[Cardiac computed tomography: overview and perspectives]. / Tomodensitométrie cardiaque : tour d'horizon et perspectives.

Recent technical improvements have led to a decrease of scanning duration in computed tomography and opened the doors to cardiac imaging, particularly for coronary applications. Recently, large studies have compared anatomical and functional testing in coronary artery disease, showing at least similar results in terms of long-term cardiovascular mortality and morbidity. Adding functional to anatomical information aims to make CT a « one-stop shop ¼ in investigating coronary artery disease. Moreover, computed tomography has emerged in the planning of several percutaneous interventions, in addition to other modalities like transesophageal echocardiography.

Les évolutions techniques récentes ont permis une diminution constante des temps d'acquisition par tomodensitométrie (Computed Tomography (CT)) et ouvert les portes à l'imagerie cardiaque, en particulier coronarienne. Plus récemment, de grandes études ont comparé les approches anatomiques et fonctionnelles dans le diagnostic de la maladie coronarienne, démontrant des résultats au moins comparables en termes de mortalité et morbidité cardiovasculaires à long terme. Par ailleurs, la perspective de coupler une investigation fonctionnelle à l'examen anatomique vise à faire du CT un examen complet dans le bilan de la maladie coronarienne. De plus, le CT s'est imposé dans la planification de nombreuses interventions percutanées, en complément d'autres modalités comme l'échocardiographie transœsophagienne.

Left ventricular thrombus in ischaemic heart disease: diagnosis, treatment, and gaps of knowledge.

Although the management of ischaemic heart disease has markedly improved over the last decades, left ventricular thrombus remains a serious finding in patients with myocardial infarction. Routine diagnostic detection of left ventricular thrombus relies mainly on echocardiography; however, cardiac magnetic resonance has emerged as a method with higher diagnostic accuracy, while cardiac computed tomography angiography represents a valuable alternative modality. To reduce the left ventricular thrombus-associated morbidity and mortality, optimal selection of anticoagulation is warranted after balancing the risk of bleeding. In this review, we will discuss contemporary diagnostic modalities to detect left ventricular thrombus in ischaemic heart disease and summarize evidence on risk stratification and therapy. In addition, we propose a novel diagnosis, follow-up imaging, and treatment algorithm. Further, we identify knowledge gaps at different levels to address emerging research questions and to refine the design of future studies aiming to improve the management of patients in this clinical setting.

Comparison of everolimus- and biolimus-eluting coronary stents with everolimus-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffolds.

BACKGROUND: The first CE-approved bioresorbable vascular scaffold (BVS) is effective at treating simple lesions and stable coronary artery disease, but it has yet to be assessed versus the best-in-class drug-eluting stents (DES). OBJECTIVES: This study sought to compare the performance of a BVS with that of everolimus-eluting stents (EES) and biolimus-eluting stents (BES) in all-comer patients. METHODS: The EVERBIO II (Comparison of Everolimus- and Biolimus-Eluting Stents With Everolimus-Eluting Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold Stents II) trial was a single-center, assessor-blinded study of 240 patients randomly assigned in a 1:1:1 ratio to EES, BES, or BVS. The only exclusion criterion was a reference vessel diameter >4.0 mm, which precluded treatment with BVS. The primary endpoint was angiographic late lumen loss (LLL) at 9 months. Secondary endpoints included patient-oriented major acute coronary events (MACE) (death, myocardial infarction [MI], and any revascularization), device-oriented MACE (cardiac death, MI, and target lesion revascularization), and stent thrombosis at the 9-month clinical follow-up. RESULTS: Follow-up angiography was performed in 216 patients (90.7%) at 9 months. In-stent LLL was similar between patients treated with BVS (0.28 ± 0.39 mm) and those treated with EES/BES (0.25 ± 0.36 mm; p = 0.30). Clinical outcomes were similar at 9 months: the patient-oriented MACE rate was 27% in BVS and 26% in the EES/BES group (p = 0.83) and the device-oriented MACE rate was 12% in BVS and 9% in the EES/BES group (p = 0.6). CONCLUSIONS: New-generation metallic DES (EES/BES) were not superior to BVS in terms of angiographic LLL and clinical outcomes. (Comparison of Everolimus- and Biolimus-Eluting Stents With Everolimus-Eluting Bioresorbable Vascular Scaffold Stents [EVERBIO II]; NCT01711931).