Outline of the report on cardiovascular diseases in China, 2014.

The risk factors for cardiovascular diseases (CVDs) are more prevalent in the Chinese population, and therefore, increase the incidence of CVD. In general, CVD morbidity and mortality will remain an upward trend in the next 10 years. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in China, which accounts for >40% of deaths from any cause. The burden of CVD is substantial and has become an important public health issue. Measures for the prevention and treatment of CVD in China should be further enforced without delay. Since 2005, the National Center for Cardiovascular Diseases has organized experts of cardiology, neurology, nephrology, diabetes, epidemiology, community health, health economics, biostatistics, and other related fields to compile the annual Report on Cardiovascular Diseases in China. The report aims to provide a timely review of the trend of the epidemic of CVD and to assess the progress of prevention and control of CVD. We present an abstract from the Report on Cardiovascular Diseases in China (2014), including trends in CVD, morbidity and mortality of major CVD, up-to-date assessment of risk factors, as well as health resources for CVD, and a profile of medical expenditure, with the aim of providing evidence for decision making in CVD prevention and control programmes in China, and of delivering the most authoritative information on CVD prevention and control for all citizens.

[Predict value of European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation II on 30 days operative mortality in patients with severe coronary artery disease undergoing active treatments].

OBJECTIVE: To assess the predict value of European system for cardiac operative risk evaluation (EuroSCORE) II on early death in patients with severe coronary artery disease undergoing active treatment. METHODS: Consecutive 2 240 patients with three-vessel disease ( with or without left main disease) diagnosed by elevtive coronary angiogram between July 2011 and September 2012 were screened for this study, data from 1 892 patients who underwent active treatments (percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting) were analyzed retrospectivly. The predicted 30 days operative mortality calculated with EuroSCORE II was compared with the actual one. The calibration and discrimination of EuroSCORE II were tested with Hosmer-Lemeshow χ2 test and area under receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve respectively. RESULTS: Age was 61.0 (54.0-68.0) years old and 75.8% (1,435/1,892) were male in this cohort, 58.0% (1,097/1,892) patients received percutaneous coronary intervention and 42.0% (795/1,892) patients received coronary artery bypass grafting. The overall 30 days operative mortality was 0.53% (10/1,892), 30 days operative mortality predicted by EuroSCORE II was 0.85% (95% CI:0. 44%-1.26%). The calibration (χ2 = 3.47 and P > 0.10) and discrimination (area under ROC curve was 0.75) of EuroSCORE II were satisfactory. CONCLUSION: EuroSCORE II could precisely predict 30 days operative mortality for three-vessel disease patients with or without left main disease undergoing active treatments.

Extending the time window of mammalian heart regeneration by thymosin beta 4.

Recent studies demonstrated that the heart of 1-day-old neonatal mice could regenerate, with Wt1(+) EPDCs migrating into myocardial regions after partial surgical resection, but this capacity was lost by 7 days of age. By treatment with Tß4 to maintain Wt1 expression and retain the migrating feature of EPDCs in neonatal mice, we explored the possibility of restoring the cardiac regeneration potential of mice. We intraperitoneally injected Tß4 into 1-day-old mice on daily basis and then apical resection was performed on the mice 7 days later. Twenty one days after the resection, morphological analysis revealed that the Tß4-treated mice regenerated the resected ventricular apex, while the mice in PBS control group developed significant fibrosis without apical regeneration. The Tß4-treated mice had significantly better ventricular ejection fraction and fractional shortening than controls. During the process of regeneration, Wt1(+) EPDCs migrated into myocardial region and some of them expressed Islet1 and the markers for mature cardiomyocytes, such as cTnT and SαA. These characteristics of Wt1(+) EPDCs were also seen in the heart regeneration of mice subjected to apical resection 1 day after birth. Tß4 has no essential effect on cell cycle activity as no disruption of actin filaments was observed in Tß4-treated hearts. These results revealed that the cardiac regeneration potential of neonatal mice could be extended to the 7th post-natal day by Tß4 and Wt1(+) EPDCs mobilization might play an important role in the extension.

Totally thoracoscopic versus open surgery for closure of atrial septal defect: propensity-score matched comparison.

