Left Main Coronary Artery Interventions

The management of left main coronary artery (LMCA) disease has evolved over the past two decades. Historically, coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery has been the gold standard for the treatment of LMCA disease. However, with the advancements in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) and stent technology, PCI in select patients has achieved comparable outcomes to CABG. As such, this has led to changes in the American College of Cardiology and European Society of Cardiology guidelines, which recommend that PCI might be an alternative to CABG in select patients. In this review article, we describe the historical perspective and early experience with coronary interventions of LMCA disease, landmark clinical trials and their effect on guidelines, and the role of intravascular imaging in the management of LMCA lesions

Dual Antiplatelet Regimens for Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement and Corresponding Cardiac CT Evaluation of the Leaflets: Single-center Experience

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is a globally established therapy. However, there is significant variability in the antithrombotic management post-procedure. The data on antiplatetet and direct antithrombin agents suggest antiplatelet agents suffice. The degree of leaflet thickening on cardiac CT and the clinical implications of this finding remain poorly understood. Here, the authors aim to examine a low-risk cohort treated with dual antiplatelet therapy and the corresponding cardiac CT and clinical findings. Methods: This is a descriptive single center study examining patients who received dual antiplatelet therapy post-TAVR from 2017 to 2019. Patients underwent clinical, echocardiographic and cardiac CT follow up. Signs and symptoms of ischemic stroke, valve function, gradient, and cardiac CT findings of hypo-attenuated leaflet thickening and reduced leaflet mobility were recorded for all those who completed 6 months of follow-up. The study was registered and approved by the Ethics Committee. Results: A total of 116 patients were included. Hypo-attenuated leaflet thickening was detected in 11 patients. Only one had accompanying reduced leaflet mobility and an increase in gradient. This patient did not have any evidence of stroke or valve dysfunction. After switching to rivaroxaban, the gradient improved and a repeat cardiac CT demonstrated resolution of the leaflet thickening. Conclusion: This study illustrates the utility of cardiac CT in detecting leaflet thickening and restricted mobility post-TAVR in low-risk individuals treated with dual antiplatelet therapy. However, its role in guiding antithrombotic regimens cannot be ascertained from this study and additional larger scale studies comparing different regimens in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients are necessary. Trial Registration: N/A

Peripheral Arterial Disease in Women: an Overview of Risk Factor Profile, Clinical Features, and Outcomes.

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is the third most common manifestation of cardiovascular disease (CVD), following coronary artery disease (CAD) and stroke. PAD remains underdiagnosed and under-treated in women. RECENT FINDINGS: Women with PAD experience more atypical symptoms and poorer overall health status. The prevalence of PAD in women increases with age, such that more women than men have PAD after the age of 40 years. There is under-representation of PAD patients in clinical trials in general and women in particular. In this article, we address the lack of women participants in PAD trials. We then present a comprehensive overview of the epidemiology/risk factor profile, clinical features, treatment, and outcomes. PAD is prevalent in women and its global burden is on the rise despite a decline in global age-standardized death rate from CVD. The importance of this issue has been underlined by the American Heart Association\u27s (AHA) Call to Action scientific statement on PAD in women. Large-scale campaigns are needed to increase awareness among physicians and the general public. Furthermore, effective treatment strategies must be implemented

One-year real-world outcomes for patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve repair: the Gulf MTEER registry (GULF Mitral Transcatheter Edge to Edge Repair)

Background Severe mitral regurgitation (MR) with left ventricular dysfunction portends worse outcomes. Over the course of the last two decades, transcatheter repair of the mitral valve offered an alternative therapeutic modality for those deemed inoperable or high risk. Landmark studies such as the Cardiovascular Outcomes Assessment of the MitraClip Percutaneous Therapy for Heart Failure Patients With Functional Mitral Regurgitation and Multicentre Study of Percutaneous Mitral Valve Repair MitraClip Device in Patients With Severe Secondary Mitral Regurgitation trials have shown conflicting results with respect to all-cause death and heart failure rehospitalisations. The Gulf Mitral Transcatheter Edge to Edge Repair registry (Gulf MTEER registry) is a regional registry that captured outcomes in those undergoing transcatheter repair of the mitral valve. The objectives of this study were to describe the baseline characteristics of patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve repair in the Gulf region and estimate the cardiovascular effects of the mitral transcatheter therapies in routine practice.Methods The Gulf MTEER registry is an observational, multicentre, retrospective registry that enrolled all patients undergoing transcatheter repair of the mitral valve from four of the Gulf countries (Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman) between 1 January 2017 and 31 December 2019. Baseline characteristics, echocardiographic parameters and immediate procedural success were reported. The primary outcome was a composite of death and rehospitalisations at 1 year. The secondary outcomes were the individual components of the composite endpoint; that is, death and rehospitalisations at 1 year as well as residual or recurrent MR or worsening New York Heart Association class and a need for repeat repair.Results A total of 176 patients were enrolled. Men constituted 56.3% of the total. At 1 year the primary outcome occurred in 21.1% (95% CI 15.6, 27.9). The secondary outcomes of death occurred in 5.4% (CI 2.9, 10.0) and rehospitalisations occurred in 16.9% (CI 11.9, 23.3). Univariate analysis revealed that the odds of having death or re-hospitalisation was two times higher if the effective regurgitant orifice (ERO) >40 mm2 irrespective of the therapy.Conclusions The Gulf MTEER registry is the first registry in the Gulf region defining the patient population receiving MTEER therapies and evaluating 1-year outcomes. This is a low risk cohort with a high rate of immediate procedural success and low rate of all-cause death and rehospitalisations at 1 year. The odds of an event was two times higher if the ERO ≥40 mm2 with only a signal to higher odds for low left ventricular ejection fraction and larger end systolic dimension

Effect of comorbidity on unplanned readmissions after percutaneous coronary intervention (from The Nationwide Readmission Database)

It is unclear how comorbidity influences rates and causes of unplanned readmissions following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We analyzed patients in the Nationwide Readmission Database who were admitted to hospital between 2010 and 2014. The comorbidity burden as defined by the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI). Primary outcomes were 30-day readmission rates and causes of readmission according to comorbidity burden. A total of 2,294,346 PCI procedures were included the analysis. The patients in CCI = 0, 1, 2 and ≥3 were 842,272(36.7%), 701,476(30.6%), 347,537(15.1%) and 403,061(17.6%), respectively. 219,227(9.6%) had an unplanned readmission within 30 days and rates by CCI group were 6.6%, 8.6%, 11.4% and 15.9% for CCI groups 0, 1, 2 and ≥3, respectively. The CCI score was also associated with greater cost (cost of index PCI for not readmitted vs readmitted was CCI = 0 $21,257 vs$19,764 and CCI ≥ 3 $26,736 vs$27,723). Compared to patients with CCI = 0, greater CCI score was associated with greater independent odds of readmission (CCI = 1 OR 1.25(1.22–1.28), p &lt; 0.001, CCI ≥ 3 OR 2.08(2.03–2.14), p &lt; 0.001). Rates of non-cardiac causes for readmissions increased with increasing CCI group from 49.4% in CCI = 0 to 57.1% in CCI ≥ 3. Rates of early unplanned readmission increase with greater comorbidity burden and non-cardiac readmissions are higher among more comorbid patients.</p