Early Detection of Subclinical Myocardial Damage in Chronic Aortic Regurgitation and Strategies for Timely Treatment of Asymptomatic Patients.

A series of hemodynamic and pathological responses occur in chronic aortic regurgitation, which eventually result in myocardial fibrosis and irreversible left ventricular dysfunction. According to guidelines, valvular surgery is recommended with the development of symptoms, left ventricular systolic dysfunction, or left ventricular dilatation. The optimal timing of surgical intervention has recently been questioned with documentation of irreversible myocardial damage resulting in incomplete left ventricular recovery and adverse clinical outcomes after surgery. Recognizing the shortcomings of the guidelines, we performed a comprehensive review on the novel diagnostic methods that have been shown to improve the detection of subclinical ventricular dysfunction in chronic aortic regurgitation and to improve prediction of outcomes.

Aspirin desensitisation for Chinese patients with coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE. To assess the efficacy and safety of aspirin desensitisation in Chinese patients with coronary artery disease. DESIGN. Case series. SETTING. A regional hospital in Hong Kong. PATIENTS. Chinese patients with coronary artery disease and a history of a hypersensitivity reaction to aspirin or non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug, who underwent aspirin desensitisation between February 2008 and July 2012. RESULTS. There were 24 Chinese patients with coronary artery disease who were admitted to our unit for aspirin desensitisation during this period. The majority (79%) were clinical admissions for desensitisation; eight (33%) of them developed a hypersensitivity reaction during desensitisation. Half of the latter had only limited cutaneous reactions and were able to complete the desensitisation protocol and developed aspirin tolerance. Overall, 20 (83%) of the patients were successfully desensitised at the initial attempt. No serious adverse reactions occurred in the cohort. Twelve of the patients had significant coronary artery disease revealed by coronary angiography and received a percutaneous coronary intervention, nine of whom received drug-eluting stents while three received bare metal stents due to financial constraints. All 11 successfully desensitised patients received aspirin and clopidogrel as double antiplatelet therapy after percutaneous coronary intervention. The remaining patient had a bare metal stent implant due to failed aspirin desensitisation. CONCLUSION. Given the potentially different genetic basis of aspirin hypersensitivity in different ethnicities, recourse to desensitisation in the Chinese population has not previously been addressed. This study demonstrated that aspirin desensitisation using a rapid protocol can be performed effectively and safely in Chinese patients. Our results were comparable to those in other reported studies involving other ethnicities. Successful aspirin desensitisation permits patients to pursue long-term double antiplatelet therapy that includes aspirin after percutaneous coronary intervention, and thus allows the use of drug-eluting stents as a feasible option.

Meta-Analysis of Acetylsalicylic Acid Desensitization in Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome.

Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) hypersensitivity represents a clinical challenge in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients urgently requiring ASA for antiplatelet therapy. ASA desensitization has been reported with successful outcomes in cardiac patients. The aim of this review is to determine the safety and efficacy of ASA desensitization therapy in ACS patients. A PubMed database search was conducted for articles containing combinations of keywords, "aspirin desensitization" or "aspirin hypersensitivity" and "acute coronary syndrome" between January 1, 1990 and August 1, 2018. The primary end point was desensitization protocol success. Secondary end points included hypersensitivity adverse events and ASA discontinuation due to hypersensitivity adverse events at follow-up. Fifteen reports consisting of 480 ACS patients with previous hypersensitivity to ASA were included. The pooled desensitization success rate was 98.3% (95% confidence interval: 97.2% to 99.5%). There was no statistical difference in outcomes between protocols ≤ 2 hours and > 2 hours in duration (96.3[92.3 to 100.3]% vs 97.2[94.6 to 99.8]%; p = 0.71). Protocols with > 6 dose escalations were associated with higher success rates compared to those with ≤ 6 doses (99.2[97.9 to 100.4]% vs 95.4[93 to 97.8]%; p = 0.007). At follow-up between 1 and 46 months (mode 12 months), zero hypersensitivity adverse events were reported. Consequently, no ASA discontinuations were related to hypersensitivity adverse events. In conclusion, ASA desensitization therapy is safe and effective in patients with ACS. Protocols with > 6 dose escalations may be optimal for ASA desensitization in ACS patients.

