Remote Ischemic Preconditioning in Renal Protection During Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Remote ischemic preconditioning (RIPC) exerts protection in remote organs. The purpose of this study was to investigate the potential of RIPC to prevent contrast induced nephropathy. One hundred and twenty four patients were randomized to elective percutaneous coronary intervention with or without RIPC. RIPC was performed using three cycles of 5-min inflation to 200 mmHg of a standard upper arm blood pressure cuff. The time between the last inflation cycle and the coronary intervention was less than 2 h. The primary endpoint was the incidence of contrast-induced nephropathy based on the standard criteria of the serum creatinine (SC) and cystatin C (CC) levels. The rates of major cardiac and cerebral adverse events (MACCE) during 1 year follow-up were evaluated. We found that contrast-induced nephropathy assessed by SC occurred in 4.9% (3/61) patients with RIPC and in 12.1% (7/58) patients without it (p = 0.20). Nephropathy assessed by CC occurred in 1.7% (1/58) patients with RIPC and 3.5% (2/57) patients without it (p = 0.62). There was no coincidence between the diagnosis of contrast-induced nephropathy based on SC and CC (McNemar test 0.012, κ = 0.28); SC was a more sensitive marker of nephropathy than CC (ten and three cases, respectively). The MACCE rate during the year of follow-up tended to be lower with the ischemic preconditioning than without it, four vs. six cases, respectively. We conclude that RIPC prior to percutaneous coronary intervention has no major influence on the development of contrast-induced nephropathy and does not improve the one-year outcome.

Multicenter registry of Impella-assisted high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions and cardiogenic shock in Poland (IMPELLA-PL).

BACKGROUND: Impella is a percutaneous mechanical circulatory support device for treatment of cardiogenic shock (CS) and high-risk percutaneous coronary interventions (HR-PCIs). IMPELLA-PL is a national retrospective registry of Impella-treated CS and HR-PCI patients in 20 Polish interventional cardiological centers, conducted from January 2014 until December 2021. AIMS: We aimed to determine the efficacy and safety of Impella using real-world data from IMPELLA-PL and compare these with other registries. METHODS: IMPELLA-PL data were analyzed to determine primary endpoints: in-hospital mortality and rates of mortality and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) at 12 months post-discharge. RESULTS: Of 308 patients, 18% had CS and 82% underwent HR-PCI. In-hospital mortality rates were 76.4% and 8.3% in the CS and HR-PCI groups, respectively. The 12-month mortality rates were 80.0% and 18.2%, and post-discharge MACCE rates were 9.1% and 22.5%, respectively. Any access site bleeding occurred in 30.9% of CS patients and 14.6% of HR-PCI patients, limb ischemia in 12.7% and 2.4%, and hemolysis in 10.9% and 1.6%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Impella is safe and effective during HR-PCIs, in accordance with previous registry analyses. The risk profile and mortality in CS patients were higher than in other registries, and the potential benefits of Impella in CS require investigation.

[Clinical significance of muscle bridge narrowing coronary artery lumen--description of three cases]. / Mostek miesniowy zwezajacy swiatlo tetnicy wiencowej--znaczenie kliniczne--opis trzech przypadków.

The muscle bridge is an anomaly which is found in 0.5-2.5% of coronary angiography examinations and may lead to impairment of coronary blood flow. The clinical course of the disease may be heterogeneous--from completely asymptomatic to the development of myocardial infarction or severe ventricular arrhythmia. We present three patients with muscle bridge in the left anterior descending artery. The clinical course of the disease was different in each patient--from mild symptoms to cardiac arrest during exercise test.