Review Article | By Giacoppo D, Colleran R, Cassese S et al.
IMPORTANCE - In patients with left main coronary artery (LMCA) stenosis, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been the standard therapy for several decades. However, some studies suggest that percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents may be an acceptable alternative. OBJECTIVE - To compare the long-term safety of PCI with drug-eluting stent vs CABG ...
Clinical Trial | By Piccolo R, Feres F, Valgimigli M et al.
OBJECTIVES - The study sought to evaluate the presence of a clinically relevant rebound phenomenon after dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) discontinuation in randomized trials. BACKGROUND - It is currently unknown whether clopidogrel discontinuation after short-term DAPT is associated with an early hazard of ischemic events. METHODS - The authors performed an individual participant data analysi...
Dual Antiplatelet Therapy Duration: Reconciling the Inconsistencies
Review Article | By Costa F, Windecker S, Valgimigli M.
Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) prevents recurrent ischemic events after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) as well as stent thrombosis (ST) in patients with prior stent implantation. Nevertheless, these benefits are counterbalanced by a significant bleeding hazard, which is directly related to the treatment duration. Although DAPT has been extensively studied in numerous clinical trials, optimal treatment duration is still debated, mostly becaus...
Clinical Case Study | By Kubota H, Nomura T, Hori Y et al.
Catheter-induced coronary dissection involving left main bifurcationis a rare complication during cardiac catheterization but can become lethal unless it is treated appropriately. Interventional cardiologists always have to pay attention to the risk of complications related to cardiac catheterization and prepare for determining the best bailout strategy for the situation.
Editorial | By Akiko Maehara, Gregg W. Stone
Cardiac death and myocardial infarction usually result from thrombotic occlusion of a coronary artery with underlying atherosclerotic plaque. Histologically, most underlying plaques that have resulted in sudden cardiac death or myocardial infarction because of coronary thrombosis (vulnerable plaque) are ruptured thin-cap fibroatheromas with large plaque burden and a lipid-rich necrotic core. Second most common are erosions of proteoglycan-rich plaques ...
Clinical Trial | By Shan P, Mintz GS, Witzenbichler B et al.
BACKGROUND - Increasing coronary lesion calcification is thought to be associated with adverse percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and clinical outcomes. We investigated the effects of calcium burden on culprit lesion morphology and clinical events after intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI in the ADAPT-DES study. METHODS - ADAPT-DES was a prospective, multicenter registry of 8582 consecutive...
Clinical Trial | By Okuya Y, Saito Y, Kitahara H et al.
The difference in the intraluminal intensity of blood speckle (IBS) on integrated backscatter-intravascular ultrasound (IB-IVUS) across a coronary artery stenosis (i.e., ΔIBS) has previously shown a negative correlation with fractional flow reserve, reflecting an impaired coronary blood flow. Periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) after coronary stenting has also been associated with coronary circulatory dysfunction. The aim of this study was to inv...
Review Article | By Gargiulo G, Valgimigli M, Capodanno D et al.
Evidence from studies published more than 10 years ago suggested that patients receiving first-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) needed dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for at least 12 months. Current evidence from randomised controlled trials (RCT) reported within the past five years suggests that patients with stable ischaemic heart disease who receive newer-generation DES need DAPT for a minimum of three to six months....
Clinical Trial | By Sundström J, Hedberg J, Thuresson M et al.
BACKGROUND - There are increasing concerns about risks associated with aspirin discontinuation in the absence of major surgery or bleeding. We investigated whether long-term low-dose aspirin discontinuation and treatment gaps increase the risk of cardiovascular events. METHODS - We performed a cohort study of 601 527 users of low-dose aspirin for primary or secondary prevention in the Swedish prescription register betwe...
Consensus | By Collet C, Onuma Y, Cavalcante R et al.
Bifurcation lesions represent one of the most challenging lesion subsets in interventional cardiology. The European Bifurcation Club (EBC) is an academic consortium whose goal has been to assess and recommend the appropriate strategies to manage bifurcation lesions. The quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) methods for the evaluation of bifurcation lesions have been subject to extensive research. Single-vessel QCA has been shown to be...