The Management of Coronary Artery Disease in Ethiopia: Emphasis on Revascularization

Cardiovascular diseases are number one cause of death worldwide. Over half of the cardiovascular diseases, 51%, are due to coronary artery disease. Coronary artery disease is a pathological process characterized by atherosclerotic plaque accumulation in the epicardial coronary arteries. Rupture of the fibrous cap of the plaque causes the majority of the deaths due to myocardial infarction. Angina pectoris is a discomfort in the chest or adjacent areas caused by myocardial ischemia usually precipitated by exertion. In acute coronary syndrome, the chest discomfort is either of low threshold or appears at rest and when it evolves on the background of established angina pectoris, the discomfort becomes more frequent and prolonged. Exercise electrocardiography which has been the most frequently used non-invasive test to diagnose obstructive coronary artery disease is currently shown to have inferior diagnostic performance compared with diagnostic imaging tests. The pivotal tests in patients presenting with clinical features of acute coronary syndrome are electrocardiography and determination of serum troponin I and/or T. Revascularization is the mainstay of treatment in patients with acute coronary syndrome. In chronic coronary syndrome, on top of optimal medical treatment, revascularization reduces mortality in:- 1) left main stenosis, 2) three-vessel coronary artery disease, particularly with ejection fraction of less than 40%, 3) two vessel disease with more than 75% stenosis of the proximal left anterior descending coronary artery disease.

Mechanisms and diagnostic evaluation of persistent or recurrent angina following percutaneous coronary revascularization

Persistence or recurrence of angina after a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may affect about 20-40% of patients during short-medium-term follow-up. This appears to be true even when PCI is 'optimized' using physiology-guided approaches and drug-eluting stents. Importantly, persistent or recurrent angina post-PCI is associated with a significant economic burden. Healthcare costs may be almost two-fold higher among patients with persistent or recurrent angina post-PCI vs. those who become symptom-free. However, practice guideline recommendations regarding the management of patients with angina post-PCI are unclear. Gaps in evidence into the mechanisms of post-PCI angina are relevant, and more research seems warranted. The purpose of this document is to review potential mechanisms for the persistence or recurrence of angina post-PCI, propose a practical diagnostic algorithm, and summarize current knowledge gaps.

The argument of the ORBITA study: angioplasty is useless

The goal of treatment in stable coronary artery disease is to improve prognosis and quality of life of the patients. International Guidelines support revascularization procedures for symptomatic patients unresponsive to optimal medical treatment. Previous studies demonstrated, in fact, the therapeutic efficacy of coronary angioplasty in reducing angina and improving the functional capacity of these patients. The ORBITA study, recently published, challenged these assertions by demonstrating the lack of benefit of angioplasty over placebo in terms of effort tolerance in a population of patients with single-vessel coronary artery disease. What lesson could we learn from the ORBITA study?