[Transcatheter closure of ventricular septal defect: how and when?] / Chiusura percutanea di difetto interventricolare post-infartuale: come e quando?

Ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a rare but clinically severe complication of acute myocardial infarction. Although cardiac surgery is the gold standard to correct post-infarction VSD, transcatheter closure represents an effective therapeutic alternative in selected cases. However, the correct timing for VSD correction is a matter of debate. Herein, we report the case of a patient who underwent transcatheter closure of post-infarction VSD, focusing the discussion on the pros and cons of an early VSD correction.

Impact of history of depression on 1-year outcomes in patients with chronic coronary syndromes: An analysis of a contemporary, prospective, nationwide registry.

BACKGROUND: Depression is common in patients with acute cardiovascular conditions and it is associated with adverse clinical events. METHODS: Using the data from a nationwide, prospective registry on patients with chronic coronary syndromes (CCS), we assessed the impact of depression on major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), a composite of all-cause death and hospitalization for myocardial infarction, revascularization, heart failure or stroke, and quality of life (QoL) at 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: From the 5070 consecutive CCS patients enrolled in the registry, 531 (10.5%) presented a history of depression and the remaining 4539 (89.5%) did not. At 1 year (median 369; IQR 362-378 days) from enrolment, the incidence of the primary composite outcome was 9.8% for patients with a history of depression and 7.2% for non-depressed patients (p = 0.03). Patients with history of depression had a significantly higher rate of all-cause mortality (3.0% vs 1.4%; p = 0.004) and hospital admission for heart failure (3.4% vs 1.3%; p = 0.0002) compared to the group without depression. However, history of depression did not result as an independent predictor of MACE at multivariable analysis [hazard ratio 1.17, 95% confidence interval (0.87-1.58), p = 0.31]. Depressed patients had worse QoL according to all domains of the EQ. 5D-5L questionnaire as compared to non-depressed patients (all p < 0.001), at both enrolment and follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: In this contemporary, large cohort of consecutive patients with CCS, patients with a history of depression experienced a two-fold rate of mortality, a higher incidence of MACE and a worse QoL at 1-year follow-up, compared to non-depressed patients.

[Periprocedural management of anticoagulation therapy and in-hospital outcomes in patients with warfarin indication undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. Data from the WAR-STENT registry]. / Gestione periprocedurale della terapia anticoagulante ed esiti intraospedalieri nei pazienti con indicazione a warfarin sottoposti ad angioplastica coronarica. Informazioni dal registro WAR-STENT.

BACKGROUND: In patients with an indication for oral anticoagulation (OAC) with warfarin, the management of OAC peri-procedure of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is still not fully defined. To investigate clinical practice and outcomes associated with continuation vs interruption of OAC, with or without bridging with low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH), we examined the database of the observational, prospective, multicenter Italian WAR-STENT registry. METHODS: The WAR-STENT registry was conducted in 2008-2010 in 37 Italian centers and included 411 consecutive patients in 157 of whom the peri-procedural international normalized ratio (INR) value was available. In relation to the continuation vs interruption of OAC, patients were divided into group 1 (n = 106) and group 2 (n = 51) respectively, and compared. RESULTS: The basal characteristics of the two groups were similar. The most frequent indication for OAC was atrial fibrillation and for PCI acute coronary syndromes, respectively. The pre-procedural mean value of INR was significantly different in group 1 vs group 2 (2.3 ± 0.4 vs 1.5 ± 0.2; p <0.001), while the use of antithrombotic drugs did not differ, except for LMWH which, albeit limited to only 14% of cases, was used significantly more frequently in group 2 (14% vs 2%; p=0.006). The radial approach was used significantly more often in group 1 vs group 2 (72% vs 45%; p=0.002). The in-hospital incidence of major bleeding complications was similar in groups 1 and 2 (4% vs 8%; p=0.27), as well as the occurrence of major adverse cardio-cerebrovascular events, including cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, re-revascularization of the treated vessel, stent thrombosis, stroke and venous thromboembolism (6% vs 6%; p=0.95). There was a tendency towards a higher incidence of minor access-site bleeding complications in group 1 patients treated by the femoral route. CONCLUSIONS: In unselected patients with an indication for OAC with warfarin and undergoing PCI, the continuation vs interruption of OAC (essentially without LMWH bridging) strategies appears similar in terms of efficacy and safety. In consideration of the superior convenience, peri-procedural continuation of OAC should therefore generally be preferred, with the possible exception of patients in whom the femoral approach is required for the procedure.

