Synergic impact of oral anticoagulation control and renal function in determining major adverse events in atrial fibrillation patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: insights from the AFCAS registry

Patients with Atrial Fibrillation and Chronic Kidney Disease More Often Undergo Angioplasty of Left Main Coronary Artery - a 867 Patient Study

BACKGROUND/AIMS

Several studies have implicated atrial fibrillation (AF) as a contributing factor in chronic kidney disease (CKD) and cardiovascular events. The prevalence of coronary artery disease (CAD) in patients with AF varies substantially from 17% to 46.5%. There are only few studies concerning renal function in population with AF undergoing coronary angiography. The aim of the present study was to assess which type of AF is dominant in CKD population scheduled for coronary angiography and if it can influence patients' outcome, the association between renal impairment and the type of coronary procedures in AF patients and the influence of renal function on in-hospital mortality.

METHODS

We retrospectively studied 867 patients with AF hospitalized due to coronary angiography in two year time. The cut off value of CKD was eGFR ≤ 60 ml/min./1.73m2 evaluated by CKD-EPI formula.

RESULTS

A total of 867 patients with AF (44% women; mean age 72±10 years) were included in the analysis. The mean eGFR was 44±11ml/min./1.73m2 in patients with CKD and 89±18 ml/min./1.73m2 in patients with preserved renal function. Patients with CKD and AF were older (p< 0.001), had more often diabetes (p=0.009), heart failure (p< 0.001) and anaemia (p< 0.001). Patients with CKD and AF had more often permanent type of AF (p< 0.001). In CKD patients CHA2DS2VASc score was 4.3±1.5 and HAS-BLED score was 2.0±1.2 and it was significantly higher as compared to population with preserved renal function (p< 0.001, p=0.02, respectively). The use of oral anticoagulation was less frequent in CKD group (p< 0.001) although these patients had higher CHA2DS2VASc score. Patients with AF and CKD were more often admitted due to myocardial infarction (STEMI or NSTEMI) (p=0.02, p< 0.001, respectively) and more often underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) (p=0.01). Among coronary arteries the percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of left main artery was done more frequently in CKD patients (p=0.01). Among CKD population in-hospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with eGFR < 30 ml/min (p< 0.001).

CONCLUSION

Patients with CKD had more often permanent type of AF. Percutaneous interventions of the left main coronary artery, the only elective procedures influencing patients' prognosis, were done more frequently in CKD patients with AF. In-hospital mortality was significantly higher in patients with severe renal impairment. Despite the higher risk of ischaemic stroke in CKD group the use of oral anticoagulation therapy was significantly less frequent and the patients were deprived of the confirmed benefits of such treatment.

Efficacy and safety of triple therapy versus dual antiplatelet therapy in patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing coronary stenting: A meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

The optimal antithrombotic therapy for atrial fibrillation (AF) patients undergoing coronary stenting is unknown. The present meta-analysis sought to investigate the efficacy and safety of triple therapy (TT; warfarin, clopidogrel and aspirin) vs dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT; clopidogrel plus aspirin) in those patients.

METHODS

PubMed and Cochrane Library were searched for studies enrolling AF patients undergoing coronary stenting on TT and DAPT up to September 2016, and fourteen studies were included. Efficacy outcomes included ischemic stroke, stent thrombosis, major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE), all-cause mortality and myocardial infarction (MI); safety outcome was major bleeding. We conducted meta-analysis and used odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI) to compare TT and DAPT. Meta-regression, sensitivity and subgroup analysis were taken to investigate the source of heterogeneity in the outcome of major bleeding.

RESULTS

14 eligible observational studies with 11,697 subjects were identified. Compared with DAPT, TT had decreased the risk of ischemic stroke [OR = 0.74, 95% CI (0.59, 0.93), P = 0.009] and stent thrombosis [OR = 0.40, 95% CI (0.18, 0.93), P = 0.033]. While, there was an increased risk of major bleeding [OR = 1.55, 95% CI (1.16, 2.09), P = 0.004] associated with TT. The risk of MACE, all-cause mortality and MI had no significant statistical difference between TT and DAPT. Furthermore, the results of univariate and multivariate meta-regression analysis implicated that there were no obvious correlations between certain baseline characteristics (age, gender, race, hypertension, study design) and risk of major bleeding. Also of major bleeding, the findings of sensitivity analysis were generally robust, and a prespecified subgroup analysis of race demonstrated that the source of heterogeneity might attribute to Asian studies mostly.

CONCLUSIONS

TT reduced the risk of ischemic stroke and stent thrombosis with an acceptable major bleeding risk compared with DAPT, and TT was considered as a valid alternative in AF patients undergoing coronary stenting. Further prospective randomized trials are needed to ensure the reliability of these data and find the optimal therapeutic strategy in this setting of patients.

Antithrombotic therapy in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: should we change our practice after the PIONEER AF-PCI and RE-DUAL PCI trials?

The number of patients with atrial fibrillation undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is increasing. Since these patients have a CHA₂DS₂-VASc score of 1 or higher, they should be treated with oral anticoagulation to prevent stroke. However, combination therapy with oral anticoagulation for prevention of embolic stroke and dual platelet inhibition for prevention of coronary thrombosis significantly increases bleeding complications. The optimal combination, intensity and duration of antithrombotic combination therapy is still not known. In the rather small randomized WOEST trial, the combination of a vitamin K antagonist (VKA) and clopidogrel decreased bleeding compared to the conventional triple therapy with VKA, clopidogrel and aspirin. In the PIONEER AF-PCI trial, two rivaroxaban-based treatment regimens significantly reduced bleeding complications compared to conventional triple therapy without increasing embolic or ischemic complications following PCI. Dual therapy with rivaroxaban and clopidogrel appeared to provide an optimal risk-benefit ratio. In the RE-DUAL PCI trial, dual therapy with dabigatran also reduced bleeding complications compared to conventional triple therapy. With respect to the composite efficacy end point of thromboembolic events (myocardial infarction, stroke, or systemic embolism), death, or unplanned revascularization dabigatran-based dual therapy was non-inferior to VKA-based triple therapy. The upcoming trials AUGUSTUS with apixaban and ENTRUST-PCI with edoxaban will further examine the use of NOACs in this setting. While recent guidelines recommend NOAC-based dual therapy in only a subset of patients (those who are at increased risk of bleeding), the available data now suggest that this should be the preferred choice for the majority of patients. Adding aspirin to this primary choice for up to 4 weeks in patients at especially high ischemic risk would likely prevent atherothrombotic events, but this needs further investigation. Taken together, it is time to adjust our practice and move to dual therapy consisting of a NOAC plus clopidogrel in most patients.