Publications by authors named "Shunsuke Usami"
Article Synopsis
- Previous trials suggest no overall benefit of screening for occult cancer in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE), but high-risk patients may still benefit.
- A study involving 3,706 patients with acute VTE found that the incidence of newly diagnosed cancer increased over time, reaching 3.7% at one year and 7.0% at three years.
- Factors such as older age, a history of cancer, autoimmune disorders, past major bleeding, and lack of transient VTE risk factors were identified as independent predictors for new cancer diagnoses post-VTE.
Low-Gradient Severe Aortic Stenosis: Insights From the CURRENT AS Registry-2.
JACC Cardiovasc Interv
November 2024
Background: Low-gradient (LG) aortic stenosis (AS) has not been fully characterized compared with high-gradient (HG) AS in terms of cardiac damage, frailty, aortic valve calcification, and clinical outcomes.
Objectives: The aim of this study was to compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes between each hemodynamic type of LG AS and HG AS.
Methods: The current study included 3,363 patients in the CURRENT AS (Contemporary outcomes after sURgery and medical tREatmeNT in patients with severe Aortic Stenosis) Registry-2 after excluding patients without indexed stroke volume or left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) data.
Background: There is a paucity of data on safety of calcium channel blockers (CCB) in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and hypertension.
Methods And Results: Among 2,460 patients with severe AS and hypertension receiving antihypertensive therapy in the CURRENT AS registry-2, we compared the clinical outcomes between patients taking antihypertensive therapy with CCB (CCB group) and without CCB (no CCB group). In the entire study population, CCB was prescribed in 1,763 patients (71.
Article Synopsis
- * Out of 1507 cancer patients studied, 4.7% experienced an ischemic stroke over a median follow-up of 1020 days, with a cumulative incidence of 4.0% at 1 year.
- * Key risk factors for stroke include specific cancers (pancreatic, ovarian, lung), dyslipidemia, metastasis, elevated D-dimer levels, and younger age, highlighting the need for vigilant monitoring in these patients.
Article Synopsis
- * TAVI centers preferred aortic valve replacement (AVR) treatments, with a higher percentage opting for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) compared to non-TAVI centers (71% vs. 23%).
- * Despite the differences in treatment frequency, both types of centers showed similar rates of all-cause death or heart failure hospitalizations over three years, indicating no significant outcome difference.
Article Synopsis
- Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may be necessary for some patients with severe pulmonary embolism (PE), but its clinical outcomes are not well understood.
- *In a study analyzing data from 2035 patients with acute PE, 76 required ECMO, with findings indicating high rates of cardiac arrest (88.2%) at diagnosis and a 30-day death rate of 30.3%, all related to PE.
- *The research highlighted significant complication rates, including a 54% incidence of major bleeding, suggesting the need for improved management strategies and future clinical trials.
Article Synopsis
- Elevated white blood cell (WBC) counts are identified as a risk factor for adverse outcomes in patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) who do not have active cancer.
- In a study involving 5,197 patients, those with the highest WBC counts (Q4) were more likely to experience severe forms of VTE like pulmonary embolism and had a significantly higher risk of death and major bleeding over five years.
- The findings suggest that monitoring WBC counts at VTE diagnosis can help in assessing patient risk and potential outcomes.
Article Synopsis
- * The COMMAND VTE Registry-2 study tracked 5,197 patients with venous thromboembolism in Japan, finding that 2.3% of those with acute PE developed CTEPH over an average follow-up of 747 days.
- * Identified risk factors for developing CTEPH included being female, longer time from symptom onset to PE diagnosis, experiencing hypoxemia, having right heart load, lower D-dimer levels, and having
Article Synopsis
- The simplified Pulmonary Embolism Severity Index (sPESI) score helps identify low-risk patients for home treatment of pulmonary embolism, but its use with direct oral anticoagulants hasn't been thoroughly studied.
- A study of 2,496 patients with stable pulmonary embolism found that only 25% had an sPESI score of 0, and among those, only 17% were treated at home, though their 30-day mortality was notably low (0% vs. 4.8% in higher risk groups).
- Factors promoting home treatment included the absence of temporary risk factors, no elevated cardiac biomarkers, and the use of direct oral anticoagulants during the acute phase.
Article Synopsis
- A study in Japan compared outcomes of patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE) treated with warfarin (2010-2014) versus direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) (2015-2020) from two multicenter registries.
- The use of DOACs skyrocketed from 2.6% in the warfarin era to 79% in the DOAC era, leading to a significant reduction in the 5-year recurrence rate of VTE (10.5% to 9.5%).
- However, the incidence of major bleeding remained similar between the two eras, indicating that while DOACs may reduce VTE recurrence, concerns about bleeding risks continue.
Article Synopsis
- The PE-SARD bleeding score was developed to predict early major bleeding in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) but has not been fully validated externally.
- A study using data from the COMMAND VTE Registry involving 2,781 acute PE patients categorized them into high, intermediate, and low-risk groups based on this score, revealing a clear increase in bleeding rates with higher risk scores.
- The results indicated the score has modest effectiveness in predicting bleeding risk overall, with better performance in patients without active cancer.