Left main percutaneous coronary intervention in ACS or stable coronary artery disease: acute and long-term results.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to assess in-hospital and long-term results of the novo unprotected left main (UPLM) percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) or stable coronary artery disease (CAD), in an unselected population admitted to a single high- volume cath-lab without on-site cardiac surgery. METHODS: From 2008 to 2011, among 317 PCI performed in patients with the novo UPLM stenosis, 49 patients presented ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), 152 non ST-elevation MI/unstable angina (NSTEMI/UA), 116 stable CAD. RESULTS: In-hospital mortality was 20% in STEMI, 5.3% in NSTEMI/UA and 1.7% in stable CAD patients (P<0.001). Two-year total mortality was 24.5%, 25.6% and 6% in the 3 groups, and cardiac death was 20%, 13.8% and 3.4% (P=0.002). Left main target lesion revascularization (TLR) was similar in the 3 groups, as the clinically-driven TLR (10% vs. 11% vs. 7.7%, P=0.642), with neither definite nor probable stent thrombosis. Multivariate analysis showed the following independent predictors of 2-year mortality: bare-metal stent use (OR 4.53, P<0.001), Syntax Score >32 (OR 3.53, P=0.012), ACS as the indication (OR 3.24, P=0.012), peripheral artery disease (OR 2.20, P=0.042), and age >75 years (OR 2.09, P=0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Our experience showed acceptable results of UPLM PCI in STEMI patients, where short-term prognosis was related to hemodynamic conditions, good results in NSTEMI/UA patients where mortality increased in the follow-up due to comorbidities, and very good results in patients with stable CAD.

Risk of Adverse Cardiac and Bleeding Events Following Cardiac and Noncardiac Surgery in Patients With Coronary Stent: How Important Is the Interplay Between Stent Type and Time From Stenting to Surgery?

BACKGROUND: Epidemiology and consequences of surgery in patients with coronary stents are not clearly defined, as well as the impact of different stent types in relationship with timing of surgery. METHODS AND RESULTS: Among 39 362 patients with previous coronary stenting enrolled in a multicenter prospective registry and followed for 5 years, 13 128 patients underwent 17 226 surgical procedures. The cumulative incidence of surgery at 30 days, 6 months, 1 year, and 5 years was 3.6%, 9.4%, 14.3%, and 40.0%, respectively, and of cardiac and noncardiac surgery was 0.8%, 2.1%, 2.6%, and 4.0% and 1.3%, 5.1%, 9.1%, and 31.7%, respectively. We assessed the incidence and the predictors of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and serious bleeding event within 30 days from surgery. Cardiac death occurred in 438 patients (2.5%), myocardial infarction in 256 (1.5%), and serious bleeding event in 1099 (6.4%). Surgery increased 1.58× the risk of cardiac death during follow-up. Along with other risk factors, the interplay between stent type and time from percutaneous coronary intervention to surgery was independently associated with cardiac death/myocardial infarction. In comparison with bare-metal stent implanted >12 months before surgery, old-generation drug-eluting stent was associated with higher risk of events at any time point. Conversely, new-generation drug-eluting stent showed similar safety as bare-metal stent >12 months and between 6 and 12 months and appeared trendly safer between 0 and 6 months. CONCLUSIONS: Surgery is frequent in patients with coronary stents and carries a considerable risk of ischemic and bleeding events. Ischemic risk is inversely related with time from percutaneous coronary intervention to surgery and is influenced by stent type.

