Microbubble-Facilitated Ultrasound Catheter Ablation Causes Microvascular Damage and Fibrosis

Revolutionizing cardiovascular care: the power of histotripsy

Histotripsy, an innovative ultrasonic technique, is poised to transform the landscape of cardiovascular disease management. This review explores the multifaceted applications of histotripsy across various domains of cardiovascular medicine. In thrombolysis, histotripsy presents a non-invasive, drug-free, and precise method for recanalizing blood vessels obstructed by clots, minimizing the risk of vessel damage and embolism. Additionally, histotripsy showcases its potential in congenital heart defect management, offering a promising alternative to invasive procedures by creating intracardiac communications noninvasively. For patients with calcified aortic stenosis, histotripsy demonstrates its effectiveness in softening calcified bioprosthetic valves, potentially revolutionizing valve interventions. In the realm of arrhythmias, histotripsy could play an important role in scar-based ventricular tachycardia ablation, eliminating channel-like isthmuses of slowly conducting myocardium. Histotripsy`s potential applications also extend to structural heart interventions, enabling the safe sectioning of basal chordae and potentially addressing mitral regurgitation. Furthermore, it showcases its versatility by safely generating ventricular septal defects, providing a non-invasive means of creating intracardiac communications in neonates with congenital heart disease. Yet, most supporting studies are in-vitro or animal studies and there are possible challenges in translating experimental data on cardiac histotripsy to the clinical level. As histotripsy continues to evolve and mature, its remarkable potential in cardiovascular disease management holds promise for improving patient outcomes and reducing the burden of invasive procedures in the field of cardiology.

Solving the Reach Problem: A Review of Present and Future Approaches for Addressing Ventricular Arrhythmias Arising from Deep Substrate

Ventricular tachycardia (VT) is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality in patients with ischaemic and non-ischaemic cardiomyopathies. In most patients, the primary strategy of VT catheter ablation is based on the identification of critical components of reentry circuits and modification of abnormal substrate which can initiate reentry. Despite technological advancements in catheter design and improved ability to localise abnormal substrates, putative circuits and site of origins of ventricular arrhythmias (VAs), current technologies remain inadequate and durable success may be elusive when the critical substrate is deep or near to critical structures that are at risk of collateral damage. In this article, we review the available and potential future non-surgical investigational approaches for treatment of VAs and discuss the viability of these modalities.

Diagnostic Value of Color Doppler Ultrasound Combined with Superb Microvascular Imaging in the Detection of Small Renal Tumors Less than 3 cm Treated with Jinkui Shenqi Pills

The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of color Doppler ultrasound combined with superb microvascular imaging (SMI) in the detection of small renal tumors less than 3 cm treated with Jinkui Shenqi pills. 50 cases were randomly selected from the patients with angioleiomyoma (a kind of small renal tumor) less than 3 cm confirmed by pathological examination and treated in our hospital from January 2018 to January 2020. All patients were treated with Jinkui Shenqi pills. All patients were first detected by color Doppler ultrasound and then by SMI. The results of color Doppler ultrasound were used as the control group, while those of color Doppler ultrasound combined with SMI were used as the experimental group. After that, the specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative detection results, and detection accuracy were compared between the two groups. The specificity and sensitivity in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The cases of positive and negative detection results in the experimental group were significantly higher than those in the control group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The detection accuracy in the experimental group was significantly higher than that in the control group, with statistical significance (P < 0.05). The specificity, sensitivity, positive and negative detection results, and detection accuracy of color Doppler ultrasound combined with SMI in the detection of small renal tumors less than 3 cm treated with Jinkui Shenqi pills were all significantly higher than those of color Doppler ultrasound; therefore, the application of color Doppler ultrasound combined with SMI for the diagnosis of small renal tumors is of high value.