Clinical outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention for chronic total occlusion in prior coronary artery bypass grafting patients.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the clinical characteristics and outcomes in patients with stable angina who have undergone chronic total occlusion (CTO) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in native arteries with or without prior coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery in a national cohort. BACKGROUND: There are limited data on outcomes of patients presenting with stable angina undergoing CTO PCI with previous CABG. METHODS: We identified 20,081 patients with stable angina who underwent CTO PCI between 2007-2014 in the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society database. Clinical, demographical, procedural and outcome data were analyzed in two groups; group 1-CTO PCI in native arteries without prior CABG (n = 16,848), group 2-CTO PCI in native arteries with prior CABG (n = 3,233). RESULTS: Patients in group 2 were older, had more comorbidities and higher prevalence of severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Following multivariable analysis, no significant difference in mortality was observed during index hospital admission (OR:1.33, CI 0.64-2.78, p = .44), at 30-days (OR: 1.28, CI 0.79-2.06, p = .31) and 1 year (OR:1.02, CI 0.87-1.29, p = .87). Odds of in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (OR:1.01, CI 0.69-1.49, p = .95) and procedural complications (OR:1.02, CI 0.88-1.18, p = .81) were similar between two groups but procedural success rate was lower in group 2 (OR: 0.34, CI 0.31-0.39, p < .001). The adjusted risk of target vessel revascularization (TVR) remained similar between the two groups at 30-days (OR:0.68, CI 0.40-1.16, P-0.16) and at 1 year (OR:1.01, CI 0.83-1.22, P-0.95). CONCLUSION: Patients with prior CABG presenting with stable angina and treated with CTO PCI in native arteries had more co-morbid illnesses but once these differences were adjusted for, prior CABG did not independently confer additional risk of mortality, MACE or TVR.

Misdiagnosis of Heart Failure: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND: Heart failure (HF) is a chronic disease associated with a significant burden to patients, families, and health services. The diagnosis of HF can be easily missed owing to similar symptoms with other conditions especially respiratory diseases. METHODS AND RESULTS: We conducted a systematic review to determine the rates of HF and cardiomyopathy misdiagnosis and explored the potential causes. The included studies were narratively synthesized. Ten studies were identified including a total of 223,859 patients. There was a lack of definition of HF misdiagnosis in the studies and inconsistent diagnostic criteria were used. The rates of HF misdiagnosis ranged from 16.1% in hospital setting to 68.5% when general practitioner referred patients to specialist setting. The most common cause for misdiagnosis was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). One study using a COPD cohort showed that HF was unrecognized in 20.5% of patients and 8.1% had misdiagnosis of HF as COPD. Another study suggests that anemia and chronic kidney disease are associated with an increase in the odds of unrecognized left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Other comorbidities such as obesity, old age, atrial fibrillation, and ischemic heart disease are prevalent in patients with a misdiagnosis of HF. CONCLUSIONS: The misdiagnosis of HF is an unfortunate part of everyday clinical practice that occurs with a variable rate depending on the population studied. HF is frequently misdiagnosed as COPD. More research is needed to better understand the missed opportunities to correctly diagnose HF so that harm to patients can be avoided and effective treatments can be implemented.

Misdiagnosis of Acute Myocardial Infarction: A Systematic Review of the Literature.

BACKGROUND: Despite the availability of tests to diagnose acute myocardial infarction (AMI), cases are still missed. METHODS: We systematically reviewed the literature to determine how missed AMI has been defined, the reported rates of misdiagnosed AMI, the outcomes patients with misdiagnosed AMI have, what diagnosis was initially suspected in missed AMI cases, and what factors are associated with misdiagnosed AMI. We searched MEDLINE and EMBASE in September 2020 for studies that evaluated missed AMI. Data were extracted from studies that met the inclusion criteria and the results were narratively synthesized. RESULTS: A total of 15 studies were included in this review. The number of patients with missed AMI in individual studies ranged from 64 to 4707. There was no consistently used definition for misdiagnosed AMI, but most studies reported rates of approximately 1%-2%. Compared with AMI that was recognized, 1 study found no difference in mortality for misdiagnosed AMI at 30 days and 1 year. The common initial misdiagnoses that subsequently had AMI were ischemic heart disease, nonspecific chest pain, gastrointestinal disease, musculoskeletal pain, and arrhythmias. Reasons for missed AMI include incorrect electrocardiogram interpretation and failure to order appropriate diagnostic tests. Hospitals in rural areas and those with a low proportion of classical chest pain patients that turned out to have AMI were at greater risk of missed AMI. CONCLUSIONS: Misdiagnosed AMI is an unfortunate part of everyday clinical practice and better training in electrocardiogram interpretation, and education about atypical presentations of AMI may reduce the number of misdiagnosed AMIs.