Coronary thrombus in patients undergoing primary PCI for STEMI: Prognostic significance and management.

Acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) usually results from coronary atherosclerotic plaque disruption with superimposed thrombus formation. Detection of coronary thrombi is a poor prognostic indicator, which is mostly proportional to their size and composition. Particularly, intracoronary thrombi impair both epicardial blood flow and myocardial perfusion, by occluding major coronary arteries and causing distal embolization, respectively. Thus, although primary percutaneous coronary intervention is the preferred treatement strategy in STEMI setting, the associated use of adjunctive antithrombotic drugs and/or percutaneous thrombectomy is crucial to optimize therapy of STEMI patients, by improving either angiographical and clinical outcomes. This review article will focus on the prognostic significance of intracoronary thrombi and on current antithrombotic pharmacological and interventional strategies used in the setting of STEMI to manage thrombotic lesions.

Long-term outcome in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction and multivessel disease treated with culprit-only, immediate, or staged multivessel percutaneous revascularization strategies: Insights from the REAL registry.

OBJECTIVES: To examine the differences in cardiac outcomes for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and multivessel disease (MVD) as a function of whether they underwent culprit-only primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI) or multivessel PCI, either during PPCI or as a staged procedure. BACKGROUND: MVD occurs in about 40% of patients presenting with STEMI, and it has been associated with a worse outcome compared to single-vessel disease. The most favorable PCI strategy for dealing with significant nonculprit lesions has to be established. METHODS: A total of 2061 STEMI patients with MVD undergoing PPCI, prospectively enrolled in the REAL Registry between July 2002 and December 2010, were considered: 706 underwent culprit-only PPCI; 367 multivessel PCI during the index procedure; 988 had a staged PCI within 60 days. Mortality and outcomes were calculated at 30 days and 2 years. RESULTS: At multivariate analysis, culprit-only PPCI was associated with higher rates of cardiac outcomes as compared to staged multivessel PCI, taken as reference [Hazard Ratio (HR): 2.81, 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.34-5.89, P = 0.006 for 30-day mortality, and HR: 1.93, 95% CI: 1.35-2.74, P = 0.0002 for 2-year mortality, respectively]. Short-term mortality rates were higher in multivessel PCI group as compared to staged PCI group (HR: 2.58, 95% CI: 1.06-6.26, P = 0.03); no differences were observed at 2-year follow-up (HR: 1.08, 95% CI: 0.64-1.82, P = 0.76). CONCLUSIONS: Our findings support the current guidelines recommendation to perform culprit-only PPCI in STEMI patients with MVD without hemodynamic compromise, followed by a staged PCI of noninfarct-related significant lesions.

Incidence and outcome of high on-treatment platelet reactivity in patients with non-ST elevation acute coronary syndromes undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (from the VIP [VerifyNow and Inhibition of Platelet Reactivity] study).

High residual platelet reactivity (RPR) on clopidogrel treatment has been associated with increased risk for ischemic events during follow-up in patients with acute coronary syndromes. The aim of this study was to assess the incidence, predictors, and clinical consequences of high RPR in a large population of patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and stenting. Overall, 833 patients received point-of-care testing of platelet inhibition 30 days after percutaneous coronary intervention. High RPR was diagnosed on the basis of P2Y12 reaction units >230. The incidence and predictors of death, myocardial infarction, stroke, and serious bleeding events were assessed up to 1 year from the day of testing. P2Y12 reaction units were normally distributed, and 264 patients were classified as poor responders (31.7%). Independent predictors of response to clopidogrel were male gender (odds ratio [OR] 1.51), age (OR 0.96), diabetes mellitus (OR 0.51), and use of proton pump inhibitors (OR 0.59). At 1 year, poor responders showed higher rates of death (4.6% vs 1.9%, p = 0.032) and serious bleeding events (4.9% vs 1.8%, p = 0.009) compared with good responders. After adjustment for confounders, high RPR did not emerge as an independent predictor of mortality (OR 0.57, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.23 to 1.42, p = 0.23) or serious bleeding events (OR 0.61, 95% CI 0.25 to 1.52, p = 0.29). The results did not change using the a cut-off value for P2Y12 reaction units of 208. In conclusion, 1/3 of patients with acute coronary syndromes who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention and stenting showed high on-treatment RPR on bedside monitoring. They had a worse prognosis, but the level of platelet inhibition was not independently associated with the incidence of ischemic or bleeding events.

