Summary Background Drug-eluting stents with durable biocompatible or biodegradable polymers have been developed to address the risk of thrombosis associated with first-generation drug-eluting stents. ...We aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of a biodegradable polymer-coated biolimus-eluting stent with a thin-strut everolimus-eluting stent coated with a durable biocompatible polymer. Methods This open-label, prospective, randomised, controlled, non-inferiority trial was undertaken at 12 sites across Europe. We used limited exclusion criteria (age >18 years, life expectancy >5 years, reference vessel diameter 2·0–4·0 mm) to enrol patients eligible for percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients were randomly allocated (2:1) by computer-generated random numbers to receive either a biodegradable polymer biolimus-eluting stent (Nobori, Terumo, Tokyo, Japan) or a durable fluoropolymer-based everolimus-eluting stent (Xience V or Prime, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA, or Promus, Boston Scientific, Natick, MA, USA). The primary endpoint was a composite of safety (cardiac death and non-fatal myocardial infarction) and efficacy (clinically indicated target vessel revascularisation) at 12 months, analysed by intention to treat. Patients received dual antiplatelet therapy for 12 months after discharge. The trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT01233453. Findings From Jan 12, 2009, to Feb 7, 2011, we enrolled 2707 patients (4025 lesions), 1795 of whom were assigned to receive the biolimus-eluting stent (2638 lesions) and 912 to an everolimus-eluting stent (1387 lesions). 2688 (99·3%) patients completed 12 months' follow-up. Significantly more patients in the biolimus-eluting stent group received a non-assigned stent than did those in the everolimus-eluting stent group (105 5·9% vs 19 2·1%; p<0·0001). The primary endpoint occurred in 93 (5·2%) patients in the biolimus-eluting stent group and 44 (4·8%) patients in the everolimus-eluting stent group at 12 months (relative risk 1·07 95% CI 0·75–1·52; pnon-inferiority <0·0001). Analysis per protocol did not change the outcome of this trial (pnon-inferiority <0·0001). Interpretation Biodegradable polymer biolimus-eluting stents are as safe and efficacious as the current standard of a thin-strut everolimus-eluting stent with a durable biocompatible polymer. We need to follow-up patients for longer to show whether the biolimus-eluting stent reduces the risk of stent thrombosis after 1 year when compared with the everolimus-eluting stent. Funding Terumo Europe (Leuven, Belgium) and the Research Foundation of the Cardiology Department, Maasstad Hospital (Rotterdam, Netherlands).
Objectives The purpose of this study was to evaluate the safety, device performance, and clinical outcome up to 2 years for patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). ...Background The role of TAVI in the treatment of calcific aortic stenosis evolves rapidly, but mid- and long-term results are scarce. Methods We conducted a prospective, multicenter, single-arm study with symptomatic patients undergoing TAVI for treatment of severe aortic valve stenosis using the 18-F Medtronic CoreValve (Medtronic, Minneapolis, Minnesota) prosthesis. Results In all, 126 patients (mean age 82 years, 42.9% male, mean logistic European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation score 23.4%) with severe aortic valve stenosis (mean gradient 46.8 mm Hg) underwent the TAVI procedure. Access was transfemoral in all but 2 cases with subclavian access. Retrospective risk stratification classified 54 patients as moderate surgical risk, 51 patients as high-risk operable, and 21 patients as high-risk inoperable. The overall technical success rate was 83.1%. Thirty-day all-cause mortality was 15.2%, without significant differences in the subgroups. At 2 years, all-cause mortality was 38.1%, with a significant difference between the moderate-risk group and the combined high-risk groups (27.8% vs. 45.8%, p = 0.04). This difference was mainly attributable to an increased risk of noncardiac mortality among patients constituting the high-risk groups. Hemodynamic results remained unchanged during follow-up (mean gradient: 8.5 ± 2.5 mm Hg at 30 days and 9.0 ± 3.4 mm Hg at 2 years). Functional class improved in 80% of patients and remained stable over time. There was no incidence of structural valve deterioration. Conclusions The TAVI procedure provides sustained clinical and hemodynamic benefits for as long as 2 years for patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis at increased risk for surgery.
