Confronting the residual cardiovascular risk beyond statins: the role of fibrates, omega-3 fatty acids, or niacin, in diabetic patients.

Diabetics are regarded a special category of patients known to experience higher rates of cardiovascular complications as compared to the non-diabetic ones. Despite substantial efforts to minimize these risks, with aggressive antiplatelet and lipid lowering therapy, some of the diabetic patients still have a considerable residual risk for cardiovascular adverse events. Important preclinical data with potent lipid-lowering agents, like fibrates, omega-3-fatty acids, and niacin, have shown that they can provide sufficient help in reducing rates of cardiovascular events. In the present review, we are aim to explain their basic mechanisms of action, to present all the available clinical data regarding the efficacy of those agents, and to identify specific diabetic patients' subsets, in whom supplementary therapy with those agents could provide substantial benefit in terms of clinical outcome and not only lipid profile improvement.

Three-year follow-up of the MULTIcentre evaluation of Single high-dose Bolus TiRofiban versus Abciximab with Sirolimus-eluting STEnt or Bare-Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction StudY (MULTISTRATEGY).

BACKGROUND: The Multicentre Evaluation of Single high-dose Bolus TiRofiban versus Abciximab with Sirolimus-eluting Stent or Bare Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study [MULTISTRATEGY]) randomised 745 patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction to receive high-dose bolus (HDB) tirofiban or abciximab infusion and sirolimus-eluting (SES) or uncoated-stent (BMS) implantation. Tirofiban was non-inferior to abciximab in terms of ST-segment resolution after intervention, whereas 8 month-major adverse cardiac events occurred in 14.5% in the BMS and 7.8% in the SES groups (P = 0.0039), reflecting a reduction of reintervention rates (10.2% vs. 3.2%). A three-year follow-up was performed to extend previous short- to mid-term findings. METHODS AND RESULTS: Complete data at 3 years was available for 736 patients (99%). All-cause mortality was 6.7% in the tirofiban and 7.8% in the abciximab (P = 0.56) and 7.5% in the BMS vs 7.0 in the SES groups, P = 0.79. The composite of all-cause death or MI was identical at 12.9% in tirofiban and abciximab groups, P = 0.99 and it occurred in 13.2% in the BMS vs. 12.6% in the SES groups (P = 0.83). The need for reintervention remained more than twice as common with BMS (13.7%; versus 6.2%, P = 0.0006). The cumulative rate of stent thrombosis (ST) did not differ. This is inspite of a higher very late definite, probable or possible ST thrombosis rate in the SES group. CONCLUSIONS: The 3-year follow-up of MULTISTRATEGY demonstrated comparable outcomes with HDB Tirofiban or abciximab and a sustained efficacy of SES to reduce reintervention with no difference in death, repeat MI or ST.

Persistent coronary no flow after wire insertion is an early and readily available mortality risk factor despite successful mechanical intervention in acute myocardial infarction: a pooled analysis from the STRATEGY (Single High-Dose Bolus Tirofiban and Sirolimus-Eluting Stent Versus Abciximab and Bare-Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction) and MULTISTRATEGY (Multicenter Evaluation of Single High-Dose Bolus Tirofiban Versus Abciximab With Sirolimus-Eluting Stent or Bare-Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study) trials.

OBJECTIVES: These studies sought to investigate the impact on mortality of coronary flow after passage of the wire through the culprit vessel in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergoing mechanical reperfusion. BACKGROUND: Reduced spontaneous coronary flow before percutaneous coronary intervention influences mortality in patients with STEMI. Response to vessel wiring in patients with an occluded coronary artery before intervention might further discriminate outcomes irrespective of pre- and post-intervention coronary flow. METHODS: Data from the STRATEGY (Single High-Dose Bolus Tirofiban and Sirolimus-Eluting Stent Versus Abciximab and Bare-Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction) and MULTISTRATEGY (Multicenter Evaluation of Single High-Dose Bolus Tirofiban Versus Abciximab With Sirolimus-Eluting Stent or Bare-Metal Stent in Acute Myocardial Infarction Study) trials were pooled: of 919 index procedures, 902 films (98%) were technically adequate for core laboratory TIMI (Thrombolysis In Myocardial Infarction) flow determination. RESULTS: TIMI flow grade 0 was present before percutaneous coronary intervention in 59% of infarct vessels, TIMI flow grade 1 to 2 was found in 21%, whereas the remainder of infarct arteries presented with TIMI flow grade 3. In 49% of patients who showed persistent TIMI flow grade 0 after wire insertion (AWI), mortality was higher at 30 days (5.3%) and 1 year (9.4%) compared with patients in whom TIMI flow grade before percutaneous coronary intervention was either >0 (0.8%; p < 0.003 and 3.6%, p < 0.008) or improved from 0 AWI (1.5%, p < 0.04 and 3.6%, p < 0.02). After correcting for multiple imbalances, including baseline and final flow, persistent TIMI flow grade 0 AWI remained associated at 30 days to 2-fold (risk ratio [RR]: 2.1, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.08 to 5.00; p = 0.038) and at 1 year to almost 3-fold increases of mortality (RR: 2.7, 95% CI: 1.3 to 5.6; p = 0.008). CONCLUSIONS: STEMI patients displaying persistent no-flow AWI have a lower survival rate despite an apparently successful mechanical intervention. As an early marker for high residual mortality risk, persistent no-flow AWI may qualify STEMI patients for dedicated pharmacomechanical treatment strategies.