Discussing deactivation of implantable cardiac defibrillators.

Implantable cardiac defibrillators are a key component in preventing sudden cardiac death for patients with life-threatening arrhythmias. Through ageing, frailty and the progression of cardiac and non-cardiac morbidity, many will develop a 'life-limiting' condition. This raises the challenge of how to approach making decisions to deactivate the defibrillator function. This article discusses the background to deactivation of implantable cardioverter defibrillators and the practical considerations for different circumstances.

Proportion of acute ischaemic strokes attributable to a cardiac aetiology in an unselected young patient population: A single centre experience.

The incidence of acute ischaemic stroke in young patients is increasing and identifying the underlying cause is critically important with regards to their optimal management. The true proportion of cardiac causes of stroke in young patients is poorly defined. We aimed to determine the proportion of strokes attributable to cardiac causes in an unselected, consecutive cohort of young patients. We used the database of a large stroke service to identify patients aged ≤55 years presenting with stroke between 01 January 2015 and 31 December 2017. We reviewed their clinical notes and investigations and then categorised patients by the cause of their stroke.We screened 202 cases, and excluded 35, resulting in a study population of 167 patients; 24.0% (40/167) had a cardiac cause of stroke including 9.6% (16/167) had patent foramen ovale, 9.0% (15/167) had intracardiac source of embolus and 5.4% (9/167) had atrial fibrillation; 50.8% (85/167) had other more likely causes; and 25.1% (42/167) had no clear underlying cause.A high proportion (24%) of strokes in young patients are secondary to a cardiac cause. Thorough investigation in these patients is warranted and requires close interdisciplinary links between cardiologists and stroke physicians to ensure optimal management.

Emergency reversal of dabigatran for emergency surgery.

An 80-year-old woman had the anticoagulant effect of dabigatran etexilate reversed using factor eight inhibitor bypassing activity (FEIBA) in order to facilitate emergency surgery for an incarcerated femoral hernia. She had atrial fibrillation was taking the anticoagulant for stroke prevention. That afternoon her international normalised ratio (INR) was 1.3 and activated partial thromboplastin time ratio (APPTr) was 2.17, having taken dabigatran that morning. 3000 units of FEIBA and 10 mg of vitamin K were administered and she was taken to theatre for emergency surgery. Surgery was successful, total blood loss was less than 100 mL and there were no complications. The following morning she had an INR of 1.1 and APPTr of 1.49. She made an uneventful postoperative recovery and was discharged home. There is a limited evidence base guiding practice in the clinical scenario described. The only controlled studies available are animal experiments.

Drug-eluting balloon angioplasty for in-stent restenosis: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomised controlled trials.

CONTEXT: The optimal treatment option for in-stent restenosis is currently unclear. OBJECTIVE: Systematic review and meta-analysis of the effect of drug-eluting balloons (DEB) to treat in-stent restenosis. DATA SOURCES: Trials were identified through a literature search from 2005 through 7 November 2012. STUDY SELECTION: Randomised clinical trials comparing DEB with a control treatment (plain balloon angioplasty or drug-eluting stents). DATA EXTRACTION AND SYNTHESIS: Main endpoints of interest were major adverse cardiac events (MACE), target lesion revascularisation (TLR), binary in-segment restenosis, stent thrombosis (ST), myocardial infarction (MI) and mortality. A random-effects model was used to calculate the pooled relative risks (RR) with 95% CIs. RESULTS: Five studies and a total of 801 patients were included in this analysis. Follow-up duration ranged from 12 to 60months. Most endpoints were significantly reduced for DEB compared with the control groups. For MACE, the relative risk RR was 0.46 (0.31 to 0.70), p<0.001, for TLR it was 0.34 (0.16 to 0.73); p=0.006, for angiographic in-segment restenosis it was 0.28 (0.14 to 0.58); p<0.001. There was a lower mortality for DEB (RR 0.48 (0.24 to 0.95); p=0.034). The incidence of MI was numerically lower, but the differences were not statistically significant (RR 0.68 (0.32 to 1.48); p=0.337). There was no difference in the risk of ST (RR 1.12 (0.23 to 5.50), p=0.891). CONCLUSIONS: In-stent restenosis is the bane of coronary angioplasty, and drug-eluting balloon angioplasty is a promising treatment option in this situation. It reduces the risk for MACE compared with plain balloon angioplasty or implantation of a Taxus Liberte drug-eluting stent.