The American journal of cardiology
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Review Meta Analysis
Meta-analysis of time-related benefits of statin therapy in patients with acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.
Patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) still experience high rates of recurrent coronary events, particularly, early in their presentation. Statins yield substantial cardiovascular benefits, but the optimal timing of their administration, before or after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), remains unclear. We aimed to perform a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials of statin administration before or after PCI versus no statin or low-dose statin in patients with ACS. ⋯ The direction and magnitude of the estimates for before and after PCI versus no statin or low-dose statin were sustained at long term, not reaching statistical significance for MI (OR 0.81, 95% CI 0.65 to 1.01, p = 0.06) but with significant reductions in MACE (p = 0.0002). By meta-regression, earlier statin administration correlated significantly with lower risk of MI, MACE, and MACCE at 30 days. In conclusion, the present meta-analysis indicates a time-related impact of statin therapy on clinical outcomes of patients with ACS undergoing PCI: the earlier the administration before PCI, the greater the benefits.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Readmission rate after coronary artery bypass grafting versus percutaneous coronary intervention for unprotected left main coronary artery narrowing.
Many studies have reported comparable risk of hard end points between percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) stenosis. However, there are limited data regarding the morbidity associated with ULMCA revascularization. This study sought to compare the cause and risk of readmissions after PCI and CABG for ULMCA stenosis. ⋯ Except for the acute period, defined as the first 3 months, when there was no significant difference in readmission rate, a higher readmission rate after PCI was consistently observed over the remainder of the follow-up period. In conclusion, PCI was shown to be associated with a higher risk of readmission than CABG in treating ULMCA disease. This higher risk was attributable to more frequent revascularization in the PCI group.
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Multicenter Study
Analysis of emergency department visits for palpitations (from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey).
Palpitations is a common complaint in patients who visit the emergency department (ED), with causes ranging from benign to life threatening. We analyzed the ED component of the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Survey for 2001 through 2010 for visits with a chief complaint of palpitations and calculated nationally representative weighted estimates for prevalence, demographic characteristics, and admission rates. ED and hospital discharge diagnoses were tabulated and categorized, and recursive partitioning was used to identify factors associated with admission. ⋯ Survey-weighted recursive partitioning revealed several factors associated with admission including age >50 years, male gender, cardiac ED diagnosis, tachycardia, hypertension, and Medicare insurance. In conclusion, palpitations are responsible for a significant minority of ED visits and are associated with a cardiac diagnosis roughly 1/3 of the time. This was associated with a relatively high admission rate, although significant regional variation in these rates exists.
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Multicenter Study
Usefulness of electrocardiographic parameters for risk prediction in arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.
The value of electrocardiographic findings predicting adverse outcome in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia (ARVD) is not well known. We hypothesized that ventricular depolarization and repolarization abnormalities on the 12-lead surface electrocardiogram (ECG) predict adverse outcome in patients with ARVD. ECGs of 111 patients screened for the 2010 ARVD Task Force Criteria from 3 Swiss tertiary care centers were digitized and analyzed with a digital caliper by 2 independent observers blinded to the outcome. ⋯ Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed reduced times to MACE for patients with repolarization abnormalities according to Task Force Criteria (p = 0.009), a precordial QRS amplitude ratio (∑QRS mV V1 to V3/∑QRS mV V1 to V6) of ≤ 0.48 (p = 0.019), and QRS fragmentation (p = 0.045). In multivariable Cox regression, a precordial QRS amplitude ratio of ≤ 0.48 (hazard ratio [HR] 2.92, 95% confidence interval [CI] 1.39 to 6.15, p = 0.005), inferior leads T-wave inversions (HR 2.44, 95% CI 1.15 to 5.18, p = 0.020), and QRS fragmentation (HR 2.65, 95% CI 1.1 to 6.34, p = 0.029) remained as independent predictors of MACE. In conclusion, in this multicenter, observational, long-term study, electrocardiographic findings were useful for risk stratification in patients with ARVD, with repolarization criteria, inferior leads TWI, a precordial QRS amplitude ratio of ≤ 0.48, and QRS fragmentation constituting valuable variables to predict adverse outcome.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Impact of dual antiplatelet therapy on outcomes among aspirin-resistant patients following coronary artery bypass grafting.
Coronary artery bypass grafting is pivotal in the contemporary management of complex coronary artery disease. Interpatient variability to antiplatelet agents, however, harbors the potential to compromise the revascularization benefit by increasing the incidence of adverse events. This study was designed to define the impact of dual antiplatelet therapy (dAPT) on clinical outcomes among aspirin-resistant patients who underwent coronary artery surgery. ⋯ The total incidence of bleeding events was 25% and 19% in the dAPT and aspirin-monotherapy groups, respectively (relative risk 1.34, 95% confidence interval 0.80 to 2.23, p = 0.33). In the subgroup analysis, dAPT led to lower rates of adverse events in patients with a body mass index >30 kg/m(2) (0% vs 18%, p <0.01) and those <65 years (0% vs 10%, p = 0.02). In conclusion, the addition of clopidogrel in patients found to be aspirin resistant after coronary artery bypass grafting did not reduce the incidence of adverse events, nor did it increase the number of recorded bleeding events. dAPT did, however, lower the incidence of the primary end point in obese patients and those <65 years.