June 2025 Dispatch for the CV Team

Every month, Section Editor L.A. McKeown curates a roundup of recent news beyond our regular TCTMD coverage, with tidbits from journals and medical meetings around the globe that are of special interest to heart teams and allied cardiovascular professionals.

More data are adding to evidence from trials and meta-analyses showing that fasting may not be necessary prior to PCI procedures. A new meta-analysis of eight trials found no evidence that adverse events including pneumonia, hypoglycemia, and nausea/vomiting were lessened by fasting, but they did see evidence that fasting reduced patient satisfaction. Writing in the Journal of the American Heart Association, researchers say “it is important to note that a small but clinically relevant benefit of fasting cannot be completely excluded.”

The role of pharmacists in the coronary intensive care unit (CICU) is changing, not only with regard to minimizing medication errors and preventing drug-drug interactions, but also amid expanding prescribing privileges allowing them to initiate, modify, and discontinue an increasing range of medications, researchers note in a viewpoint published in JACC: Advances. This also means there’s room for pharmacists as leaders in pharmacotherapy research and in the landscape of clinical trial leadership. Moreover, some pharmacists may be required to respond to in-hospital resuscitation events as part of “code blue” teams and to understand increasingly complex medication-related safety issues, including developing risk-reduction strategies, drug information services, medication reconciliation, and taking proper medication histories.

Same-day discharge within 6 hours may be safe and feasible in select stabilized, low-risk ACS patients, a pilot study in JSCAI suggests. The authors say the small, exploratory study could point the way toward alternative strategies for implementing high-quality cardiovascular care in resource-constrained environments, with an eye toward its particular relevance “in settings where early invasive treatment with primary PCI is not widely available.”

In patients with severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR) and no previous tricuspid valve surgery, rates of death and adverse events were high at 3 years, as were healthcare costs, according to an analysis of 1,190 patients. Reporting the results in Structural Heart, the researchers say 3-year rates of all-cause mortality, stroke, and any tricuspid valve surgery were 47.9%, 19.1%, and 7.5%, respectively, while healthcare-related resource utilization was approximately $127,000/patient. “Longer-term data regarding the impact of transcatheter interventions for severe TR on clinical outcomes and costs are needed to better understand the value of these novel therapies,” they add.

Cardiac tachyarrhythmias are not common in pregnant women, but their prevalence has increased in recent years. In a study that used data from the Nationwide Readmissions Database, the presence of ventricular arrhythmias in pregnancy was associated with a higher risk of stillbirth. Additionally, all tachyarrhythmia subtypes were associated with higher odds of preterm birth, according to the study published in JACC: Clinical Electrophysiology.

The battery life of implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) varies by device type and by manufacturer, according to a study that evaluated numerous ICDs implanted between 2003 and 2023 by assessing time from implant to replacement interval. The newest devices had markedly improved longevity compared with older models, lasting up to 4 years longer in some cases, researchers report in HeartRhythm.

In a research letter published in JACC: Cardiovascular Imaging, investigators report a first-in-human experience of robotic transesophageal echocardiography (TEE). Five patients underwent standard TEE followed by remote control-guided TEE. Technical success was 100%, with the authors reporting that they were able to consistently achieve precise probe manipulation within a reasonable time frame, with no procedure-related complications or hardware/software malfunctions.

In patients with cardiogenic shock receiving venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO), men and women have similar 30-day all-cause mortality, with no evidence that sex modifies the effect of moderate hypothermia on outcomes, according to a post-hoc analysis of the HYPO-ECMO trial. Reporting in Circulation: Heart Failure, the investigators say their results “argue against a sex-based difference in prognosis following VA-ECMO implantation, and female sex should not be considered a contraindication when clinically indicated.”

An analysis of individuals from two cohorts of the Framingham Heart Study suggests a correlation between lower scores on the American Heart Association’s Life’s Essential 8 and higher risk of incident atrial fibrillation (AF). Additionally, poor scores for body mass index, blood pressure, and glucose—but not for cholesterol levels—were associated with increased risk of AF. Writing in the American Journal of Preventive Cardiology, the researchers say their findings argue for the clinical use of Life’s Essential 8 in practice as a way to “help track and promote optimal cardiovascular health and reduce the burden of AF in the overall population.”

A 25-year study of a European community-based cohort provides insight into how men and women experience heart failure (HF) differently. Compared with men, women were at greater risk of developing HF with preserved ejection fraction, the PREVEND study investigators report in the European Heart Journal. They hypothesize that eight directly and indirectly modifiable risk factors jointly contribute to this difference, arguing for targeted proactive screening and treatment.

News Highlights From TCTMD:

Heart Disease Deaths Decline Over Last 50 Years, but Not Across the Board

Weight-Loss Medications Should Be Part of Cardiology’s Arsenal: ACC

Cannabis Use Doubles the Risk of CV Death: Meta-analysis

Simple Sitting-Rising Test Linked to Natural and CV Mortality