Timing of Complete Multivessel Revascularization in Patients Presenting With Non-ST-Segment Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome

BACKGROUND

Complete revascularization of the culprit and all significant nonculprit lesions in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) and multivessel disease (MVD) reduces major adverse cardiac events, but optimal timing of revascularization remains unclear.

OBJECTIVES

This study aims to compare immediate complete revascularization (ICR) and staged complete revascularization (SCR) in patients presenting with NSTE-ACS and MVD.

METHODS

This prespecified substudy of the BIOVASC (Percutaneous Complete Revascularization Strategies Using Sirolimus Eluting Biodegradable Polymer Coated Stents in Patients Presenting With Acute Coronary Syndrome and Multivessel Disease) trial included patients with NSTE-ACS and MVD. Risk differences of the primary composite outcome of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction (MI), unplanned ischemia-driven revascularization (UIDR), or cerebrovascular events and its individual components were compared between ICR and SCR at 1 year.

RESULTS

The BIOVASC trial enrolled 1,525 patients; 917 patients presented with NSTE-ACS, of whom 459 were allocated to ICR and 458 to SCR. Incidences of the primary composite outcome were similar in the 2 groups (7.9% vs 10.1%; risk difference 2.2%; 95% CI: -1.5 to 6.0; P = 0.15). ICR was associated with a significant reduction of MIs (2.0% vs 5.3%; risk difference 3.3%; 95% CI: 0.9 to 5.7; P = 0.006), which was maintained after exclusion of procedure-related MIs occurring during the index or staged procedure (2.0% vs 4.4%; risk difference 2.4%; 95% CI: 0.1 to 4.7; P = 0.032). UIDRs were also reduced in the ICR group (4.2% vs 7.8%; risk difference 3.5%; 95% CI: 0.4 to 6.6; P = 0.018).

CONCLUSIONS

ICR is safe in patients with NSTE-ACS and MVD and was associated with a reduction in MIs and UIDRs at 1 year.

Immediate versus staged complete revascularisation in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel coronary disease (BIOVASC): a prospective, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised trial

BACKGROUND

In patients with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel coronary disease, complete revascularisation by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is associated with improved clinical outcomes. We aimed to investigate whether PCI for non-culprit lesions should be attempted during the index procedure or staged.

METHODS

This prospective, open-label, non-inferiority, randomised trial was done at 29 hospitals across Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain. We included patients aged 18-85 years presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction or non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome and multivessel (ie, two or more coronary arteries with a diameter of 2·5 mm or more and ≥70% stenosis based on visual estimation or positive coronary physiology testing) coronary artery disease with a clearly identifiable culprit lesion. A web-based randomisation module was used to randomly assign patients (1:1), with a random block size of four to eight, stratified by study centre, to undergo immediate complete revascularisation (PCI of the culprit lesion first, followed by other non-culprit lesions deemed to be clinically significant by the operator during the index procedure) or staged complete revascularisation (PCI of only the culprit lesion during the index procedure and PCI of all non-culprit lesions deemed to be clinically significant by the operator within 6 weeks after the index procedure). The primary outcome was the composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, any unplanned ischaemia-driven revascularisation, or cerebrovascular events at 1 year after the index procedure. Secondary outcomes included all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and unplanned ischaemia-driven revascularisation at 1 year after the index procedure. Primary and secondary outcomes were assessed in all randomly assigned patients by intention to treat. Non-inferiority of immediate to staged complete revascularisation was considered to be met if the upper boundary of the 95% CI of the hazard ratio (HR) for the primary outcome did not exceed 1·39. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03621501.