Summary Background Data for the safety and efficacy of new-generation drug-eluting stents at long-term follow-up, and specifically in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction, are ...scarce. In the EXAMINATION trial, we compared everolimus-eluting stents (EES) with bare-metal stents (BMS) in an all-comer population with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. In this study, we assessed the 5-year outcomes of the population in the EXAMINATION trial. Methods In the multicentre EXAMINATION trial, done in Italy, Spain, and the Netherlands, patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction were randomly assigned in a 1:1 ratio to receive EES or BMS. The random allocation schedule was computer-generated and central randomisation (by telephone) was used to allocate patients in blocks of four or six, stratified by centre. Patients were masked to treatment assignment. At 5 years, we assessed the combined patient-oriented outcome of all-cause death, any myocardial infarction, or any revascularisation. Analysis was by intention to treat. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov , number NCT00828087. Findings 1498 patients were randomly assigned to receive either EES (n=751) or BMS (n=747). At 5 years, complete clinical follow-up data were obtained for 731 patients treated with EES and 727 treated with BMS (97% of both groups). The patient-oriented endpoint occurred in 159 (21%) patients in the EES group versus 192 (26%) in the BMS group (hazard ratio 0·80, 95% CI 0·65–0·98; p=0·033). This difference was mainly driven by a reduced rate of all-cause mortality (65 9% vs 88 12%; 0·72, 0·52–0·10; p=0·047). Interpretation Our findings should be taken as a point of reference for the assessment of new bioresorbable polymer-based metallic stents or bioresorbable scaffolds in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction. Funding Spanish Heart Foundation.
Background Despite improving experience and techniques, ischemic and bleeding complications after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) remain prevalent and impair survival. Current ...guidelines recommend the temporary addition of clopidogrel in the initial period after TAVI to prevent thromboembolic events. However, explorative studies suggest that this is associated with a higher rate of major bleeding without a decrease in thromboembolic complications. Methods The POPular TAVI trial is a prospective randomized, controlled, open-label multicenter clinical trial to test the hypothesis that monotherapy with aspirin or oral anticoagulation (OAC) after TAVI is safer than the addition of clopidogrel for 3 months, without compromising clinical benefit. This trial encompasses 2 cohorts: cohort A, patients are randomized 1:1 to aspirin vs aspirin + clopidogrel, and cohort B, patients on OAC therapy are randomized 1:1 to OAC vs OAC + clopidogrel. Primary outcome is freedom from non–procedure-related bleeding at 1 year. Secondary net-clinical benefit outcome is freedom from the composite of cardiovascular death, non–procedural-related bleeding, myocardial infarction, or stroke at 1 year. The primary outcome is analyzed for superiority, whereas the secondary outcome is analyzed for noninferiority. Recruitment began in February 2014, and the trial will continue until a total of 1,000 patients (684 expected in cohort A and 316 in cohort B) are included and followed up for 1 year. Summary The POPular TAVI trial (NCT02247128) is the first large randomized controlled trial to test if monotherapy with aspirin or OAC vs additional clopidogrel after TAVI reduces bleeding with a favorable net-clinical benefit.
Use of everolimus-eluting stents (EES) has proven to be clinically effective and safe in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction but it remains unclear whether it is cost-effective ...compared to bare-metal stents (BMS) in the long-term. We sought to assess the cost-effectiveness of EES versus BMS based on the 5-year results of the EXAMINATION trial, from a Spanish health service perspective.
Decision analysis of the use of EES versus BMS was based on the patient-level clinical outcome data of the EXAMINATION trial. The analysis adopted a lifelong time horizon, assuming that long-term survival was independent of the initial treatment strategy after the end of follow-up. Life-expectancy, health-state utility scores and unit costs were extracted from published literature and publicly available sources. Non-parametric bootstrapping was combined with probabilistic sensitivity analysis to co-assess the impact of patient-level variation and parameter uncertainty. The main outcomes were total costs and quality-adjusted life-years. The incremental cost-effectiveness ratio was expressed as cost per quality-adjusted life-years gained. Costs and effects were discounted at 3%.
