Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Score Predicts the Mortality of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease Who Underwent Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

Intracavitary Applications for CEUS in PTCD

Intracavitary contrast-enhanced ultrasound is widely accepted as a highly informative, safe, and easily reproducible technique for the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of different pathologies of the biliary tree. This review article describes the diverse applications for CEUS in intracavitary biliary scenarios, supported by a literature review of the utilization of the method in indications like biliary obstruction by various etiologies, including postoperative strictures, evaluation of the biliary tree of liver donors, and evaluation of the localization of a drainage catheter. We also provide pictorial examples of the authors' personal experience with the use of intracavitary CEUS in cases of PTCD as a palliative intervention. Intracavitary CEUS brings all the positive features of US together with the virtues of contrast-enhanced imaging, providing comparable accuracy to the standard techniques for diagnosing biliary tree diseases.

Prognostic Value of Different Versions of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Score in Patients Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score, which can reflect liver and renal function, is associated with poor prognosis. However, the prognostic performance of the modified MELD score in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been fully evaluated and compared. This study retrospectively enrolled 5324 patients. During a median follow-up of 2.85 years, 412 patients died. Time-dependent receiver operating characteristic curves at 3 years indicated that the MELD including albumin (MELD-Albumin) score had the highest prognostic performance (AUC = .721) than the MELD score (AUC = .630), the MELD excluding the international normalized ratio (MELD-XI) score (AUC = .606), and the MELD including sodium (MELD-Na) score (AUC = .656) (all P < .001). The MELD-Albumin score, the MELD score, and the MELD-Na score were independent predictors of long-term mortality; however, the MELD-XI score was not when treated as a categorical variable (P = .254). Adding the MELD-Albumin score to the model of clinical risk factors could improve the prognostic performance. For the subgroup analysis, the association between the MELD-Albumin score and long-term mortality was more pronounced in patients ≤75 years (interaction P value = .005). The MELD-Albumin score showed the strongest prognostic performance than the other versions of the MELD score in patients undergoing elective PCI.

Association Between Different Versions of the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease Score and Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury in Patients Undergoing Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention

BACKGROUND

Pre-procedure liver dysfunction was associated with acute kidney injury after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The aim of this study is to assess and compare the predictive value of different liver function scoring systems for contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) in patients undergoing elective PCI.Methods and Results:A total of 5,569 patients were retrospectively enrolled. The model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) including albumin (MELD-Albumin) score (AUC=0.661) had the strongest predictive value in comparison to the MELD score (AUC=0.627), the MELD excluding the international normalized ratio (MELD-XI) score (AUC=0.560), and the MELD including sodium (MELD-Na) score (AUC=0.652). In the fully adjusted logistic regression model, the MELD-Albumin score and the MELD-Na score were independently associated with CA-AKI regardless of whether they were treated as continuous or categorical variables; however, this was not the case for the MELD score and the MELD-XI score. Furthermore, the addition of the MELD-Albumin score significantly improved the reclassification beyond the fully adjusted logistic regression model. The study further explored the association between different versions of the MELD score and CA-AKI using restricted cubic splines and found a linear relationship between the MELD-Albumin score and the risk of CA-AKI.

CONCLUSIONS

The MELD-Albumin score had the highest predictive value for CA-AKI in patients undergoing elective PCI. The addition of the MELD-Albumin score to the existing risk prediction model significantly improved the reclassification for CA-AKI.

Predictive value of aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio for contrast-associated acute kidney injury in patients undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention

BACKGROUND

Pre-procedure liver insufficiency has been demonstrated as a poor prognostic factor after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Recent research discovered that the aspartate aminotransferase-to-alanine aminotransferase ratio (De-Ritis ratio) reflects the severity of liver insufficiency and was associated with adverse outcomes. We aim to evaluate the predictive value of the De-Ritis ratio for contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) and long-term mortality in patients undergoing elective PCI.

METHODS

We retrospectively enrolled 5780 consenting patients undergoing elective PCI between January 2012 and December 2018. CA-AKI was defined as an increase in serum creatinine ≥0.3 mg/dl or ≥50% within 48 h after the administration of contrast media.

