Fractional Flow Reserve to Guide Treatment of Patients With Multivessel Coronary Artery Disease.

BACKGROUND: There is limited evidence that fractional flow reserve (FFR) is effective in guiding therapeutic strategy in multivessel coronary artery disease (CAD) beyond prespecified percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary graft surgery candidates. OBJECTIVES: The FUTURE (FUnctional Testing Underlying coronary REvascularization) trial aimed to evaluate whether a treatment strategy based on FFR was superior to a traditional strategy without FFR in the treatment of multivessel CAD. METHODS: The FUTURE trial is a prospective, randomized, open-label superiority trial. Multivessel CAD candidates were randomly assigned (1:1) to treatment strategy based on FFR in all stenotic (≥50%) coronary arteries or to a traditional strategy without FFR. In the FFR group, revascularization (percutaneous coronary intervention or surgery) was indicated for FFR ≤0.80 lesions. The primary endpoint was a composite of major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events at 1 year. RESULTS: The trial was stopped prematurely by the data safety and monitoring board after a safety analysis and 927 patients were enrolled. At 1-year follow-up, by intention to treat, there were no significant differences in major adverse cardiac or cerebrovascular events rates between groups (14.6% in the FFR group vs 14.4% in the control group; hazard ratio: 0.97; 95% confidence interval: 0.69-1.36; P = 0.85). The difference in all-cause mortality was nonsignificant, 3.7% in the FFR group versus 1.5% in the control group (hazard ratio: 2.34; 95% confidence interval: 0.97-5.18; P = 0.06), and this was confirmed with a 24 months' extended follow-up. FFR significantly reduced the proportion of revascularized patients, with more patients referred to exclusively medical treatment (P = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: In patients with multivessel CAD, we did not find evidence that an FFR-guided treatment strategy reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death at 1-year follow-up. (Functional Testing Underlying Coronary Revascularisation; NCT01881555).

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: the edge-to-edge secures the correction of the systolic anterior motion.

Objectives: Although septal myectomy is the technique of choice for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, the surgical management of concomitant mitral valve lesions is controversial. Various complex surgeries have been proposed to address mitral valve lesions. We propose a simple option using an edge-to-edge mitral valve repair through the aortic valve in addition to the septal myectomy. Methods: We performed an observational analysis of our prospectively collected database. The clinical follow-up was done by telephone contact with each patient. The echocardiographic follow-up was performed in our Department of Cardiology or by the referring cardiologist. Results: Between January 2009 and March 2016, we operated 22 symptomatic patients (mean age 48.5 years, males 59%). The mean interventricular septum diameter and resting intraventricular gradient were 25.8 mm and 75.4 mmHg, respectively. The systolic anterior motion was present in every patient. The mean mitral regurgitation grade was 2.4. There were no in-hospital deaths. Two (9%) patients required a pacemaker. After a mean follow-up of 26.3 months, the mean New York Heart Association functional class decreased from 2.5 to 1.2 ( P < 0.001). The echocardiographic follow-up showed a sustained significant reduction of the septal thickness ( P < 0.001), resting intraventricular gradient ( P < 0.001), presence of systolic anterior motion ( P < 0.001) and grade of mitral regurgitation ( P = 0.002). Conclusions: Septal myectomy remains the gold standard of any surgery for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy owing to its good clinical and echocardiographic results. The edge-to-edge mitral valve repair is an additional simple option to avoid the systolic anterior motion and effectively reduce the grade of mitral regurgitation.

Adherence of French cardiologists to guidelines for non-cardiac surgery.

INTRODUCTION: In order to evaluate whether cardiologists follow guidelines, we studied patients who were seen for a preoperative cardiologic consultation prior to surgery. METHODS: This retrospective study took place in two surgical units (Vascular and Orthopaedic) in two different university hospitals in 2013. The patient eligibility criteria were: planned elective surgery, cardiologic consultation prior to anaesthesiology consultation and lack of any unstable cardiac condition. The primary endpoint was determination of appropriate use of preoperative cardiac stress exams (CSE). RESULTS: The study included 238 patients who were seen by 131 different cardiologists. Of 238 patients, 60 had a CSE before surgery, but only 7/60 (12%) were deemed to be necessary. Seven out 15 (47%) patients with an indication for a CSE actually underwent said exam. Sixty-six percent of patients (156/238) had a resting trans-thoracic echocardiography before surgery, while only 27/156 (17%) were considered of appropriate use. Among patients with known coronary arterial disease, 59/73 (81%) received a statin, 60/73 (82%) received an antiplatelet agent, and 38/73 (52%) received a beta-blocker. Among patients with planned arterial surgery, 86/137 (63%) received a statin and 100/137 (73%) patients received an antiplatelet agent. Of the 159 consultation reports that were examined, only 5 (3%) mentioned the Lee score and 117 (74%) were concluded with "no contraindication" or a similar phrase. DISCUSSION: In this study, we found that guidelines were generally not used when cardiologists evaluated patients for non-cardiac surgery. This is evidenced by the number of inappropriate exams performed, the lack of true perioperative risk stratification, and incomplete optimization of long-term treatment regimens.

