Improving STEMI Management Internationally: Initial Report of the American College of Cardiology-Global Heart Attack Treatment Initiative.

Background: The burden of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) worldwide is increasing as the leading cause of death; there are scant data on system-based initiatives and performance metrics relative to its management in low- and middle-income countries where resources are frequently limited.

Objectives: The Global Heart Attack Treatment Initiative (GHATI) ultimate aim is improving evidence-based STEMI care, adherence to guidelines, and tracking of clinical and institutional indicators in low- and middle-income countries. To achieve that goal, the process of care and outcomes of STEMI patients in those nations will be studied.

Probing the antinociceptive and therapeutic potential of probiotics in managing temporomandibular joint arthritis.

This literature review explored the antinociceptive and therapeutic effects of probiotic therapy (PT) in the treatment of arthritic conditions affecting the temporomandibular joint (TMJ). Indexed databases were searched without time and language restrictions up to and including February 2023, to identify studies addressing the question: "Is PT effective for the management of TMJ arthritis?" The following keywords were used in different combinations with Boolean operators: arthritis, osteoarthritis, pain, probiotic, rheumatoid, temporomandibular disorders, and temporomandibular joint. Original clinical and experimental studies assessing the therapeutic efficacy of PT in the management of osteoarthritis were eligible for inclusion.

Acceptance and safety of femoral versus radial access for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI): results from a large monitor-controlled German registry (QuIK).

Background: In 2015 and 2018, European Society of Cardiology guidelines for percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) favoring radial access over femoral access were published. These recommendations were based on randomized trials suggesting that patients treated radially experienced reduced bleeding complications and all-cause mortality. We aimed to assess acceptance and results of radial access in a real-world scenario by analyzing all PCI cases in the Quality Assurance in Invasive Cardiology (QuIK) registry.

Drug-eluting stents in clinical routine: a 1-year follow-up analysis based on German health insurance administrative data from 2008 to 2014.

Objectives: To describe the use of drug-eluting stents (DESs) in the largest population of statutory health insurance members in Germany, including newly developed bio-resorbable vascular scaffolds (BVSs), and to evaluate 1-year complication rates of DES as compared with bare metal stents (BMSs) in this cohort.

Design: Routine data analysis of statutory health insurance claims data from the years 2008 to 2014.

Setting: The German healthcare insurance Allgemeine Ortskrankenkasse covers approximately 30% of the German population and is the largest nationwide provider of statutory healthcare insurance in Germany.

High adherence to therapy and low cardiac mortality and morbidity in patients after acute coronary syndrome systematically managed by office-based cardiologists in Germany: 1-year outcomes of the ProAcor Study.

We aimed to assess patient acceptance and effectiveness of a 12-month structured management program in patients after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) event who were treated in a special setting of office-based cardiologists. The program comprised patient documentation with a specific tool (Bundesverband Niedergelassener Kardiologen [German Federation of Office-Based Cardiologists] cardiac pass with visit scheduling) shared by the hospital physician and the office-based cardiologist, the definition of individual treatment targets, and the systematic information of patients in order to optimize adherence to therapy. Participating centers (36 hospitals, 60 office-based cardiologists) included a total of 1,003 patients with ACS (ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction [STEMI] 44.

Revascularisation of patients with end-stage renal disease on chronic haemodialysis: bypass surgery versus PCI-analysis of routine statutory health insurance data.

Objectives: We aimed to analyse the short-term and long-term outcome of patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD) undergoing percutaneous intervention (PCI) as compared to coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) to evaluate the optimal coronary revascularisation strategy.

Design: Retrospective analysis of routine statutory health insurance data between 2010 and 2012.

Main Outcome Measures: Primary outcome was adjusted all-cause mortality after 30 days and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events at 1 year.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation in obese patients: Overcoming technical challenges and maintaining adequate hemodynamic performance using new generation prostheses.

Background: Second-generation TAVI prostheses may enhance the procedure reducing operative time and complications rate, maintaining adequate valve hemodynamic performance. We present our results with 2 new generation trans-catheter aortic valve (TAVI) prostheses in obese patients.

Methods: A series of 172 patients underwent trans-femoral TAVI with new generation prostheses (Direct Flow Medical, DFM®, and LOTUS®).

Why Hart found narrow ecospheres--a minor science mystery solved.

Aims: To explain why two NASA computer simulation studies in the 1970s (Hart, 1978 , 1979 ) briefly rocked the subfield of astrobiology and SETI studies by showing very narrow habitable zones (HZs) for solar-type stars. Although other studies later supported wider HZs, it was never clear why the Hart simulations found the narrow limits they did.

Results: Investigation of the state of climate studies and radiative transfer models in the period 1960-1970 provides a likely explanation.

Drug-coated balloons for treatment of coronary artery disease: updated recommendations from a consensus group.

