Impact of intravascular ultrasound on the long-term clinical outcomes in the treatment of coronary ostial lesions.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the long-term outcomes of patients with ostial lesions who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with and without the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). BACKGROUND: A higher rate of adverse cardiac events is associated with PCI of ostial lesions as compared with nonostial disease. METHODS: From 7/2002 to 8/2010, 225 patients with 233 coronary ostial lesions underwent PCI with (n = 82) and without (n = 143) IVUS guidance. Ostial lesions included both native aorto-ostial or major coronary vessel (left anterior descending, left circumflex, and ramus intermedius) lesions. Clinical outcomes [cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI), and target lesion revascularization (TLR)] at a mean follow-up of 4.2 ± 2.5 years were compared between patients undergoing PCI of an ostial lesion with and without use of IVUS using univariate and propensity score adjusted analyses. RESULTS: Aorto-ostial lesions (n = 109) comprised 47% of lesions, whereas the remaining lesions (53%) involved major coronary vessels. After propensity score adjustment, IVUS use was associated with lower rates of the composite of cardiovascular death, MI, or TLR (HR 0.54, 95% CI 0.29-0.99; P = 0.04), composite MI or TLR (HR 0.39, 95% CI 0.18-0.83; P = 0.01), and MI (HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.11-0.85; P = 0.02) as compared with no IVUS. The use of IVUS was also associated with a trend towards a lower rate of TLR (HR 0.42, 95% CI 0.17-1.02; P = 0.06). CONCLUSIONS: PCI of coronary ostial lesions with the use of IVUS was associated with significantly lower rates of adverse cardiac events.

Risk model for estimating the 1-year risk of deferred lesion intervention following deferred revascularization after fractional flow reserve assessment.

AIMS: Although lesions deferred revascularization following fractional flow reserve (FFR) assessment have a low risk of adverse cardiac events, variability in risk for deferred lesion intervention (DLI) has not been previously evaluated. The aim of this study was to develop a prediction model to estimate 1-year risk of DLI for coronary lesions where revascularization was not performed following FFR assessment. METHODS AND RESULTS: A prediction model for DLI was developed from a cohort of 721 patients with 882 coronary lesions where revascularization was deferred based on FFR between 10/2002 and 7/2010. Deferred lesion intervention was defined as any revascularization of a lesion previously deferred following FFR. The final DLI model was developed using stepwise Cox regression and validated using bootstrapping techniques. An algorithm was constructed to predict the 1-year risk of DLI. During a mean (±SD) follow-up period of 4.0 ± 2.3 years, 18% of lesions deferred after FFR underwent DLI; the 1-year incidence of DLI was 5.3%, while the predicted risk of DLI varied from 1 to 40%. The final Cox model included the FFR value, age, current or former smoking, history of coronary artery disease (CAD) or prior percutaneous coronary intervention, multi-vessel CAD, and serum creatinine. The c statistic for the DLI prediction model was 0.66 (95% confidence interval, CI: 0.61-0.70). CONCLUSION: Patients deferred revascularization based on FFR have variation in their risk for DLI. A clinical prediction model consisting of five clinical variables and the FFR value can help predict the risk of DLI in the first year following FFR assessment.

Immunization of nonautoimmune mice with DNA binding domains of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase I results in production of anti-dsDNA and anti-Sm/RNP antibodies.

Antibodies against the N-terminal (NT) but not the basic domain (BD), DNA binding regions of the largest subunit (S1) of RNA polymerase I (RNAPI) were detected in the sera of MRL-lpr/lpr lupus mice. Antibodies against both RNAPI(S1)-NT and -BD, as well as other systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) autoantigens (La, ribosomal P proteins and Sm/RNP) were produced by rabbits immunized with anti-DNA antibodies that had been affinity purified from SLE patients. Immunization of nonautoimmune mice (Balb/c) with RNAPI(S1)-NT, RNAPI(S1)-BD, or La in the form of GST fusion proteins, induced production of anti-double-stranded (ds) DNA and anti-Sm/RNP. GST-P1 did not induce an anti-dsDNA response in these mice. These results demonstrate that RNAPI(S1)-NT, RNAPI(S1)-BD and La can participate in an anti-autoantigen/anti-DNA antibody loop during an SLE-like autoimmune response.

Outcomes of coronary stenoses deferred revascularization for borderline versus nonborderline fractional flow reserve values.

Current evidence supports deferral of revascularization for lesions with fractional flow reserve (FFR) values >0.80. The natural history after deferral of revascularization of lesions with borderline FFR values is unknown. This study evaluated the outcomes of patients after deferred revascularization of coronary stenoses based on a borderline FFR value. We retrospectively studied 720 patients with 881 intermediate-severity coronary stenoses who underwent FFR assessment from October 2002 to July 2010 and were deferred revascularization. Patients were divided into gray zone (0.75 to 0.80), borderline (0.81 to 0.85), and nonborderline (>0.85) FFR groups. Any subsequent percutaneous coronary intervention or coronary artery bypass grafting of a deferred stenosis during follow-up was classified as a deferred lesion intervention (DLI). Patient and/or lesion characteristics and clinical outcomes were compared between the FFR groups using univariate and propensity score-adjusted inverse probability of weighting Cox proportional hazards analyses. During a mean follow-up of 4.5 ± 2.1 years, 157 deferred lesions (18%) underwent DLI by percutaneous coronary intervention (n = 117) or coronary artery bypass grafting (n = 40). No statistically significant differences were observed in clinical outcomes between the gray zone and borderline FFR groups. Lesions with a borderline FFR were associated with a significantly higher risk of DLI compared with lesions with nonborderline FFR values (hazard ratio 1.63, 95% confidence interval 1.14 to 2.33, p = 0.007). Lesions deferred revascularization because of a borderline FFR (0.81 to 0.85) were associated with a higher risk of DLI compared with lesions with a nonborderline FFR (>0.85). Further study is needed to determine the optimal management of coronary stenoses with a borderline FFR value.