FINDINGS

Between June 26, 2018, and Oct 21, 2021, 764 patients (median age 65·7 years [IQR 57·2-72·9] and 598 [78·3%] males) were randomly assigned to the immediate complete revascularisation group and 761 patients (median age 65·3 years [58·6-72·9] and 589 [77·4%] males) were randomly assigned to the staged complete revascularisation group, and were included in the intention-to-treat population. The primary outcome at 1 year occurred in 57 (7·6%) of 764 patients in the immediate complete revascularisation group and in 71 (9·4%) of 761 patients in the staged complete revascularisation group (HR 0·78, 95% CI 0·55-1·11, pnon-inferiority=0·0011). There was no difference in all-cause death between the immediate and staged complete revascularisation groups (14 [1·9%] vs nine [1·2%]; HR 1·56, 95% CI 0·68-3·61, p=0·30). Myocardial infarction occurred in 14 (1·9%) patients in the immediate complete revascularisation group and in 34 (4·5%) patients in the staged complete revascularisation group (HR 0·41, 95% CI 0·22-0·76, p=0·0045). More unplanned ischaemia-driven revascularisations were performed in the staged complete revascularisation group than in the immediate complete revascularisation group (50 [6·7%] patients vs 31 [4·2%] patients; HR 0·61, 95% CI 0·39-0·95, p=0·030).

INTERPRETATION

In patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome and multivessel disease, immediate complete revascularisation was non-inferior to staged complete revascularisation for the primary composite outcome and was associated with a reduction in myocardial infarction and unplanned ischaemia-driven revascularisation.

FUNDING

Erasmus University Medical Center and Biotronik.

Clinical impact of CT coronary angiography without exclusion of small coronary artery segments: a real-world and long-term study

OBJECTIVES

CT coronary angiography (CTCA) has become a valuable diagnostic test in the workup of patients with possible coronary artery disease (CAD). Because of inherent limitations in spatial resolution, epicardial vessels with a small diameter, in general less than 1.5-2 mm, have so far been excluded in studies assessing clinical utility of CTCA. This study sought to assess the clinical impact of CTCA taking into account pathology in small coronary arteries.

METHODS

We conducted a retrospective cohort study of all patients with possible CAD who underwent dual-source CTCA and subsequent invasive coronary angiography (ICA) between January 2010 and July 2017. Patients with an Agatston calcium score ≥1000 were reported separately. Diagnostic accuracy of CTCA on a patient, vessel and segment level was calculated. The physician's therapeutic decision was defined as conservative, medical antianginal treatment or revascularisation. Using ICA as the reference, we calculated the precision of CTCA to replicate these therapeutic recommendations.

RESULTS

In total, 1209 patients underwent both CTCA and ICA. Overall diagnostic performance of CTCA showed a sensitivity of 90% (95% CI 86% to 93%) and specificity of 40% (95% CI 36% to 45%). With regard to clinical decision making, CTCA showed good performance: 91% of patients who were treated medically or by revascularisation were correctly identified. Prevalence of disease in small vessel segments was low: 16% showed significant CAD on ICA. Prevalence of significant disease was 70% in patients with an Agatston score ≥1000: the majority underwent revascularisation.

CONCLUSIONS

From a true patient perspective, without exclusion of smaller coronary artery segments, CTCA allows safe patient management.

High-sensitivity cardiac troponin release after conventional and minimally invasive cardiac surgery

After cardiac surgery, a certain degree of myocardial injury is common. The arbitrarily proposed biomarker cut-off point in the Third Universal Definition for diagnosing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)–related perioperative myocardial infarction (PMI) is controversial and unvalidated for non-CABG surgery. Minimally invasive cardiac surgery is often thought to be associated with less myocardial damage compared to conventional surgical approaches. We conducted a real-life prospective study with serial sampling of high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) in patients undergoing conventional and minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Four different types of cardiac surgery were performed in 400 patients (February 2014–January 2015): CABG, aortic valve replacement, minimally invasive mitral/tricuspid valve surgery through the HeartPort (HP) technique and combined CABG/valve surgery. Each group was further subdivided for comparison between the different surgical techniques. Blood samples were collected consecutively at intensive care unit (ICU) admission and 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, 24 and 48 h thereafter. The hs-cTnT values by peak timepoint differed significantly depending on the surgical approach. The overall peak timepoint for hs-cTnT occurred 6 h after ICU admission. The combined surgery and multiple-valve HP groups had the highest values (medians of 1067.5 (744.9–1455) ng/L and 1166 (743.7–2470) ng/L, respectively). The peak hs-cTnT values for patients developing PMI showed high variability. Differentiation between cardiac surgery–related necrosis and PMI remains challenging. This study emphasizes the importance of a clinically reliable biomarker cut-off value in addition to electrocardiography and echocardiography to optimize PMI diagnosis.

