Coronary CT Angiography (CCTA) has become established as a first-line test in the evaluation of chest pain, supported by robust evidence of prognostic impact, advances in Artificial Intelligence (AI), and technological evolution with photon-counting CT. Publications in 2025 reposition CCTA as a central platform for risk stratification and therapeutic guidance in coronary artery disease. The 10-year follow-up of the SCOT-HEART trial represents a major milestone in this process. Among 4,146 patients with stable chest pain randomized to standard care with […]

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most prevalent genetic heart disease, affecting approximately 1 in 500 individuals in the general population,– with asymmetric septal hypertrophy as the most common phenotype. In obstructive HCM (oHCM), clinical relevance is greater due to its association with atrial fibrillation, heart failure, thromboembolic events, arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death., For patients who remain symptomatic despite optimized medical therapy, septal reduction has become an established strategy, with surgical septal myectomy as the gold standard. Alcohol septal ablation […]

Cardiovascular imaging is crucial in the selection and planning of interventions for structural heart disease. Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) has transformed the management of severe aortic stenosis (AS) in high-risk surgical populations and is currently being expanded to intermediate- and low-risk populations. […]

Over the past 15 years, Speckle-tracking Echocardiography has evolved into a robust technique for assessing both global and regional myocardial function. Among its expanding applications, Left Atrial (LA) strain, particularly in the reservoir phase, has emerged as a clinically relevant parameter. A reduced Left Atrial Strain reservoir (LASr) has been independently associated with elevated Left Ventricular (LV) filling pressures, recurrence of atrial fibrillation, heart failure hospitalizations, and overall cardiovascular mortality., Reflecting this growing body of evidence, LASr has been formally […]

The prevalence of homozygotes for the Val142Ile genetic variant in the transthyretin (TTR) gene is extremely low in the general population (0.72%). This prevalence is slightly higher in endomyocardial biopsy studies (6% to 10%) and in cohorts involving reference centers for TTR cardiac amyloidosis (4% to 14%)., Homozygotes represent a distinct subpopulation within the spectrum of cardiac amyloidosis, with clinical characteristics that appear to differ substantially from those of heterozygotes. This genetic variation has been associated with an onset of […]

A Reflection on Clinical and Subclinical Circulatory Congestion The management of heart failure (HF) has improved over the past 20 years, mainly due to advances in diagnostic methods and circulatory decongestion strategies. Several management strategies have demonstrated efficacy in reducing symptoms, lowering rates of HF decompensation events, decreasing mortality indices, and improving surrogate markers of clinical events, such as left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). In HF management, the need for detecting and monitoring circulatory congestion is justified by its strong […]

Daniel Kahneman reinforced and popularized the idea of two distinct modes of thinking. System 1 relies on pattern recognition, detecting simple relationships, correlating stereotypes, and associating ideas in a search for coherence. It is fast, intuitive, automatic, and requires little or no effort or energy. It cannot be turned off and continuously monitors the environment, driven by a survival need rooted in our ancestral past. System 2, on the other hand, demands attention, compares objects based on various attributes, and […]

Computed Tomography Angiography (CTA) has been an important asset in cardiovascular diagnosis for decades. The continuous improvement of rapid data acquisition with often higher spatial resolution has established the method as indispensable for diagnosing and managing multiple cardiovascular entities such as aneurysms, aortic dissection, and pulmonary embolism., The use of CTA in heart and coronary imaging has also gained important territory and relevance., Computed Tomography (CT) techniques have been advancing significantly since its introduction in the medical field. Starting with […]

Intracardiac echocardiography (ICE) is an ultrasound imaging technique capable of providing real-time, high-quality visualization of cardiac structures and their adjacent tissues through a catheter with a transducer inserted directly into the heart chambers, typically via transfemoral venous access. By allowing direct and precise visualization of intracardiac anatomy, ICE has been increasingly used to guide structural interventions and catheter ablations for cardiac arrhythmias, as well as to enable immediate detection of intraoperative complications. Initial clinical investigations began in the 1960s, focusing […]

Ventricular septal morphology and cardiac development Anderson et al. convened international experts to propose a unified morphofunctional classification of ventricular septal defects, with emphasis on embryological features and ventriculoarterial connections. The authors critically examine the nomenclature currently in use and suggest that defect descriptions should encompass both their anatomical location and the borders involved. This approach integrates principles of cardiac development and allows, for example, differentiation between perimembranous defects in hearts with double outlet right ventricle and those with concordant […]