Invasive assessment of coronary artery disease.

Coronary artery disease is associated to high mortality and morbidity rates and an accurate diagnostic assessment during heart catheterization has a fundamental role in prognostic stratification and treatment choices. Coronary angiography has been integrated by intravascular imaging modalities, namely intravascular ultrasound and optical coherence tomography, which allow the precise quantification of the atherosclerotic burden of coronary arteries. The hemodynamic relevance of a given coronary stenosis can be assessed using stress or resting indexes: fractional flow reserve and instantaneous wave-free ratio are both coronary flow surrogates, used to guide percutaneous coronary interventions.

State of the art: coronary angiography.

In the early days of coronary angiography, the precise quantification of luminal narrowing was challenging. The introduction of balloon angioplasty (percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty [PTCA]) by Andreas Grüntzig in 1977 was perhaps the greatest incentive to the development of quantitative coronary angiography (QCA). QCA has played a crucial role in evaluating interventional techniques and assessing the results of new technologies.

Long-term Safety and Efficacy of New-Generation Drug-Eluting Stents in Women With Acute Myocardial Infarction: From the Women in Innovation and Drug-Eluting Stents (WIN-DES) Collaboration.

Importance: Women with acute myocardial infarction (MI) undergoing mechanical reperfusion remain at increased risk of adverse cardiac events and mortality compared with their male counterparts. Whether the benefits of new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) are preserved in women with acute MI remains unclear.

Objective: To investigate the long-term safety and efficacy of new-generation DES vs early-generation DES in women with acute MI.

Benefit of cardiopoietic mesenchymal stem cell therapy on left ventricular remodelling: results from the Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) study.

Aims: Left ventricular (LV) reverse remodelling is an important marker of improved outcomes in patients with advanced heart failure (HF). We examined the impact of the intramyocardial administration of bone-marrow-derived, lineage-directed, autologous cardiopoietic mesenchymal stem cells (C3BS-CQR-1) on LV remodelling in patients with advanced HF enrolled in the CHART-1 study.

Methods And Results: Patients (n=351) with symptomatic advanced HF secondary to ischaemic heart disease, and reduced LV ejection fraction (LVEF <35%) were randomized to receive C3BS-CQR-1 or a sham procedure.

Reversed single string technique for coronary bifurcation stenting-First report of case demonstrations in vitro.

Objectives: This work reports the concept and the practical feasibility of Reversed Single String bifurcation stenting technique by demonstrating three in vitro cases.

Background: Provisional T stenting is the most used interventional technique to treat coronary bifurcation lesions. However, after main branch (MB) stenting, treatment of the side branch (SB) may become indicated to provide a good final result.

Sustained safety and clinical performance of a drug-eluting absorbable metal scaffold up to 24 months: pooled outcomes of BIOSOLVE-II and BIOSOLVE-III.

Aims: We aimed to assess the safety and performance of the DREAMS 2G scaffold up to 24 months post implant.

Methods And Results: The present study population comprises a total of 184 patients with 189 lesions who were enrolled in the prospective, multicentre BIOSOLVE-II and BIOSOLVE-III trials. Clinical follow-up was scheduled at one, six, 12, 24 and 36 months.

Adverse events while awaiting myocardial revascularization: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objectives: The aim of the current study was to estimate adverse event rates while awaiting myocardial revascularization and review criteria for prioritizing patients.

Methods: A PubMed search was performed on 19 January 2015, to identify English-language, original, observational studies reporting adverse events while awaiting coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Rates of death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI) and emergency revascularization were calculated as occurrence rates per 1000 patient-weeks and pooled using random-effects models.

Long-Term Outcomes of Stenting the Proximal Left Anterior Descending Artery in the PROTECT Trial.

Objectives: This study sought to compare the outcomes of patients undergoing drug-eluting stent implantation according to lesion location within or outside the proximal left anterior descending (LAD) artery.

Background: Proximal LAD artery involvement is considered uniquely in revascularization guidelines. The impact of LAD lesion location on long-term outcomes after revascularization is poorly understood in context of current percutaneous coronary intervention and medical therapy.

Influence of apixaban on commonly used coagulation assays: results from the Belgian national External Quality Assessment Scheme.

Introduction: The Belgian national External Quality Assessment Scheme performed a survey to assess the effect of the direct oral anticoagulant apixaban on the coagulation assays prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (aPTT), fibrinogen and antithrombin as performed with a large number of reagent/instrument combinations.

Methods: Four lyophilized plasma samples spiked with apixaban (0, 41, 94 and 225 ng/mL) were sent to the 195 Belgian and Luxembourg clinical laboratories performing coagulation testing.

Results: PT and aPTT were barely influenced at the concentrations tested.

