A randomized controlled trial to investigate the use of acute coronary syndrome therapy in patients hospitalized with COVID-19: the COVID-19 Acute Coronary Syndrome trial.

Background: Patients hospitalized with COVID-19 suffer thrombotic complications. Risk factors for poor outcomes are shared with coronary artery disease.

Objectives: To investigate the efficacy of an acute coronary syndrome regimen in patients hospitalized with COVID-19 and coronary disease risk factors.

Machine learning detection of Atrial Fibrillation using wearable technology.

Background: Atrial Fibrillation is the most common arrhythmia worldwide with a global age adjusted prevalence of 0.5% in 2010. Anticoagulation treatment using warfarin or direct oral anticoagulants is effective in reducing the risk of AF-related stroke by approximately two-thirds and can provide a 10% reduction in overall mortality.

Screening for Atrial Fibrillation Using Economical and Accurate Technology (From the SAFETY Study).

The prevalence of atrial fibrillation (AF) is estimated at more than 3% in the adult population and there has been increased interest in screening for AF. In the SAFETY trial we chose to evaluate if inexpensive, wearable, consumer electrocardiography (ECG) sensing devices (Polar-H7 [PH7] and Firstbeat Bodyguard 2 [BG2]), could be used to detect AF accurately. We undertook a case-control study of 418 participants aged >65 (82 with AF and/or flutter at the study visit and 336 without) attending 3 general practice surgeries in Hampshire, UK for a single screening visit.

Cardiac MRI of myocardial salvage at the peri-infarct border zones after primary coronary intervention.

The purpose of this study was to use cardiac MRI to define the morphology of the reversibly injured peri-infarct border zone in patients treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) for acute ST elevation myocardial infarction. In 15 patients, T2-weighted myocardial edema imaging was used to identify the ischemic bed or area at risk (AAR), and late gadolinium enhancement imaging was used to measure infarct size. Images were coregistered, and the boundaries of edema and necrosis were defined using an edge-detection methodology.

Reperfusion hemorrhage following acute myocardial infarction: assessment with T2* mapping and effect on measuring the area at risk.

Research ethics committee approval and informed consent were obtained. The purpose of this study was to assess the feasibility of multiecho T2* mapping of the heart for detecting reperfusion hemorrhage following percutaneous primary coronary intervention (PPCI) for acute myocardial infarction, and to measure the effect of hemorrhage on quantifying the ischemic area at risk (IAR) on T2-weighted magnetic resonance images. Fifteen patients (mean age, 59 years; 13 men, two women) were imaged a mean of 3.

Sirolimus-eluting and paclitaxel-eluting stents for the treatment of coronary bifurcations.

Background: The aim of the study was to compare the outcomes of sirolimus-eluting (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting (PES) stent implantation in coronary bifurcations treated with either a 1-stent or 2-stent strategy.

Methods: The study used a retrospective cohort analysis of consecutive de novo bifurcations, excluding left main, treated with SES or PES between April 2003 and June 2005.

Results: We identified 170 bifurcations in 161 patients treated with SES and 119 bifurcations in 112 patients treated with PES.

Late restenosis following sirolimus-eluting stent implantation.

Despite encouraging results from randomized trials, concerns exist about long-term results of sirolimus-eluting stent implantation. We sought to determine whether in-stent restenosis occurring >1 year ("late") after sirolimus-eluting stent implantation is a real clinical entity. We analyzed data on all sirolimus-eluting stents implanted in our institution before March 2003.

Concurrent implantation of sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents in the same vessel.

Objective: To assess the safety and efficacy of concurrent implantation of sirolimus-eluting (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting (PES) stents in the same coronary artery.

Background: When it is impossible to deliver multiple drug eluting stents (DES) of the same type, the operator must opt to implant a different DES or a bare metal stent. There are currently no published data evaluating this approach.

Patterns of restenosis after drug-eluting stent implantation: Insights from a contemporary and comparative analysis of sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents.

Aim: To evaluate patterns of restenosis following implantation of sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) and paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES) in comparable unselected lesions.

Methods And Results: We have identified all episodes of restenosis after SES or PES implantation in our institutions between March 2003 and March 2005. Restenosis pattern was classified as focal, diffuse, proliferative, or occlusive.

Is sirolimus better than paclitaxel? A review of the comparative data on drug-eluting stents.

Drug-eluting stents have been unequivocally demonstrated to reduce in-stent restenosis when compared to bare metal stents, with resultant lower rates of repeat revascularization. Comparative data are now emerging which compare the performance of sirolimus- and paclitaxel-eluting stents to each other rather than to bare metal stents. In this article, we review these data with the aim of placing the studies in context thereby providing an overall view of this rapidly developing field as it stands at present.