In pulmonary embolism (PE) without hemodynamic compromise, the prognostic value of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction as measured by echocardiography, computed tomography (CT) or biological ...(natriuretic peptides) markers has only been assessed in small studies.
Databases were searched using the combined medical subject headings for right ventricular dysfunction or right ventricular dilatation with the exploded term acute pulmonary embolism. This retrieved 8 echocardiographic marker based studies (n = 1249), three CT marker based studies (n = 503) and 7 natriuretic peptide based studies (n = 582). A meta-analysis of these data was performed with the primary endpoint of mortality within three months after pulmonary embolism, and a secondary endpoint of overall mortality and morbidity by pulmonary embolism.
Patients with PE without hemodynamic compromise on admission and the presence of RV dysfunction determined by echocardiography and biological markers were associated with increased short-term mortality (odds ratio (OR) ECHO = 2.36; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.3-43; OR BNP = 7.7; 95% CI: 2.9-20) while CT was not (ORCT = 1.54-95% CI: 0.7-3.4). However, corresponding pooled negative and positive likelihood ratios independent of death rates were unsatisfactory for clinical usefulness in risk stratification.
The presence of echocardiographic RV dysfunction or elevated natriuretic peptides is associated with short-term mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism without hemodynamic compromise. In contrast, the prognostic value of RV dilation on CT has yet to be validated in this population. As indicated both by positive and negative likelihood ratios the current prognostic value in clinical practice remains very limited.
Background Small randomized trials have demonstrated that radial access reduces access site complications compared to a femoral approach. The objective of this meta-analysis was to determine if ...radial access reduces major bleeding and as a result can reduce death and ischemic events compared to femoral access. Methods MEDLINE, EMBASE, and CENTRAL were searched from 1980 to April 2008. Relevant conference abstracts from 2005 to April 2008 were searched. Randomized trials comparing radial versus femoral access coronary angiography or intervention that reported major bleeding, death, myocardial infarction, and procedural or fluoroscopy time were included. A fixed-effects model was used with a random effects for sensitivity analysis. Results Radial access reduced major bleeding by 73% compared to femoral access (0.05% vs 2.3%, OR 0.27 95% CI 0.16, 0.45, P < .001). There was a trend for reductions in the composite of death, myocardial infarction, or stroke (2.5% vs 3.8%, OR 0.71 95% CI 0.49-1.01, P = .058) as well as death (1.2% vs 1.8% OR 0.74 95% CI 0.42-1.30, P = .29). There was a trend for higher rate of inability to the cross lesion with wire, balloon, or stent during percutaneous coronary intervention with radial access (4.7% vs 3.4% OR 1.29 95% CI 0.87, 1.94, P = .21). Radial access reduced hospital stay by 0.4 days (95% CI 0.2-0.5, P = .0001). Conclusions Radial access reduced major bleeding and there was a corresponding trend for reduction in ischemic events compared to femoral access. Large randomized trials are needed to confirm the benefit of radial access on death and ischemic events.
Evaluation of the diagnostic accuracy of stress perfusion cardiovascular magnetic resonance for the diagnosis of significant obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) through meta-analysis of the ...available data.
Original articles in any language published before July 2009 were selected from available databases (MEDLINE, Cochrane Library and BioMedCentral) using the combined search terms of magnetic resonance, perfusion, and coronary angiography; with the exploded term coronary artery disease. Statistical analysis was only performed on studies that: (1) used a greater than or equal to 1.5 Tesla MR scanner; (2) employed invasive coronary angiography as the reference standard for diagnosing significant obstructive CAD, defined as a greater than or equal to 50% diameter stenosis; and (3) provided sufficient data to permit analysis.
From the 263 citations identified, 55 relevant original articles were selected. Only 35 fulfilled all of the inclusion criteria, and of these 26 presented data on patient-based analysis. The overall patient-based analysis demonstrated a sensitivity of 89% (95% CI: 88-91%), and a specificity of 80% (95% CI: 78-83%). Adenosine stress perfusion CMR had better sensitivity than with dipyridamole (90% (88-92%) versus 86% (80-90%), P = 0.022), and a tendency to a better specificity (81% (78-84%) versus 77% (71-82%), P = 0.065).