Aims: Drug-coated balloon catheters (DCB) are a new clinical treatment modality for coronary and peripheral artery disease. The goal of the consensus group is to develop recommendations for the clinical use of DCB based on randomized clinical trials and the best available clinical evidence. The present paper gives an update on the recommendations against the background of a variety of new data published since the first paper was presented.

[Complication rates and secondary interventions after coronary procedures in clinical routine: 1-year follow-up based on routine data of a German health insurance company].

Background: Data on 1-year complication and follow-up intervention rates after coronary angiography (CA) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in German clinical routine are sparse. This analysis aims to determine these rates.

Methods: The analysis uses 2009 AOK claims data.

Long-term follow-up after coronary stenting with the sirolimus-eluting stent in clinical practice: results from the prospective multi-center German Cypher Stent Registry.

Aims: To obtain long-term follow-up data of the sirolimus-eluting coronary stent (SES) and to determine factors associated with clinical events and target vessel revascularization (TVR).

Methods And Results: Between 2002 and 2005, 5,946 patients were treated with at least one SES. A follow-up after a median of 4.

Coronary stenting with the sirolimus-eluting stent in clinical practice: final results from the prospective multicenter German Cypher Stent Registry.

Aims: Drug-eluting coronary stents (DES) have gained widespread use for the treatment of coronary artery disease. However, because of safety concerns and frequent "off-label" use data from "real life," registries are necessary to monitor indications and outcome of DES in daily clinical practice.

Methods And Results: We evaluated data from the German Cypher Stent Registry.

Combined assessment of myocardial perfusion and late gadolinium enhancement in patients after percutaneous coronary intervention or bypass grafts: a multicenter study of an integrated cardiovascular magnetic resonance protocol.

Objectives: We sought to assess the accuracy of an integrated cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) protocol for the diagnosis of relevant coronary artery or bypass graft stenosis in patients with suspected coronary artery disease (CAD) or with previously performed percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) or coronary bypass graft surgery (CABG).

Background: CMR is suitable for diagnosing inducible myocardial ischemia in patients with suspected CAD and has been proven to be a helpful diagnostic tool for decision of further treatment. However, little is known about its diagnostic accuracy in patients with known CAD who previously were treated by PCI or CABG.

Coronary stenting with the sirolimus-eluting stent in patients with restenosis after intracoronary brachytherapy: results from the prospective multicentre German Cypher Stent Registry.

Background: Treatment of restenosis following intracoronary brachytherapy (ICB) is still a challenging problem. Implantation of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in this setting may be an option to be evaluated.

Methods And Results: We analysed the prospective multicentre SES registry, the German Cypher Stent Registry.

[The QuIK-Registry of the German Society of Cardiologists in private practice: countrywide and benchmarking quality assurance in invasive cardiology].

QuIK is the German acronym for QUality Assurance in Invasive Cardiology. It describes the continuous project of an electronic data collection in Cardiac catheterization laboratories all over Germany. Mainly members of the German Society of Cardiologists in Private Practice (BNK) participate in this computer based project.

Sirolimus-eluting stent treatment at high-volume centers confers lower mortality at 6-month follow-up: results from the prospective multicenter German Cypher Registry.

Background: Studies continue to identify percutaneous coronary intervention procedural volume both at the institutional level and at the operator level as being strongly correlated with outcome. High-volume centers have been defined as those that perform >400 percutaneous coronary intervention procedures per year. The relationship between drug-eluting stent procedural volume and outcome is unknown.

Unusual case of Epstein-Barr virus DNA tissue positive: blood negative in a patient with post-transplant lymphoproliferative disorder.

Detection of PTLD uses PCR to detect circulating EBV DNA in the blood or in situ hybridization to identify EBV DNA in tissue biopsies. EBV DNA was detected in the tissue section using both real-time PCR and in situ hybridization. We report an unusual presentation of PTLD with no detectable EBV DNA in the blood using EBER-1 and EBNA-1 PCR assays.

Treatment of in-stent restenosis with sirolimus-eluting-stents: results from the prospective German Cypher stent registry.

Aims: Drug-eluting stents have been reported to effectively reduce in-stent restenosis (ISR). However, the effectiveness and safety have yet been investigated only in small trials or case series. The aim of this prospective large scale registry was to show that treatment of ISR with sirolimus eluting stents (SES) is safe, effective and feasible in daily routine.

Prognostic value of the modified American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association lesion morphology classification for clinical outcome after sirolimus-eluting stent placement (results of the prospective multicenter German Cypher Registry).

The modified American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association (ACC/AHA) lesion morphology classification scheme has prognostic impact for early and late outcomes when bare-metal stents are used. Its value after drug-eluting stent placement is unknown. The predictive value of this lesion morphology classification system in patients treated using sirolimus-eluting stents included in the German Cypher Registry was prospectively examined.