Impact of pre-diabetes and diabetes on cardiovascular outcomes.

The present paper examines major evidences on the correlation between pre-diabetes, diabetes and cardiovascular risk, especially focusing on early and multifactorial treatment strategies holding the potential to delay the occurrence of micro- and macro-vascular complications causing impaired quality of life and reduced survival.

A new electrophysiology era: zero fluoroscopy.

Catheter ablations are traditionally performed under fluoroscopic guidance. Besides other peri-interventional risks, radiation exposure should be considered for its stochastic and deterministic effects on health. These effects are cumulative and lifelong and raise great concerns especially in the younger population.

Retrospective multicenter observational study of the interventional management of coronary disease in the very elderly: the NINETY.

Objectives: The aim of this observational, multicenter study was to describe the outcome of very elderly patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: There is a paucity of data among nonagenarians undergoing PCI.

Methods: All consecutive patients 90 years of age or older undergoing PCI with stent implantation between April 2002 and June 2009 were included in the study.

Long-term outcomes of elective drug-eluting stenting of the unprotected left main coronary artery in patients with normal left ventricular function.

Objectives: To evaluate the early and long-term outcomes of patients with normal left ventricular function who undergo elective unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stents (DES).

Background: Although the standard of care for patients with ULMCA disease is coronary artery bypass surgery, the current guidelines recommend PCI in clinical conditions that predict an increased risk of adverse surgical outcomes. The long-term outcomes of patients with low risk of adverse surgical outcomes who undergo PCI are unknown.

Unprotected left main coronary disease and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: a contemporary review and argument for percutaneous coronary intervention.

Acute occlusion involving the unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) is a clinically catastrophic event, often leading to abrupt and severe circulatory failure, lethal arrhythmias, and sudden cardiac death. Although coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is the standard of care for ULMCA disease in patients with stable ischemic heart disease, uncertainty surrounds the optimal revascularization strategy for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (MI) and ULMCA occlusion who survive to hospitalization, and treatment guidelines in this setting are vague. Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is technically feasible in most patients, has the advantage of providing more rapid reperfusion compared with CABG with acceptable short- and long-term outcomes, and is associated with a lower risk of stroke.