Anupama Vasudevan

Renal Function and Scaled Troponin in Patients Presenting to the Emergency Department with Symptoms of Myocardial Infarction

Background: Cardiac troponins are often found to be elevated in patients with renal dysfunction, even in the absence of acute myocardial injury. The objective of this report was to characterize the scaled troponin values and proportion of adjudicated acute myocardial infarction (AMI) among patients with and without renal dysfunction. Methods: The data was from a multicenter prospective study including patients presenting to the emergency department with symptoms of AMI. Troponin measurements were standardized across various assays by calculating the observed results as multiples of the assay-specific 99th percentile upper limit of normal. Patients with an estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR; calculated by the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration formula) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2 were considered to have renal dysfunction. Results: Of 430 included patients, 249 (58%) were male and 181 (42%) were female, with a mean age of 55.9 ± 12.3 and 57.3 ± 12.8 years, respectively. Eighty-seven (20.2%) had renal dysfunction. The proportions of patients with at least one scaled troponin value above the 99th percentile cut-off point among patients with and without renal dysfunction were 40 (45.9%) and 81 (23.6%) respectively (p < 0.001). The proportions of patients with an adjudicated diagnosis of AMI among those with and without renal dysfunction were 20.7 and 18.7%, respectively (p = 0.67). Using scaled troponins, by the second test there was >5X and by the third test >15X separation in the excursion of troponin among those with AMI compared to those without. Conclusions: One or more elevated troponin values are common in those with renal dysfunction. Scaled troponins for eGFR groups were similar, indicating that the use of this interpretative technique is applicable in discerning AMI for those with and without renal dysfunction.

Residual thromboxane activity and oxidative stress: Influence on mortality in patients with stable coronary artery disease

Background Aspirin use is effective in the prevention of cardiovascular disease; however, not all patients are equally responsive to aspirin. Oxidative stress reflected by F2-isoprostane [8-iso-prostaglandin-F2&agr; (8-IsoPGF2&agr;)] is a potential mechanism of failure of aspirin to adequately inhibit cyclooxygenase-1. The objective was to examine the relation between all-cause mortality and the concentrations of urinary 11-dehydro thromboxane B2 (11dhTxB2) and 8-IsoPGF2&agr; in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD). Methods The data for this analysis are from a prospective study in which patients were categorized into four groups based on the median values of 11dhTxB2 and 8-IsoPGF2&agr;. Results There were 447 patients included in this analysis with a median (range) age of 66 (37–91) years. The median (range) values of 11dhTxB2 and 8-IsoPGF2&agr; were 1404.1 (344.2–68296.1) and 1477.9 (356.7–19256.3), respectively. A total of 67 (14.9%) patients died over a median follow-up of 1149 days. The reference group for the Cox proportional hazards survival analysis was patients with values of 11dhTxB2 and 8-IsoPGF2&agr; below their corresponding medians. Adjusting for the age and sex, patients with values of 11dhTxB2 greater than the median had a significantly higher risk of mortality when compared with the reference group (high 11dhTxB2 and low 8-IsoPGF2&agr;adj: hazard ratio: 3.2, 95% confidence interval: 1.6–6.6, P=0.002; high 11dhTxB2 and 8-IsoPGF2&agr;adj: hazard ratio: 3.6, 95% confidence interval: 1.8–7.3, P<0.001). The findings were similar when we adjusted for the comorbidities of cancer, kidney function, and ejection fraction. Conclusion We found that 11dhTxB2 appears to be a better prognostic marker for mortality as compared with 8-IsoPGF2&agr;, suggesting aspirin resistance itself is a stronger independent determinant of death in CAD patients treated with aspirin.

Personalized Treatment of Heart Failure with Biomarker Guidance Using a Novel Disease Severity Score

We propose a novel Myocardial Injury Summary Score (MISS) integrating the 4 biomarkers suggested by the 2013 American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association guidelines for management of heart failure. In this case series, we examined 4 heart failure patients who received treatment guided by the biomarker results and 4 patients who received routine clinical management with no information about the biomarkers. Most of the patients receiving biomarker-guided management had medications adjusted based on the biomarker values, while no changes were recommended for patients in the biomarker-blinded category. This case series suggests that biomarker-guided therapy with serial biomarker values leads to timely therapeutic adjustment and that biomarker values as a composite score can be used effectively to measure the severity of heart failure.

Time to discharge following diagnostic coronary procedures via transradial artery approach: A comparison of Terumo band and StatSeal hemostasis

BACKGROUND The transradial artery (TRA) approach for cardiac catheterization is associated with fewer complications, earlier mobilization and a shorter stay at the hospital. The objective of this study was to determine whether hemostasis with a combination of a compression band (Terumo TR band™) and a hemostatic patch (StatSeal™) decreases the time to discharge from the hospital compared to the Terumo (TR) band alone in patients undergoing diagnostic coronary catheterizations through a TRA approach. METHODS We retrospectively looked at 445 patients who underwent diagnostic coronary angiography through the TRA approach at the Jack and Jane Hamilton Heart and Vascular Hospital, Dallas, Texas between July 2016 and June 2017. The difference in the time to discharge between the two groups was assessed by a Wilcoxon Rank-sum test. RESULTS The combination of a TR band and a StatSeal hemostatic patch was used in 70.3% (313) of the patients. Comparison of the two groups demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in time from the end of the procedure to discharge (p < 0.001), with no significant alteration in safety among those with a combination of TR band and a StatSeal hemostatic patch. CONCLUSION With increasing frequency of TRA procedures in the United States, we demonstrate one effective method to significantly reduce the time to radial hemostasis and reduce the time to patient discharge from the hospital.

Characteristics of Adults Having Aortic Valve Replacement for Pure Aortic Regurgitation Involving a Congenitally Bicuspid Aortic Valve Unaffected by Infective Endocarditis or Aortic Dissection

Few reports have appeared describing patients with a purely regurgitant congenitally bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) unassociated with active or healed infective endocarditis or with acute or healed aortic dissection. This report describes a large group of such patients who had replacement of the purely regurgitant BAV with or without concomitant resection of the ascending aorta. Operatively excised purely regurgitant BAVs were examined and then their clinical records were examined to confirm that the valves indeed were purely regurgitant. The patients were aged 21 to 86 years (median 50). Of the 133 patients, 114 (86%) were men. The degree of aortic regurgitation (AR) ranged from 1+ to 4+/4+. Of the 133 patients, 52 (39%) had simultaneous resection of the ascending aorta, its frequency varying inversely with the degree of AR. Histologic study of sections of the operatively excised aortas disclosed that 28 (54%) had a normal or nearly normal aorta (0-1+ loss of medial elastic fibers) and that 24 (46%) had an abnormal loss (grade 2+ -4+/4+). In conclusion, the congenitally BAV, unassociated with either infective endocarditis or aortic dissection, is a common cause of pure AR in adults in the Western World undergoing AVR for AR. About half the patients had a dilated ascending aorta and those resected were histologically abnormal half the time. Why one BAV becomes stenotic, another purely regurgitant, another the site of infective endocarditis, and another functions normally for an entire lifetime remains unclear.

Computation of a cardiac severity score with left-censored biomarkers for patients with heart failure

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