Eligio Miccichè

Personalizing oral anticoagulant treatment in patients with atrial fibrillation.

For decades, warfarin has remained the standard oral anticoagulation for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF). Three novel oral anticoagulants (NOACs) have been recently approved for stroke prevention in non-valvular AF: dabigatran, rivaroxaban and apixaban. Better pharmacological and clinical profiles make these newcomers a preferable alternative over warfarin. Current AF guidelines do not endorse NOACs over warfarin, or one NOAC over another. Indeed, choice of the anticoagulation regimen should be personalized based on the relative efficacy and safety of different agents across subgroups stratified by thrombotic and bleeding risk, as well as on other clinical factors, including anticoagulation control on warfarin, drug interactions, compliance and need for coagulation monitoring. This review appraises i) the randomized evidence on approved NOACs versus warfarin in AF across subgroups stratified by risk factors of stroke and bleeding and by the anticoagulation level reached on warfarin; and ii) clinical factors impacting on the anticoagulation regimen selection.

Usefulness of the logistic clinical SYNTAX score for predicting 1-year mortality in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention of the left main coronary artery

To externally validate the logistic clinical SYNTAX in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of the left main coronary artery (LMCA).

Vascular response and healing profile of everolimus-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffolds for percutaneous treatment of chronic total coronary occlusions: A one-year optical coherence tomography analysis from the GHOST-CTO registry

BACKGROUND Bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS) have been heralded with potential benefits that are especially desired in long lesions, including chronic total occlusions (CTOs). Procedural feasibility and mid-term outcomes of BVS in CTOs have been reported. However, there is still a paucity of data regarding the vascular and healing response to BVS in CTOs evaluated by optical coherence tomography (OCT). METHODS This study included prospectively 21 patients who had a CTO lesion treated with a BVS. Angiography and OCT scan were recorded at either post-implantation and 1-year follow-up. Quantitative coronary angiography and OCT analyses were performed by an independent core laboratory. RESULTS The angiographic analysis showed a significant increase in the percentage of in-segment diameter stenosis at 1year (11.89±9.5% vs. 21.84±11.7%; p=0.002). The OCT analysis showed a trend (p=0.07) towards increased mean scaffold area and significant reductions in mean lumen diameter (3.1±0.36mm vs. 2.85±0.47mm; p=0.0046), mean lumen area (7.8±1.73mm2 vs. 6.76±2mm2; p=0.0082) and minimal lumen area (5.26±1.86mm2 vs. 3.56±1.52mm2; p<0.0001). Malapposition area and volume decreased from 0.26±0.17mm2 to 0.08±0.1mm2 (p=0.0003) and from 14.17±12.92mm3 to 3.99±4.46mm3 (p=0.0014), respectively. The rate of uncovered or malapposed struts, measured at the frame level, was 5.29±6.48% at 1year. CONCLUSIONS In a small series of CTO patients treated with BVS implantation, OCT outcomes at 1year displayed an overall favorable vascular response and healing profile.

Non-Contrast Three-Dimensional Magnetic Resonance Imaging for Pre-Procedural Assessment of Aortic Annulus Dimensions in Patients Undergoing Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation

ABSTRACT Background: We sought to appraise the accuracy of non-contrast three-dimensional (3D) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in comparison with computed tomography (CT). Methods: This is a single-center prospective study enrolling 48 consecutive patients with severe aortic stenosis screened for transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), who underwent non-contrast 3D MRI and standard cardiac CT for pre-TAVI aortic annulus assessment. Systolic MRI dimensions were modelled, by adding a corrective factor (+7.5% of the area). Tests of correlation and agreement were performed. Results: The mean subjective MRI image quality was 3.2±0.8. According to CT, 20 patients (43.5%) had severe or massive annular calcifications. Bland–Altman plots and Passing and Bablock regression analysis showed no relevant differences of cross-sectional area measurements for corrected systolic MRI vs. systolic CT measurements (mean bias 0.09 cm2; 95% limits of agreement: -0.48 to 0.67). Higher bias was seen in patients with severe or massive annular calcifications. Disagreement between CT and MRI in terms of transcatheter valve size was reported in 3 patients (6.5%). All of them had severe or massive annular calcifications. Conclusion: In patients referred for TAVI, aortic annulus measurements using corrected systolic MRI compare favorably with those made at CT. Caution should be applied when choosing transcatheter valve size in the presence of severe or massive annular calcification as they reduce the accuracy of MRI measurements.

TCT-418 Procedural and mid-term outcomes of Bioresorbable scaffOlds versus drug-elutiNg stents In chronic Total Occlusions: the BONITO Registry

There is little evidence regarding the efficacy and safety of bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) for the percutaneous treatment ofchronic total occlusions (CTO). The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical outcomes of patients with a CTO treated with BRS or drug-eluting stents (DES). We