Abstract Background Optimal upfront dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) duration after complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES) remains unclear. Objectives This ...study investigated the efficacy and safety of long- (≥12 months) versus short-term (3 or 6 months) DAPT with aspirin and clopidogrel according to PCI complexity. Methods We pooled patient-level data from 6 randomized controlled trials investigating DAPT durations after PCI. Complex PCI was defined as having at least 1 of the following features: 3 vessels treated, ≥3 stents implanted, ≥3 lesions treated, bifurcation with 2 stents implanted, total stent length >60 mm, or chronic total occlusion. The primary efficacy endpoint was major adverse cardiac events (MACE), defined as the composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, or stent thrombosis. The primary safety endpoint was major bleeding. Intention-to-treat was the primary analytic approach. Results Of 9,577 patients included in the pooled dataset for whom procedural variables were available, 1,680 (17.5%) underwent complex PCI. Overall, 85% of patients received new-generation DES. At a median follow-up time of 392 days (interquartile range: 366 to 710 days), patients who underwent complex PCI had a higher risk of MACE (adjusted hazard ratio HR: 1.98; 95% confidence interval CI: 1.50 to 2.60; p < 0.0001). Compared with short-term DAPT, long-term DAPT yielded significant reductions in MACE in the complex PCI group (adjusted HR: 0.56; 95% CI: 0.35 to 0.89) versus the noncomplex PCI group (adjusted HR: 1.01; 95% CI: 0.75 to 1.35; pinteraction = 0.01). The magnitude of the benefit with long-term DAPT was progressively greater per increase in procedural complexity. Long-term DAPT was associated with increased risk for major bleeding, which was similar between groups (pinteraction = 0.96). Results were consistent by per-treatment landmark analysis. Conclusions Alongside other established clinical risk factors, procedural complexity is an important parameter to take into account in tailoring upfront duration of DAPT.
Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and a P2Y12 receptor blocker is a key strategy to reduce platelet reactivity and to prevent thrombotic events in patients treated with percutaneous coronary ...intervention. In an earlier consensus document, we proposed cutoff values for high on-treatment platelet reactivity to adenosine diphosphate (ADP) associated with post–percutaneous coronary intervention ischemic events for various platelet function tests (PFTs). Updated American and European practice guidelines have issued a Class IIb recommendation for PFT to facilitate the choice of P2Y12 receptor inhibitor in selected high-risk patients treated with percutaneous coronary intervention, although routine testing is not recommended (Class III). Accumulated data from large studies underscore the importance of high on-treatment platelet reactivity to ADP as a prognostic risk factor. Recent prospective randomized trials of PFT did not demonstrate clinical benefit, thus questioning whether treatment modification based on the results of current PFT platforms can actually influence outcomes. However, there are major limitations associated with these randomized trials. In addition, recent data suggest that low on-treatment platelet reactivity to ADP is associated with a higher risk of bleeding. Therefore, a therapeutic window concept has been proposed for P2Y12 inhibitor therapy. In this updated consensus document, we review the available evidence addressing the relation of platelet reactivity to thrombotic and bleeding events. In addition, we propose cutoff values for high and low on-treatment platelet reactivity to ADP that might be used in future investigations of personalized antiplatelet therapy.
