Impact of Previous Angina on Clinical Outcomes in ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction Underwent Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

The present study sought to assess the impact of previous angina symptoms on real world clinical outcomes in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) who had undergone successful percutaneous coronary interventions using drug-eluting stents (DES). Patients were selected from 13,650 consecutive patients enrolled in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction-National Institute of Health (KAMIR-NIH) registry. A total of 5167 STEMI patients were divided into a previous-angina group (n=1129) and a control group (n=4038). Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) that included all-cause death, recurrent myocardial infarction (re-MI), repeat PCI, coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Among the 5167 patients with STEMI, MACCEs had occurred in 168 patients in the previous-angina group (14.9%) and 726 patients in the control group (18.0%) (HR, 0.76, 95% CI, 0.60-0.96, p=0.019) at the two-year (800-day) for clinical outcomes. Previous angina was associated with better clinical outcomes with respect to all-cause death (HR, 0.65, 95% CI, 0.44-0.96, p=0.029) and cardiac death (HR, 0.52, 95% CI, 0.31-0.84, p=0.008). Previous angina was a negative risk factor for adverse cardiac events. A previous history of angina predisposes a patient to a favorable outcome after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in patients with DES implantation.

Predictors of Clinical Outcome in Patients with Angiographically Intermediate Lesions with Minimum Lumen Area Less than 4 mm2 Using Intravascular Ultrasound in Non-Proximal Epicardial Coronary Artery.

We investigated predictors of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) with two years after medical treatment for lesions with angiographically intermediate lesions with intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) minimum lumen area (MLA) <4 mm2 in non-proximal epicardial coronary artery. We retrospectively enrolled 104 patients (57 males, 62±10 years) with angiographically intermediate lesions (diameter stenosis 30-70%) with IVUS MLA <4 mm2 in the non-proximal epicardial coronary artery with a reference lumen diameter between 2.25 and 3.0 mm. We evaluated the incidences of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE including death, myocardial infarction, target lesion and target vessel revascularizations, and cerebrovascular accident) two years after medical therapy. During the two-year follow-up, 15 MACEs (14.4%) (including 1 death, 2 myocardial infarctions, 10 target vessel revascularizations, and 2 cerebrovascular accidents) occurred. Diabetes mellitus was more prevalent (46.7% vs. 18.0%, p=0.013) and statins were used less frequently in patients with MACE compared with those without MACE (40.0% vs. 71.9%, p=0.015). Independent predictors of MACEs with two years included diabetes mellitus (odds ratio [OR]=3.41; 95% CI=1.43-8.39, p=0.020) and non-statin therapy (OR=3.11; 95% CI=1.14-6.50, p=0.027). Long-term event rates are relatively low with only medical therapy without any intervention, so the cut-off of IVUS MLA 4 mm2 might be too large to be applied for defining significant stenosis. The predictors of long-term MACE were diabetes mellitus and statin therapy in patients with angiographically intermediate lesions in non-proximal epicardial coronary artery.

Optimal dose of dabigatran for the prevention of thromboembolism with minimal bleeding risk in Korean patients with atrial fibrillation.

AIMS: We aim to determine the optimal dose of dabigatran in Korean patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). METHODS AND RESULTS: We analysed 1834 patients with non-valvular AF, classified into a warfarin group (n = 990), dabigatran 150 mg group (D150, n = 294), and 110 mg group (D110, n = 550). The D110 group was further classified into patients concordant (co-D110, n = 367) and patients discordant (di-D110, n = 183) with guidelines to dose reduction. Propensity-matched 1-year clinical outcomes were then compared. Efficacy outcomes were defined as thromboembolism composed of new-onset stroke or systemic embolism. Safety outcomes were major bleeding. Both D150 and D110 had comparable efficacies as warfarin. However, only D110 significantly lowered the risk of major bleeding [hazard ratio (HR) 0.19, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.07-0.55, P = 0.002]. In a subgroup analysis according to guideline-concordant indications for dose reduction, both co-D110 and di-D110 displayed a comparable efficacy as warfarin. Both co-D110 (HR 0.22, 95% CI 0.06-0.76, P = 0.017) and di-D110 (HR 0.11, 95% CI 0.02-0.81, P = 0.030) significantly lowered incidences of major bleeding. There were no differences in the efficacy and safety between di-D110 and D150, and net clinical outcomes were similar. CONCLUSION: Although D150 and D110 had a comparable efficacy, only D110 lowered the risk of major bleeding in Korean AF patients compared with warfarin. Even the guideline-discordant use of dabigatran 110 mg demonstrated a similar efficacy and safety compared with D150. However, further prospective randomized trials are needed in order to comprehensively evaluate whether D150 or D110 is the optimal dosage in Asian patients with AF.

Comparative Effects of Statin Therapy versus Renin-Angiotensin System Blocking Therapy in Patients with Ischemic Heart Failure Who Underwent Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

Statins and renin-angiotensin system (RAS) blockers are key drugs for treating patients with an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). This study was designed to show the association between treatment with statins or RAS blockers and clinical outcomes and the efficacy of two drug combination therapies in patients with ischemic heart failure (IHF) who underwent revascularization for an AMI. A total of 804 AMI patients with a left ventricular ejection fraction <40% who undertook percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) were analyzed using the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry (KAMIR). They were divided into four groups according to the use of medications [Group I: combination of statin and RAS blocker (n=611), Group II: statin alone (n=112), Group III: RAS blocker alone (n=53), Group IV: neither treatment (n=28)]. The cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs) and independent predictors of MACCEs were investigated. Over a median follow-up study of nearly 1 year, MACCEs had occurred in 48 patients (7.9%) in Group I, 16 patients (14.3%) in Group II, 3 patients (5.7%) in Group III, 7 patients (21.4%) in Group IV (p=0.013). Groups using RAS blocker (Group I and III) showed better clinical outcomes compared with the other groups. By multivariate analysis, use of RAS blockers was the most powerful independent predictor of MACCEs in patients with IHF who underwent PCI (odds ratio 0.469, 95% confidence interval 0.285-0.772; p=0.003), but statin therapy was not found to be an independent predictor. The use of RAS blockers, but not statins, was associated with better clinical outcomes in patients with IHF who underwent PCI.