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An echocardiographic investigation is one of the key modalities of diagnosis in cardiology. There has been a rising presence of cardiological comorbidities in patients positive for COVID-19. Hence, it is becoming extremely essential to look into the correct safety precautions, healthcare professionals must take while conducting an echo investigation. The decision matrix formulated for conducting an echocardiographic evaluation is based on presence or absence of cardiological comorbidity vis-à-vis positive, suspected or negative for COVID-19. The safety measures have been constructed keeping in mind the current safety precautions by WHO, CDC and MoHFW, India.

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The huge impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on global healthcare systems has prompted search for novel tools to stem the tide. Attention has turned to the digital health community to provide possible health solutions in this time of unprecedented medical crisis to mitigate the impact of this pandemic. The paper shall focus on how digital solutions can impact healthcare during this pandemic.

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BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES: This longitudinal study was carried out to evaluate the prognostic significance of fragmented QRS (fQRS) in patients with acute ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing revascularization. METHODS: This study included 103 STEMI patients belonging to Killip class I and II who underwent primary revascularization. All patients underwent twelve lead ECG at admission before PCI. Serial ECG were done after PCI at 3 hours, 6 hours, 24 hours, 48 hours and at discharge for detection of fQRS and echocardiography on day 3 post revascularization. Patients developing fQRS within 48 hours and with persistence of fQRS till discharge were included in "persistent fQRS" group. They were followed up after 30 days for major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and assessment of LV function by echocardiography. RESULTS: fQRS was present in 64 patients (61.5%) of study population with 37 patients (57.8%) having persistent fQRS. MACE rates were low (4.8%) and did not differ with respect to fQRS. fQRS significantly correlated with LV dysfunction at 30 days on univariate analysis (p-0.003) but not on multivariate analysis (p -0.10). fQRS was significantly related to impaired myocardial reperfusion as assessed by ΣSTR (percent of total ST segment resolution) (adjusted odds ratio, 95% CI [4.265 (1.034 - 17.58)], p = 0.04). CONCLUSION: In our study, fQRS did not predict MACE and LV dysfunction in acute STEMI patients belonging to Killip class I and II on short term follow-up of 30 days. But, fQRS independently predicted impaired microvascular myocardial reperfusion as assessed by ΣSTR.

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Percutaneous transseptal mitral commissurotomy (PTMC) has replaced surgical commissurotomy as a treatment of choice in selected patients of rheumatic mitral stenosis. Various randomized trials have shown PTMC to be equal or superior to surgical commissurotomy in terms of hemodynamic improvement as well as long term survival. Systemic embolism is one of the dreaded complications of PTMC, which is reported in 0.5-5% of cases and involves cerebral circulation in 1% of cases. Most of the time, periprocedural embolism during PTMC is caused by the mobilization of preexisting thrombus in the left atrial appendage. We report an unusual case of acute stroke due embolization of mitral valve tissue during PTMC.

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Stroke and systemic embolism occur frequently in patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis (MS) in sinus rhythm (SR), but the risk and predictors of embolic events in this population are not well studied. The aim of this study was to determine if transient, subclinical atrial fibrillation (AF) increases the risk of systemic embolism in patients with MS in SR. A single-center, prospective observational study of patients with rheumatic MS in SR was performed. The rate of the composite primary outcome of stroke, transient ischemic attack, or non-central nervous system embolism was determined, as well as the predictive value of Holter-detected episodes of transient (<30 seconds), subclinical AF for this outcome. Hazard ratios were derived for subclinical AF, after adjustment for clinical and echocardiographic predictors of systemic embolism, using Cox regression. The sensitivity, specificity, and area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of subclinical AF were determined for the primary outcome. Among 179 patients (mean follow-up 10.2 months), the rate of the primary outcome was 5.3/100 patient-years (95% confidence interval [CI] 2.6 to 10.5). In univariate analysis, subclinical AF (hazard ratio 4.54, 95% CI 1.08 to 19.0, p = 0.038) and dense spontaneous echocardiographic contrast (hazard ratio 4.32, 95% CI 1.03 to 18.09, p = 0.045) were predictors of the primary outcome. In multivariate analysis, subclinical AF remained the only significant predictor (hazard ratio 5.02, 95% CI 1.15 to 22.0, p = 0.032). Subclinical AF had an area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of 0.68 and high negative predictive value (97.7%) for the primary outcome. In conclusion, Holter-detected, transient (<30 seconds), subclinical AF is a predictor of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with rheumatic MS in SR. Considering the high risk for embolism, randomized trials of oral anticoagulation are needed in this population.