The model predicted an average survival time in patients receiving EES and BMS of 10.52 and 10.38 undiscounted years, respectively. Over the life-long time horizon, the EES strategy was €430 more costly than BMS (€8,305 vs. €7,874), but went along with incremental gains of 0.10 quality-adjusted life-years. This resulted in an average incremental cost-effectiveness ratio over all simulations of €3,948 per quality-adjusted life-years gained and was below a willingness-to-pay threshold of €25,000 per quality-adjusted life-years gained in 86.9% of simulation runs.
Despite higher total costs relative to BMS, EES appeared to be a cost-effective therapy for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients due to their incremental effectiveness. Predicted incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were below generally acceptable threshold values.
Objectives
We aimed to describe hemodynamic performance and clinical outcomes at 30‐day follow‐up of the balloon‐expandable (BE) Myval transcatheter heart valve (THV) in low‐risk patients.
Background
...The results of the next‐generation BE Myval THV in low‐risk aortic stenosis (AS) patients are still unknown.
Methods
Retrospective registry performed in nine European centers including patients with low predicted operative mortality risk according to Society of thoracic surgeons (STS) and European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation (EuroSCORE‐II) scores.
Results
Between September 2019 and February 2021, a total of 100 patients (51% males, mean age 80 ± 6.5 years) were included. Mean STS score and EuroSCORE‐II were 2.4 ± 0.8% and 2.2 ± 0.7%, respectively. Intermediate sizes were used in 39% (21.5 mm: 8%, 24.5 mm: 15%, 27.5 mm: 15%). There were no cases of valve embolization, coronary artery occlusion, annulus rupture, or procedural death. A definitive pacemaker implantation was needed in eight patients (8%). At 30‐day follow‐up aortic valve area (0.7 ± 0.2 vs. 2.1 ± 0.6 cm2) and mean aortic valve gradient (43.4 ± 11.1 vs. 9.0 ± 3.7 mmHg) improved significantly (p < 0.001). Moderate aortic regurgitation occurred in 4%. Endpoints of early safety and clinical efficacy were 3 and 1%, respectively.
Conclusions
Hemodynamic performance and 30‐day clinical outcomes of the BE Myval THV in low‐risk AS patients were favorable. Longer‐term follow‐up is warranted.
To describe the procedural performance and 30-day outcomes following implantation using the 18 Fr CoreValve Revalving System (CRS) as part of the multicentre, expanded evaluation registry, 1-year ...after obtaining CE mark approval.
Patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis and logistic Euroscore > or =15%, or age > or =75 years, or age > or =65 years associated with pre-defined risk factors, and for whom a physician proctor and a clinical specialist were in attendance during the implantation and who collected the clinical data, were included. From April 2007, to April 2008, 646 patients with a mean age of 81 +/- 6.6 years, mean aortic valve area 0.6 +/- 0.2 cm2, and logistic EuroSCORE of 23.1 +/- 13.8% were recruited. After valve implantation, the mean transaortic valve gradient decreased from 49.4 +/- 13.9 to 3 +/- 2 mmHg. All patients had paravalvular aortic regurgitation < or = grade 2. The rate of procedural success was 97%. The procedural mortality rate was 1.5%. At 30 days, the all-cause mortality rate (i.e, including procedural) was 8% and the combined rate of death, stroke and myocardial infarction was 9.3%.
The results of this study demonstrate the high rate of procedural success and a low 30-day mortality in a large cohort of high-risk patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with the CRS.
Objectives
This final report from the REMEDEE Registry assessed the long‐term safety and efficacy of the dual‐therapy COMBO stent in a large unselected patient population.
Background
The ...bio‐engineered COMBO stent (OrbusNeich Medical BV, The Netherlands) is a dual‐therapy pro‐healing stent. Data of long‐term safety and efficacy of the this stent is lacking.
Methods
The prospective, multicenter, investigator‐initiated REMEDEE Registry evaluated clinical outcomes after COMBO stent implantation in daily clinical practice. One thousand patients were enrolled between June 2013 and March 2014.
