Predictive Factors of Unexpected Hospitalization within Six Months of Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients with Chronic Coronary Disease.

Background Recent guidelines recommend dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) for six months following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with chronic coronary disease, as unexpected hospitalization can trigger DAPT discontinuation. This study evaluated the predictive factors for unexpected hospitalization within six months after PCI in patients with chronic coronary disease. Methods This prospective multicenter study included 412 patients who underwent PCI for chronic coronary disease.

Accuracy of Outcome Ascertainment in Long-Term Mortality After Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

Long-term outcome ascertainment can be affected by the follow-up performance and needs to use a different data source for more comprehensive data capture. However, a universal tracking system is absent in Japan, and long-term outcomes are often ascertained through electronic medical records (EMRs), the reliability of which is uncertain. In this study, we compared EMR-based and direct outreach-based collections on outcome ascertainment accuracy in 500 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting.

Importance of reassessment to identify trajectories of chronic transition of clinical indicators in post-myocardial infarction management.

Despite advances in multidisciplinary acute care for myocardial infarction (MI), the clinical need to manage heart failure and elevated mortality risks in the remote phase of MI remains unmet. Various prognostic models have been established using clinical indicators obtained during the acute phase of MI; however, most of these indicators also show chronic changes in the post-MI phase. Although relevant guidelines recommend follow-up assessments of some clinical indicators in the chronic phase, systematic reassessment has not yet been fully established and implemented in a real-world clinical setting.

Pulmonary Vein Intervention for Severe Pulmonary Vein Stenosis After Atrial Fibrillation Ablation - A Retrospective Cohort Study.

Background: Pulmonary vein (PV) stenosis (PVS) is a serious complication of atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. The objective of this study was to describe interventional treatments for PVS after AF ablation and long-term outcomes in Japanese patients.

Methods and results: This multicenter retrospective observational study enrolled 30 patients (26 [87%] male; median age 55 years) with 56 severe PVS lesions from 43 PV interventional procedures.

Efficacy of Cardiac Computed Tomography for Obstructive Mechanical Valve Thrombosis Under Venoarterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation.

We encountered a patient in a state of shock who required venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in whom cardiac computed tomography was instrumental in diagnosing obstructive mechanical mitral valve thrombosis as well as in the differentiation of other probable diseases. Because the patient was on venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support, computed tomography imaging required some ingenuity. ().

Multiple percutaneous coronary interventions worsen outcomes for subsequent surgical correction of chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Objective: We investigated whether or not a history of multiple percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) is associated with clinical outcomes after surgery for ischemic mitral regurgitation.

Methods: A total of 309 patients with chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation and left ventricular ejection fraction ≤40% who underwent restrictive mitral annuloplasty were classified as follows: patients with no or 1 previous PCI (nonmultiple PCI group [n = 211]) and patients with 2 or more previous PCIs (multiple PCIs group [n = 98]). Mean follow-up duration was 53 ± 40 months.

Pathophysiological evaluations of initial plaque development after heart transplantation via serial multimodality imaging and cytokine assessments.

Background: Detailed morphological characteristics of de novo and donor-transmitted plaques and the association of serum T-lymphocyte cytokine levels with plaque progression of coronary allograft vasculopathy within 1 year after heart transplantation are unknown.

Methods: In this retrospective analysis of data in a prospectively maintained database, 40 heart transplant recipients were included. We performed serial 3 vessel optical coherence tomography and intravascular ultrasound analyses, at the 8 week (baseline) and 12 month post-transplantation follow-ups, and serum cytokine measurements (n = 23).

Serum Albumin and Bleeding Events After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction (from the HAGAKURE-ACS Registry).

Low serum albumin (SA) on admission in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has been reported to be associated with adverse cardiovascular events. The relation between low SA and post-AMI bleeding events is presently unknown. We analyzed 1,724 patients with AMI enrolled in the HAGAKURE-ACS registry who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention from January 2014 to December 2018.

Simple risk-score model for in-hospital major bleeding based on multiple blood variables in patients with acute myocardial infarction.

Background: In-hospital bleeding is associated with poor prognosis in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We sought to investigate whether a combination of pre-procedural blood tests could predict the incidence of in-hospital major bleeding in patients with AMI.

Methods And Results: A total of 1684 consecutive AMI patients who underwent primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were recruited and randomly divided into derivation (n = 1010) and validation (n = 674) cohorts.

Predictors and outcomes of neoatherosclerosis in patients with in-stent restenosis.

Background: In-stent restenosis (ISR), especially for neoatherosclerosis, is still a major problem of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) even in the drug-eluting stent (DES) era.

Aims: The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of neoatherosclerosis on prognosis after PCI for ISR.

Methods: Between March 2009 and December 2017, 313 ISR lesions in patients undergoing an OCT-guided PCI in five hospitals were retrospectively enrolled.

Differences in routes of guiding catheters for left coronary artery according to access sites assessed by the combined angiography-computed tomography system.

Differences in guiding catheters (GCs) manipulations and selections among different access sites are currently unclear. We examined the differences in the routes of GCs for the left coronary artery (LCA) among the right radial, left radial, and femoral approaches. We used a combined angiography-computed tomography (CT) system that enabled to perform CT scans during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Diagnostic performance of coronary angiography utilizing intraprocedural 320-row computed tomography with minimal contrast medium.

Recently developed coronary angiography with intraprocedural 320-row computed tomography can be performed in a catheterization laboratory (XACT) by injecting contrast medium from a place close to the coronary arteries, thereby requiring a minimal amount of contrast medium. However, its clinical application has not yet been established. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of XACT angiography with a minimal volume of contrast medium in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD).

Role of the Dynamic Contact Angle on Splashing.

In this Letter, we study the splashing behavior of droplets upon impact onto a variety of substrates with different wetting properties, ranging from hydrophilic to superhydrophobic surfaces. In particular, we study the effects of the dynamic contact angle on splashing. The experimental approach uses high-speed imaging and image analysis to recover the apparent contact angle as a function of the spreading speed.