Clinical Outcomes of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention for Chronic Total Occlusion in Native Coronary Arteries vs Saphenous Vein Grafts.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data comparing outcomes of patients with previous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) presenting with stable angina who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) to either a saphenous vein grafts (SVG) or a chronic total occlusion (CTO) in the native coronary arteries. We compared clinical characteristics and outcomes of these two groups in a national cohort. METHODS AND RESULTS: We formed a longitudinal cohort (2007-2014; n = 11,132) of patients who underwent SVG-PCI (group 1; n = 8619) or CTO-PCI in native arteries (group 2; n = 2513) in the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society (BCIS) database. Median age was 68 years in both groups, but patients in group 2 were less likely to be female, had a higher prevalence of diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, and previous myocardial infarction, as well as worsened angina and breathlessness, but history of prior stroke, renal diseases, and the presence of left ventricular systolic dysfunction were similar to group 1. Following multivariable analysis, no significant difference in mortality was observed during index hospital admission (odds ratio [OR], 1.70; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.63-4.58; P=.29), at 30 days (OR, 1.81; 95% CI, 0.99-3.3; P=.05), and 1 year (OR, 1.11; 95% CI, 0.85-1.44; P=.43), nor was a significant difference found in in-hospital MACE rates (OR, 1.36; 95% CI, 0.85-2.19; P=.19). However, CTO-PCI was associated with more procedural complications (OR, 2.88; 95% CI, 2.38-3.47; P<.01) and vessel perforation (OR, 4.82; 95% CI, 2.80-8.28; P<.01) as compared with the SVG-PCI group. Risk of target-vessel revascularization at 1 year was similar (SVG-PCI 5.6% vs CTO-PCI 6.9%; P=.08). CONCLUSION: In this national cohort, CTO-PCI was performed in higher-risk patients, and was associated with more procedural complications but similar short-term or long-term mortality and in-hospital MACE.

Clinical Characteristics and Outcomes From Percutaneous Coronary Intervention of Last Remaining Coronary Artery: An Analysis From the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society Database.

BACKGROUND: Patients with complex high-risk coronary anatomy, such as those with a last remaining patent vessel (LRPV), are increasingly revascularized with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in contemporary practice. There are limited data on the outcomes of these high-risk procedures. METHODS: We analyzed a large longitudinal PCI cohort (2007-2014, n=501 841) from the British Cardiovascular Intervention Society database. Clinical, demographic, procedural, and outcome data were analyzed by dividing patients into 2 groups; LRPV group (n=2432) and all other PCI groups (n=506 691). RESULTS: Patients in the LRPV PCI group were older, had more comorbidities, and higher prevalence of moderate-severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction. Mortality was higher in the LRPV PCI group during hospital admission (12 % versus 1.5 %, P<0.001), at 30 days (15% versus 2%, P<0.001), and at one-year (24% versus 5%, P<0.001). In a propensity score matching analysis the adjusted risk of mortality during index admission (odds ratio, 2.05 [95% CI, 1.65-2.44], P<0.001), at 30 days (odds ratio, 2.13 [95% CI, 1.78-2.5], P<0.001), at 1 year (odds ratio, 1.81 [95% CI, 1.59-2.03], P<0.001), and in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events (odds ratio, 1.8 [95% CI, 1.42-2.19], P<0.001) were higher in LRPV PCI group as compared to control group. In sensitivity analyses, similar clinical outcomes were observed irrespective of which major epicardial coronary artery was treated. CONCLUSIONS: In this contemporary cohort, patients who had PCI to their LRPV had a higher-risk profile and more adverse clinical outcomes, irrespective of the vessel treated.