Abstract Background The incidence, predictors, and prognostic impact of post-discharge bleeding (PDB) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation are ...unclear. Objectives This study sought to characterize the determinants and consequences of PDB after PCI. Methods The prospective ADAPT-DES (Assessment of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy With Drug-Eluting Stents) study was used to determine the incidence and predictors of clinically relevant bleeding events occurring within 2 years after hospital discharge. The effect of PDB on subsequent 2-year all-cause mortality was estimated by time-adjusted Cox proportional hazards regression. Results Among 8,582 “all-comers” who underwent successful PCI with DES in the ADAPT-DES study, PDB occurred in 535 of 8,577 hospital survivors (6.2%) at a median time of 300 days (interquartile range: 130 to 509 days) post-discharge. Gastrointestinal bleeding (61.7%) was the most frequent source of PDB. Predictors of PDB included older age, lower baseline hemoglobin, lower platelet reactivity on clopidogrel, and use of chronic oral anticoagulation therapy. PDB was associated with higher crude rates of all-cause mortality (13.0% vs. 3.2%; p < 0.0001). Following multivariable adjustment, PDB was strongly associated with 2-year mortality (hazard ratio HR: 5.03; p < 0.0001), with an effect size greater than that of post-discharge myocardial infarction (PDMI) (HR: 1.92; p = 0.009). Conclusions After successful PCI with DES in an unrestricted patient population, PDB is not uncommon and has a strong relationship with subsequent all-cause mortality, greater that that associated with PDMI. Efforts to reduce PDB may further improve prognosis after successful DES implantation. (Assessment of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy With Drug-Eluting Stents ADAPT-DES; NCT00638794 )
Summary Background The relation between platelet reactivity and stent thrombosis, major bleeding, and other adverse events after coronary artery implantation of drug-eluting stents has been ...incompletely characterised. We aimed to determine the relation between platelet reactivity during dual therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel and clinical outcomes after successful coronary drug-eluting stent implantation. Methods ADAPT-DES was a prospective, multicentre registry of patients successfully treated with one or more drug-eluting stents and given aspirin and clopidogrel at 10–15 US and European hospitals. We assessed platelet reactivity in those patients after successful percutaneous coronary intervention using VerifyNow point-of-care assays, and assigned different cutoffs to define high platelet reactivity. The primary endpoint was definite or probable stent thrombosis; other endpoints were all-cause mortality, myocardial infarction, and clinically relevant bleeding. We did a propensity-adjusted multivariable analysis to determine the relation between platelet reactivity and subsequent adverse events. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00638794. Findings Between Jan 7, 2008, and Sept 16, 2010, 8665 patients were prospectively enrolled at 11 sites, of which 8582 were eligible. At 1-year follow-up, stent thrombosis had occurred in 70 (0·8%) patients, myocardial infarction in 269 (3·1%), clinically relevant bleeding in 531 (6·2%), and death in 161 (1·9%) patients. High platelet reactivity on clopidogrel was strongly related to stent thrombosis (adjusted HR 2·49 95% CI 1·43–4·31, p=0·001) and myocardial infarction (adjusted HR 1·42 1·09–1·86, p=0·01), was inversely related to bleeding (adjusted HR 0·73 0·61–0·89, p=0·002), but was not related to mortality (adjusted HR 1·20 0·85–1·70, p=0·30). High platelet reactivity on aspirin was not significantly associated with stent thrombosis (adjusted HR 1·46 0·58–3·64, p=0·42), myocardial infarction, or death, but was inversely related to bleeding (adjusted HR 0·65 0·43–0·99, p=0·04). Interpretation The findings from this study emphasise the counter-balancing effects of haemorrhagic and ischaemic complications after stent implantation, and suggest that safer drugs or tailored strategies for the use of more potent agents must be developed if the benefits of greater platelet inhibition in patients with cardiovascular disease are to be realised. Funding Boston Scientific, Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, Cordis, Biosensors, The Medicines Company, Daiichi-Sankyo, Eli Lilly, Volcano, and Accumetrics
Summary Background Patients with metastatic urothelial carcinoma have few treatment options after failure of platinum-based chemotherapy. In this trial, we assessed treatment with atezolizumab, an ...engineered humanised immunoglobulin G1 monoclonal antibody that binds selectively to programmed death ligand 1 (PD-L1), in this patient population. Methods For this multicentre, single-arm, two-cohort, phase 2 trial, patients (aged ≥18 years) with inoperable locally advanced or metastatic urothelial carcinoma whose disease had progressed after previous platinum-based chemotherapy were enrolled from 70 major academic medical centres and community oncology practices in Europe and North America. Key inclusion criteria for enrolment were Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status of 0 or 1, measurable disease defined by Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors version 1.1 (RECIST v1.1), adequate haematological and end-organ function, and no autoimmune disease or active infections. Formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded tumour specimens with sufficient viable tumour content were needed from all patients before enrolment. Patients received treatment with intravenous atezolizumab (1200 mg, given every 3 weeks). PD-L1 expression on tumour-infiltrating immune cells (ICs) was assessed prospectively by immunohistochemistry. The co-primary endpoints were the independent review facility-assessed objective response rate according to RECIST v1.1 and the investigator-assessed objective response rate according to immune-modified RECIST, analysed by intention to treat. A hierarchical testing procedure was used to assess whether the objective response rate was significantly higher than the historical control rate of 10% at an α level of 0·05. