraoperative hemorrhage, surgically induced lacrimation and silicone oil filling, and incidence of hemorrhage on color fundus photos and macular edema by optical coherence tomography at postoperative months 1 and 6 were analyzed among different age groups.This study adhered to the Declaration of Helsinki.The study protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University (No.2017-SR-283).Written informed consent was obtained from each subject.Results:The age of patients with PDR complexity score >3 was 46.5(36.0, 51.8) years, which was less than 54.0(45.5, 61.5) years for PDR complexity score ≤3, and the difference was statistically significant ( Z=1.835, P=0.002).Among the factors predicting PDR complexity score >3, logistic regression analysis indicated that only age was statistically significant ( P=0.005).For each 1-year increase in age, the risk of PDR complexity score >3 would increase by 7.4%( OR: 0.929, 95% CI: 0.883-0.977).Among the systemic factors, there were significant differences in age, history of diabetes, proportion of patients with hypertension and renal insufficiency among the three age groups (all at P<0.05).Among the ocular factors, there were significant differences in the proportion of patients with history of retinal laser treatment, fibrovascular membrane and complexity score >3 among the three groups (all at P<0.05).The proportion of patients with fibrovascular membrane and complexity score >3 in the <45 years group was significantly higher than that in the 45-<60 and ≥60 years groups (all at P<0.05).There were significant differences in the proportion of patients with intraoperative bleeding and silicone oil filling in the three age groups (all at P<0.017).The proportion of intraoperative bleeding and silicone oil filling in <45 years group was significantly higher than that in 45-<60 and ≥60 years groups (all at P<0.05).The macular edema on postoperative month 1 in the <45 years old group was significantly higher than that in the 45-<60 and ≥60 years groups (both at P<0.05). Conclusions:Among systemic factors, age has a significant impact on the increased PDR complexity and contributes to the poor prognosis of patients.There is a higher percentage of intraoperative complications and early postoperative macular edema in patients in the younger age group compared to the older age group.

Objective:To evaluate the effectiveness and prognosis of emergent transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and to provide standardized procedural suggestion for the development of emergent TAVR in China.Methods:From January 2020 to April 2021, 12 patients who underwent emergent or salvage TAVR in the Second Affiliated Hospital Zhejiang University School of Medicine were retrospectively enrolled from the TORCH registry (Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement Single Center Registry in Chinese Population, a prospective cohort study; NCT02803294). Baseline, periprocedural and 30-day follow up data were collected. Post-operative data were compared with pre-operative data using Paired-Samples test.Results:Patients’ median Society of Thoracic Surgeons score (STS score) was 15.432%. There was a significant decrease of mean gradient after emergent TAVR procedure (1.69 m/s vs. 4.90 m/s, P<0.01). During the 30-day follow up, there were 1 patient (8.3%) died and 2 patients received permanent pacemaker implantation. No disabling stroke, acute kidney injury, major vascular complication occurred during the first month after emergent TAVR. Among the survival patients, there was a significant releasing of heart failure symptoms to New York Heart Association function stage Ⅰ/Ⅱ in 81.8% patients at 30-day follow up. Left ventricular ejection fraction also improved significantly from (47.4±9.5)% to 58.8±8.0% ( P= 0.026). The mean gradient were (1.57±0.30) cm 2 and no patients had a moderate or severe paravalvular leakage. Besides, a significant decrease of pro-B-type natriuretic peptide (1 089.9 pg/mL vs. 12 215.5 pg/mL , P=0.001) and troponin T (0.020 ng/mL vs. 0.337 ng/mL, P=0.003) were found at 30 days after emergent TAVR. Conclusions:For patients with severe aortic stenosis and acute cardiac decompensated, emergent TAVR is a safe and effective rescue treatment.

