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Objective: To ensure compliance with optimal secondary prevention strategies and document the residual risk of patients following revascularization, we established a postrevascularization clinic for risk-factor optimization at 1 year, with outcomes recorded in a web-based registry. Although coronary revascularization can reduce ischemia, medical treatment of coronary artery disease (CAD) remains the cornerstone of ongoing risk reduction. While standardized referral pathways and protocols for revascularization are prevalent and well studied, post-revascularization care is often less formalized. Patients and Methods: The University of Ottawa Heart Institute is a tertiary-care center providing coronary revascularization services. From 2015 to 2019, data were prospectively recorded in the CAPITAL revascularization registry, and patient-level procedural, clinical, and outcome data are collected in the year following revascularization. Major adverse cardiovascular event (MACE) was defined as death, myocardial infarction, unplanned revascularization, or cerebrovascular accident. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated to evaluate time-to-event data for clinical outcomes by risk-factor management, and comparisons were performed using log-rank tests and reported by hazard ratio (HR) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs). Results: A cohort of 4147 patients completed 1-year follow-up after revascularization procedure that included 3462 undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), 589 undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), and 96 undergoing both PCI and CABG. In the year following revascularization (median follow-up 13.3 months—interquartile range [IQR]: 11.9-16.5) 11% of patients experienced MACE, with female patients being disproportionately at risk. Moreover, 47.7% of patients had ≥2 risk factors (diabetes, dyslipidemia, overweight, active smoker) at the time of follow-up, with 45.0% of patients with diabetes failing to achieve target hemoglobin (Hb) A1c, 54.8% of smokers continuing to smoke, and 27.1% of patients failing to achieve guideline-directed lipid targets. Conclusion: Patients who have undergone revascularization procedures remain at elevated risk for MACE, and inadequately controlled risk factors are prevalent in follow-up. This highlights the need for aggressive secondary prevention strategies and implementation of programs to optimize postrevascularization care.

Objectives This study will compare the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs) with androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) among men with advanced prostate cancer who are being treated with a gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) antagonist versus a GnRH agonist. Background Treatment of advanced prostate cancer with ADT might increase the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events among men with known atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD), but a recent meta-analysis suggested that this risk might be lower with ADT using a GnRH antagonist versus a GnRH agonist. Methods PRONOUNCE is a multicenter, prospective, randomized, open, blinded endpoint trial that will enroll approximately 900 patients with advanced prostate cancer and pre-existing ASCVD who will be treated with ADT. Participants will be randomized to receive the GnRH antagonist degarelix or the GnRH agonist leuprolide as ADT for 12 months. The primary endpoint is time from randomization to first confirmed, adjudicated occurrence of a MACE, which is defined as a composite of all-cause death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke through 12 months of ADT treatment. Baseline cardiovascular biomarkers (high-sensitivity C-reactive protein, high-sensitivity troponin T, and N-terminal pro-brain natriuretic peptide), as well as serial inflammatory and immune biomarkers, will be evaluated in exploratory analyses. Results As of October 1, 2019, a total of 364 patients have been enrolled. The mean age is 74 years, 90% are white, 80% have hypertension or dyslipidemia, 30% diabetes mellitus, 40% have had a previous myocardial infarction, and 65% have had previous revascularization. Regarding prostate cancer features at randomization, 48% of the patients had localized disease, 23% had locally advanced disease, and 18% had metastatic disease. Conclusions PRONOUNCE is the first prospective cardiovascular outcomes trial in advanced prostate cancer that will delineate whether the risk of subsequent cardiovascular events associated with ADT is lower with a GnRH antagonist versus a GnRH agonist for men with pre-existing ASCVD. (A Trial Comparing Cardiovascular Safety of Degarelix Versus Leuprolide in Patients With Advanced Prostate Cancer and Cardiovascular Disease [PRONOUNCE]; NCT02663908), Central Illustration

