Introduction: Conventional transvenous pacemaker leads may interfere with the tricuspid valve leaflets, tendinous chords, and papillary muscles, resulting in significant tricuspid valve regurgitation (TR). Leadless pacemakers (LLPMs) theoretically cause less mechanical interference with the tricuspid valve apparatus.However, data on TR after LLPM implantation are sparse and conflicting. Our goal was to investigate the prevalence of significant TR before and after LLPM implantation.Methods: Patients who received a leadless LLPM (Micra™ TPS, Medtronic) between May 2016 and May 2021 at our center were included in this observational study if they had at least a pre-and postinterventional echocardiogram (TTE). The evolution of TR severity was assessed. Following a systematic literature review on TR evolution after implantation of a LLPM, data were pooled in a random-effects meta-analysis. Results:We included 69 patients (median age 78 years [interquartile range (IQR) 72-84 years], 26% women). Follow-up duration between baseline and follow-up TTE was 11.4 months (IQR 3.5-20.1 months). At follow-up, overall TR severity was not different compared to baseline (p = .49). Six patients (9%) had new significant TR during follow-up after LLPM implantation, whereas TR severity improved in seven patients (10%). In the systematic review, we identified seven additional articles that

Childhood obesity continues to escalate worldwide and may affect left ventricular (LV) geometry and function. The aim of this study was to investigate the impact of obesity on prevalence of left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) and diastolic dysfunction in children. In this analysis of prospectively collected cross-sectional data of children between 5 and 16 years of age from randomly selected schools in Peru, parameters of LV geometry and function were compared according to presence or absence of obesity (body mass index z-score > 2). LVH was based on left ventricular mass index (LVMI) adjusted for age and sex and defined by a z-score of > 2. LV diastolic function was assessed using mitral inflow early-to-late diastolic flow (E/A) ratio, peak early diastolic tissue velocities of the lateral mitral annulus (E′), early diastolic transmitral flow velocity to tissue Doppler mitral annular early diastolic velocity (E/E′) ratio, and left atrial volume index (LAVI). Among 1023 children, 681 children (mean age 12.2 ± 3.1 years, 341 male (50.1%)) were available for the present analysis, of which 150 (22.0%) were obese. LVH was found in 21 (14.0%) obese and in 19 (3.6%) non-obese children (padjusted < 0.001). LVMI was greater in obese than that in non-obese children (36.1 ± 8.6 versus 28.7 ± 6.9 g/m2.7, p < 0.001). The mean mitral E/E′ ratio and LAVI were significantly higher in obese than those in non-obese individuals (E/E′: 5.2 ± 1.1 versus 4.9 ± 0.8, padjusted = 0.043; LAVI 11.0 ± 3.2 versus 9.6 ± 2.9, padjusted = 0.001), whereas E′ and E/A ratio were comparable. Childhood obesity was associated with left ventricular hypertrophy and determinants of diastolic dysfunction.ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT02353663.

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