Higher CHADS2 score is associated with impaired coronary flow reserve: A study using phase contrast cine magnetic resonance imaging

The CHA2DS2-VASC Score Predicts Mortality in Patients Undergoing Coronary Angiography

BACKGROUND

The CHA2DS2-VASC score is used to predict the risk of thromboembolic complications in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). We hypothesized that the CHA2DS2-VASC score can be used to predict mortality in patients undergoing coronary angiography.

METHODS AND RESULTS

This was a prospective study of 990 patients undergoing coronary angiography. The median follow-up was 2294 days. The patients were categorized into two groups according to their CHA2DS2-VASC score: group I had scores <4 and group II had scores ≥4 (527 (53.2%) and 463 (46.8%), respectively). A Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated a significant association between the CHA2DS2-VASC score and mortality (69/527 (13.1%) vs. 179/463 (38.7%) for group I vs. group II, respectively, p < 0.0001). The association remained significant in patients with and without AF, reduced and preserved LVEF, normal and reduced kidney function, and with and without ACS (p < 0.009 to p < 0.0001 for all). In the Cox regression model, which combined the CHA2DS2-VASC score, the presence of AF, LVEF, anemia, and renal insufficiency, an elevated CHA2DS2-VASC score of ≥4 was independently associated with higher mortality (HR 2.12, CI 1.29-3.25, p = 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

The CHA2DS2VASC score is a simple and reliable mortality predictor in patients undergoing coronary angiography and should be used for the initial screening for such patients.

Coronary flow reserve evaluated by phase-contrast cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging of coronary sinus: a meta-analysis

BACKGROUND

Phase-contrast cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) of the coronary sinus has emerged as a non-invasive method for measuring coronary sinus blood flow and coronary flow reserve (CFR). However, its clinical utility has not yet been established. Here we performed a meta-analysis to clarify the clinical value of CMR-derived CFR in various cardiovascular diseases.

METHODS

An electronic database search was performed of PubMed, Web of Science Core Collection, Cochrane Advanced Search, and EMBASE. We compared the CMR-derived CFR of various cardiovascular diseases (stable coronary artery disease [CAD], hypertrophic cardiomyopathy [HCM], dilated cardiomyopathy [DCM]) and control subjects. We assessed the prognostic value of CMR-derived CFR for predicting major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in patients with stable CAD.

RESULTS

A total of 47 eligible studies were identified. The pooled CFR from our meta-analysis was 3.48 (95% confidence interval [CI], 2.98-3.98) in control subjects, 2.50 (95% CI, 2.38-2.61) in stable CAD, 2.01 (95% CI, 1.70-2.32) in cardiomyopathies (HCM and DCM). The meta-analysis showed that CFR was significantly reduced in stable CAD (mean difference [MD] = -1.48; 95% CI, -1.78 to -1.17; p < 0.001; I2 = 0%; p for heterogeneity = 0.33), HCM (MD = -1.20; 95% CI, -1.63 to -0.77; p < 0.001; I2 = 0%; p for heterogeneity = 0.49), and DCM (MD = -1.53; 95% CI, -1.93 to -1.13; p < 0.001; I2 = 0%; p for heterogeneity = 0.45). CMR-derived CFR was an independent predictor of MACE for patients with stable CAD (hazard ratio = 0.52 per unit increase; 95% CI, 0.37-0.73; p < 0.001; I2 = 84%, p for heterogeneity < 0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

CMR-derived CFR was significantly decreased in cardiovascular diseases, and a decreased CFR was associated with a higher occurrence of MACE in patients with stable CAD. These results suggest that CMR-derived CFR has potential for the pathological evaluation of stable CAD, cardiomyopathy, and risk stratification in CAD.

The Predictive Value of the CHA2DS2-VASc Score for In-Stent Restenosis Among Patients with Drug-Eluting Stents Implantation

Objective

The CHA2DS2-VASc score, a system which has been initially recommended for the assessment of thromboembolic risk in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF), arouses attention in the field of adverse coronary events. The purpose of this study was to explore the predictive value of preprocedural CHA2DS2-VASc score on ISR in patients after drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation.

Methods

To further investigate the relationship between CHA2DS2-VASc scores and ISR after DES, a retrospective study of DES was carried on. Additionally, the preoperative variables for the ISR and control groups were contrasted. Predictive factors were chosen using the optimal subset regression. We validate the model using internal validation. The prediction model was evaluated using the receiver operator characteristic (ROC) analysis.