Incidence and impact of renal dysfunction on clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

BACKGROUND: The impact of baseline renal dysfunction on early and late clinical outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) remains to be defined. METHODS: 927 patients included in the prospective Bern TAVI registry were classified on the basis of the baseline estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), as having none or mild (eGFR ≥60mL/min/1.73m2, n=284, 30.6%), moderate (eGFR between 30 and 59mL/min/1.73m2, n=535, 57.7%) and severe (eGFR <30mL/min/1.73m2, n=108, 11.7%) renal dysfunction. RESULTS: A graded relationship between stages of renal dysfunction and increasing risk profile was observed with higher STS score and lower left ventricular ejection fraction among patients with eGFR<30 (p<0.001 across groups). In patients with none or mild, moderate, and severe renal dysfunction the rate of all-cause mortality was 1.8%, 5.2% and 8.3% at 30-day and 11.0%, 15.0% and 19.5% at 1-year, respectively. After adjusting for relevant confounders, severe renal dysfunction was associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular death (adjusted Hazard Ratio, HRadj, 3.90, 95% Confidence Interval, CI 1.15-13.2) and stage 3 acute kidney injury (HRadj 5.15, 95% CI 1.72-15.5) at 30-day follow-up, however no significant association was found for clinical outcomes at 1-year follow-up. Moreover, moderate and severe renal dysfunction were found to be associated with bleeding at 1-year follow-up (HRadj, 1.36, 95% CI 1.04-1.78 and HRadj 1.49, 95% CI 1.00-2.21, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Pre-procedural renal dysfunction differentially affects early clinical outcomes, although the magnitude of this association is diluted over time by the overriding effect of underlying risk and comorbidities.

Early versus newer generation devices for transcatheter aortic valve implantation in routine clinical practice: a propensity score matched analysis.

Aim: Contemporary data comparing early versus newer generation transcatheter heart valve (THV) devices in routine clinical practice are lacking. We sought to compare the safety and efficacy of early versus newer generation THVs in unselected patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). Methods and results: We performed a propensity score matched analysis of patients undergoing transfemoral TAVI at a single centre with early versus newer generation devices between 2007 and 2016. Patients were matched for balloon-expandable versus self-expandable valves and Society of Thoracic Surgeons score. The primary end point was the Valve Academic Research Consortium (VARC)-2 early safety composite end point at 30 days. Among the 391 matched pairs, no differences between early (21.2%) and newer generation (20.8%) THVs regarding the early safety composite end point (HR 0.98, 95% CI 0.72 to 1.33, P=0.88) were observed. The rates of valve embolisation (0.8% vs 4.2%, P=0.005), bleeding events (24.8% vs 32.0%, P=0.028) and moderate-to-severe paravalvular regurgitation (PVR) (3.1% vs 12.1%, P<0.001) were lower among patients receiving newer generation devices. Conversely, patients treated with early generation THVs less frequently experienced annulus rupture (0% vs 2.0%, P=0.008). Conclusion: Newer compared with early generation THV devices were associated with a lower rate of valve embolisation, PVR and bleeding events.

Mechanisms of Very Late Bioresorbable Scaffold Thrombosis: The INVEST Registry.

BACKGROUND: Very late scaffold thrombosis (VLScT) occurs more frequently after bioresorbable scaffold (Absorb BVS 1.1, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, California) implantation than with metallic everolimus-eluting stents. OBJECTIVES: The purpose of this study was to elucidate mechanisms underlying VLScT as assessed by optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS: The INVEST (Independent OCT Registry on Very Late Bioresorbable Scaffold Thrombosis) registry is an international consortium of investigators who used OCT to examine patients with VLScT. RESULTS: Between June 2013 and May 2017, 36 patients with 38 lesions who had VLScT underwent OCT at 19 centers. VLScT occurred at a median of 20 months (interquartile range: 16 to 27 months) after implantation. At the time of VLScT, 83% of patients received aspirin monotherapy and 17% received dual-antiplatelet therapy. The mechanisms underlying VLScT were (in descending order) scaffold discontinuity (42.1%), malapposition (18.4%), neoatherosclerosis (18.4%), underexpansion or scaffold recoil (10.5%), uncovered struts (5.3%), and edge-related disease progression (2.6%). Discontinuity (odds ratio [OR]: 110; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 73.5 to 173; p < 0.001), malapposed struts (OR: 17.0; 95% CI: 14.8 to 19.7; p < 0.001), and uncovered struts (OR: 7.3; 95% CI: 6.2 to 8.8; p < 0.001) were more frequent in the thrombosed than the nonthrombosed scaffold regions. In 2 of 16 patients with scaffold discontinuity, intercurrent OCT before VLScT provided evidence of circularly apposed scaffold struts with minimal tissue coverage. CONCLUSIONS: The leading mechanism underlying VLScT was scaffold discontinuity, which suggests an unfavorable resorption-related process, followed by malapposition and neoatherosclerosis. It remains to be determined whether modifications in scaffold design and optimized implantation can mitigate the risk of VLScT. (Independent OCT Registry on Very Late Bioresorbable Scaffold Thrombosis [INVEST]; NCT03180931).