Background: Electroanatomic voltage mapping (EVM) is a promising modality for guiding endomyocardial biopsies (EMB). However, few data support its feasibility and safety. We now report the largest cohort of patients undergoing EVM-guided EMB in order to show its diagnostic yield and to compare it with a cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) guided approach. Methods: One-hundred and sixty-two consecutive patients undergoing EMB at our Institution from 2010 to 2019 were included. EMB was performed in pathological areas identified at EVM and CMR. According to EMB results, CMR and EVM sensitivity and specificity regarding the identification of pathological substrates of myocardium were evaluated. Results: Pre-operative CMR showed late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in 70% of the patients, while EVM identified areas of low voltages in 61%. Right (73%), left (19%) or both ventricles (8%) underwent sampling. EVM proved to have similar sensitivity to CMR (74% vs. 77%), with specificity being respectively 70% and 47%. In 12 patients with EMB-proven cardiomyopathy, EVM identified pathological areas, which had been undetected at CMR evaluation. Sensitivity of pooled EVM and CMR was as high as 95%. EMB analysis allowed to reach a new diagnosis, different from the suspected clinical diagnosis, in 39% of patients. Complications rate was low, mostly vascular access related, with no patients requiring urgent management. Conclusions: EVM proved to be a promising tool for targeted-EMB due to its sensitivity and specificity for identification of myocardial pathological substrates. EVM demonstrated to have an accuracy similar to CMR. EVM and CMR together conferred EMB a positive predictive value of 89%.

BackgroundLong‐term data on durability of currently available transcatheter heart valves are sparse. We sought to assess the incidence of long‐term (8‐year) structural valve dysfunction and bioprosthetic valve failure in a cohort of patients with transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) who reached at least 5‐year follow‐up.Methods and ResultsConsecutive patients with at least 5‐year follow‐up available undergoing TAVR from June 4, 2007 to March 30, 2012 were included. Structural valve dysfunction and bioprosthetic valve failure were defined according to newly standardized European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions/European Society of Cardiology/European Association for Cardio‐Thoracic Surgery criteria and reported as cumulative incidence function to account for the competing risk of death. A total of 288 consecutive patients with a mean age of 80.7±5.3 years and with a mean Society of Thoracic Surgery mortality score of 8.1±5.1% were analyzed. Survival rate at 8 years was 29.8%. Mean pressure gradients decreased from 53.3±15.9 mm Hg (pre‐TAVR) to 10.5±4.5 mm Hg (in‐hospital post‐TAVR) (P<0.001). There was a small, not significant, increase in the transaortic gradient throughout follow‐up. Bioprosthetic valve failure was observed in a total of 11 patients (8‐year cumulative incidence function: 4.51%; 95% confidence interval, 1.95%–8.76%). Severe and moderate structural valve dysfunctions were reported in 7 patients (8‐year cumulative incidence function: 2.39%; 95% confidence interval, 0.77%–5.71%) and 13 patients (8‐year cumulative incidence function: 5.87%; 95% confidence interval, 3.06%–9.96%), respectively. Aortic valve reintervention (redo TAVR) was successfully performed in 2 patients (0.7%) presenting with symptomatic severe restenosis and intraprosthetic regurgitation subsequent to endocarditis.ConclusionsIn an aged population of patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis treated with first‐generation bioprostheses, TAVR was associated with a survival rate of 30% but low rates of bioprosthetic valve failure and structural valve dysfunction at 8 years.

Background - Arrhythmogenic left ventricular cardiomyopathy (ALVC) is an under-characterized phenotype of arrhythmogenic cardiomyopathy involving the LV ab initio. ALVC was not included in the 2010 International Task Force Criteria (ITFC) for arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy diagnosis and data regarding this phenotype are scarce. Methods - clinical characteristics were reported from all consecutive patients diagnosed with ALVC, defined as a LV isolated late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) and fibro-fatty replacement (FFR) at cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) plus genetic variants associated with ARVC and/or of an endomyocardial biopsy (EMB) showing FFR complying with the 2010 ITFC in the LV. Results - twenty-five ALVC patients (53 [48-59] years, 60% male) were enrolled. T-wave inversion in infero-lateral and left precordial leads were the most common ECG abnormalities. Overall arrhythmic burden at study inclusion was 56%. CMR showed LV LGE in the LV lateral and/or posterior basal segments in all patients. In 72% of the patients an invasive evaluation was performed, in which electroanatomical voltage mapping (EVM) and EVM-guided EMB showed low endocardial voltages and FFR in areas of LGE presence. Genetic variants in desmosomal genes (desmoplakin and desmoglein-2) were identified in 12/25 of the cohort presenting pathogenic/likely-pathogenic variants. A definite/borderline 2010 ITFC ARVC diagnosis was reached only in 11/25 patients. Conclusions - ALVC presents with a preferential involvement of the lateral and/or postero-lateral basal LV and is associated mostly with variants in desmoplakin and desmoglein-2 genes. An amendment to the current ITFC is reasonable to better diagnose ALVC patients.