Stress perfusion CMR is highly sensitive for detection of CAD but its specificity remains moderate.
Objectives
To determine the diagnostic performance of cardiac computed tomography (CT)–based modalities including coronary CT angiography (CTA), stress myocardial CT perfusion (stress CTP), computer ...simulation of fractional flow reserve by CT (FFR
CT
), and transluminal attenuation gradients (TAG), for the diagnosis of hemodynamic significant coronary artery disease (CAD), using invasive fractional flow reserve as the reference standard.
Methods
PubMed and Cochrane databases were searched for original articles until July 2018. Diagnostic accuracy results were pooled at per-patient and per-vessel level using random effect models.
Results
Fifty articles were included in the meta-analysis (3024 subjects). The per-patient analysis per imaging modality demonstrated a pooled positive likelihood ratio (PLR) of 1.78 (95% confidence interval CI 1.49–2.11), 4.58 (95% CI 3.54–5.91), and 3.45 (95% CI 2.38–5.00) for CTA, stress CTP, and FFR
CT
respectively. Per-patient specificity of stress CTP (82%, 95% CI 76–86) and FFR
CT
(72%, 95% CI 68–76) were higher than for CTA (48%, 95% CI 44–51). At the vessel level, PLR was 2.42 (95% CI 1.93–3.02), 7.72 (95% CI 5.50–10.83), 3.50 (95% CI 2.73–4.78), 1.97 (95% CI 1.32–2.93) for CTA, stress CTP, FFR
CT
, and TAG respectively.
Conclusion
With improved PLR and specificity, stress CTP and FFR
CT
have incremental value over CTA for the detection of functionally significant CAD.
Key Points
•
New functional CT imaging techniques, such as stress CTP and FFR
CT
, improve diagnostic accuracy of coronary CTA to predict hemodynamically relevant stenosis.
• TAG yields poor diagnostic performance.
•
Combination of CTA and some functional CT techniques (stress CTP and FFR
CT
) might become a “must” to improve diagnostic accuracy of CAD and to reduce unnecessary invasive coronary angiography.
In a randomized trial, 2218 patients with STEMI were assigned to prehospital treatment with either bivalirudin or heparin with optional glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors. At 30 days, the bivalirudin ...group had significantly less major bleeding than the heparin group.
Primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), which is the standard of care for the treatment of patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI),
1
,
2
requires adjunctive antithrombotic treatment with anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents. In the Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction (HORIZONS-AMI) trial,
3
bivalirudin (Angiomax, Angiox, the Medicines Company), as compared with unfractionated heparin and routine use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors, reduced rates of major bleeding and death at 30 days, with a survival benefit that extended to 3 years,
4
albeit with an increased rate of acute stent thrombosis.
A number of changes have occurred in clinical . . .
Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the relative frequency of access and nonaccess site bleeding, the association of these events with 1-year mortality, and the impact of randomized ...antithrombotic therapy. Background Post-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) bleeding has been strongly associated with subsequent mortality. The extent to which access versus nonaccess site bleeding contributes to this poor prognosis and the role of antithrombotic therapies remains poorly understood. Methods The incidence and impact of Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) major/minor 30-day bleeding and randomized antithrombotic therapy were examined in a combined dataset from the REPLACE-2 (Randomized Evaluation in PCI Linking Angiomax to Reduced Clinical Events), Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage Strategy (ACUITY), and HORIZONS-AMI (Harmonizing Outcomes with Revascularization and Stents in Acute Myocardial Infarction) trials in 17,393 PCI patients. Results The TIMI major/minor bleeding occurred in 5.3% of patients, 61.4% of which (3.3%) were nonaccess site bleeds. After multivariable adjustment, TIMI bleeding was associated with an increased risk of 1-year mortality (hazard ratio HR: 3.17, 95% confidence interval CI: 2.51 to 4.00, p < 0.0001). The HR of a nonaccess site bleed was approximately 2-fold that of an access site bleed: HR: 3.94, 95% CI: 3.07 to 5.15, p < 0.0001 versus HR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.17 to 2.83, p = 0.008, respectively. Randomization to bivalirudin versus heparin + a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor resulted in 38% and 43% relative reductions in TIMI major/minor and TIMI major bleeding, respectively (p < 0.0001 for both), with significant reductions in both access and nonaccess site bleeding. Conclusions Nonaccess site bleeding after PCI is common, representing approximately two-thirds of all TIMI bleeding events, and is associated with a 4-fold increase in 1-year mortality. Use of bivalirudin rather than heparin + a glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor significantly decreases both nonaccess site as well as access site bleeding events by approximately 40%.
