Five-year clinical outcomes of STEMI patients treated with a pre-specified bioresorbable vascular scaffold implantation technique: Final results of the BVS STEMI STRATEGY-IT.

Background: Data on Absorb bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) use in patients presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are limited. Furthermore, Absorb studies including STEMI patients lacked a prespecified implantation technique to optimize BVS deployment. This study examines the 5-year outcomes of BVS in STEMI patients using an optimized implantation strategy and the impact of prolonged dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT).

ImpaCt of an Optimal Implantation Strategy on Absorb Long-Term Outcomes: The CIAO Registry.

Aim: To compare the long-term outcomes of patients implanted with Absorb bioresorbable scaffold (BRS) with optimal versus suboptimal technique.

Methods And Results: All patients who received an Absorb between March 2012 and January 2016 were selected from 19 Italian centers databases to assess the impact of an optimal implantation technique (CIAO criteria) on long-term device-oriented composite end-point (DOCE) - including cardiac death (CD), target-vessel myocardial infarction (TV-MI) and ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization (ID-TLR) - on its single components and on scaffold thrombosis (ScT). CIAO criteria consist of predilation (balloon/vessel ratio 1:1), correct sizing (BRS/proximal reference vessel diameter -RVD- ratio 0.

Percutaneous coronary intervention risk scores.

Percutaneous coronary interventions in patients at high clinical risk with anatomical complexity is one of the most important topics in interventional cardiology. The development of materials and techniques allowed the interventional cardiologist to be able to treat virtually any coronary lesion. The patient's evaluation with clinical and anatomic risk scores allow the physicians to choose the best therapeutic strategy for each individual patient.

Blood metabolomic fingerprint is distinct in healthy coronary and in stenosing or microvascular ischemic heart disease.

Background: The endothelium is a key variable in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis and its complications, particularly coronary artery disease (CAD). Current evidence suggests that the endothelial status can be regarded as an integrated index of individual atherogenic and anti-atherogenic properties, and that the interaction between circulating factors and the arterial wall might be critical for atherogenesis. In organism-level investigations, a functional view is provided by metabolomics, the study of the metabolic profile of small molecules.

Care quality monitoring of a ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction programme over a 5-year period.

Aims: The aim of this study is to investigate the long-term impact of a prehospital ECG programme on treatment times for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: From January 2008 to December 2012, 213 STEMI patients transported by the Emergency Medical System (EMS) underwent primary PCI in our Hospital. The protocol included ECG tele-transmission, early activation of the cath lab and direct routing of the patient for primary PCI.

[Left internal mammary artery graft stenosis. Atherosclerosis, spasm or kinking?].

The internal mammary artery is the most frequently used bypass conduit for the left anterior descending coronary artery in patients treated with bypass surgery, with excellent long-term patency rates. However, the mammary artery may also be affected by functionally significant stenoses. Most stenoses of the mammary artery are secondary to the surgical procedure at the anastomosis site, but atherosclerotic lesions may also develop.