With Emmanouil Kampanieris, University General Hospital of Heraklion, Heraklion - Greece, and Peter Van Der Meer, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen - The Netherlands.

In this episode, Peter Van Der Meer and Emmanouil Kampanieris discuss peripartum cardiomyopathy, a potentially life-threatening condition that presents as heart failure with reduced ejection fraction in women in the last month of pregnancy or in the months after delivery, after other causes of heart failure have been excluded.

Peripartum Cardiomyopathy is defined as cardiomyopathy occurring towards the end of pregnancy or in the months following delivery with a left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction (EF) < 45%, when other causes for heart failure have been excluded1. Its incidence differs widely depending on the geographic area being higher in developing countries, as 1:100 pregnancies in Nigeria, while in developed countries being lower, as 1:1500 pregnancies in Germany1. Several risk factors have been associated with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy, as pre-eclampsia and many more2. More than half of the affected individuals receiving the appropriate treatment for heart failure have a full recovery in 6 months3. The role of bromocriptine as a potential specific treatment for Peripartum Cardiomyopathy remains uncertain and randomized clinical trials are needed for determining its benefits and safety 2,4. Women willing to have a subsequent pregnancy should be counseled and monitored by a multidisciplinary team experienced with Peripartum Cardiomyopathy3.

References:

1. Pathophysiology, diagnosis and management of peripartum cardiomyopathy: a position statement from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on peripartum cardiomyopathy.

2. Peripartum Cardiomyopathy: JACC State-of-the-Art Review

3. Long-term prognosis, subsequent pregnancy, contraception and overall management of peripartum cardiomyopathy: practical guidance paper from the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology Study Group on Peripartum Cardiomyopathy

4. Bromocriptine treatment and outcomes in peripartum cardiomyopathy: the EORP PPCM registry

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Nicolas Verheyen, Medical University of Graz, Graz - Austria, and Lars Kober, Rigshospitalet, Copenhagen University Hospital, Copenhagen - Denmark.

In this episode of HFA CardioTalk, Nicolas Verheyen interviews Lars Kober on controversies in ICD/CRT implantation in non-ischemic cardiomyopathy for primary prevention. They focus in particular on the importance of selecting the right patients, and discuss biomarkers beyond left ventricular ejection fraction that may add value in predicting sudden death risk, and the need of randomized controlled trials with adequate endpoint selection to guide prophylactic ICD implantation.

Related scientific paper:

• 2021 ESC Guidelines for the diagnosis and treatment of acute and chronic heart failure
• 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiomyopathies
• Defibrillator Implantation in Patients with Nonischemic Systolic Heart Failure
• 2023 ESC Guidelines for the management of cardiomyopathies: Developed by the task force on the management of cardiomyopathies of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC)

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Jozine ter Maaten, University Medical Center Groningen - The Netherlands, Antonio Cannata, King's College London - UK, Mateusz Sokolski, Wroclaw Medical University - Poland, Henrike Arfsten, Medical University of Vienna - Austria, Stefan Anker, Charité University Hospital Berlin - Germany, Muthiuh Vaduganathan, Brigham and Women's hospital, Harvard Medical School Boston - USA, Cornelia Margineanu, Bucharest – Romania and Kengo Kusano, National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center Hospital, Osaka - Japan.

In this multivoice podcast from the ESC Congress 2024, the main results of three randomized controlled clinical trials (FINEARTS-HF, RESHAPE-HF2, and CRABL-HF) are discussed.

Links to the papers:

FINEARTS-HF

RESHAPE-HF2

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Guillaume Baudry, University Hospital of Brabois, Nancy - France, and Marco Metra, University of Brescia - Italy.

In this episode of the HFA Cardiotalk podcast, Guillaume Baudry interviews Marco Metra, the lead author of the recent HFA clinical consensus statement on worsening heart failure. They delve into the definition of worsening heart failure, its prognosis, prevention strategies, and both acute and long-term management of this condition.

Related scientific paper:

• Worsening of chronic heart failure: definition, epidemiology, management and prevention. A clinical consensus statement by the Heart Failure Association of the European Society of Cardiology
• Risk of readmission and death after hospitalization for worsening heart failure: Role of post-discharge follow-up visits in a real-world study from the Grand Est Region of France
• Effect of Dapagliflozin on Worsening Heart Failure and Cardiovascular Death in Patients With Heart Failure With and Without Diabetes
• Sotagliflozin in Patients with Diabetes and Recent Worsening Heart Failure
• Effect of Empagliflozin on the Clinical Stability of Patients With Heart Failure and a Reduced Ejection Fraction: The EMPEROR-Reduced Trial
• Safety, tolerability and efficacy of up-titration of guideline-directed medical therapies for acute heart failure (STRONG-HF): a multinational, open-label, randomised, trial
• Vericiguat in Patients with Heart Failure and Reduced Ejection Fraction

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Raja Ezman Faridz Bin Raja Shariff, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Selangor - Malaysia, and Kevin Damman, University Medical Centre Groningen - The Netherlands

In this episode of the HFA Cardiotalk podcast, Ezman Shariff interviewed Kevin Damman – a key opinion leader in the field of cardiorenal interactions, to better understand the role natriuresis plays in the acute heart failure and what we have learnt from trials like PUSH-AHF and ENACT-HF, and the future direction of clinical trials in this field.

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast serie is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Jozine ter Maaten, University Medical Center Groningen, Groningen - the Netherlands, Marta Cobo Marcos, Hospital Puerta de Hierro, Madrid - Spain, Mateusz Sokolski, Wroclaw Medical University, Wroclaw, Poland, Aferdita Spahillari, Duke University Hospital, Durham, NC - USA, Laura Cohen, Massachusets General Hospital, Boston, MA - USA, Antonio Cannata, King's College London, London - United Kingdom & Varun Sundaram, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH, USA

This podcast discusses the results of four late-breaking clinical trials presented at the Heart Failure Congress 2024 in Lisbon, Portugal. First, Dr Cobo Marcos shares the results of the SALT-HF study, a randomised trial investigating the addition of hypertonic saline to diuretics in patients with worsening heart failure. Second, Dr Spahillari and Dr Cohen discuss the main findings and echo substudy of the TEAM-HF trial. Thirdly, Dr Sundaram gives us an insight into the results of the PRAISE-HFpEF trial. The podcast concludes with a brief discussion of some of the HFA Young highlights from the congress.

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast series is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Jozine M. ter Maaten, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen - Netherlands, Bart A. Mulder, 2022-2024, University Medical Centre Groningen, Groningen - Netherlands & Giuseppe Boriani, Polyclinic Modena University Hospital, Modena -Italy.

Atrial fibrillation and heart failure often co-exist and influence each other. Treatment of AF specifically in the setting of heart failure can be challenging. Recently, new data emerged regarding the potential role of AF ablation in heart failure patients. In this podcast we discuss these in a special episode with a strong representation also from the EHRA Young highlighting the importance of interdisciplinary decision making in these patients.

Recommended readings from this episode:

CASTLE HTx

CASTLE AF

CABANA results in heart failure patients

This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast series is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor.

With Cornelia Margineanu, Bucharest - Romania & Thomas Felix Luscher, London - UK

A brief description of the discussion, which I have provided below: "In this episode, Dr. Cornelia Margineanu interviews Professor Thomas F. Lüscher on Education and professional development of the future generation of heart failure specialists, covering the entire pathway for young physicians, from training and having the right mentors to future trajectories.

"This 2024 HFA CardioTalk podcast series is supported by Novartis in the form of an educational grant. The discussion has not been influenced in any way by its sponsor."