The REMEDEE-OCT Study: An Evaluation of the Bioengineered COMBO Dual-Therapy CD34 Antibody-Covered Sirolimus-Eluting Coronary Stent Compared With a Cobalt-Chromium Everolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndromes: Insights From Optical Coherence Tomography Imaging Analysis.

Objectives: The aim of the present study was to evaluate vascular healing of the bioengineered COMBO Dual Therapy Stent compared with a cobalt-chromium (CoCr) everolimus-eluting stent (EES) as assessed by optical coherence tomography in patients with acute coronary syndromes.

Background: CD34+ cells promote endothelial repair after vascular injury. The bioengineered COMBO Dual Therapy Stent combines CD34+ cell-capturing technology with abluminal sirolimus release, but more data from clinical studies evaluating the vascular response are needed.

Fractional flow reserve to guide and to assess coronary artery bypass grafting.

The aim of this review is to highlight the role of invasive functional evaluation in patients in whom coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is indicated, and to examine the clinical evidence available in favour of fractional flow reserve (FFR) adoption in these patients, outline appropriate use, as well as point out potential pitfalls. FFR after CABG will also be reviewed, highlighting its correct interpretation and adoption when applied to both native coronary arteries and bypass grafts. Practice European guidelines support the use of FFR to complement coronary angiography with the highest degree of recommendation (Class IA) for the assessment of coronary stenosis before undertaking myocardial revascularization when previous non-invasive functional evaluation is unavailable or not conclusive.

Cardiopoietic cell therapy for advanced ischaemic heart failure: results at 39 weeks of the prospective, randomized, double blind, sham-controlled CHART-1 clinical trial.

Aims: Cardiopoietic cells, produced through cardiogenic conditioning of patients' mesenchymal stem cells, have shown preliminary efficacy. The Congestive Heart Failure Cardiopoietic Regenerative Therapy (CHART-1) trial aimed to validate cardiopoiesis-based biotherapy in a larger heart failure cohort.

Methods And Results: This multinational, randomized, double-blind, sham-controlled study was conducted in 39 hospitals.

Prognostic Factors in Patients With Stemi Undergoing Primary PCI in the Clopidogrel Era: Role of Dual Antiplatelet Therapy at Admission and the Smoking Paradox on Long-Term Outcome.

Background: Several clinical and laboratory variables have an impact on the prognosis of STEMI patients undergoing PPCI; however, little is known about the role of ongoing DAPT at the time of the event and the smoking status as prognostic factors affecting the outcome of these patients.

Methods And Results: Seven-hundred and thirteen consecutive STEMI patients undergoing PPCI, admitted to the S. Anna and S.

Diagnostic Accuracy of Fast Computational Approaches to Derive Fractional Flow Reserve From Diagnostic Coronary Angiography: The International Multicenter FAVOR Pilot Study.

Objectives: The aim of this prospective multicenter study was to identify the optimal approach for simple and fast fractional flow reserve (FFR) computation from radiographic coronary angiography, called quantitative flow ratio (QFR).

Background: A novel, rapid computation of QFR pullbacks from 3-dimensional quantitative coronary angiography was developed recently.

Methods: QFR was derived from 3 flow models with: 1) fixed empiric hyperemic flow velocity (fixed-flow QFR [fQFR]); 2) modeled hyperemic flow velocity derived from angiography without drug-induced hyperemia (contrast-flow QFR [cQFR]); and 3) measured hyperemic flow velocity derived from angiography during adenosine-induced hyperemia (adenosine-flow QFR [aQFR]).

Five-year outcomes of chronic total occlusion treatment with a biolimus A9-eluting biodegradable polymer stent versus a sirolimus-eluting permanent polymer stent in the LEADERS all-comers trial.

Background: Few data are available on long-term follow-up of drug-eluting stents in the treatment of chronic total occlusion (CTO). The LEADERS CTO sub-study compared the long-term results in CTO and non-CTO lesions of a Biolimus A9™-eluting stent (BES) with a sirolimus-eluting stent (SES).

Methods: Among 1,707 patients enrolled in the prospective, multi-center, all-comers LEADERS trial, 81 with CTOs were treated with either a BES (n = 45) or a SES (n = 36).

Correlates and Impact of Coronary Artery Calcifications in Women Undergoing Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Drug-Eluting Stents: From the Women in Innovation and Drug-Eluting Stents (WIN-DES) Collaboration.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical correlates and prognostic impact of coronary artery calcification (CAC) in women undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with drug-eluting stents (DES).

Background: The clinical correlates and the prognostic significance of CAC in women undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with DES remain unclear.

Methods: Patient-level data from female participants in 26 randomized trials of DES were pooled.