Management of Coronary Artery Aneurysms

Aneurysmal dilation of coronary arteries is observed in up to 5% of patients undergoing coronary angiography. Due to their poorly elucidated underlying mechanisms, their variable presentations, and the lack of largescale outcome data on their various treatment modalities, coronary artery aneurysms and coronary ectasia pose a challenge to the managing clinician. This paper aims to provide a succinct review of aneurysmal coronary disease, with a special emphasis on the challenges associated with its interventional treatment.     

Update in the Percutaneous Management of Coronary Chronic Total Occlusions

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for chronic total occlusions (CTOs) has been rapidly evolving during recent years. With improvement in equipment and techniques, high success rates can be achieved at experienced centers, although overall success rates remain low. Prospective, randomized-controlled data regarding optimal use and indications for CTO PCI remain limited. CTO PCI should be performed when the anticipated benefit exceeds the potential risk. New high-quality studies of the clinical outcomes and techniques of CTO PCI are needed, as is the expansion of expert centers and operators that can achieve excellent clinical outcomes in this challenging patient and lesion subgroup. In the current review the authors summarize the latest publications in CTO PCI and provide an overview of the current state of the field.     

Acute coronary syndromes in patients with angiographically normal or near normal (non-obstructive) coronary arteries

Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) with normal or near-normal (non-obstructive) coronary arteries (ACSNNOCA) constitute an important, albeit heterogeneous, patient subset of younger patients, more commonly females, who may have lower risk of cardiovascular events compared to patients with obstructive coronary artery disease; however this risk remains substantial, hence needing further investigation to identify the underlying cause and devise a proper therapeutic strategy. A diagnostic algorithm starts during coronary angiography with some essential additional diagnostic steps, such as a left ventricular angiogram that may readily identify the underlying cause, e.g. Takotsubo syndrome, while intravascular imaging and vascular reactivity testing may need to be considered for assessing other diagnostic possibilities (e.g. occult atherosclerotic plaque rupture, spontaneous coronary dissection or microvascular dysfunction). Nevertheless, pursuing further investigation with less risky noninvasive tests, such as echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance imaging, may effectively identify the cause of ACSNNOCA (e.g. myocarditis or Takotsubo syndrome), and guide management.     

血浆同型半胱氨酸与急性心肌梗死患者预后的相关性研究

目的 探讨血浆同型半胱氨酸(Hcy)水平与急性心肌梗死(AMI)患者远期发生主要心血管不良事件(MACE)的相关性.方法 连续纳入2012年3月至2014年12月该院心血管内科住院治疗的AMI患者共326例,Hcy等实验室生化指标均由医院医学检验科按标准流程进行检测.对Hcy水平与MACE发生率进行ROC曲线分析,按Cut-off值11.69 μmol/L将研究对象分为Hcy(L)组及Hcy(H)组,收集研究对象的临床基线资料,并定期随访,记录MACE.结果 Hcy(L)组血浆N端B型脑钠钛前体(NT-pro BNP)水平明显低于Hcy(H)组[(501.46±118.35)pg/mL vs.(1 324.11±523.13) pg/mL,P=0.02],而左心室射血分数(LVEF)则明显高于Hcy(H)组[(55.23±9.48)％ vs.(50.79±10.68)％,P=0.03].随访1年后Hcy(H)组LVEF与基线相比明显降低[(45.32±10.18)％vs.(50.79±10.68)％,P＜0.05],且Hcy(H)组MACE发生风险明显高于Hcy(L)组,校正相关混杂因素后仍差异有统计学意义(P=0.048),而Hcy(L)组LVEF、左心室短轴缩短率(FS)与基线资料相比无明显差异[(54.43±10.68)％vs.(55.23±9.48)％、(28.56±6.21)％vs.(29.22-±-5.30)％,P＞0.05].结论 AMI合并高血浆Hcy水平患者发生远期MACE风险较低血浆Hcy水平者明显增加,预后较差,提示血浆高Hcy水平是AMI患者预后不良可能的独立预测因子之一,但其在AMI发生、发展中的作用机制及Hcy干预治疗能否改善AMI患者预后仍有待进一步研究.     

Nephrologist Follow-Up Care of Patients With Acute Kidney Disease Improves Outcomes: Taiwan Experience

ObjectivesAcute kidney injury (AKI) and acute kidney disease (AKD) are a continuum on a disease spectrum and frequently progress to chronic kidney disease. Benefits of nephrologist subspecialty care during the AKD period after AKI are uncertain.MethodsPatients with AKI requiring dialysis who subsequently became dialysis independent and survived for at least 90 days, defined as the AKD period, were identified from the Taiwanese population’s health insurance database. Cox proportional hazard models using death as the competing risk before and after propensity-score matching were applied to evaluate various endpoints.ResultsAmong a total of 20 260 patients with AKI requiring dialysis who became dialysis independent, only 7550 (37.3%) patients were followed up with by a nephrologist (F/U_nephrol group) during the AKD period. During a mean 4.04 ± 3.56 years of follow-up, the patients in the F/U_nephrol group were more often administered statin, antihypertensives, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitors (ACEI) or angiotensin receptor blockers (ARB), diuretics, antiplatelet agents, and antidiabetic agents. The patients in the F/U_nephrol group had a lower mortality rate (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.87, P < .001) and were less likely to have major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) (subdistribution HR [sHR] = 0.85, P < .001), congestive heart failure (CHF) (sHR = 0.81, P < .001), and severe sepsis (sHR = 0.88, P = .008) according to the Cox proportional model after adjusting for mortality as a competing risk. During the AKD period, an increase in the frequency of nephrology visits was associated with improved outcomes.ConclusionsIn this population-based cohort, even after weaning off acute dialysis, only a minority of patients visited a nephrologist during the AKD period. We showed that nephrology follow-up is associated with a decrease in MACE, CHF exacerbations, and sepsis, as well as lower mortality; thus it may improve outcomes in patients with AKD.