There are limited data on the impact of anemia on clinical outcomes in unstable angina and non–ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction treated with an early invasive strategy. We sought to ...determine the short- and long-term clinical events among patients with and without anemia enrolled in the Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage Strategy (ACUITY) trial. Anemia was defined as baseline hemoglobin of <13 g/dl for men and <12 g/dl for women. The primary end points were composite ischemia (death, myocardial infarction, or unplanned revascularization for ischemia) and major bleeding assessed in-hospital, at 1 month, and at 1 year. Among the 13,819 patients in the ACUITY trial, information regarding anemia was available in 13,032 (94.3%), 2,199 of whom (16.9%) had anemia. Patients with anemia compared with those without anemia had significantly increased adverse event rates in-hospital (composite ischemia 6.6% vs 4.8%, p = 0.0004; major bleeding 7.3% vs 3.3%, p <0.0001), at 1 month (composite ischemia 10% vs 7.2%, p <0.0001, major bleeding 8.8% vs 3.9%, p <0.0001), and 1 year (composite ischemia 21.7% vs 15.3%, p <0.0001). Anemia was an independent predictor of death at 1 year (hazard ratio 1.77, 95% confidence interval CI 1.29 to 2.44, p = 0.0005). Composite ischemia was significantly more common among patients who developed in-hospital non–coronary artery bypass surgery major bleeding compared with those who did not (anemic patients 1-year relative risk 2.19, 95% CI 1.67 to 2.88, p <0.0001; nonanemic patients relative risk 2.16, 95% CI 1.76 to 2.65, p <0.0001). In conclusion, in the ACUITY trial, baseline anemia was strongly associated with adverse early and late clinical events, especially in those who developed major bleeding.
Abstract Background Although there is evidence that patients who experience major bleeding after an acute coronary event are at higher risk of death in the months after the event, the incidence and ...impact on outcome of bleeding beyond 1 year of follow-up in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) are largely unknown. Objectives The goal of this study was to assess the incidence, source, determinants, and prognostic impact of major bleeding in stable CAD. Methods We prospectively included 4,184 consecutive CAD outpatients who were free from any myocardial infarction (MI) or coronary revascularization for >1 year at inclusion. Follow-up was performed at 2 years, with major bleeding defined as a type ≥3 bleed using the Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) definition. Results There were 51 major bleeding events during follow-up (0.6%/year). Most events were BARC type 3a bleeds with 12 fatal bleeds (type 5). In most cases (54.9%), the site of bleeding was gastrointestinal. Major bleeding was significantly associated with mortality (adjusted hazard ratio: 2.89; 95% confidence intervals: 1.73 to 4.83; p < 0.0001). The increased risk of bleeding associated with vitamin K antagonist (VKA) treatment was particularly evident when VKA was combined with an antiplatelet therapy (APT). In contrast, the risk of cardiovascular death, MI, or nonhemorrhagic stroke did not differ in patients who received VKA + APT versus patients on VKA alone. Conclusions In patients with stable CAD (i.e., >1 year, with no acute events), major bleeding events are rare, but such events are an independent predictor of death. When oral anticoagulation is required, concomitant APT should not be prescribed in the absence of a recent cardiovascular event.
Radial access use has been growing steadily but, despite encouraging results, still varies greatly among operators, hospitals, countries and continents. Twenty years from its introduction, it was ...felt that the time had come to develop a common evidence-based view on the technical, clinical and organisational implications of using the radial approach for coronary angiography and interventions. The European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) has, therefore, appointed a core group of European and non-European experts, including pioneers of radial angioplasty and operators with different practices in vascular access supported by experts nominated by the Working Groups on Acute Cardiac Care and Thrombosis of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC). Their goal was to define the role of the radial approach in modern interventional practice and give advice on technique, training needs, and optimal clinical indications.
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