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT02108652. Findings Between May 13, 2014, and Nov 19, 2014, 486 patients were screened and 315 patients were enrolled into the study. Of these patients, 310 received atezolizumab treatment (five enrolled patients later did not meet eligibility criteria and were not dosed with study drug). The PD-L1 expression status on infiltrating immune cells (ICs) in the tumour microenvironment was defined by the percentage of PD-L1-positive immune cells: IC0 (<1%), IC1 (≥1% but <5%), and IC2/3 (≥5%). The primary analysis (data cutoff May 5, 2015) showed that compared with a historical control overall response rate of 10%, treatment with atezolizumab resulted in a significantly improved RECIST v1.1 objective response rate for each prespecified immune cell group (IC2/3: 27% 95% CI 19–37, p<0·0001; IC1/2/3: 18% 13–24, p=0·0004) and in all patients (15% 11–20, p=0·0058). With longer follow-up (data cutoff Sept 14, 2015), by independent review, objective response rates were 26% (95% CI 18–36) in the IC2/3 group, 18% (13–24) in the IC1/2/3 group, and 15% (11–19) overall in all 310 patients. With a median follow-up of 11·7 months (95% CI 11·4–12·2), ongoing responses were recorded in 38 (84%) of 45 responders. Exploratory analyses showed The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) subtypes and mutation load to be independently predictive for response to atezolizumab. Grade 3–4 treatment-related adverse events, of which fatigue was the most common (five patients 2%), occurred in 50 (16%) of 310 treated patients. Grade 3–4 immune-mediated adverse events occurred in 15 (5%) of 310 treated patients, with pneumonitis, increased aspartate aminotransferase, increased alanine aminotransferase, rash, and dyspnoea being the most common. No treatment-related deaths occurred during the study. Interpretation Atezolizumab showed durable activity and good tolerability in this patient population. Increased levels of PD-L1 expression on immune cells were associated with increased response. This report is the first to show the association of TCGA subtypes with response to immune checkpoint inhibition and to show the importance of mutation load as a biomarker of response to this class of agents in advanced urothelial carcinoma. Funding F Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.
Summary Background Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is most commonly guided by angiography alone. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance has been shown to reduce major adverse ...cardiovascular events (MACE) after PCI, principally by resulting in a larger postprocedure lumen than with angiographic guidance. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) provides higher resolution imaging than does IVUS, although findings from some studies suggest that it might lead to smaller luminal diameters after stent implantation. We sought to establish whether or not a novel OCT-based stent sizing strategy would result in a minimum stent area similar to or better than that achieved with IVUS guidance and better than that achieved with angiography guidance alone. Methods In this randomised controlled trial, we recruited patients aged 18 years or older undergoing PCI from 29 hospitals in eight countries. Eligible patients had one or more target lesions located in a native coronary artery with a visually estimated reference vessel diameter of 2·25–3·50 mm and a length of less than 40 mm. We excluded patients with left main or ostial right coronary artery stenoses, bypass graft stenoses, chronic total occlusions, planned two-stent bifurcations, and in-stent restenosis. Participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1; with use of an interactive web-based system in block sizes of three, stratified by site) to OCT guidance, IVUS guidance, or angiography-guided stent implantation. We did OCT-guided PCI using a specific protocol to establish stent length, diameter, and expansion according to reference segment external elastic lamina measurements. All patients underwent final OCT imaging (operators in the IVUS and angiography groups were masked to the OCT images). The primary efficacy endpoint was post-PCI minimum stent area, measured by OCT at a masked independent core laboratory at completion of enrolment, in all randomly allocated participants who had primary outcome data. The primary safety endpoint was procedural MACE. We tested non-inferiority of OCT guidance to IVUS guidance (with a non-inferiority margin of 1·0 mm2 ), superiority of OCT guidance to angiography guidance, and superiority of OCT guidance to IVUS guidance, in a hierarchical manner. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT02471586. Findings Between May 13, 2015, and April 5, 2016, we randomly allocated 450 patients (158 35% to OCT, 146 32% to IVUS, and 146 32% to angiography), with 415 final OCT acquisitions analysed for the primary endpoint (140 34% in the OCT group, 135 33% in the IVUS group, and 140 34% in the angiography group). The final median minimum stent area was 5·79 mm2 (IQR 4·54–7·34) with OCT guidance, 5·89 mm2 (4·67–7·80) with IVUS guidance, and 5·49 mm2 (4·39–6·59) with angiography guidance. OCT guidance was non-inferior to IVUS guidance (one-sided 97·5% lower CI −0·70 mm2 ; p=0·001), but not superior (p=0·42). OCT guidance was also not superior to angiography guidance (p=0·12). We noted procedural MACE in four (3%) of 158 patients in the OCT group, one (1%) of 146 in the IVUS group, and one (1%) of 146 in the angiography group (OCT vs IVUS p=0·37; OCT vs angiography p=0·37). Interpretation OCT-guided PCI using a specific reference segment external elastic lamina-based stent optimisation strategy was safe and resulted in similar minimum stent area to that of IVUS-guided PCI. These data warrant a large-scale randomised trial to establish whether or not OCT guidance results in superior clinical outcomes to angiography guidance. Funding St Jude Medical.