The purpose of this study is to compare early clinical outcomes of surgical repair for isolated atrial septal defect (ASD) with a totally thoracoscopic approach without robotic assistance versus a conventional open procedure.Between September 2010 and June 2012, 254 consecutive patients with isolated ASD underwent totally thoracoscopic surgery without robotic assistance in seven institutions participating in the nationwide multi-centered registry in China. During the same period, these patients were matched using propensity score methodology with 254 patients who had accepted conventional open surgery through a median sternotomy. The early in-hospital results between the two groups were analyzed and compared.The patient age was 26.8 ± 14.0 years and weight was 52.9 ± 16.9 kg in the totally thoracoscopic group. The totally thoracoscopic surgery required longer aortic clamp time (32.1 ± 17.3 minutes versus 28.3 ± 16.7 minutes, P = .01); shorter length of stay in the intensive care unit (25.3 ± 12.2 hours versus 34.8 ± 24.4 hours, P = .001); shorter length of stay in hospital (6.5 ± 6.3 days versus 7.9 ± 6.4 days, P = .008); and shorter mechanical ventilation time (8.3 ± 5.0 hours versus 11.4 ± 14.8 hours, P = .04). The cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time (62.7 ± 29.3 minutes versus 61.5 ± 28.0 minutes, P = .64) showed no significant difference between the two groups. The totally thoracoscopic group had significantly less postoperative chest tube drainage (322.1 ± 213.7 mL versus 462.8 ± 398.4 mL, P = .001). The intraoperative (35.4% versus 38.6%, P = .46) and postoperative blood products usage (20.9% versus 21.3%, P = .91) showed no significant difference between the two groups.There also was no significant difference in mortality and major in-hospital complications between the two groups. The early outcomes for treatment of isolated ASD were similar between the totally thoracoscopic group conventional open operation performed through median sternotomy, despite a longer aortic clamp time in the totally thoracoscopic group.

Assessment of coronary artery stenosis by coronary angiography: a head-to-head comparison with pathological coronary artery anatomy.

BACKGROUND: Conventional coronary angiography (CCA) has been considered as a gold standard for the diagnosis of coronary artery diseases; however, its diagnostic accuracy is still unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: Between July 2004 and December 2011, 97 patients underwent CCA within 15 days before heart transplantation in Fuwai hospital. A head-to-head comparison study was performed to examine the diagnostic accuracy of CCA as compared with that of pathological coronary artery anatomy. As confirmed by pathological coronary artery anatomy, 44 (45.4%) patients had coronary artery diseases. The patient-based diagnostic accuracy evaluation showed that the area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve of CCA for detecting ≥50% stenosis was 0.91, with a sensitivity of 91%, a specificity of 93%, and high concordance (κ=0.83). A per-vessel analysis of 291 vessels yielded an AUC of 0.79, the agreement of 3 vessels >0.6 (κ statistic). The area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve was 0.88 for proximal and middle segments, and was 0.62 for distal segments, κ was calculated to detect the distal segments with lower concordance than proximal and middle segments. The patient- and vessel-based evaluations showed similar diagnostic accuracy of CCA in detecting ≥75% stenosis. Per-segment evaluation found CCA was more accurate for detecting ≥50% and ≥75% stenosis in proximal and middle segments than in distal segments, and the diagnosis ability decreased in more severe stenosis segments and more complex lesions. CONCLUSIONS: The accuracy of CCA is quite high in detecting coronary artery stenosis in patients- and vessels-based levels. However, the diagnosis ability decreased in more severe and complex lesions, especially for distal segments.

Evaluation by cardiac troponin I: the effect of ischemic preconditioning as an adjunct to intermittent blood cardioplegia on coronary artery bypass grafting.

OBJECTIVE: Ischemic preconditioning (IPC) is commonly regarded as having a powerful internal protective effect on the organs. The mechanism of IPC is not clear yet, and the controversy over the benefits and protocol of IPC still continues. In this study, we used the sensitive and specific biochemical marker: cardiac troponin-I (CTnI) to evaluate whether IPC as an adjunct to intermittent cold blood cardioplegia (CBC) could reduce myocardial injury, as opposed to simple CBC during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: From May 2003 to December 2003, 40 patients with three vessel coronary artery disease (CAD) and stable angina, receiving first-time elective CABG, were randomly divided into two equal groups: IPC plus CBC (IPC + CBC group, n = 20); and CBC (CBC group, n = 20). The patients in IPC + CBC group received two cycles of ischemia (two min) and reperfusion (three min) before myocardial arrest induced by CBC. The patients in CBC group received 10-minute normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) before CBC arrest. Clinical outcomes were observed during and after the operation. Serial venous blood samples were obtained before induction, after CPB, and postoperatively 6, 12, 24, and 72 hours. Hemodynamic indexes were obtained before and after the bypass by the radial catheter and Swan-Ganz catheter. RESULTS: In both groups, there were no differences regarding operative parameters. Compared to the baseline, the level of CTnI increased after CPB, peaked 6-12 hours (p < 0.01). Compared to IPC + CBC group, plasma concentrations of CTnI in CBC group were significantly higher at 6 and 12 hours (p < 0.05). CI recovery in IPC + CBC group was more significant than CBC group at 12 and 24 hours (p < 0.05). IPC + CBC also shortened the time of postoperative mechanical ventilation (p < 0.05) after surgery. CONCLUSION: Compared to the simple CBC in lower-risk CABG patients, IPC as an adjunct to CBC reduced CTnI release, improved heart function after surgery, and shortened the time of recovery in CAD patients.