In-hospital management and outcome of patients on warfarin undergoing coronary stent implantation: results of the multicenter, prospective WARfarin and coronary STENTing (WAR-STENT) registry.

The in-hospital management of patients on warfarin undergoing coronary stent implantation (PCI-S) is variable, and the in-hospital outcome incompletely defined. To determine the adherence to the current recommendations, and the incidence of adverse events, we carried out the prospective, multicenter, observational WARfarin and coronary STENTing (WAR-STENT) registry (ClinicalTrials.gov identifier NCT00722319). All consecutive patients on warfarin undergoing PCI-S at 37 Italian centers were enrolled and followed for 12 months. Outcome measures were: major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), including cardiovascular death, non-fatal myocardial infarction, need for urgent revascularization, stroke, and venous thromboembolism, and major and minor bleeding. In this paper, we report the in-hospital findings. Out of the 411 patients enrolled, 92% were at non-low (ie, moderate or high) thromboembolic risk. The radial approach and bare-metal stents were used in 61% and 60% of cases, respectively. Drug-eluting stents were essentially reserved to patients with diabetes, which in turn, significantly predicted the implantation of drug-eluting stents (odds ratio [OR], 2.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29-3.17; P=.002). The in-hospital MACE and major bleeding rates were 2.7% and 2.1%, respectively. At discharge, triple therapy (TT) of warfarin, aspirin, and clopidogrel was prescribed to 76% of patients. Prescription of TT was significantly more frequent in the non-low thromboembolic risk group. Non-low thromboembolic risk, in turn, was a significant predictor of TT prescription (OR, 11.2; 95% CI, 4.83-26.3; P<.0001). In conclusion, real-world warfarin patients undergoing PCI-S are largely managed according to the current recommendations. As a consequence, the risk of in-hospital MACE and major bleedings appears limited and acceptable.

Impact of COPD on long-term outcome after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction receiving primary percutaneous coronary intervention.

BACKGROUND: There are limited data describing the long-term outcome of patients with concomitant COPD who develop ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS: A total of 11,118 consecutive patients with STEMI enrolled in the web-based Registro Regionale Angioplastiche Emilia-Romagna (REAL) registry were followed-up and stratified according to COPD presence or not. At 3-year follow-up, mortality and hospital readmissions due to myocardial infarction (MI), heart failure (HF), coronary revascularization (CR), serious bleeding, and COPD were assessed. RESULTS: According to our criteria, 2,032 patients (18.2%) had a diagnosis of COPD. Overall, 1,829 patients (16.5%) died. COPD was an independent predictor of mortality (hazard ratio [HR], 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.6). Hospital readmissions for recurrent MI (10% vs 6.9%, P < .01), CR (22% vs 19%, P < .01), HF (10% vs 6.9%, P < .01), and SB (10% vs 6%, P < .01) were significantly more frequent in patients with COPD as compared with those without. Also, hospital readmissions for COPD were more frequent in patients with a previous history of COPD as compared with those without (19% vs 3%; P < .01, respectively). Patients with a hospital readmission for COPD showed a fourfold increased risk of death (HR, 4.2; 95% CI, 3.4-5.2). Finally, hospital readmissions for COPD emerged as a strong independent risk factor for recurrence of MI (HR, 2.1; 95% CI, 1.4-3.3), HF (HR, 5.8; 95% CI, 4.6-7.5), and SB (HR, 3; 95% CI, 2.1-4.4). CONCLUSIONS: Patients with STEMI and concomitant COPD are at greater risk for death and hospital readmissions due to cardiovascular causes (eg, recurrent MI, HF, bleedings) than patients without COPD.