Results
Five‐year follow‐up data were obtained in 97.2% of patients. At 5‐years, target lesion failure (TLF) (composite of cardiac death, target‐vessel myocardial infarction, or target lesion revascularization) was present in 145 patients (14.8%). Definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST) occurred in 0.9%, with no additional case beyond 3‐years of follow‐up. In males, 5‐year TLF‐rate was 15.6 versus 12.6% in females (p = .22). Patients without diabetes mellitus (DM) had TLF‐rate of 11.4%, noninsulin‐treated DM 22.7% (p = .001) and insulin‐treated DM 41.2% (p < .001). Patients presenting with non‐ST segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE‐ACS) had higher incidence of TLF compared to non‐ACS (20.4 vs. 13.3%; p = .008), while incidence with STE‐ACS was comparable to non‐ACS (10.7 vs. 13.3%; p = .43).
Conclusion
Percutaneous coronary intervention with the dual‐therapy COMBO stent in unselected patient population shows low rates of TLF and ST to 5 years. Remarkably, no case of ST was noted beyond 3 years.
Background
The COMBO drug eluting stent is a novel device with luminal endothelial progenitor cell capture technology for rapid homogeneous endothelialization.
Methods and results
We examined for sex ...differences in 1‐year outcomes after COMBO stenting from the COMBO collaboration, a pooled patient‐level dataset from the MASCOT and REMEDEE multicenter registries. The primary endpoint was 1‐year target lesion failure (TLF), composite of cardiac death, target vessel‐myocardial infarction (TV‐MI), or clinically driven target lesion revascularization (CD‐TLR). Secondary outcomes included stent thrombosis (ST). Adjusted outcomes were assessed using Cox regression methods. The study included 861 (23.8%) women and 2,753 (76.2%) men. Women were older with higher prevalence of several comorbidities including diabetes mellitus. Risk of 1‐year TLF was similar in both sexes (3.8% vs. 3.9%, HR 0.92, 95% CI 0.59–1.42, p = .70), without sex differences in the incidence of cardiac death (1.6% vs. 1.5%, p = .78), TV‐MI (1.5% vs. 1.1%, p = .32), or CD‐TLR (2.0% vs. 2.2%, p = .67). Definite or probable ST occurred in 0.4% women and 1.0% men (HR 0.26, 95% CI 0.06–1.11, p = .069).
Conclusions
Despite greater clinical risks at baseline, women treated with COMBO stents had similarly low 1‐year TLF and other ischemic outcomes compared to men.
Background
The bio‐engineered COMBO stent (OrbusNeich Medical BV, The Netherlands) is a dual‐therapy pro‐healing stent. This novel technology may allow a shorter duration of dual antiplatelet therapy ...(DAPT) after stenting. We present the first 3 year clinical outcomes of patients treated with COMBO stent.
Methods and results
The prospective, multicenter, investigator‐initiated, all‐comers REMEDEE Registry evaluates clinical outcomes after COMBO stent treatment. A 1,000 patients were enrolled between June 2013 and March 2014. Patients had a mean of 65 years ±11, 26% of the patients were females and 18% diabetics. More than 50% of patients presented with acute coronary syndrome, 60% of treated lesions were AHA/ACC lesion type B2 or C. Target lesion failure (TLF) at 3 year follow‐up occurred in 10.7% of patients (N = 105). The separate components cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction and target lesion revascularization occurred in 4.1%, 2.0%, and 7.1%, respectively of patients. Definite stent thrombosis (ST) was observed in 0.7% of all patients. At 3‐year follow‐up there were only 73 patients taking DAPT.
Conclusions
At 3‐year follow‐up, patients treated with COMBO stent in the present large prospective all‐comers cohort, continue to show good clinical outcomes.
Clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT01874002.
Condensed
The COMBO stent is a sirolimus‐eluting stent with a luminal anti‐CD34‐antibody layer, that binds endothelial progenitor cells. These cells can differentiate to endothelial cells and stimulate early endothelialization of the stent. The REMEDEE Registry is the first large, multicenter, prospective, cohort study evaluating the clinical outcomes of 1,000 all‐comers patients treated with COMBO stent. Target lesion failure at 3 year follow‐up was 10.7% and the rate of definite ST was 0.7%.