Papers by Francesco Ancona

Mini-invasive Surgery , 2020
New transcatheter mitral valve (MV) therapies are now available as alternatives to surgical and m... more New transcatheter mitral valve (MV) therapies are now available as alternatives to surgical and medical treatments in patients at high or prohibitive operative risk. Multimodality imaging including echocardiography, cardiac magnetic resonance, and cardiac computed tomography provide complementary information to guide patient and device selection. Morphology and functional anatomy of the MV should be carefully evaluated to determine the feasibility of percutaneous treatment; to identify the best therapeutic approach, either leaflet or annulus or combined; and to predict the probability of procedural success that is crucial for subsequent outcome and should be integrated by comprehensive preprocedural assessment of chamber size, biventricular systolic and diastolic function, valvopathy hemodynamic impact and aortic or peripheral vascular disease. The spectrum of transcatheter options is now wide and encompasses leaflet repair, direct or indirect annuloplasty, and cordal implantation. The aim of this review is to provide an overview on the role of multimodality imaging in the patient selection and preprocedural planning of percutaneous mitral valve repair.
Mini-invasive Surgery, 2020
Percutaneous mitral valve intervention is emerging as a valid alternative for patients affected b... more Percutaneous mitral valve intervention is emerging as a valid alternative for patients affected by mitral regurgitation. By addressing the pathophysiology, therapeutic options mainly target the leaflets, annulus or left ventricle. The present review will cover the intraprocedural guidance of the most used approaches, such as edge to edge repair, adjustable transapical beating-heart chordal implantation and percutaneous direct or indirect annuloplasty. Intraprocedural monitoring relies on integration of fluoroscopy and echocardiography, and is based on the continuous communication between the interventional imager and the interventional cardiologist.

European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery, 2015
Clinical success of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation depends on persistent block of electrical c... more Clinical success of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation depends on persistent block of electrical conduction across the ablation lines. The fate of ablations performed with temperature-controlled bipolar radiofrequency (RF) is unknown. The purpose of this study was to validate the electrophysiological (EP) efficacy of these lesions, recording pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) after open chest ablation, in the human being. Ten consecutive mitral patients (mean age: 53 ± 12 years) with concomitant AF were treated with the Cobra Revolution (Estech, San Ramon, CA, USA) bipolar RF device were enrolled for EP assessment. During surgery, pairs of additional temporary wires were positioned on the right PVs (RPV) and on the roof of the left atrium (RLA), before ablation. Pacing thresholds (PTs) were assessed before, after a single encircling ablation and at chest's closure. EP study was repeated before discharge and at 3 weeks. RLA wires served as control. Baseline PTs were 0.83 ± 0.81 mA (ra...
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Papers by Francesco Ancona