Relevance of gender in patients with acute myocardial infarction undergoing coronary interventions.

AIMS: To evaluate whether gender differences in terms of up to 4-year outcome still persist within patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who uniformly underwent coronary revascularization, we performed a gender comparison in a large contemporary multicentre percutaneous intervention (PCI) registry. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed data from 18,351 patients with AMI, who underwent percutaneous coronary interventions (5093 women and 13,258 men) in the Emilia Romagna region of Italy between July 2002 and December 2007. Median follow-up was 1174 days. RESULTS: After propensity score adjustment, differences in gender-related mortality were not temporarily homogeneous: 30-day adjusted mortality was higher in women than in men [hazard ratio (HR): 1.40, P < 0.0001], whereas thereafter female gender showed a significantly lower mortality risk (HR: 0.84, P = 0.01). Notably, younger women (<50 years old) both in the acute and postacute period had more than 3.6 higher risk of mortality when compared with men, whereas older women, particularly after the first 30-day post AMI, had similar (50-80 years old) or even better (≥ 80 years old) survival compared with men. Finally 1-month adjusted risk of heart failure and post PCI vascular complications requiring surgical treatment was higher in women while there was no detectable difference in terms of early and late AMI/unstable angina, stroke and angiographic stent thrombosis. CONCLUSION: In a contemporary large real-world AMI population treated with PCI, we found gender-related temporal and age-dependent adjusted differences in mortality. Our data suggest the hypothesis that biological gender-related differences could, in part, explain these findings.

Antithrombotic management and 1-year outcome of patients on oral anticoagulation undergoing coronary stent implantation (from the Registro Regionale Angioplastiche Emilia-Romagna Registry).

Current recommendations for the antithrombotic management of patients receiving oral anticoagulation (OAC) who undergo percutaneous coronary intervention with stent implantation (PCI-S) are based on limited and relatively weak data. To broaden and strengthen available evidence, the management and 1-year outcomes of OAC patients who underwent PCI-S and were included in a prospective, multicenter registry from 2003 to 2007 were evaluated. Among the 632 patients receiving OAC, mostly because of atrial fibrillation (58%), who underwent PCI-S, mostly because of acute coronary syndromes (63%), dual-antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and clopidogrel was the most frequently prescribed at discharge (48%), followed by triple therapy with OAC, aspirin, and clopidogrel (32%) and OAC plus aspirin (18%). The choice of antithrombotic therapy largely matched the thromboembolic risk profiles of patients, with the prescription of regimens including OAC predicted by the presence of non-low-risk features. The cumulative 1-year occurrence of major adverse cardiovascular events was as high as 27% and was not significantly different among the 3 treatment groups. Stroke and stent thrombosis were limited to 2% and 3%, respectively, and although no significant differences were found among the 3 groups, stroke was 4 times less frequent when OAC, with either 1 or 2 antiplatelet agents, was administered. Major bleeding was also limited to 3%, with no significant differences among the 3 groups. In conclusion, these findings suggest overall real-world management of OAC patients who undergo PCI-S that is in accordance with their clinical risk profiles and give further support to the reported efficacy and safety of triple therapy for the optimal treatment of these patients.

