A new brain–heart clinical practice guideline takes a holistic approach, integrating neurologic and mental health evidence with guidance for cardiovascular disease as many brain and heart conditions overlap and share similar risk factors. The guideline is published in CMAJ (Canadian Medical Association Journal) https://www.cmaj.ca/lookup/doi/10.1503/cmaj.251137.

At two years of follow-up, patients with a poorly functioning tricuspid valve in the heart who received optimal medical therapy plus a minimally invasive procedure using a clip to repair the valve were significantly less likely to die, have a heart attack or stroke and 40% less likely to be hospitalized for heart failure compared with similar patients who were randomly assigned to optimal medical therapy alone. The study was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26).

In patients with a poorly functioning bioprosthetic mitral valve in the heart, a minimally invasive procedure to insert a new valve was associated with a lower rate of death or disabling stroke within one year, compared with patients who underwent standard repeat mitral valve replacement surgery, according to a study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26).

About The Study: From this large, multisite registry, results reveal that women with pregnancy-associated spontaneous coronary artery dissection (P-SCAD) had greater median ages at gestation, greater history of assisted reproductive technology use, and greater instances of multigravida and preeclampsia than women with non–pregnancy-associated SCAD (NP-SCAD) and the general reproductive-aged U.S. population. With high percentages of vascular imaging among participants, women with P-SCAD had less fibromuscular dysplasia but similar rates of extracoronary abnormalities including dissection and aneurysms as women with NP-SCAD. In this contemporary cohort, women with P-SCAD continue to represent a higher-risk phenotype with predominantly conservative management; however, they had less left ventricular ejection fraction recovery.

Adolescent patients with obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) who received the drug mavacamten saw a significant improvement in left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) gradient, a measure of blood flow obstruction in the heart, compared with those who received a placebo, according to a small study presented at the American College of Cardiology’s Annual Scientific Session (ACC.26). The trial is the first to test mavacamten in patients younger than 18.