Advances in the Assessment of Coronary Artery Disease Activity with PET/CT and CTA

Non-invasive testing plays a pivotal role in the diagnosis, assessment of progression, response to therapy, and risk stratification of coronary artery disease. Although anatomical plaque imaging by computed tomography angiography (CTA) and ischemia detection with myocardial perfusion imaging studies are current standards of care, there is a growing body of evidence that imaging of the processes which drive atherosclerotic plaque progression and rupture has the potential to further enhance risk stratification. In particular, non-invasive imaging of coronary plaque inflammation and active calcification has shown promise in this regard. Positron emission tomography (PET) with newly-adopted radiotracers provides unique insights into atheroma activity acting as a powerful independent predictor of myocardial infarctions. Similarly, by providing a quantitative measure of coronary inflammation, the pericoronary adipose tissue density (PCAT) derived from standard coronary CTA enhances cardiac risk prediction and allows re-stratification over and above current state-of-the-art assessments. In this review, we shall discuss the recent advances in the non-invasive methods of assessment of disease activity by PET and CTA, highlighting how these methods could improve risk stratification and ultimately benefit patients with coronary artery disease

Accuracy of RESOLVE score derived from coronary computed tomography versus visual angiography to predict side branch occlusion in percutaneous bifurcation intervention

Introduction: Visually estimated angiographic V-RESOLVE score was developed as a simple and accurate prediction tool for side branch (SB) occlusion in patients undergoing coronary bifurcation intervention. Data on the use of coronary computed tomography angiography (coronary CTA) for guiding percutaneous coronary intervention in bifurcation lesions is scarce. Objectives: We aimed to validate the ability of quantitative CTA-derived RESOLVE score for predicting SB occlusion in coronary bifurcation intervention and to compare its predictive value with that of the angiography-based V-RESOLVE score. Methods: We included 363 patients with 400 bifurcation lesions. Angiographic V-RESOLVE score and CTA-derived RESOLVE score were calculated utilizing the weights from the QCA-based RESOLVE score. The scoring systems were divided into quartiles, and classified as the non-high-risk group and the high-risk group. Accuracy was assessed using areas under the receiver-operator characteristic curve (AUC). SB occlusion was defined as any decrease in Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction flow grade (including the absence of flow) in the SB after main vessel stenting. Results: In total, 28 SB occlusions (7%) occurred. CTA-derived RESOLVE and V-RESOLVE scores achieved comparable predictive accuracy (0.709 vs. 0.752, respectively, p = 0.531) for predicting SB occlusion, and the analysis of AUC for each constituent element of the scores did not show any significant difference between CTA and visual angiography. The total net reclassification index was −18.6% (p = 0.194), and there were no significant differences in the rates of SB occlusion in the non-high-risk group (4.9% vs. 3.8%, p = 0.510) and the high-risk group (13.8% vs. 18.6%, p = 0.384) between CTA-derived RESOLVE and V-RESOLVE scores. Conclusions: The quantitative CTA-derived RESOLVE score is an accurate and reliable alternative to the visually estimated angiographic V-RESOLVE score for prediction of SB occlusion in coronary bifurcation intervention. Clinical trial registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT03709836

The obesity paradox revisited: Body mass index and long-term outcomes after PCI from a large pooled patient-level database

Aims: The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between body mass index (BMI) and outcomes in patients with coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous revascularisation. Methods and results: In 13 randomised trials, 22,922 patients were stratified (in kg/m2) as underweight (BMI <18.5), normal weight (18.5 ≤BMI <25, used as reference), overweight (25 ≤BMI <30), and obese (Class I [30 ≤BMI <35], Class II [35 ≤BMI <40], or Class III [BMI ≥40]). The primary endpoint was allcause death at five years. Secondary endpoints were cardiac and non-cardiac death, target (TLR) and nontarget lesion revascularisation (NTLR), myocardial infarction (MI), and definite/probable stent thrombosis. Despite adjustment for multiple confounders, overweight and Class I obesity were associated with lower all-cause mortality versus normal weight (HR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.71-0.96, and HR 0.83, 95% CI: 0.69-0.96, respectively); however, non-cardiac death was the major contributor to this effect (HR 0.77, 95% CI: 0.63- 0.94 for overweight). Conversely, cardiac mortality was higher in severely obese individuals (HR 1.62, 95% CI: 1.05-2.51 for Class III obesity). Obesity was associated with higher rates of NTLR (HR 1.28, 95% CI: 1.04-1.58 for Class II obesity) but not with TLR, MI and stent thrombosis. Conclusions: Moderately increased BMI is associated with improved survival post PCI, mostly due to lower non-cardiac but not cardiac mortality