Assessing the landscape of percutaneous coronary chronic total occlusion treatment in Belgium and Luxembourg: the Belgian Working Group on Chronic Total Occlusions (BWGCTO) registry

Background: Important developments in materials, devices, and techniques have improved outcomes of chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and resulted in a growing interest in CTO-PCI. The Belgian Working Group on Chronic Total Occlusions (BWGCTO) working group aims to assess the evolution within the CTO-PCI landscape over the next years. Methods: From May 2016 onwards, patients undergoing CTO-PCI were included in the BWGCTO registry by 15 centres in Belgium and Luxemburg. Baseline, angiographic, and procedural data were collected. Here, we report on the one-year in-hospital outcomes. Results: Over the course of one year, 411 procedures in 388 patients were included with a mean age of 64 ± 11 years. The majority were male (81%). Relatively complex CTOs were treated (Japanese CTO score =2.2 ± 1.2) with a high procedure success rate (82%). Patient- and lesion-wise success rates were 83 and 85%, respectively. Major adverse in-hospital events were acceptably low (3.4%). Antegrade wire escalation technique was applied most frequently (82%). On the other hand, antegrade dissection and re-entry and retrograde strategies were more frequently applied in higher volume centres and successful for lesions with higher complexity. Conclusion: Satisfactory procedural outcomes and a low rate of adverse events were obtained in a complex CTO population, treated by operators with variable experience levels. Antegrade wire escalation was the preferred strategy, regardless of operator volume.

Unrecognized anomalous left circumflex coronary artery arising from right sinus of Valsalva: a source of perioperative complication

: In this article we provide a very interesting and challenging PCI of unrecognized anomalous left circumflex coronary artery (LCx) arising from right sinus of Valsalva (RSV) after aortic valve replacement (AVR).This case presentation focuses the attention on important criteria for recognition of abnormal LCx coronary artery, that is the most frequent congenital coronary variant. Failure to demonstrate the anomaly can lead to erroneous interpretation of coronary anatomy with fatal complication in case of aortic valve replacement, as a consequence of accidental ligation or compression of the anomalous vessel. This procedure, especially in the presence of a bioprosthesis aortic valve just implanted, constitutes a challenge for the interventional cardiologist and at the same time a question mark regarding the strategy, choice of guiding catheter, guide wire, and type of stent to use.

Revascularization Decisions in Patients With Stable Angina and Intermediate Lesions

Background—

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement of intermediate coronary stenoses is recommended by guidelines when demonstration of ischemia by noninvasive testing is unavailable. The study aims to evaluate the penetration of this recommendation into current thinking about revascularization strategies for stable coronary artery disease.

Methods and Results—

International Survey on Interventional Strategy was conducted via a web-based platform. First, participants’ experiences in interventional cardiology were queried. Second, 5 complete angiograms were provided, presenting only focal intermediate stenoses. FFR and quantitative coronary angiography values were known; however, remained undisclosed. Determination of stenosis significance was asked for each lesion. In cases of uncertainty, the most appropriate adjunctive invasive diagnostic method among quantitative coronary angiography, intravascular ultrasound, optical coherence tomography, or FFR needed to be selected. International Survey on Interventional Strategy was taken by 495 participants who provided 4421 lesion evaluations. In 3158 (71%) decisions, participants relied solely on angiographic appearance that was discordant in 47% with the known FFR, using 0.80 as cutoff value. The use of FFR and imaging modalities was requested in 21% and 8%, respectively. Comparing 4 groups of participants according to the experience in FFR, angiogram-based decisions were less frequent with increasing experience (77% versus 72% versus 69% versus 67%, respectively; P <0.001). As a result, requests for FFR were more frequent (14% versus 19% versus 24% versus 28%, respectively; P <0.001) and rates of discordant decisions decreased (51% versus 49% versus 47% versus 43%, respectively; P <0.022).

Conclusions—

The findings confirm that, even when all potential external constraints are virtually eliminated, visual estimation continues to dominate the treatment decisions for intermediate stenoses, indicative of a worrisome disconnect between recommendations and current practice.

