Objectives We sought to establish the prognostic value of a comprehensive cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) examination in risk stratification of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) patients. ...Background With annual mortality rates ranging between 1% and 5%, depending on patient selection, a small but significant number of HCM patients are at risk for an adverse event. Therefore, the identification of and prophylactic therapy (i.e., defibrillator placement) in patients with HCM who are at risk of dying are imperative. Methods Two-hundred forty-three consecutive patients with HCM were prospectively enrolled. All patients underwent initial CMR, and 220 were available for clinical follow-up. The mean follow-up time was 1,090 days after CMR. End points were all-cause and cardiac mortality. Results During follow-up 20 of the 220 patients died, and 2 patients survived sudden cardiac death due to adequate implantable cardioverter-defibrillator discharge. Most events (n = 16) occurred for cardiac reasons; the remaining 6 events were related to cancer and accidents. Our data indicate that the presence of scar visualized by CMR yields an odds ratio of 5.47 for all-cause mortality and of 8.01 for cardiac mortality. This might be superior to classic clinical risk factors, because in our dataset the presence of 2 risk factors yields an odds ratio of 3.86 for all-cause and of 2.20 for cardiac mortality, respectively. Multivariable analysis also revealed the presence of late gadolinium enhancement as a good independent predictor of death in HCM patients. Conclusions Among our population of largely low or asymptomatic HCM patients, the presence of scar indicated by CMR is a good independent predictor of all-cause and cardiac mortality.
The prospective multicenter German Drug-Eluting Stent ( DES.DE ) registry is an observational study to analyze and evaluate the therapeutic principle of the differential drug-eluting stents ...(sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents) and bare metal stents under real world conditions in the context of the German healthcare system. The baseline clinical and angiographic characteristics and follow-up events for 1 year were recorded for all enrolled patients. In addition, a health economics assessment was performed at 3, 6, 9, and 12 months after initial stent placement. The composite of death, myocardial infarction, and stroke, defined as major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events, and target vessel revascularization were used as the primary objectives. From October 2005 to October 2006, 6,384 patients were enrolled (sirolimus-eluting stents, n = 2,137; paclitaxel-eluting stents, n = 2,740; bare metal stents, n = 485) at 98 Deutsches Drug-Eluting Stent Register sites. With similar baseline clinical and descriptive morphology of coronary artery disease between both drug-eluting stent groups, no differences were present at 1 year of follow-up in the rates of overall mortality (3.8% vs 4.1%), target vessel revascularization (10.4% vs 10.4%), overall stent thrombosis (3.6% vs 3.8%), and major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (8.1% vs 8.0%). Compared with the bare metal stent group, patients treated with drug-eluting stents had significantly lower rates of myocardial infarction (3.2% vs 6.0%; p <0.01), stroke (1.2% vs 2.7%; p <0.05), and target vessel revascularization (10.4% vs 14.9%; p <0.01) without any difference in the stent thrombosis rate (3.7% vs 4.3%; p = 0.57) or mortality rate (4.0% vs 5.2%; p = 0.21). In conclusion, the data generated from the German Drug-Eluting Stent registry revealed no differences between patients receiving a paclitaxel-eluting stent and sirolimus-eluting stent in a “real-world” setting with regard to the clinical outcomes at 1 year.
High blood glucose in patients with acute coronary syndromes have been associated with adverse short-term outcomes in patients without diabetes. However, the relation of admission glucose to ...long-term outcomes in these patients was less well established. Accordingly, consecutive patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) without diabetes enrolled at 155 sites from July 2000 to November 2002 in the ACOS Registry were evaluated. Patients were categorized into tertiles based on admission blood glucose. Clinical end points of interest were 1-year mortality and composite of death, reinfarction, stroke, or rehospitalization (major adverse cardiac clinical events MACCEs) in the hospital and after discharge. Of 5,866 patients with STEMI, 36.9% had blood glucose <120 mg/dl; 33.1%, 120 to 150 mg/dl; and 30.0%, >150 mg/dl. Admission blood glucose was significantly related to increased risk of not only in-hospital events (death, glucose >150 vs <120 mg/dl, adjusted odds ratio OR 2.86, 95% confidence interval CI 2.13 to 3.82, p <0.0001; and MACCE, >150 vs <120 mg/dl, adjusted OR 1.88, 95% CI 1.52 to 2.33; p <0.0001), but this increased risk persisted beyond the acute phase during 1-year follow-up of a mean 380 days (median 387; death, glucose >150 vs <120 mg/dl, adjusted OR 1.46, 95% CI 1.04 to 2.03, p <0.0001; and MACCE, >150 vs <120 mg/dl, adjusted OR 1.31, 95% CI 1.00 to 1.71, p <0.0001). In conclusion, high blood glucose at admission to the hospital independently correlated with short- and midterm mortality in patients with STEMI.
Objectives During its German pilot phase, the EuroCMR (European Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance) registry sought to evaluate indications, image quality, safety, and impact on patient management of ...routine CMR. Background CMR has a broad range of applications and is increasingly used in clinical practice. Methods This was a multicenter registry with consecutive enrollment of patients in 20 German centers. Results A total of 11,040 consecutive patients were enrolled. Eighty-eight percent of patients received gadolinium-based contrast agents. Twenty-one percent underwent adenosine perfusion, and 11% high-dose dobutamine-stress CMR. The most important indications were workup of myocarditis/cardiomyopathies (32%), risk stratification in suspected coronary artery disease/ischemia (31%), as well as assessment of viability (15%). Image quality was good in 90.1%, moderate in 8.1%, and inadequate in 1.8% of cases. Severe complications occurred in 0.05%, and were all associated with stress testing. No patient died during or due to CMR. In nearly two-thirds of patients, CMR findings impacted patient management. Importantly, in 16% of cases the final diagnosis based on CMR was different from the diagnosis before CMR, leading to a complete change in management. In more than 86% of cases, CMR was capable of satisfying all imaging needs so that no further imaging was required. Conclusions CMR is frequently performed in clinical practice in many participating centers. The most important indications are workup of myocarditis/cardiomyopathies, risk stratification in suspected coronary artery disease/ischemia, and assessment of viability. CMR imaging as used in the centers of the pilot registry is a safe procedure, has diagnostic image quality in 98% of cases, and its results have strong impact on patient management.
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