Summary Background c-kit-positive, lineage-negative cardiac stem cells (CSCs) improve post-infarction left ventricular (LV) dysfunction when administered to animals. We undertook a phase 1 trial ...(Stem Cell Infusion in Patients with Ischemic cardiOmyopathy SCIPIO) of autologous CSCs for the treatment of heart failure resulting from ischaemic heart disease. Methods In stage A of the SCIPIO trial, patients with post-infarction LV dysfunction (ejection fraction EF ≤40%) before coronary artery bypass grafting were consecutively enrolled in the treatment and control groups. In stage B, patients were randomly assigned to the treatment or control group in a 2:3 ratio by use of a computer-generated block randomisation scheme. 1 million autologous CSCs were administered by intracoronary infusion at a mean of 113 days (SE 4) after surgery; controls were not given any treatment. Although the study was open label, the echocardiographic analyses were masked to group assignment. The primary endpoint was short-term safety of CSCs and the secondary endpoint was efficacy. A per-protocol analysis was used. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00474461. Findings This study is still in progress. 16 patients were assigned to the treatment group and seven to the control group; no CSC-related adverse effects were reported. In 14 CSC-treated patients who were analysed, LVEF increased from 30·3% (SE 1·9) before CSC infusion to 38·5% (2·8) at 4 months after infusion (p=0·001). By contrast, in seven control patients, during the corresponding time interval, LVEF did not change (30·1% 2·4 at 4 months after CABG vs 30·2% 2·5 at 8 months after CABG). Importantly, the salubrious effects of CSCs were even more pronounced at 1 year in eight patients (eg, LVEF increased by 12·3 ejection fraction units 2·1 vs baseline, p=0·0007). In the seven treated patients in whom cardiac MRI could be done, infarct size decreased from 32·6 g (6·3) by 7·8 g (1·7; 24%) at 4 months (p=0·004) and 9·8 g (3·5; 30%) at 1 year (p=0·04). Interpretation These initial results in patients are very encouraging. They suggest that intracoronary infusion of autologous CSCs is effective in improving LV systolic function and reducing infarct size in patients with heart failure after myocardial infarction, and warrant further, larger, phase 2 studies. Funding University of Louisville Research Foundation and National Institutes of Health.
Objectives This study sought to examine the diagnostic accuracy of the instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) and resting distal coronary artery pressure/aortic pressure (P d /P a ) with respect to ...hyperemic fractional flow reserve (FFR) in a core laboratory–based multicenter collaborative study. Background FFR is an index of the severity of coronary stenosis that has been clinically validated in 3 prospective randomized trials. iFR and P d /P a are nonhyperemic pressure-derived indices of the severity of stenosis with discordant reports regarding their accuracy with respect to FFR. Methods iFR, resting P d /P a , and FFR were measured in 1,768 patients from 15 clinical sites. An independent physiology core laboratory performed blinded off-line analysis of all raw data. The primary objectives were to determine specific iFR and P d /P a thresholds with ≥90% accuracy in predicting ischemic versus nonischemic FFR (on the basis of an FFR cut point of 0.80) and the proportion of patients falling beyond those thresholds. Results Of 1,974 submitted lesions, 381 (19.3%) were excluded because of suboptimal acquisition, leaving 1,593 for final analysis. On receiver-operating characteristic analysis, the optimal iFR cut point for FFR ≤0.80 was 0.90 (C statistic: 0.81 95% confidence interval: 0.79 to 0.83; overall accuracy: 80.4%) and for P d /P a was 0.92 (C statistic: 0.82 95% confidence interval: 0.80 to 0.84; overall accuracy: 81.5%), with no significant difference between these resting measures. iFR and P d /P a had ≥90% accuracy to predict a positive or negative FFR in 64.9% (62.6% to 67.3%) and 48.3% (45.6% to 50.5%) of lesions, respectively. Conclusions This comprehensive core laboratory analysis comparing iFR and P d /P a with FFR demonstrated an overall accuracy of ∼80% for both nonhyperemic indices, which can be improved to ≥90% in a subset of lesions. Clinical outcome studies are required to determine whether the use of iFR or P d /P a might obviate the need for hyperemia in selected patients.