Objective:To compare the left ventricular (LV) reverse remodeling after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) between patients with bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) stenosis and tricuspid aortic valve (TAV) stenosis.Methods:The data of patients who underwent TAVR procedure from March 2013 to December 2018 in the Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang University were retrospectively reviewed. The patients were divided into BAV group and TAV group according to cardiac computed tomography. Echocardiographic parameters, including aortic valve peak velocity (Vmax), mean gradient (PGmean), effective orifice area(EOA), interventricular septum diastolic thickness (IVSd), left ventricular posterior wall diastolic thickness (LVPWd), left ventricular end diastolic diameter( LVEDd), LV mass index (LVMI), ΔLVMI%, left ventricular ejection fraction( LVEF) of the two groups at baseline, 1 week, 1 month and 1 year post TAVR procedure were obtained and compared.Results:①Compared with preoperative measurements, both groups showed decreases in Vmax, PGmean and increase in EOA at 1 week, 1 month, 1 year follow-ups(all P<0.05). No significant differences were found in Vmax, PGmean, EOA, moderate/sever perivalvular leakage(PVL), moderate/sever prosthetic-patient mismatch(PPM) between BAV group and TAV group at 1 year. ②Both groups showed decreases in IVSd, LVPWd, LVEDd at 1 month, 1 year post TAVR compared with those before the procedure (all P<0.05), as well as increases in LVEF at 1 week, 1 month, 1 year (all P<0.05). Downward trends of LVMI were detected in both groups within 1 year follow-up( P<0.05). ③Compared to TAV group, BAV group showed smaller baseline LVMI( P<0.05), while there were no significant differences in ΔLVMI% post TAVR for all follow-up times of the two groups(all P>0.05). Repeated measures analysis of variance also showed no significant differences in downward trend of LVMI between the two groups after TAVR within 1 year( P>0.05). Conclusions:Left ventricular reverse remodeling can be detected in both BAV and TAV patients after TAVR, which starts from 1 week and can be lasted for 1 year post procedure. Patients with bicuspid morphology might experience similar reverse LV remodeling post TAVR versus patients with tricuspid morphology.

Objective:To explore the value of transesophageal echocardiography(TEE) guidance for transcatheter DragonFly? system edge-to-edge tricuspid regurgitation (TR) repair.Methods:Five cases who were chosen in the Second Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University School of Medicine from December 2020 to January 2021 with surgical high-risk and severe functional TR underwent transcatheter DragonFly edge-to-edge repair with the guidance of TEE. Preoperative TEE was used to evaluate the tricuspid valve anatomy and the origin and etiology of regurgitation in detail; intra-procedure guidance of TEE was performed during the DragonFly system for tricuspid valve edge-to-edge repair intervention and after release of the DragonFly clip, the effect of surgery was assessed immediately and compared with pre-procedure TEE.Results:A total of 10 DragonFly clips were implanted in 5 patients (3 in each of patients, 2 in 1 patient, and 1 in each of patients). One of the 3 clips in 1 patient fell off unilaterally from the septal valve after release, and the other 9 clips were well positioned and fixed. Immediately post-operation assessment by TEE depicted the TR in 3 patients declined to mild and 2 to moderate. The vena contracta area by using three-dimensional color blood flow quantitative assessment was reduced[(0.93±0.26)cm 2 vs (0.20±0.11)cm 2]. No complications such as serious tricuspid valve injury, pericardial tamponade, thromboembolism occurred in the 5 patients. Conclusions:TEE plays an important role in guiding and monitoring transcatheter DragonFly system edge-to-edge TR repair during the entire procedure.

Objective:To explore the evaluation of transesophageal echocardiography(TEE) in patients with massive regurgitation of posterior mitral valve prolapse undergoing transapical off-pump NeoChord repair.Methods:Eight patients from April to July 2019 in the Second Affilliated Hospital of Zhejiang Univerity with massive regurgitation of posterior mitral valve prolapse underwent NeoChord repair mitral valve morphology, prolapse position and regurgitation degree were evaluated before NeoChord implantation by TEE. Under TEE guidance, the puncture site was identificated, the position and length of artificial chordae were adjusted during implantation. NeoChord′s function and positon after implantation were observed. The complications were monitored during the operation.Results:Mitral valve repair by NeoChord system was successfully performed with implantation of 2 to 4 artificial chordaes in eight patients respectively. Intraoperative TEE and pre-discharge transthoracic echocardiography(TTE) showed moderate MR in two patients, mild to moderate MR in one patient, mild MR in the remaining five patients. Reexaminations with TTE at 1 month after operation showed moderate MR in six patients, and mild to moderate MR in two patients. And no postoperative complications were noted.Conclusions:NeoChord system is a safe, effective and feasible treatment method for patient with mitral valve prolapse, TEE plays an important role during NeoChord implantation.

