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Background: Elderly patients display higher on clopidogrel platelet reactivity as compared with younger patients. Treatment with prasugrel 5mg has been shown to provide more predictable and homogenous antiplatelet effect, as compared with clopidogrel, suggesting the possibility of reducing ischemic events after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) without increasing bleeding.Study Design: The Elderly-ACS 2 study is a multicenter, randomized, parallel-group, open-label trial designed to demonstrate the superiority of a strategy of dual antiplatelet treatment using a reduced 5-mg daily dose of prasugrel over a standard strategy with a daily clopidogrel dose of 75mg in patients older than 74years with ACS (either ST- or non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction) undergoing early percutaneous revascularization. The primary end point is the composite of all-cause mortality, myocardial reinfarction, disabling stroke, and rehospitalization for cardiovascular causes or bleeding within 1 year. Taking advantage of the planned size of 2,000 patients, the secondary objective is to assess the prognostic impact of selected prerandomization variables (age, sex, diabetic status, serum creatinine level, electrocardiogram changes, abnormal troponin levels, basal and residual SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and cardiac surgery [SYNTAX] score).Conclusion: The Elderly-ACS 2 study is a multicenter, randomized trial comparing a strategy of dual antiplatelet therapy with a reduced dose of prasugrel with a standard dose of clopidogrel in elderly patients with ACS undergoing percutaneous revascularization (the Elderly ACS 2 trial: NCT01777503). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We evaluated acute and long-term clinical and angiographic results of elective Palmaz-Schatz coronary stent implantation for left anterior descending coronary artery (LAD) ostial stenosis in 23 consecutive patients. Eight patients had stable angina, 14 had unstable angina, and 1 had recent myocardial infarction. Sixteen patients had single-vessel, 5 had double-vessel, and 2 had triple-vessel disease. Clinical success without major complications (death, acute myocardial infarction, emergency coronary artery bypass grafting) was obtained in all cases and technical success in 20 cases (86.9%). After stenting, minimal lumen diameter increased from 1.05 +/- 0.45 mm to 2.89 +/- 0.52 mm (p < 0.001), and percent diameter stenosis decreased from 65.49% +/- 13.36% to 2.94% +/- 19.93% (p < 0.001). One case of subacute thrombosis and no major bleeding occurred. Twenty patients were followed-up for 6 months, during which no acute cardiac event (death, acute myocardial infarction) was observed. Eighteen patients were eligible for follow-up coronary angiography; restenosis (> or = 50% diameter stenosis) was observed in 4 (22.2%). Minimal lumen diameter was 1.77 +/- 0.55 mm, percent diameter stenosis was 39.66% +/- 17.62%, late loss was 1.01 +/- 0.69 mm, net gain was 0.79 +/- 0.55 mm, and loss index (late loss/acute gain) was 0.53 +/- 0.37. This study suggests that elective Palmaz-Schatz stent implantation may be a safe and successful treatment of LAD ostial lesions and provides a large increase in lumen diameter.

We report the safety and efficacy of sealing the femoral puncture site with percutaneously applied collagen after Palmaz-Schatz stent implantation in 100 consecutive patients. Patients were anticoagulated with continuous heparin infusion, overlapping oral anticoagulants, and antiplatelet therapy by dextran, aspirin, and dipyridamole. At the time of sheath removal and collagen application, the mean activated partial thromboplastin time and prothrombin time values expressed as international normalized ratio were 3.2 +/- 2.1 and 1.6 +/- 0.7, respectively. The hemostasis time ranged from 1 to 8 minutes (mean 2.18 +/- 2.08 minutes). Only two (2%) patients had major puncture-site bleeding (not seal related in one case) that required surgery and blood transfusions. Small (< 6 cm) and medium (6 to 10 cm) hematomas observed in 12 (12%) and 2 (2%) patients, respectively, resolved spontaneously without sequelae. Local infection developed in 2 (2%) patients, who were successfully treated with antibiotics without clinical consequences. Subacute stent thrombosis was observed in only 1 (1%) patient. Repeat catheterization through the same femoral artery was performed at 6-month follow-up in 55 patients without difficulty or vascular complications. These findings suggest that percutaneous collagen application after coronary stenting is a secure method of achieving prompt and effective femoral hemostasis with a low incidence of major vascular bleeding complications despite intense anticoagulation. Stable hemostasis may allow continued full-dose anticoagulation, reducing the risk of stent subacute thrombosis.

Calcium channel blockers reduce arterial smooth muscle tone and lower blood pressure. They may be regarded as left ventricular (LV) unloading agents. LV unloading efficacy of nifedipine (15 patients) and verapamil (14 patients) was tested in hypertensive decompensated patients, during a 1-month treatment period. Nifedipine persistently reduced systemic vascular resistance (SVR), mean arterial pressure, mean pulmonary wedge pressure (PWP), and LV diastolic diameter, and improved cardiac index and velocity of circumferential fiber shortening (Vcf). All of the patients had relief from dyspnea and reduction in heart size. The only side effect was ankle edema in six. Verapamil reduced SVR and mean arterial pressure and was not effective on PWP, LV diastolic diameter, and Vcf. The drug was discontinued in two patients who developed severe dyspnea at rest after 3 to 4 days of continuous oral treatment. Clinical symptoms and signs did not improve in the remaining patients despite persistent pressure reduction. A less potent vasodilating action of verapamil and a prominent depression in cardiac contractility may account for the differential results with the two compounds, in spite of a shared vasodilating antihypertensive effect. These findings indicate that functional changes in the failing hypertensive heart may differ from one calcium blocker to another as a result of interaction and relative preponderance of influence on afterload and contractility.