Article Synopsis
- Statins are suggested to help prevent recurrent venous thromboembolism (VTE), based on findings from a large study of over 5,000 VTE patients in Japan.
- The study divided patients into two groups based on statin use at discharge, revealing that the group using statins had a significantly lower incidence of recurrent VTE compared to the non-statin group (6.8% vs. 10.1%) over five years.
- Although statins also showed a trend towards reducing major bleeding risk, this was not statistically significant after adjusting for confounding factors.
Article Synopsis
- The study analyzed the presence of mitral regurgitation (MR) in patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) and how it relates to different treatment methods: TAVI, SAVR, and conservative management.
- Among the 3,365 patients examined, 384 (11.4%) had moderate/severe MR, and this group showed a significantly higher 3-year incidence of death or heart failure (HF) hospitalization compared to those with no/mild MR.
- The risk of death or HF hospitalization was notably higher in patients treated with SAVR and conservative strategies, while this risk was less clear in those who underwent TAVI.
Background: Real-world data on clinical characteristics and outcomes related to the use of different direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) for cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) is lacking.
Methods: The COMMAND VTE Registry-2 is a multicenter registry enrolling 5,197 consecutive patients with acute symptomatic VTE from 31 centers in Japan from January 2015 to August 2020. Our study population comprised 1,197 patients with active cancer who were divided into the edoxaban ( = 643, 54%), rivaroxaban ( = 297, 25%), and apixaban ( = 257, 22%) groups.
Article Synopsis
- Researchers studied unprovoked venous thromboembolisms (VTEs) in a large registry to identify distinct patient phenotypes using latent class analysis (LCA).
- The study classified patients into three subgroups based on age and health conditions: younger patients, older patients with few comorbidities, and older patients with many comorbidities.
- Findings revealed differences in treatment outcomes, with higher anticoagulation discontinuation and bleeding risks in older patients with more comorbidities, suggesting tailored management strategies could improve patient care.
Introduction: There is limited data on the safety of direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) in fragile patients with venous thromboembolism (VTE).
Materials And Methods: We used the COMMAND VTE Registry-2 enrolling patients with acute symptomatic VTE. The study population consisted of 3928 patients receiving DOACs, who were divided into fragile (2136 patients) and non-fragile groups (1792 patients).
Article Synopsis
- - The study investigated cancer-associated venous thromboembolism (VTE) management in patients treated with direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) across 31 centers in Japan from 2015 to 2020, involving 5,197 patients.
- - Patients with active cancer showed a higher rate of discontinuing anticoagulation treatment (62.7%) compared to those without cancer (59.1%), and they experienced more major bleeding incidents over five years (20.4% vs. 11.6%).
- - After adjusting for other factors, although the recurrence of VTE was similar between both groups, the increased risk of major bleeding persisted in those with active cancer, highlighting ongoing challenges in managing antico
There were no data comparing the in-hospital outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) with those after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in Japan. Among consecutive patients with severe AS between April 2018 and December 2020 in the CURRENT AS Registry-2, we identified 1714 patients who underwent aortic valve replacement (TAVI group: 1134 patients, and SAVR group: 580 patients). Patients in the TAVI group were much older (84.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFArticle Synopsis
- The CURRENT AS Registry-2 is a comprehensive study analyzing the management and outcomes of patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS) across 21 centers in Japan from April 2018 to December 2020.
- The registry collected data from 3,394 patients, with an average age of 81.6 years, focusing on their symptoms, echocardiographic evaluations, and treatment approaches, including surgical and conservative management.
- The findings suggest that the registry is a valuable resource for understanding when to intervene in severe AS cases, helping to improve clinical practices in managing the condition.
Background: Approximately one-third of patients with advanced heart failure (HF) do not respond to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT). We investigated whether the left ventricular (LV) conduction pattern on magnetocardiography (MCG) can predict CRT responders.
Methods and results: This retrospective study enrolled 56 patients with advanced HF (mean [±SD] LV ejection fraction [LVEF] 23±8%; QRS duration 145±19 ms) and MCG recorded before CRT.
Objective: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is an increasingly prevalent and ultimately fatal disease with no effective pharmacological treatment. Because matrix degradation induced by vascular inflammation is the major pathophysiology of AAA, attenuation of this inflammation may improve its outcome. Previous studies suggested that miR-33 (microRNA-33) inhibition and genetic ablation of miR-33 increased serum high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and attenuated atherosclerosis.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAims: Recent studies have shown that serum microRNA (miR) abundance is informative for the diagnosis or prognosis of heart failure. However, the dynamics and kinetics of miRs in acute heart failure are largely unknown. Serial measurement and analysis of serum miRs changes in individuals along their therapeutic course could reduce inter-individual variation and should detect potentially important serum miRs related to disease mechanisms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Recently, it has been reported that specific microRNA (miRNA) levels are elevated in serum and can be used as biomarkers in patients with cardiovascular diseases. However, miRNAs expression profiles and their sources in pericardial fluid (PF) are unclear.
Methods And Results: The purpose of this study was to identify the levels of miRNAs in PF in relation to those in the serum in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.