RESULTS

The incidence of CA-AKI was 6.3% (n = 363). The De-Ritis ratio >1.30 was identified as the best cut-off value for CA-AKI prediction. The De-Ritis ratio showed an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.636 [95% confidence interval (CI): 0.605-0.667] in predicting CA-AKI, which was significantly greater than alanine aminotransferase (p<0.001) and aspartate aminotransferase (p = 0.012) alone. Furthermore, compared to currently recognized liver function assessment tools, the predictive value of the De-Ritis ratio on CA-AKI was similar to the MELD score (AUC: 0.636 vs 0.626, p = 0.631) and higher than the MELD-XI score (AUC: 0.636 vs 0.561, p<0.001). Multivariate logistic analysis showed that the De-Ritis ratio >1.30 was independently associated with CA-AKI (odds ratio=1.551, 95% CI: 1.185-2.030, p = 0.001). The addition of the De-Ritis ratio to the fully adjusted logistic regression model has significant incremental effects on the risk prediction for CA-AKI with a continuous net reclassification improvement of 0.395 (p<0.001) and an integrated discrimination improvement of 0.005 (p = 0.018). Additionally, the De-Ritis ratio >1.30 was significantly associated with long-term mortality (hazard ratio=1.285, 95% CI: 1.007-1.641, p = 0.044).

CONCLUSIONS

The De-Ritis ratio was an independent risk factor for CA-AKI and long-term mortality in patients undergoing elective PCI.

Ultrasonographic assessment of cardiac function and disease severity in coronary heart disease

BACKGROUND

Coronary heart disease (CHD) causes many adverse cardiovascular events and poses a threat to the patient’s health and quality of life.

AIM

To evaluate ultrasonography for evaluation of cardiac function and lesion degree in patients with CHD.

METHODS

A total of 106 patients with CHD (study group) and 106 healthy individuals (control group) in our hospital from March 2019 to September 2020 were selected for this study. All subjects were examined by ultrasound, and the mitral orifice’s early-to-late diastolic blood flow velocity ratio (E/A), left ventricular end-diastolic volume (LVDd), and left atrial diameter (LAD) were measured. Values were compared between the study group and healthy group, and the correlation between the ultrasonic parameters of patients with different cardiac function grades and the degree of CHD were assessed. In addition, the ultrasonic parameters of patients with different prognoses were compared after a follow-up for 6 mo.

RESULTS

E/A (1.46 ± 0.34) of the study group was smaller than that of the control group (1.88 ± 0.44), while LVDd (58.24 ± 5.05 mm) and LAD (43.31 ± 4.38 mm) were larger (48.15 ± 3.93 and 34.94 ± 2.81, respectively; P < 0.05). E/A for patients with grade III disease (1.41 ± 0.43) was smaller and their LVDd (60.04 ± 4.21 mm) and LA (44.16 ± 2.79 mm) were larger than those in patients with grade II disease (1.71 ± 0.48, 52.18 ± 3.67 mm, and 39.68 ± 2.37, respectively; P < 0.05). Patients with grade IV disease had smaller E/A (1.08 ± 0.39) and larger LVDd (66.81 ± 5.39 mm) and LAD (48.81 ± 3.95 mm) than patients with grade II and III disease (P < 0.05). In patients with moderate disease, E/A (1.44 ± 0.41) was smaller and LVDd (59.95 ± 4.14 mm) and LAD (45.15 ± 2.97 mm) were larger than in patients with mild disease (1.69 ± 0.50, 51.97 ± 3.88 and 38.81 ± 2.56 mm, respectively; P < 0.05). In patients with severe disease, E/A (1.13 ± 0.36) was smaller and LVDd (67.70 ± 6.11 mm) and LAD (49.09 ± 4.05 mm) were larger than in patients with moderate disease (P < 0.05). E/A was negatively correlated with cardiac function classification and disease severity, while LVDd and LAD were positively correlated with cardiac function classification and disease severity (P < 0.05). E/A (1.83 ± 0.51) for patients with good prognosis was higher than that for those with poor prognosis (1.39 ± 0.32), while LVDd (49.60 ± 4.39 mm) and LAD (36.13 ± 3.05 mm) were lower (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

The ultrasonic parameters of patients with CHD are abnormal, and differ significantly in patients with different cardiac function grades, lesion degree, and prognosis.