Results

We used a 3:7 ratio to create an experimental group and a validation group, and then ran a stepwise regression with the data from each of the two groups. The results showed that CHA2DS2-VASc score was an independent risk factor for ISR in both the experimental (p = 0.0139) and validation groups (p = 0.0014), and both had significant predictive value for ISR. The area of the ROC curve was greater than 0.5 in both groups (AUC = 0.78, 0.719, respectively) indicating that the model fit was good in both groups.

Conclusion

The CHA2DS2-VASc score is a reliable predictor of in-stent restenosis (ISR) after DES implantation.

Incremental prognostic value of coronary flow reserve determined by phase-contrast cine cardiovascular magnetic resonance of the coronary sinus in patients with diabetes mellitus

BACKGROUND

Although non-invasive assessment of coronary flow reserve (CFR) by cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) provides prognostic information for patients with diabetes mellitus (DM), the incremental prognostic value of CMR-derived CFR remains unclear.

PURPOSE

To evaluate the incremental prognostic value of CMR-derived CFR for patients with DM who underwent stress CMR imaging.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

A total of 309 patients with type 2 DM [69 ± 9 years; 244 (78%) male] assessed between 2009 and 2019 were retrospectively reviewed. Coronary sinus blood flow (CSBF) was measured using phase contrast (PC) cine CMR. CFR was calculated as the CSBF during adenosine triphosphate infusion divided by that at rest. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as death, acute coronary syndrome, hospitalization due to heart failure exacerbation, or sustained ventricular tachycardia. The incremental prognostic value of CFR over clinical and CMR variables was assessed by calculating the C-index and net reclassification improvement (NRI).

RESULTS

During a median follow-up of 3.8 years, 42 patients (14%) experienced MACE. The annualized event rate was significantly higher among patients with CFR < 2.0, regardless of the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) (1.4% vs. 9.8%, p = 0.011 in the LGE (-) group; 1.8% vs. 16.9%, p < 0.001 in the LGE (+) group). In addition, this trend was maintained in the subgroups stratified by presence or absence of ischemia (0.3% vs. 6.7%, p = 0.007 in the ischemia (-) group; 3.9% vs. 17.1%, p = 0.001 in the ischemia (+) group). Adding CFR to the risk model (age + gender + left ventricular ejection fraction + %LGE + %ischemia) resulted in a significant increase of the C-index from 0.838 to 0.870 (p = 0.038) and an NRI of 0.201 (0.004-0.368, p = 0.012).

CONCLUSION

PC cine CMR-derived CFR of the coronary sinus may be useful as a prognostic marker for DM patients, incremental to common clinical and CMR parameters. Due to the high prevalence of coronary microvascular dysfunction, the addition of CFR to conventional vasodilator stress CMR imaging may improve risk stratification for patients with DM.

CHADS2, CHA2DS2-VASc and R2CHADS2 scores predict mortality in patients with coronary artery disease

Few studies to date address the predictive ability of CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ in CAD patients. Our aim is to investigate the prognostic performance of CHADS₂, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ scores in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Angiographically obstructive CAD patients were enrolled. The prognostic performance of the three risk scores was evaluated using Cox hazards models. In addition, we compared their predictive values by calculating C statistics, net reclassification improvement (NRI) and integrated discrimination improvement (IDI). The endpoints are death from any cause and cardiovascular death. Of 3295 subjects with CAD, the mean CHADS₂, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ scores are 1.2 ± 1.0, 2.4 ± 1.4, and 1.6 ± 1.4, respectively. The CHADS₂-guided risk classification is markedly distinct from CHA₂DS-₂-VASc- and R₂CHADS₂-guided ones. Over a median follow-up of 24 months, a total of 290 (rate 4.00/100 person-year) deaths occurred, and 163 (rate 2.2/100 person-year) were attributed to cardiovascular deaths. Event rates increase by CHADS₂, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ (P for trend <0.001). The multivariate analyses show 60, 111 and 82% higher risk of mortality per unit increase of CHADS₂, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ scores, respectively. Comparing with CHADS₂ score (c-statistic = 0.61), CHA₂DS₂-VASc (c-statistic 0.65, NRI 0.52 and IDI 0.06, P for all <0.05) and R₂CHADS₂ (c-statistic 0.66, NRI 0.43 and IDI 0.09, P for all <0.05) scores provide better discrimination and reclassification for mortality. Also, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ have comparable predictive ability of mortality to the GRACE score. The CHADS₂, CHA₂DS₂-VASc and R₂CHADS₂ scores are simple yet robust prognostic tools in CAD patients.