Very late neoatherosclerotic plaque rupture in drug-eluting stent restenosis.

A 71-year-old man presented in emergency department for non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction. At admission, 12-lead ECG was in sinus rhythm without sign of myocardial ischemia, and troponin slightly increased. The only notable feature of the patient's medical history was single-vessel coronary artery disease revealed 10 years previously, treated by stenting of the second segment of the right coronary artery with a 3.0 x 25 mm bare metal stent. Three months later, intrastent restenosis was managed by implantation of a 3.0 × 28 mm paclitaxel-eluting stent. Two years before the present admission, following a non contributive stress test for atypical chest pain, coronary angiogram had found a 60% diffuse intrastent restenosis. The present coronary angiogram performed via a right transradial approach demonstrated a focal intrastent restenosis (85%) with irregular contours. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) showed an atherosclerotic intrastent neolesion with intimal tear. OCT demonstrated more precisely a minimal luminal area of 1.02 mm (77.9% area stenosis), two wide cavities (length 1.1 and 1.4 mm) separated by a plaque rupture of 6.8 mm. Myocardial ischemia was evenly demonstrated on this artery with a fractional flow reserve under 0.50 after 150 mg intracoronary adenosine bolus. The culprit lesion was treated by a 3.0 × 38 mm everolimus-eluting stent, with good angiographic results, confirmed on OCT.

Percutaneous femoral artery access with Prostar device for innovative mitral and aortic interventions.

The potential advantages of percutaneous femoral access over a surgical approach are easier recovery and lower inguinal complications rate. This technique can be an asset in disabled patients with high risk of decubitus complications or in surgically challenging patients (obesity). We describe percutaneous access for mitral and aortic minimally invasive valvular interventions in 156 patients (transcatheter aortic valve implantation, n=40; and minimally invasive cardiac surgery, n=116). Severe complications, in two transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) patients (one retroperitoneal bleeding and one massive superficial bleeding) and in three minimally invasive patients (two retroperitoneal bleeding and one arteriovenous fistula), occurred during first 50 patients versus 0 among 106 following patients (p=0.01). Percutaneous access is possible for innovative cardiac interventions, but severe complications can occur, especially during the learning curve, with serious consequences in high operative risk patients, urging highest caution when initiating this innovative approach.

Influence of residual stress/strain on the biomechanical stability of vulnerable coronary plaques: potential impact for evaluating the risk of plaque rupture.

In a vulnerable plaque (VP), rupture often occurs at a site of high stress within the cap. It is also known that vessels do not become free of stress when all external loads are removed. Previous studies have shown that such residual stress/strain (RS/S) tends to make the stress distribution more uniform throughout the media of a normal artery. However, the influence of RS/S on the wall stress distribution in pathological coronaries remains unclear. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of RS/S on the biomechanical stability of VPs. RS/S patterns were studied ex vivo in six human vulnerable coronary plaque samples. Because the existence of RS/S can only be assessed by releasing it, the opening angle technique was the experimental approach used to study the geometrical opening configurations of the diseased arteries, producing an arterial wall in a near-zero stress state. Reciprocally, these opening geometries were used in finite element simulations to reconstruct the RS/S distributions in closed arteries. It was found that the RS/S 1) is not negligible, 2) dramatically affects the physiological peak stress amplitude in the thin fibrous cap, 3) spotlights some new high stress areas, and 4) could be a landmark of the lipid core's developmental process within a VP. This study demonstrates that plaque rupture is not to be viewed as a consequence of intravascular pressure alone, but rather of a subtle combination of external loading and intraplaque RS/S.

Silent coronaropathy: usefulness of dobutamine stress echocardiography in ischemic stroke.

