Direct Oral Anticoagulant Therapy for Isolated Distal Deep Vein Thrombosis Associated with Cancer in Routine Clinical Practice.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy and bleeding complications of direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC) therapy for isolated distal deep vein thrombosis (IDDVT) associated with cancer in routine clinical practice remain unclear. Moreover, prior studies on prolonged therapy for IDDVT are limited. METHODS: This retrospective study enrolled 1641 consecutive patients with acute venous thromboembolism (VTE) who had received oral anticoagulant therapy, including warfarin or DOAC, between April 2014 and September 2018 in our institutions. In these patients, 200 patients with cancer-associated IDDVT were evaluated. RESULTS: Mean follow-up period was 780 ± 593 days. Major bleeding and VTE recurrence were observed in 22 (11.0%) and 11 (5.5%) patients, respectively. In multivariate analysis, statistically significant factors correlated with major bleeding were advanced cancer stage, high performance status, stomach cancer, and gallbladder cancer; those correlated with all-cause death were advanced cancer stage, high performance status, liver dysfunction, pancreatic cancer, and major bleeding. Cumulative events of major bleeding and recurrence between patients with prolonged DOAC therapy (≥90 days) and those with nonprolonged therapy were not significantly different. CONCLUSIONS: Preventing major bleeding is important because it is a significant risk factor for all-cause death. Major bleeding and recurrent events were comparable between prolonged and nonprolonged therapy.

Prognostic impact of muscle and fat mass in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Cachexia, characterized by loss of muscle with or without loss of fat mass, is a poor prognostic factor in patients with heart failure (HF). However, there is limited investigation on the prognostic impact of muscle and fat mass separately in HF. We hypothesized that muscle and fat mass have different effects on the prognosis of HF. METHODS: This was an observational cohort study of 418 patients (59% were men) admitted with a diagnosis of HF (71 ± 13 years [mean ± standard deviation]), with left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) of 39 ± 16%, including 31.3%, 14.8%, and 53.8% of patients with preserved LVEF (LVEF ≥ 50%), mid-range LVEF (40-50%), and reduced (<40%) LVEF, respectively. Dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry was performed with the patients in the stable state after decongestion therapy. RESULTS: The mean body mass index of patients was 22.1 ± 4.6 kg/m2 , and the mean appendicular skeletal mass (ASM) index was 6.88 ± 1.23 kg/m2 in men and 5.59 ± 0.92 in women; 54.1% of the patients showed reduced muscle mass defined by the international cut-off value (7.0 kg/m2 for men and 5.4 for women). The mean fat mass was 20.4 ± 7.2% in men and 27.2 ± 8.6% in women. During a median follow-up of 37 months, 92 (22.0%) of 418 patients with HF died (1 and 3 year mortality: 8.4% and 17.3%, respectively). Lower values of both skeletal muscle and fat mass were independently associated with increased risk of mortality adjusted for age, sex, haemoglobin, New York Heart Association functional class, and height squared (hazard ratio with 95% confidence interval of 0.825 [0.747-0.908] per 1 kg increase of ASM, P < 0.001, and 0.954 [0.916-0.993] per 1 kg increase of fat mass, P = 0.018, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: More than half of the patients with HF showed reduced muscle mass. Lower values of both muscle and fat mass were associated with higher mortality in HF.

Acute anterior myocardial infarction with pectus carinatum.

We presented a case of acute anterior myocardial infarction caused by left anterior descending artery occlusion in a patient with pectus carinatum. The electrocardiogram (ECG) on admission showed counterclockwise rotation and T wave inversion only in leads V1-V2. Computed tomography revealed that this patient with pectus carinatum had greater septal angle. Electrocardiographic counterclockwise rotation due to greater septal angle in pectus carinatum led to atypical ECG findings of acute myocardial infraction.

Combined impact of chronic kidney disease and contrast-induced nephropathy on long-term outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction who undergo primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

Contrast-induced nephropathy (CIN) and chronic kidney disease (CKD) are associated with poor outcomes after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute myocardial infarction (AMI); however, its combined prognostic significance remains unclear. We enrolled 577 patients with AMI undergoing primary PCI within 12 h after symptom onset and measured serum creatinine on admission and the next 3 days. CKD was defined as admission estimated glomerular filtration rate <60 ml/min/1.73 m2, and CIN was defined as creatinine increase ≥0.5 mg/dl or ≥25 % from baseline within the first 72 h. Patients were stratified according to the presence or absence of CKD and CIN. In patients with no CKD and no CIN (n = 244), no CKD but CIN (n = 152), CKD but no CIN (n = 127), and both CKD and CIN (n = 54), the 3-year major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: a combination of all-cause mortality, nonfatal reinfarction, or heart failure requiring rehospitalization) were 8, 9, 13, and 35 %, respectively (p < 0.001). Multivariate analysis showed that as compared with no CKD and no CIN, hazard ratios (95 % CI) for MACE associated with no CKD but CIN, CKD but no CIN, and both CKD and CIN were 0.91 (0.44-1.84; p = 0.79), 1.11 (0.5-2.23; p = 0.77), and 2.98 (1.48-6.04; p = 0.002), respectively. In patients with AMI undergoing primary PCI, the combination of CKD and CIN is significantly associated with adverse long-term outcomes.