Long-term outcomes with cobalt-chromium bare-metal vs. drug-eluting stents: the REgistro regionale AngiopLastiche dell'Emilia-Romagna registry.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the long-term efficacy of cobalt-chromium bare-metal stents (CCSs) with that of first-generation drug-eluting stents (DESs) in patients within a large real-world multicentre registry. METHODS: The incidence of major adverse cardiac events [death, acute myocardial infarction, and target-vessel revascularization (TVR)] and angiographic stent thrombosis were assessed in consecutive patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention with CCS (n = 1103) or DES (n = 5195) during 2-year follow-up. Propensity score-adjusted outcomes, overall and in patients with low (≤ 10%), intermediate (10-15%), and high (>15%) 1-year restenosis risk, were estimated. RESULTS: DES-treated patients had significantly higher rates of diabetes, longer lesions, and smaller vessel diameters than CCS-treated patients (all P < 0.0001). However, CCS patients were older and presented a higher rate of hypertension, previous myocardial infarction, and heart failure (all P < 0.01). At 2 years, adjusted rates of myocardial infarction, death, and cumulative-stent thrombosis were similar for DES and CCS. DES provided statistically significant (P < 0.01) reductions in TVR and adjusted major adverse cardiac event rates (9.7 and 17.2%, respectively) compared with CCS (13.2 and 21.2%, respectively). In patients at highest and intermediate risk of restenosis, adjusted TVR rates were significantly (P < 0.01) lower with DES (12.2 and 8.9%, respectively) than CCS (19.9 and 17.1%, respectively), but rates were similar in low-risk patients. CONCLUSION: DESs were more effective than CCSs in lowering TVR rates in patients with an intermediate-high baseline restenosis risk.

Long-term clinical outcomes and cost-effectiveness analysis in multivessel percutaneous coronary interventions: comparison of drug-eluting stents, bare-metal stents and a mixed approach in patients at high and low risk of repeat revascularisation.

AIMS: To evaluate the long-term effectiveness and cost-efficacy of drug-eluting stents (DES) in a real world setting of multivessel percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS AND RESULTS: We evaluated the 2-year outcome of all multivessel PCI in de novo lesions enrolled in a prospective web-based multicentre registry from July 2003 to December 2006. Among the 2,898 eligible patients, 1,315 were treated with bare-metal stent (BMS) alone, 657 with DES alone, and 926 with both. At 2-years, use of DES was associated with a lower propensity score adjusted incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE), death and myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularisation (TVR) compared with BMS but only in patients at high risk of TVR. No difference was apparent between "pure" DES and the mixed approach. The matched cost-effectiveness analysis revealed DES to be more costly and more effective with a reasonable incremental cost-efficacy ratio for any MACE avoided only in patients with a high risk of TVR and only in comparison with "pure" BMS patients. CONCLUSIONS: In this real-world multivessel PCI registry, the use of DES and a mixed approach were associated with a 2-year reduction of adverse clinical outcomes in comparison with BMS especially in patients with a high risk of TVR. DES were cost-effective only in patients at high risk of TVR.

Long-term outcome after drug eluting stenting in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: data from the REAL registry.

BACKGROUND: The long-term safety and efficacy of drug eluting stents (DES) implanted during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is unclear. The purpose of this study was to compare the long-term outcome of STEMI patients undergoing primary PCI with DES vs. bare metal stent (BMS) implantation. METHODS: In the present analysis 4764 patients were enrolled (706, 15%, received DES). We assessed the cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and stent thrombosis (ST). RESULTS: Overall, no significant difference emerged for the rates of death and reinfarction. DES implantation was associated to a reduction of target vessel revascularization (TVR) (HR 0.65, 95%CI 0.47-0.91; p=0.01), leading to a MACE reduction (HR 0.7, 95%CI 0.56-0.86; p<0.01). In particular, during the first 2 years we observed less adverse events in the DES group, mainly because of a lower TVR rate (TVR: HR 0.56, 95%CI 0.37-0.83, p<0.01; MACE: HR 0.71, 95%CI 0.54-0.94, p=0.01). On the contrary, during the third year, adverse events tended to be higher in the DES group. ST did not differ between DES and BMS groups (p=0.6). No differences were observed between sirolimus eluting stents and paclitaxel eluting stents. CONCLUSIONS: DES implantation during primary PCI is safe and associated with a significant TVR and MACE reduction in the first two years, whereas a trend to have more adverse events in the third year is observed. More data about long-term follow-up are needed to better evaluate both safety and efficacy of DES in the setting of STEMI.

Patient selection to enhance the long-term benefit of first generation drug-eluting stents for coronary revascularisation procedures. Insights from a large multicentre registry.