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BACKGROUND: Pulmonary arterial hypertension is managed with vasodilators, and till date no specific drug has been identified with sufficient degree of success. Potassium channels have been implicated in the pathogenesis of primary pulmonary arterial hypertension. We undertook this study to assess the acute effect of oral nicorandil in patients of pulmonary arterial hypertension. METHODS AND RESULTS: We studied acute hemodymanic response of 40 mg oral nicorandil in 10 patients with primary pulmonary arterial hypertension aged between 15 and 39 years (mean age 27.2 +/- 6.7 years). Responders (Group I) were defined as those with > or =20% reduction of pulmonary vascular resistance index and no change or increase in cardiac index; and non-responders (Group II) were those with < 20% reduction of pulmonary vascular resistance index. There were 7 responders (pulmonary vascular resistance index decreased from 22.8 +/- 9.3 to 17.9 +/- 6.5 Wood units) and 2 non-responders (pulmonary vascular resistance index decreased from 26 +/- 3.5 to 25 +/- 1.0 Wood units). The maximum reduction in pulmonary vascular resistance index from baseline was 29.77 +/- 6.53% (23.7-40.5%) in responders and 7.3 +/- 4.2% (4.3-10.3%) in non-responders. The study was halted prematurely in one patient who developed hypotension, requiring intravenous inotropes. CONCLUSIONS: Our results suggest that nicorandil significantly decreases pulmonary artery pressure in primary pulmonary arterial hypertension acutely and can be cautiously tried for the therapeutic use in primary pulmonary arterial hypertension. Further studies are warranted.

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BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to prospectively evaluate a large group of consecutive, non-anticoagulated patients with severe rheumatic mitral stenosis and to analyze the left atrial appendage function in relation to left atrial appendage clot and spontaneous echo contrast formation. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively studied left atrial appendage function in 200 consecutive patients with severe mitral stenosis who underwent transesophageal echocardiography and correlated it with spontaneous echo contrast and left atrial appendage clot. The mean age was 30.2 +/- 9.4 years. Fifty-five (27.5%) patients were in atrial fibrillation. Left atrial appendage clot was present in 50 (25%) patients and 113 (56.5%) had spontaneous echo contrast. The older age, increased duration of symptoms, atrial fibrillation, spontaneous echo contrast, larger left atrium, depressed left atrial appendage function and type II and III left atrial appendage flow patterns correlated significantly (p<0.05) with the left atrial appendage clot. Left atrial appendage ejection fraction was significantly less in patients with clot (21.8 +/- 12.8% v. 39.1 +/- 13.2%, p<0.0001) and in those with spontaneous echo contrast (30.3 +/- 16.2 % v. 40.3 +/- 11.8%, p<0.001). Left atrial appendage filling (18.0 +/- 11.7 v. 27.6 +/- 11.8 cm/s, p <0.0001) and emptying velocities (15.4 +/- 7.0 v. 21.5 +/- 9.6 cm/s, p<0.001) and filling (1.4 +/- 1.0 v. 2.5 +/- 1.4 cm, p<0.0001) and emptying (1.5 +/- 1.2 v. 2.1 +/- 1.2 cm, p <0.05) velocity time integrals were also significantly lower in patients with clot as compared to those without clot. On multivariate regression analysis, atrial fibrillation (odds ratio 6.68, 95% CI 1.85-24.19, p=0.003) and left atrial appendage ejection fraction (odds ratio 1.06, 95% CI 1.00 - 1.11, p=0.04) were the only two independent predictors of clot formation. Incidence of clot was 62.59% in patients with left atrial appendage ejection fraction < or = 25% as compared to 10.4% in those having left atrial appendage ejection fraction >25%. Similarly patients with spontaneous echo contrasthadlower filling (21.7 +/- 11.5 v. 29.4 +/- 12.7 cm/s, p<0.0001) and emptying (17.0 +/- 8.1 v. 23.9 +/- 10.9 cm/s, p<0.0001) velocities, as well as filling (1.9 +/- 1.3 v. 2.7 +/- 1.3 cm, p<0.01) and emptying (1.7 +/- 1.0 v. 2.3 +/- 1.4 cm, p<0.01) velocity time integrals as compared to patients without spontaneous echo contrast. In a subgroup of the patients with normal sinus rhythm, the left atrial appendage ejection fraction was significantly less in patients with clot compared to those without clot (31.2 +/- 13.2 v. 41.3 +/- 11.5 %, p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS: In the patients with severe mitral stenosis, besides atrial fibrillation, a subgroup of patients in normal sinus rhythm with depressed left atrial appendage function (left atrial appendage ejection fraction < or = 25%) had a higher risk of clot formation in left atrial appendage and these patients should be routinely anticoagulated for prevention of clot formation.

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