Journal of the American College of Cardiology
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Jun 2013
ReviewComputational fluid dynamics applied to cardiac computed tomography for noninvasive quantification of fractional flow reserve: scientific basis.
Coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) has emerged as a noninvasive method for direct visualization of coronary artery disease, with previous studies demonstrating high diagnostic performance of CTA compared with invasive coronary angiography. However, CTA assessment of coronary stenoses tends toward overestimation, and even among CTA-identified severe stenosis confirmed at the time of invasive coronary angiography, only a minority are found to be ischemia causing. ⋯ In the recently reported prospective multicenter DISCOVER-FLOW (Diagnosis of Ischemia-Causing Stenoses Obtained Via Noninvasive Fractional Flow Reserve) study and the DeFACTO (Determination of Fractional Flow Reserve by Anatomic Computed Tomographic Angiography) trial, FFR derived from CTA was demonstrated as superior to measures of CTA stenosis severity for determination of lesion-specific ischemia. Given the significant interest in this novel method for determining the physiological significance of coronary artery disease, we herein present a review on the scientific principles that underlie this technology.
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J. Am. Coll. Cardiol. · Jun 2013
Comparative StudyEfficacy and safety of dabigatran etexilate and warfarin in "real-world" patients with atrial fibrillation: a prospective nationwide cohort study.
The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy and safety in an "everyday clinical practice" population of anticoagulant-naïve patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) treated with dabigatran etexilate after its post-approval availability in Denmark, compared with warfarin. ⋯ In this "everyday clinical practice" post-approval nationwide clinical cohort, there were similar stroke/systemic embolism and major bleeding rates with dabigatran (both doses) compared with warfarin. Mortality, intracranial bleeding, pulmonary embolism, and MI were lower with dabigatran, compared with warfarin. We found no evidence of an excess of bleeding events or MI among dabigatran-treated patients in this propensity-matched comparison against warfarin, even in the subgroup with ≥1-year follow-up.