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Aims: To validate the set of clinical and biochemical criteria proposed by consensus by the Academic Research Consortium (ARC) for High Bleeding Risk (HBR) for the identification of HBR patients. These criteria were categorized into major and minor, if expected to carry in isolation, respectively, ≥4% and <4% Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) 3 or 5 bleeding risk within 1-year after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). High bleeding risk patients are those meeting at least 1 major or 2 minor criteria., Methods and Results: All patients undergoing PCI at Bern University Hospital, between February 2009 and September 2018 were prospectively entered into the Bern PCI Registry (NCT02241291). Age, haemoglobin, platelet count, creatinine, and use of oral anticoagulation were prospectively collected, while the remaining HBR criteria except for planned surgery were retrospectively adjudicated. A total of 16 580 participants with complete ARC-HBR criteria were included. After assigning 1 point to each major and 0.5 point to each minor criterion, we observed for every 0.5 score increase a step-wise augmentation of BARC 3 or 5 bleeding rates at 1 year ranging from 1.90% among patients fulfilling no criterion, through 4.01%, 5.98%, 7.42%, 8.60%, 12.21%, 12.29%, and 17.64%. All major and five out of six minor criteria, conferred in isolation a risk for BARC 3 or 5 bleeding at 1 year exceeding 4% at the upper limit of the 95% confidence intervals., Conclusion: All major and the majority of minor ARC-HBR criteria identify in isolation patients at HBR., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2020. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: The long-term outcomes of biolimus-eluting stents (BESs) with biodegradable polymer as compared with bare-metal stent (BMS) in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) remain unknown., Methods and Results: We performed a 5-year clinical follow-up of 1157 patients (BES: N = 575 and BMS: N = 582) included in the randomized COMFORTABLE AMI trial. Serial intracoronary imaging of stented segments using both intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography performed at baseline and 13 months follow-up were analysed in 103 patients. At 5 years, BES reduced the risk of major adverse cardiac events [MACE; hazard ratio (HR) 0.56, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.39-0.79, P = 0.001], driven by lower risks for target vessel-related reinfarction (HR 0.44, 95% CI: 0.22-0.87, P = 0.02) and ischaemia-driven target lesion revascularization (HR 0.41, 95% CI: 0.25-0.66, P < 0.001). Definite stent thrombosis (ST) was recorded in 2.2% and 3.9% (HR 0.57, 95% CI: 0.28-1.16, P = 0.12) with no differences in rates of very late definite ST (1.3% vs. 1.6%, P = 0.77). Optical coherence tomography showed no difference in the frequency of malapposed stent struts at follow-up (BES 0.08% vs. BMS 0.02%, P = 0.10). Uncovered stent struts were rarely observed but more frequent in BES (2.1% vs. 0.15%, P < 0.001). In the IVUS analysis, there was no positive remodelling in either group (external elastic membrane area change BES: -0.63 mm2, 95% CI: -1.44 to 0.39 vs. BMS -1.11 mm2, 95% CI: -2.27 to 0.04, P = 0.07)., Conclusion: Compared with BMS, the implantation of biodegradable polymer-coated BES resulted in a lower 5-year rate of MACE in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention. At 13 months, vascular healing in treated culprit lesions was almost complete irrespective of stent type., Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00962416., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2019. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: In the Minimizing Adverse Haemorrhagic Events by TRansradial Access Site and Systemic Implementation of angioX (MATRIX) trial, adults with acute coronary syndrome undergoing coronary intervention who were allocated to radial access had a lower risk of bleeding, acute kidney injury (AKI), and all-cause mortality, as compared with those allocated to femoral access. The mechanism of the mortality benefit of radial access remained unclear., Methods and Results: We used multistate and competing risk models to determine the effects of radial and femoral access on bleeding, AKI and all-cause mortality in the MATRIX trial and to disentangle the relationship between these different types of events. There were large relative risk reductions in mortality for radial compared with femoral access for the transition from AKI to death [hazard ratio (HR) 0.55, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.31-0.97] and for the pathway from coronary intervention to AKI to death (HR 0.49, 95% CI 0.26-0.92). Conversely, there was little evidence for a difference between radial and femoral groups for the transition from bleeding to death (HR 1.05, 95% CI 0.42-2.64) and the pathway from coronary intervention to bleeding to death (HR 0.84, 95% CI 0.28-2.49)., Conclusion: The prevention of AKI appeared predominantly responsible for the mortality benefit of radial as compared with femoral access in the MATRIX trial. There was little evidence for an equally important, independent role of bleeding., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author(s) 2019. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: We aimed to identify a novel biomarker involved in the early events leading to an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and evaluate its role in diagnosis and risk stratification., Methods and Results: Biomarker identification was based on gene expression profiling. In coronary thrombi of ACS patients, cysteine-rich angiogenic inducer 61 (Cyr61, CCN1) gene transcripts were highly up-regulated compared with peripheral mononuclear cells. In a murine ischaemia-reperfusion model (I/R), myocardial Cyr61 expression was markedly increased compared with the controls. Cyr61 levels were determined in human serum using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Cohorts of ACS (n = 2168) referred for coronary angiography, stable coronary artery disease (CAD) (n = 53), and hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM) patients (n = 15) served to identify and evaluate the diagnostic and prognostic performance of the biomarker. Cyr61 was markedly elevated in ST-elevation myocardial infarction patients compared with non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction/unstable angina or stable CAD patients, irrespective of whether coronary thrombi were present. Cyr61 was rapidly released after occlusion of a septal branch in HOCM patients undergoing transcoronary ablation of septal hypertrophy. Cyr61 improved risk stratification for all-cause mortality when added to the reference GRACE risk score at 30 days (C-statistic 0.88 to 0.89, P = 0.001) and 1 year (C-statistic 0.77 to 0.80, P < 0.001) comparable to high-sensitivity troponin T (30 days: 0.88 to 0.89, P < 0.001; 1 year: 0.77 to 0.79, P < 0.001). Similar results were obtained for the composite endpoint of all-cause mortality or myocardial infarction. Conversely, in a population-based case-control cohort (n = 362), Cyr61 was not associated with adverse outcome., Conclusion: Cyr61 is a novel early biomarker reflecting myocardial injury that improves risk stratification in ACS patients., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2017. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: To analyse reasons, timing and predictors of hospital readmissions after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI)., Methods and Results: Patients included in the Bern TAVI Registry between August 2007 and June 2014 were analysed. Fine and Gray competing risk regression was used to identify factors predictive of hospital readmission within 1 year after TAVI with bootstrap analysis for internal validation. Of 868 patients alive at discharge, 221 (25.4%) were readmitted within 1 year. Compared with patients not requiring readmission, those with at least one readmission more frequently were male and more often had atrial fibrillation and higher creatinine values (P < 0.05 for all cases). For overall 308 readmissions, cardiovascular causes accounted for 46.1% with heart failure as the most frequent indication; non-cardiovascular readmissions occurred for surgery (11.7%), gastrointestinal disorders (9.7%), malignancy (4.9%), respiratory diseases (4.6%) and chronic kidney failure (2.6%). Male gender (subhazard ratio, SHR, 1.33, 95% confidence intervals, CI, 1.02-1.73, P = 0.035) and stage 3 kidney injury (SHR 2.04, 95% CI 1.12-3.71, P = 0.021) were found independent risk factors for any hospital readmission, whereas previous myocardial infarction (SHR 1.88, 95% CI 1.22-2.90, P = 0.004) and in-hospital life-threatening bleeding (SHR 2.18, 95%CI 1.24-3.85, P = 0.007) were associated with cardiovascular readmissions. The event rate for mortality was significantly increased after readmissions for any cause (RR 4.29, 95% CI 2.86-6.42, P < 0.001)., Conclusion: Hospital readmission was observed in one out of four patients during the first year after TAVI and was associated with a significant increase in mortality., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2017. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: To assess whether radial compared with femoral access is associated with consistent outcomes in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS)., Methods and Results: In the Minimizing Adverse Haemorrhagic Events by TRansradial Access Site and Systemic Implementation of angioX (MATRIX) programme patients were randomized to radial or femoral access, stratified by STEMI (2001 radial, 2009 femoral) and NSTE-ACS (2196 radial, 2198 femoral). The 30-day co-primary outcomes were major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), defined as death, myocardial infarction, or stroke, and net adverse clinical events (NACE), defined as MACE or major bleeding In the overall study population, radial access reduced the NACE but not MACE endpoint at the prespecified 0.025 alpha. MACE occurred in 121 (6.1%) STEMI patients with radial access vs. 126 (6.3%) patients with femoral access [rate ratio (RR) = 0.96, 95% CI = 0.75-1.24; P = 0.76] and in 248 (11.3%) NSTE-ACS patients with radial access vs. 303 (13.9%) with femoral access (RR = 0.80, 95% CI = 0.67-0.96; P = 0.016) (Pint = 0.25). NACE occurred in 142 (7.2%) STEMI patients with radial access and in 165 (8.3%) patients with femoral access (RR = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.68-1.08; P = 0.18) and in 268 (12.2%) NSTE-ACS patients with radial access compared with 321 (14.7%) with femoral access (RR = 0.82, 95% CI = 0.69-0.97; P = 0.023) (Pint = 0.76). All-cause mortality and access site-actionable bleeding favoured radial access irrespective of ACS type (Pint = 0.11 and Pint = 0.36, respectively)., Conclusion: Radial as compared with femoral access provided consistent benefit across the whole spectrum of patients with ACS, without evidence that type of presenting syndrome affected the results of the random access allocation., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2017. For permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: MicroRNAs (miRNA) are important non-coding modulators controlling patterns of gene expression. However, profiling and validation of circulating miRNA levels related to adverse cardiovascular outcome has not been performed in patients with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS)., Methods and Results: In a multicentre, prospective ACS cohort, 1002 out of 2168 patients presented with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Sixty-three STEMI patients experienced an adjudicated major cardiovascular event (MACE, defined as cardiac death or recurrent myocardial infarction) within 1 year of follow-up. From a miRNA profiling in a matched derivation case-control cohort, 14 miRNAs were selected for validation. Comparing 63 cases vs. 126 controls, 3 miRNAs were significantly differentially abundant. In patients with MACE, miR-26b-5p levels (P = 0.038) were decreased, whereas miR-320a (P = 0.047) and miR-660-5p (P = 0.01) levels were increased. MiR-26b-5p has been suggested to prevent adverse cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, whereas miR-320a promotes cardiomyocyte death and apoptosis, and miR-660-5p has been related to active platelet production. This suggests that miR-26b-5p, miR-320a, and miR-660-5p may reflect alterations of different pathophysiological pathways involved in clinical outcome after ACS. Consistently, these three miRNAs reliably discriminated cases from controls [area under the receiver-operating characteristic curve (AUC) in age- and sex-adjusted Cox regression for miR-26b-5p = 0.707, miR-660-5p = 0.683, and miR-320a =0.672]. Combination of the three miRNAs further increased AUC to 0.718. Importantly, addition of the three miRNAs to both, the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) score and a clinical model increased AUC from 0.679 to 0.720 and 0.722 to 0.732, respectively, with a net reclassification improvement of 0.20 in both cases., Conclusion: This is the first study performing profiling and validation of miRNAs that are associated with adverse cardiovascular outcome in patients with STEMI. MiR-26b-5p, miR-320a, and miR-660-5p discriminated for MACE and increased risk prediction when added to the GRACE score and a clinical model. These findings suggest that the release of specific miRNAs into circulation may reflect the activation of molecular pathways that impact on clinical outcome after STEMI., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2016. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: Compared with bare metal stents, first-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) are associated with an increased risk of late restenosis and stent thrombosis (ST). Whether this risk continues or attenuates during long-term follow-up remains unknown., Methods and Results: We extended the follow-up of 1012 patients [sirolimus-eluting stent (SES): N = 503 and paclitaxel-eluting stent (PES): N = 509] included in the all-comers, randomized Sirolimus-Eluting vs. Paclitaxel-Eluting Stents for Coronary Revascularization (SIRTAX) trial to 10 years. Follow-up was complete in 895 patients (88.4%) at 10 years. At 1, 5, and 10 years of follow-up, rates of ischaemia-driven target lesion revascularization (ID-TLR) were 8.1%, 14.6% and 17.7%, respectively, and rates of ST were 1.9%, 4.5% and 5.6%, respectively. The annual risks of ID-TLR and definite ST were significantly higher between 1 and 5 years as compared with the 5- to 10-year period [ID-TLR: 1.8% vs. 0.7%/year, hazard ratio (HR) 0.36, 95% confidence intervals (95% CI) 0.21-0.62, P < 0.001; definite ST: 0.67% vs. 0.23%/year, HR 0.31, 95% CI 0.13-0.75, P = 0.01]. The attenuation of the risk of ID-TLR and ST beyond 5 years was independent of age. Major adverse events (cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and ID-TLR) occurred in 33.7% of SES- and 33.8% of PES-treated patients (P = 0.72)., Conclusions: During long-term follow-up through 10 years, the annual risks of ID-TLR and definite ST significantly decreased beyond 5 years after first-generation DES implantation. These findings may have important implications for secondary prevention after percutaneous coronary intervention with first-generation DES including long-term antiplatelet therapy., Clinical Trial Registration: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov. Unique identifier: NCT00297661., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2016. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: Proprotein convertase subtilisin kexin 9 (PCSK9) is an emerging target for the treatment of hypercholesterolaemia, but the clinical utility of PCSK9 levels to guide treatment is unknown. We aimed to prospectively assess the prognostic value of plasma PCSK9 levels in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS)., Methods and Results: Plasma PCSK9 levels were measured in 2030 ACS patients undergoing coronary angiography in a Swiss prospective cohort. At 1 year, the association between PCSK9 tertiles and all-cause death was assessed adjusting for the Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) variables, as well as the achievement of LDL cholesterol targets of <1.8 mmol/L. Patients with higher PCSK9 levels at angiography were more likely to have clinical familial hypercholesterolaemia (rate ratio, RR 1.21, 95% confidence interval, CI 1.09-1.53), be treated with lipid-lowering therapy (RR 1.46, 95% CI 1.30-1.63), present with longer time interval of chest pain (RR 1.29, 95% CI 1.09-1.53) and higher C-reactive protein levels (RR 1.22, 95% CI 1.16-1.30). PCSK9 increased 12-24 h after ACS (374 ± 149 vs. 323 ± 134 ng/mL, P < 0.001). At 1 year follow-up, HRs for upper vs. lower PCSK9-level tertiles were 1.13 (95% CI 0.69-1.85) for all-cause death and remained similar after adjustment for the GRACE score. Patients with higher PCSK9 levels were less likely to reach the recommended LDL cholesterol targets (RR 0.81, 95% CI 0.66-0.99)., Conclusion: In ACS patients, high initial PCSK9 plasma levels were associated with inflammation in the acute phase and hypercholesterolaemia, but did not predict mortality at 1 year., (Published on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. © The Author 2015. For permissions please email: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

Aims: Our aim was to evaluate the invasive haemodynamic indices of high-risk symptomatic patients presenting with 'paradoxical' low-flow, low-gradient, severe aortic stenosis (AS) (PLF-LG) and low-flow, low-gradient severe AS (LEF-LG) and to compare clinical outcomes following transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) among these challenging AS subgroups., Methods and Results: Of 534 symptomatic patients undergoing TAVI, 385 had a full pre-procedural right and left heart catheterization. A total of 208 patients had high-gradient severe AS [HGAS; mean gradient (MG) ≥40 mmHg], 85 had PLF-LG [MG ≤ 40 mmHg, indexed aortic valve area [iAVA] ≤0.6 cm(2) m(-2), stroke volume index ≤35 mL/m(2), ejection fraction (EF) ≥50%], and 61 had LEF-LG (MG ≤ 40 mmHg, iAVA ≤0.6 cm(2) m(-2), EF ≤40%). Compared with HGAS, PLF-LG and LEF-LG had higher systemic vascular resistances (HGAS: 1912 ± 654 vs., Plf-Lg: 2006 ± 586 vs., Lef-Lg: 2216 ± 765 dyne s m(-5), P = 0.007) but lower valvulo-arterial impedances (HGAS: 7.8 ± 2.7 vs., Plf-Lg: 6.9 ± 1.9 vs., Lef-Lg: 7.7 ± 2.5 mmHg mL(-1) m(-2), P = 0.027). At 30 days, no differences in cardiac death (6.5 vs. 4.9 vs. 6.6%, P = 0.90) or death (8.4 vs. 6.1 vs. 6.6%, P = 0.88) were observed among HGAS, PLF-LG, and LEF-LG groups, respectively. At 1 year, New York Heart Association functional improvement occurred in most surviving patients (HGAS: 69.2% vs., Plf-Lg: 71.7% vs., Lef-Lg: 89.3%, P = 0.09) and no significant differences in overall mortality were observed (17.6 vs. 20.5 vs. 24.5%, P = 0.67). Compared with HGAS, LEF-LG had a higher 1 year cardiac mortality (adjusted hazard ratio 2.45, 95% confidence interval 1.04-5.75, P = 0.04)., Conclusion: TAVI in PLF-LG or LEF-LG patients is associated with overall mortality rates comparable with HGAS patients and all groups profit symptomatically to a similar extent.

Aims: Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is an established treatment alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement in high-risk and inoperable patients and outcomes among patients with estimated low or intermediate risk remain to be determined. The aim of this study was to assess clinical outcomes among patients with estimated low or intermediate surgical risk undergoing TAVI., Methods and Results: Between August 2007 and October 2011, 389 consecutive patients underwent TAVI and were categorized according to the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) score into low (STS < 3%; n = 41, 10.5%), intermediate (STS ≥3% and ≤8%, n = 254, 65.3%), and high-risk (STS > 8%; n = 94, 24.2%) groups for the purpose of this study. Significant differences were found between the groups (low risk vs. intermediate risk vs. high risk) for age (78.2 ± 6.7 vs. 82.7 ± 5.7 vs. 83.7 ± 4.9, P < 0.001), body mass index (28.1 ± 6.1 vs. 26.5 ± 4.9 vs. 24.4 ± 4.6, P < 0.001), chronic renal failure (34 vs. 67 vs. 90%, P < 0.001), all-cause mortality at 30 days (2.4 vs. 3.9 vs. 14.9%, P = 0.001), and all-cause mortality at 1 year (10.1 vs. 16.1 vs. 34.5%, P = 0.0003). No differences were observed with regards to cerebrovascular accidents and myocardial infarction during 1-year follow-up., Conclusion: In contemporary practice, TAVI is not limited to inoperable or STS-defined high-risk patients and should be guided by the decision of an interdisciplinary Heart Team. Compared with patients at calculated high risk, well-selected patients with STS-defined intermediate or low risk appear to have favourable clinical outcomes.