RESUMO
The last years, various large randomized studies have demonstrated the benefit of TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) over medical therapy or over conventional surgical treatment in inoperable or very high risk patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis. More recently, new data has also shown that among patients at intermediate risk, TAVI is at least as beneficial as surgical valve replacement. In this article, we will focus on the new recommendations of the European society of cardiology but also on issues that remain open.
Ces dernières années, différentes grandes études randomisées ont démontré le bénéfice du TAVI (transcatheter aortic valve implantation) par rapport au traitement médicamenteux ou au traitement chirurgical conventionnel chez les patients avec sténose aortique sévère symptomatique inopérables ou à très haut risque. Plus récemment, de nouvelles données ont également démontré que parmi les patients à risque intermédiaire, le TAVI est au moins aussi bénéfique que le remplacement valvulaire chirurgical. Dans le présent article, nous allons nous intéresser aux nouvelles recommandations de la Société européenne de cardiologie mais également aux questions qui demeurent ouvertes.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Highly sensitive troponin T (hs-TnT) assay has improved clinical decision-making for patients admitted with chest pain. However, this assay's performance in detecting myocardial ischaemia in a lowrisk population has been poorly documented. PURPOSE: To assess hs-TnT assay's performance to detect myocardial ischaemia at positron emission tomography/CT (PET-CT) in low-risk patients admitted with chest pain. METHODS: Patients admitted for chest pain with a nonconclusive ECG and negative standard cardiac troponin T results at admission and after 6 hours were prospectively enrolled. Their hs-TnT samples were at T0, T2 and T6. Physicians were blinded to hs-TnT results. All patients underwent a PET-CT at rest and during adenosine-induced stress. All patients with a positive PET-CT result underwent a coronary angiography. RESULTS: Forty-eight patients were included. Six had ischaemia at PET-CT. All of them had ≥1 significant stenosis at coronary angiography. Areas under the curve (95% CI) for predicting significant ischaemia at PET-CT using hs-TnT were 0.764 (0.515 to 1.000) at T0, 0.812(0.616 to 1.000) at T2 and 0.813(0.638 to 0.989) at T6. The receiver operating characteristicbased optimal cut-off value for hs-TnT at T0, T2 and T6 needed to exclude significant ischaemia at PET-CT was <4 ng/L. Using this value, sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values of hs-TnT to predict significant ischaemia were 83%/38%/16%/94% at T0, 100%/40%/19%/100% at T2 and 100%/43%/20%/100% at T6, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our findings suggest that in low-risk patients, using the hs-TnT assay with a cut-off value of 4 ng/L demonstrates excellent negative predictive value to exclude myocardial ischaemia detection at PET-CT, at the expense of weak specificity and positive predictive value. TRIAL REGISTRATION NUMBER: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT01374607.