Fractional flow reserve-guided versus angiography-guided coronary artery bypass graft surgery

BACKGROUND

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is well established for patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention, yet little is known about candidates for coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

METHODS AND RESULTS

From 2006 to 2010, we retrospectively included in this registry 627 consecutive patients treated by coronary artery bypass graft surgery having at least 1 angiographically intermediate stenosis. In 429 patients, coronary artery bypass graft surgery was based solely on angiography (angiography-guided group). In 198 patients, at least 1 intermediate stenosis was grafted with an FFR ≤0.80 or deferred with an FFR >0.80 (FFR-guided group). The end point was major adverse cardiovascular events at 3 years, defined as the composite of overall death, myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. The rate of angiographic multivessel disease was similar in the angiography-guided and FFR-guided groups (404 [94.2%] versus 186 [93.9%]; P=0.722). In the FFR-guided group, this was significantly downgraded after FFR measurements to 86.4% (P<0.001 versus before FFR) and was associated with a smaller number of anastomoses (3 [2-3] versus 3 [2-4]; P<0.001) and rate of on-pump surgery (49% versus 69%; P<0.001). At 3 years, major adverse cardiovascular events were not different between the angiography-guided and FFR-guided groups (12% versus 11%; hazard ratio, 1.030; 95% confidence interval, 0.627-1.692; P=0.908). However, the FFR-guided group compared with the angiography-guided group presented a significantly lower rate of angina (Canadian Cardiovascular Society class II-IV, 31% versus 47%; P<0.001).

CONCLUSIONS

FFR-guided coronary artery bypass graft surgery was associated with a lower number of graft anastomoses and a lower rate of on-pump surgery compared with angiography-guided coronary artery bypass graft surgery. This did not result in a higher event rate during up to 36 months of follow-up and was associated with a lower rate of angina.

Adjunctive value of CT coronary angiography in the diagnostic work-up of patients with typical angina pectoris

AIMS

To determine the adjunctive value of CT coronary angiography (CTCA) in the diagnostic work-up of patients with typical angina pectoris.

METHODS AND RESULTS

CTCA was performed in 62 consecutive patients (45 male, mean age 58.8 +/- 7.7 years) with typical angina undergoing diagnostic work-up including exercise-ECG and conventional coronary angiography. Only patients with sinus heart rhythm and ability to breath hold for 20 s were included. Patients with initial heart rates >/=70 beats/min received beta-blockers. We determined the post-test likelihood ratios, to detect or exclude patients with significant (>/=50% lumen diameter reduction) stenoses, of exercise-ECG and CTCA separately, and of CT performed after exercise-ECG testing. The prevalence of patients with significant coronary artery disease (CAD) was 74%. Positive and negative likelihood ratios for exercise-ECG were 2.3 [95% confidence interval (CI): 1.0-5.3] and 0.3 (95% CI: 0.2-0.7) and for CTCA 7.5 (95% CI: 2.1-27.1) and 0.0 (95% CI: 0.0-8), respectively. CTCA increased the post-test probability of significant CAD after a negative exercise-ECG from 58 to 91%, and after a positive exercise-ECG from 89 to 99%, while CT correctly identified patients without CAD (probability 0%).

CONCLUSION

Non-invasive CTCA is a potentially useful tool, in the diagnostic work-up of patients with typical angina pectoris, both to detect and to exclude significant CAD.

The Clinical Value of the ECG in Noncardiac Conditions

The ECG is an indispensable tool in the ICU for the detection and diagnosis of heart disease. ECG abnormalities however can be present in a wide variety of noncardiac conditions, complicating the differential diagnosis with primary cardiac pathology. This overview discusses the ECG abnormalities and their pathophysiologic basis in the most frequently encountered noncardiac conditions, such as electrolyte abnormalities, pulmonary embolism, CNS diseases, esophageal disorders, hypothermia, and drug-related and other conditions. Knowledge of the characteristic ECG changes may provide early clues to the presence of these disorders, the prompt recognition of which can be life saving.

Left ventricular wall hematoma and cardiac tamponade complicating percutaneous coronary intervention using IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists

A case of intramyocardial hematoma and cardiac tamponade after complicated percutaneous coronary intervention is reported. Hemorrhage as a result of the antiplatelet effect of IIb/IIIa receptor antagonists is the considered underlying mechanism.