Impact of post-dilatation on post-procedural physiology, microcirculatory resistance, and target vessel failure in STEMI patients undergoing PPCI: A single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: Suboptimal stent deployment is frequently observed in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PPCI). This study sought to investigate whether these patients could benefit from post-dilatation with respect to post-procedural physiology, microcirculatory resistance, and long-term clinical outcomes. METHODS: This was a retrospective study of consecutive STEMI patients who underwent successful stent implantation during PPCI from February 2016 to November 2021. Post-procedural physiology and microcirculatory resistance were assessed by Murray law-based quantitative flow ratio (µQFR) and angiographic microcirculatory resistance (AMR), respectively. The primary outcome was target vessel failure (TVF), a composite of cardiac death, target vessel-oriented myocardial infarction, and clinically driven target vessel revascularization. RESULTS: A total of 671 patients (671 culprit vessels) were included. Post-dilatation was selectively performed in 430 (64.1%) culprit vessels, resulting in a 0.02 (interquartile range: 0.00-0.05, p < 0.001) increase in post-procedural µQFR but no significant impact on AMR. During a median follow-up of 2.8 years (interquartile range: 1.4-3.0 years), TVF occurred in 47 (7.0%) patients. Post-dilatation demonstrated a trend toward a reduction in TVF (5.3% vs. 10.0%; adjusted hazard ratio: 0.60, 95% confidence interval: 0.33-1.09, p = 0.094), mainly driven by a lower incidence of clinically driven target vessel revascularization (1.6% vs. 4.1%; adjusted hazard ratio: 0.32, 95% confidence interval: 0.11-0.90, p = 0.030). CONCLUSIONS: In STEMI patients undergoing PPCI, selective post-dilatation was associated with improved post-procedural physiological results and a trend toward less TVF events without aggravating microcirculatory resistance.

[Association between high sensitivity C-reactive protein and contrast induced acute kidney injury in patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention: impact of atorvastatin].

OBJECTIVE: To observe the association between preprocedural high sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) level and incidence of contrast induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and the impact of atorvastatin pretreatment on CI-AKI. METHODS: According to the level of preprocedural hs-CRP, 270 ACS patients were divided into three groups: high hs-CRP group (hs-CRP ≥ 3 mg/L, n = 176), moderate hs-CRP group (hs-CRP 1-3 mg/L, n = 60) and normal hs-CRP group (hs-CRP < 1 mg/L, n = 34). According to the dosage of preprocedural atorvastatin, the high hs-CRP group was further divided into 10 mg group (n = 49), 20 mg group (n = 66) and 40 mg group (n = 61). Serum creatinine (Scr), blood urea nitrogen (BUN), cystatin C (Cys C), hs-CRP were measured at before and 24 hours, 48 hours after PCI. CCr and GFR were calculated according to Scr and Cys C. Risk factors for CI-AKI were determined by multivariate logistic regression analysis. RESULTS: (1) Cys C was significantly increased and GFR after PCI significantly reduced in high and moderate hs-CRP groups compared with normal hs-CRP group (P < 0.05). (2) Incidence of CI-AKI was 43.18%, 38.33%, 20.59% in high, moderate and normal hs-CRP groups, respectively (P < 0.05). (3) In high hs-CRP group, postprocedural GFR was significantly higher while postprocedural Cys C and hs-CRP were significantly lower in 40 mg statin subgroup than 10 mg and 20 mg statin subgroups (P < 0.05), similar trends were documented when comparing 20 mg statin subgroup with 10 mg statin subgroup (P < 0.05). (4) Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that pretreatment with high dose atorvastatin was a protective factor for post CI-AKI (20 mg atorvastatin: OR = 0.15, 95%CI 0.06 - 0.33, P = 0.001; 40 mg atorvastatin: OR = 0.10, 95%CI 0.04 - 0.23, P = 0.001), while high levels of preprocedural hs-CRP (OR = 2.06, 95%CI 1.01 - 4.23, P = 0.048), diabetes mellitus (OR = 10.71, 95%CI 5.29 - 21.70, P = 0.001), advanced age (OR = 2.64, 95%CI 1.05 - 6.63, P = 0.038) and renal failure (OR = 5.14, 95%CI 1.13 - 23.39, P = 0.034) were independent risk factors of CI-AKI. CONCLUSION: High hs-CRP level is linked with the development of CI-AKI in ACS patients undergoing PCI and pretreatment with 40 mg atorvastatin is associated with lower incidence CI-AKI, possibly by reducing the postprocedural inflammation responses.