BACKGROUND: Several testing options are available to detect asymptomatic coronary artery disease (CAD). Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) has been reported to increase the sensitivity and specificity of stress testing to detect CAD. Most studies concerned patients with known or suspected CAD who have a high pretest probability of disease. We aimed to perform a preliminary evaluation of DSE in atherothrombotic stroke. METHODS: Patients with transient ischemic attack or nondisabling ischemic stroke attributable to an atherothrombotic source were prospectively recruited. Patients with a history of angina pectoris or electrocardiographic signs of previous myocardial infarction were excluded. DSE was considered positive when regional reduction or deterioration of myocardial thickening developed in 1 segment. Coronary angiography was performed in patients with positive DSE. RESULTS: Sixty-four patients were recruited. Analysis of DSE was possible in 60 patients. Overall the test provided clinically useful information in 60/64 patients studied (>90%). DSE was positive in 9 patients (15%). Coronary angiography was performed in 8 patients, high-grade focal lesions were found in 3 patients, and 5 patients showed diffuse atheroma. Univariate logistic regression analysis showed that the main factor predictive of a positive DSE was the presence of an aortic arch atheroma (p = 0.003). Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that two factors had an independent predictive value of positive DSE: aortic arch atheroma (p = 0.007) and dyslipidemia (p = 0.09). CONCLUSION: DSE may improve prevention of further vascular events in patients with an atherothrombotic source of ischemic stroke. This screening may be of particular benefit to patients with an aortic arch atheroma.

Postconditioning the human heart.

BACKGROUND: In animal models, brief periods of ischemia performed just at the time of reperfusion can reduce infarct size, a phenomenon called postconditioning. In this prospective, randomized, controlled, multicenter study, we investigated whether postconditioning may protect the human heart during coronary angioplasty for acute myocardial infarction. METHODS AND RESULTS: Thirty patients, submitted to coronary angioplasty for ongoing acute myocardial infarction, contributed to the study. Patients were randomly assigned to either a control or a postconditioning group. After reperfusion by direct stenting, control subjects underwent no further intervention, whereas postconditioning was performed within 1 minute of reflow by 4 episodes of 1-minute inflation and 1-minute deflation of the angioplasty balloon. Infarct size was assessed by measuring total creatine kinase release over 72 hours. Area at risk and collateral blood flow were estimated on left ventricular and coronary angiograms. No adverse events occurred in the postconditioning group. Determinants of infarct size, including ischemia time, size of the area at risk, and collateral flow, were comparable between the 2 groups. Area under the curve of creatine kinase release was significantly reduced in the postconditioning compared with the control group, averaging 208 984+/-26 576 compared with 326,095+/-48,779 (arbitrary units) in control subjects, ie, a 36% reduction in infarct size. Blush grade, a marker of myocardial reperfusion, was significantly increased in postconditioned compared with control subjects: 2.44+/-0.17 versus 1.95+/-0.27, respectively (P<0.05). CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that postconditioning by coronary angioplasty protects the human heart during acute myocardial infarction.

150 microgram intracoronary adenosine bolus for accurate fractional flow reserve assessment of angiographically intermediate coronary stenosis.

AIMS: Fractional flow reserve measurement is based upon achieving maximum hyperemia. A 40 microg intracoronary (IC) adenosine bolus sometimes seems insufficient, and we therefore sought to assess the possible role of 100-150 microg boli in routine. METHODS AND RESULTS: 108 intermediate (49+/-16%) stenoses were consecutively studied with 6F catheters. A history of myocardial infarction in the territory of the explored artery or myocardial hypertrophy were the exclusion criteria. Mean FFR was 0.82+/-0.12 with a 40 microg adenosine bolus and decreased to 0.80+/-0.12 and 0.80+/-13 respectively with 100microg and 150 microg boli (P<0.001 vs 40microg in both cases; 100 vs 150 microg, NS). The 40 microg bolus failed to diagnose 8 out of 30 (27%) significant stenoses (i.e., final FFR <0.75). The large boli led to 12 (11%) transient asymptomatic and spontaneously resolving AV blocks without other side-effects. CONCLUSION: FFR underestimated a quarter of intermediate stenoses with the currently used 40microg IC adenosine bolus. A large bolus up to 150 microg appears to be accurate and safe for routine FFR measurement.

Adapting the Lagrangian speckle model estimator for endovascular elastography: theory and validation with simulated radio-frequency data.

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is known to be the reference tool for preoperative vessel lesion assessments and for endovascular therapy planning. Nevertheless, IVUS echograms only provide subjective information about vessel wall lesions. Since changes in the vascular tissue stiffness are characteristic of vessel pathologies, catheter-based endovascular ultrasound elastography (EVE) has been proposed in the literature as a method for outlining the elastic properties of vessel walls. In this paper, the Lagrangian Speckle Model Estimator (LSME) is formulated for investigations in EVE, i.e., using a polar coordinate system. The method was implemented through an adapted version of the Levenberg-Marquardt minimization algorithm, using the optical flow equations to compute the Jacobbian matrix. The theoretical framework was validated with simulated ultrasound rf data of mechanically complex vessel wall pathologies. The results, corroborated with Ansys finite element software, demonstrated the potential of EVE to provide useful information about the heterogeneous nature of atherosclerotic plaques.