AIMS: To evaluate the long-term clinical outcome after drug-eluting stents (DES) implantation, and to test if patient selection could enhance their net clinical benefit. METHODS AND RESULTS: We assessed the incidence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE=death, acute myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularisation, TVR) and angiographic stent thrombosis (ST) during 3-year follow-up in a prospective multicentre registry. Propensity-score analysis to adjust for different clinical, angiographic and procedural characteristics was performed. Overall, 14,115 patients enrolled in the registry received solely BMS (n=9,565) or DES (n=4,550). The incidence of definite ST was 0.6% for BMS and 1.3% for DES (p=0.003). The propensity-score adjusted incidence of cardiac death and myocardial infarction was similar between the two groups (DES 11.9% vs. BMS 12.1%, HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.77-1.04), whereas DES were associated with lower rates of TVR (DES 11.6% vs. BMS 15.2%, HR 0.67, 95% CI 0.59-0.76). The efficacy of DES in reducing TVR increased with increasing likelihood of TVR at baseline. CONCLUSIONS: The beneficial effect of DES in reducing new revascularisations compared to BMS extends out to three years without a significantly worse overall safety profile. The benefit seems more evident in patients with the highest baseline risk of clinical restenosis.

Administration of eptifibatide during transfer for primary PCI in patients with STEMI: effect on Pre-PCI TIMI flow and its correlation with pain-to-therapy time.

BACKGROUND: Facilitation therapy in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is still controversial and no relationship between timing of treatment and efficacy has been reported to date. METHODS: In order to evaluate the effect of pre-catheterization laboratory (cath lab) administration of eptifibatide on pre-percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) flow and its correlation with ischemia duration, we studied all 438 STEMI patients treated with primary PCI from January 2006 to December 2007: 310 patients were pretreated with eptifibatide (Group P), while 128 patients received either no glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors or were only given them in the cath lab (Group C). All ischemia times (chest pain onset, diagnostic electrocardiogram, eptifibatide administration, cath lab arrival, first balloon inflation) were recorded. Group P was divided into early (E:159 patients with symptoms duration or= 2 flow on multivariable analysis. Thirtyday mortality was 1.9% in Group P and 9.5% in Group C (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, very early (< 90 minutes) eptifibatide therapy prior to primary PCI achieves a higher rate of pre-PCI TIMI flow >or= 2 with respect to late administration.

Percutaneous coronary interventions in octogenarians: Acute and 12 month results in a large single-centre experience.

OBJECTIVES: To review the results of PCI in patients aged >or=80 years. BACKGROUND: Octogenarians represent a growing proportion of patients treated with PCI; in this subset of high-risk patients, the role of complete revascularization is still controversial. METHODS: We examined in-hospital, 30 days, and 12-month events in 356 patients aged >or=80 years submitted to PCI from 2004 to 2006 and 754 patients aged <80 years treated in 2006. RESULTS: Octogenarians had a higher risk profile. A complete revascularization was obtained in 48% of them and in 65% of younger patients (P < 0.001); glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI) use was common in both groups (43 vs. 46.5%). In-hospital mortality was higher in octogenarians (3.9 vs. 1.3%, P = 0.01) as well as vascular complications (2.8 vs. 1%, P = 0.058). Mortality resulted 5.9 vs. 1.2% at 30 days (P < 0.001), and 16.3 vs. 3.9% at 12 months (P <0.001) in the two groups whereas repeat revascularization procedures did not differ (9.3 vs. 8.4%, respectively). In patients aged >or=80, there was no difference in 12 months total events (20 vs. 28%, P = 0.07) and repeat revascularizations (8 vs. 10%, P = 0.498) in completely or uncompletely revascularized subjects. At multivariate analysis age (P = 0.002), diabetes (P = 0.002), three vessel disease (P = 0.020) and procedural success (P = 0.002) were independent predictors of total events at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: In our experience, frequent GPI use and multivessel PCI in 41% of >or=80 years-old patients resulted in good immediate and mid-term clinical outcomes, irrespective of the completeness of revascularization achieved.