Objective To evaluate the accuracy of a novel echocardiographic three-dimensional automated software for the assessment of the aortic root in candidates for transcatheter aortic valve replacement(TAVR).Methods Four patterns(Lax,Lax-Res,Sax,Sax-Res) of 3D-TEE imaging of aortic root were gotten preoperatively in 18 patients with severe tricuspid aortic stenosis who were referred to our center for TAVR.The specialized 3D-TEE reconstruction software,eSie Valves,then automatically configured a geometric model of the aortic root from the images obtained by 3D-TEE and performed a quantitative analysis of these structures:the minimal diameter(Dmin),maximal diameter(Dmax),area and perimeter(Peri) of aortic annulus,height of the ostia of the left/right coronary artery above the aortic annulus(LOH/ROH).The echo dimensions were compared with the MDCT measurements.Results No statistically significant difference were found in above parameters between the ZOOM pattern (Sax-Res and Lax-Res) and CT measurements(all P>0.05).Lax-Res pattern measurements had good correlation with MDCT,with r valves of 0.81,0.77,0.89,0.84 for Lax-Res-Dmin,Lax-Res-Dmax,Lax-Res-Area,Lax-Res-Peri,respectively(all P<0.05).3D-TEE LOH/ROH had poor correlation with MDCT LOH/ROH (all r<0.7).Conclusions The new automatic 3D-TEE software allows modelling and quantifying the aortic annulus dimensions from 3D-TEE data in patients with tricuspid aortic valves,and Lax-Res pattern is recommended.Quantified assessment of LOH/ROH is not ideal and needs to be improved.

Objective: To compare aortic annular diameter measured by transthoracic echocardiography (TTE), transesophageal echocardiography (TEE), and multislice computed tomography (MSCT) in patients with severe aortic stenosis, and to evaluate the impact on selection of prosthetic valve type in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Methods: Clinical data of 138 patients with severe aortic stenosis referred for TAVI between January 2014 and June 2016 in our hospital were retrospectively analyzed.The difference of aortic annular diameter measured by TTE, TEE, and MSCT were compared.TTE was performed after TAVI to evaluate the accuracy of measurement before TAVI. Results: (1) Aortic annular diameter was (23.37±2.22) mm by TTE and (23.52±1.70) mm by TEE (P=0.12). Pearson correlation analysis showed that aortic annular diameter measured by TTE was correlated to that measured by TEE (r=0.87, P<0.05). (2)The long-axis diameter and the short-axis diameter measured by MSCT multiplanar reconstruction were significantly different ((27.86±2.87) mm vs. (21.91±2.53) mm, P<0.05). There was no significant difference between the mean of the long- and short-axis diameters and the diameter derived from cross-sectional area by MSCT ((24.92±2.38) mm vs. (24.84±2.25) mm, P=0.08). However, the diameter derived from the circumference ((25.35±2.34) mm) was significantly larger than the mean of the long- and short-axis diameters and the diameter derived from cross-sectional area by MSCT, and the difference were (0.43±0.62) mm and (0.51±0.62) mm respectively(both P<0.05). (3) Measurements of the aortic annulus diameter by MSCT including the mean of the long- and short-axis diameters, diameter derived from cross-sectional area, and diameter derived from the circumference were larger than the measurement by TTE and TTE (all P<0.05). (4) Implantation was successful in all patients.Moderate to severe paravalvular leakage was detected in 3 patients at 7 days post TAVI, and 1 patient developed severe prosthetic valve restenosis at 6 months post TAVI and received valve-in-valve implantation. Conclusions In severe aortic stenosis patients referred for TAVI, the aortic annular diameter derived from TTE and TEE measurements are smaller than that from MSCT.In the absence of a gold standard, selection of prosthetic valve type in TAVI procedure should rely on comprehensive considerations, which is of importance to get good clinical results for severe aortic stenosis patients underwent TAVI.

Aortic Valve Insufficiency ; Heart Valve Prosthesis ; Heart Valve Prosthesis Implantation ; Humans ; Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement