A gender-specific blood-based gene expression score for assessing obstructive coronary artery disease in nondiabetic patients: results of the Personalized Risk Evaluation and Diagnosis in the Coronary Tree (PREDICT) trial.

Background: Currently available noninvasive tests to risk stratify patients for obstructive coronary disease result in many unnecessary cardiac catheterizations, especially in women. We sought to compare the diagnostic accuracy of presenting symptoms, noninvasive test results, and a gene expression score (GES) in identifying obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) according to gender, using quantitative coronary angiography as the criterion standard.

Methods: The PREDICT trial is a prospective multicenter observational study designed to develop and validate gene expression algorithms to assess obstructive CAD, defined as at least one ≥50% diameter stenosis measured by quantitative coronary angiography.

Impact of routine angiographic follow-up after percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents in the SPIRIT III randomized trial at three years.

Routine angiographic follow-up after bare-metal stent implantation has been associated with an increase in coronary revascularization. The impact of angiographic follow-up after drug-eluting stent placement remains poorly characterized. The prospective, randomized, single-blinded SPIRIT III trial assigned patients to the everolimus-eluting stent or the paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES).

Gender and the extent of coronary atherosclerosis, plaque composition, and clinical outcomes in acute coronary syndromes.

Objectives: This study sought to assess the extent and composition of atherosclerosis contributing to acute coronary syndrome events in women compared with men.

Background: Pathological studies suggest that plaque composition and burden may differ by sex. It is unclear whether sex impacts the extent, characteristics, and potential vulnerability of coronary plaques.

Comparison of clinical and angiographic prognostic risk scores in patients with acute coronary syndromes: Analysis from the Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage StrategY (ACUITY) trial.

Background: Several prognostic risk scores have been developed for patients with coronary artery disease, but their comparative use in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTEACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been examined. We therefore investigated the accuracy of the Synergy Between PCI With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score, Clinical Synergy Between PCI With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery score (CSS), New Risk Stratification (NERS) score (NERS), Age, Creatinine, Ejection Fraction (ACEF) score, Global Registry for Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) score, and Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) score for risk assessment of 1-year mortality, cardiac mortality, myocardial infarction, target vessel revascularization, and stent thrombosis in patients with NSTEACS undergoing PCI.

Methods: The 6 scores were determined in 2,094 patients with NSTEACS treated with PCI enrolled in the angiographic substudy of the ACUITY trial.

SYNTAX score reproducibility and variability between interventional cardiologists, core laboratory technicians, and quantitative coronary measurements.

Background: In the Synergy between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) trial, the SYNTAX score was useful in risk stratifying patients with complex coronary artery disease. The reproducibility of this score may affect its clinical utility. We therefore assessed SYNTAX score interobserver and intraobserver variability among a group of interventional cardiologists (ICs) and an experienced group of angiographic core laboratory (ACL) technicians.

Prognostic value of the SYNTAX score in patients with acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: analysis from the ACUITY (Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage StrategY) trial.

Objectives: We sought to investigate the predictive value of the SYNTAX (Synergy Between PCI With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) score (SS) for risk assessment of 1-year clinical outcomes in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Background: In the SYNTAX trial, the SS was effective in risk-stratifying patients with left main and triple-vessel coronary disease, the majority of whom had stable ischemic heart disease.

Methods: The SS was determined in 2,627 patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing PCI in the angiographic substudy of the ACUITY (Acute Catheterization and Urgent Intervention Triage StrategY) trial.