The American journal of cardiology
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Contemporary professional society recommendations for patients presenting to the emergency department with acute chest pain and low clinical risk encourage noninvasive testing for coronary artery disease (CAD) before, or shortly after, discharge from the emergency department. Recent reports indicate that a strategy of universal testing has a low diagnostic yield and may not be necessary. We examined data from a prospective cohort of patients who underwent evaluation of acute chest pain in our chest pain evaluation center (CPEC). ⋯ Of 203 patients who underwent testing, 11 had abnormal test results, 4 of whom had obstructive CAD based on invasive coronary angiography. The positive predictive value for obstructive CAD after an abnormal test was 45.5%, and the overall diagnostic yield for obstructive CAD was 2.5%. In conclusion, in patients with acute chest pain evaluated in a CPEC, the yield of routine use of noninvasive testing for CAD was minimal and the positive predictive value of an abnormal test was low.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Validation of the SYNTAX revascularization index to quantify reasonable level of incomplete revascularization after percutaneous coronary intervention.
Incomplete revascularization is common after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Whether a "reasonable" degree of incomplete revascularization is associated with a similar favorable long-term prognosis compared with complete revascularization remains unknown. We sought to quantify the proportion of coronary artery disease burden treated by PCI and evaluate its impact on outcomes using a new prognostic instrument-the Synergy Between PCI with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) Revascularization Index (SRI). ⋯ An SRI cutoff of <70% (present in 142 patients [16.0%] after PCI) had the best prognostic accuracy for prediction of death and, by multivariable analysis, was an independent predictor of 5-year mortality (hazard ratio [HR] 4.13, 95% confidence interval [CI] 2.79 to 6.11, p <0.0001). In conclusion, the SRI is a newly described method for quantifying the proportion of coronary artery disease burden treated by PCI. The SRI is a useful tool in assessing the degree of revascularization after PCI, with SRI ≥70% representing a "reasonable" goal for patients with complex coronary artery disease.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
A risk score for predicting 1-year mortality in patients ≥75 years of age presenting with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome.
Approximately 1/3 of patients with non-ST-segment elevation (NSTE) acute coronary syndromes (ACS) are ≥75 years of age. Risk stratification in these patients is generally difficult because supporting evidence is scarce. The investigators developed and validated a simple risk prediction score for 1-year mortality in patients ≥75 years of age presenting with NSTE ACS. ⋯ Moreover, a score ≥3 (the highest baseline risk group) identified a subset of patients with NSTE ACS most likely to benefit from an invasive approach. In conclusion, the risk for 1-year mortality in patients ≥75 years of age with NSTE ACS is substantial and can be predicted through a score that can be easily derived at the bedside at hospital presentation. The score may help in guiding treatment strategy.
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Earlobe crease (ELC) has been linked to coronary artery disease; however, systematic evaluations of the earlobe and its relation to ischemic stroke are lacking. The objectives were to define the ELC using a single-blind approach and to determine through multivariate analysis its association with cardiovascular events (CVEs) comprising coronary, ischemic cerebrovascular, and peripheral vascular diseases. A single-blind cross-sectional study was performed in 2 phases: (1) an initial study (n = 300) to define ELC classification criteria and (2) a confirmation stage (n = 1,000) to analyze ELC association with CVEs. ⋯ Ischemic stroke alone was also associated with diagonal bilateral ELC (odds ratio 1.67, 95% confidence interval 1.1 to 2.51, p = 0.015). In conclusion, diagonal bilateral ELC is independently associated with CVEs in the hospitalized population. An independent association with ischemic stroke has also been demonstrated for the first time.
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Renal dysfunction is a major adverse event after cardiovascular surgery. Therefore, the preoperative prediction of which patients will require renal replacement therapy (RRT) after cardiac surgery is an important issue. In the present study, 1,822 consecutive patients who underwent cardiovascular surgery from 2008 and 2013 at a single institution were reviewed. ⋯ A subgroup of patients with relatively preserved renal function before surgery (creatinine <1.12 mg/dl, a cut-off value for RRT requirement obtained from receiver-operating characteristic curve analysis [area under the curve 0.74748, sensitivity 60.2%, specificity 85.0%]) showed that preoperative serum albumin concentration was most significantly associated with postoperative RRT requirement (odds ratio 0.048, 95% confidence interval 0.023 to 0.095, p <0.0001). In conclusion, cardiopulmonary bypass use, preoperative renal impairment as reflected by elevated creatinine level, small body size, a low left ventricular ejection fraction, and hypoalbuminemia were associated with a requirement for postoperative RRT. In patients with preserved renal function, hypoalbuminemia was most significantly related to requirement for RRT.