Highlights • Calcified coronary lesions are frequently in patients with coronary artery disease. • Intravascular lithotripsy was shown to be safe and effective for treating calcified lesions in coronary artery disease. • Data of intravascular lithotripsy in comparison to standard techniques are lacking. • Intravascular lithotripsy showed higher rate of procedural success without differences in rate of MACE after 12 months in comparison to high- pressure NC-Balloon PTCA., Background Data regarding safety, efficacy, and outcome of intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) in comparison to standard techniques are lacking. This study sought to compare IVL with non-compliant high-pressure balloon percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA). Methods and results We performed a retrospective propensity-score-matched study to compare procedural success in 57 consecutive patients who received IVL-guided PCI in calcified coronary lesions with 171 matched patients who were treated with high-pressure PTCA with a non-compliant (NC)-balloon. The mean minimal lumen diameter (MLD) for the IVL group was 1.08 ± 0.51 mm, and the median percent diameter stenosis on quantitative angiography was 70.2% (interquartile range, 60.2–78.6%). MLD in the high-pressure dilatation group was 0.97 ± 0.43 mm, and the median percent diameter stenosis was 71.5% (interquartile range, 58.5–77.0%). IVL-guided PCI reduced median stenosis to 17.5% (interquartile range, 9.3–19.8%) with an acute gain of 0.93 ± 0.7 mm. High-pressure dilatation resulted in a final median stenosis of 19.3% (interquartile range, 13.33–28.5%). Procedural success was significantly higher (82.5% vs. 61.4%; p: 0.0035) in the IVL group. MACE through 12 months occurred in 10.5% of cases in the IVL group and in 11.1% of the high-pressure group (p = 0.22). Angiographic complications (coronary dissection, slow or no reflow, new coronary thrombus formation, abrupt vessel closure) were very low (0.2% vs. 0.12%). Conclusion IVL resulted in a significantly higher rate of procedural success compared to high- pressure NC-balloon dilatation in patients with calcified coronary lesions. The rate of MACE through 12 months was similar to the standard therapy.

Diagnosis of acute and late cardiotoxicity from cancer therapeutics has become increasingly important as the scope of cardio-oncology increases exponentially, both in terms of the number of people affected and the types of therapies it encompasses. Cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) is a tool that can offer unparalleled diagnostic information compared with other imaging modalities, but its utilization is often delayed, at the expense of patient care, due to the need for insurance pre-authorization. This paper highlights situations in which CMR is preferred as the diagnostic modality and provides examples of diagnoses more likely to be approved by insurance companies. It also provides specific cardio-oncology diagnoses or questions to help the clinical cardio-oncologist navigate the pre-authorization process., Central Illustration, Highlights • Evolving therapies for cancer improve patient survival but can result in cardiotoxicity. • CMR can help diagnose, prognosticate, and offer insight to guide the management of cardiotoxicity. • Pre-authorization for CMR, used by insurance companies, often leads to consequential delays in patient care. • Advocacy and education of insurance payers and providers are essential to overcome these obstacles.

A relatively high mortality of severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is worrying, and the application of heparin in COVID-19 has been recommended by some expert consensus because of the risk of disseminated intravascular coagulation and venous thromboembolism. However, its efficacy remains to be validated.Coagulation results, medications, and outcomes of consecutive patients being classified as having severe COVID-19 in Tongji hospital were retrospectively analyzed. The 28-day mortality between heparin users and nonusers were compared, as was a different risk of coagulopathy, which was stratified by the sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC) score or D-dimer result.There were 449 patients with severe COVID-19 enrolled into the study, 99 of them received heparin (mainly with low molecular weight heparin) for 7 days or longer. D-dimer, prothrombin time, and age were positively, and platelet count was negatively, correlated with 28-day mortality in multivariate analysis. No difference in 28-day mortality was found between heparin users and nonusers (30.3% vs 29.7%, P = .910). But the 28-day mortality of heparin users was lower than nonusers in patients with SIC score ≥4 (40.0% vs 64.2%, P = .029), or D-dimer 6-fold of upper limit of normal (32.8% vs 52.4%, P = .017).Anticoagulant therapy mainly with low molecular weight heparin appears to be associated with better prognosis in severe COVID-19 patients meeting SIC criteria or with markedly elevated D-dimer.

Objective To focus on the potential beneficial effects of the pleiotropic effects of dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors (DPP4is) on attenuating progression of diabetic kidney disease in reducing the long-term effect of the acute kidney injury (AKI) to chronic kidney disease (CKD) transition. Patients and Methods Data from the National Health Insurance Research Database from January 1, 1999, to July 31, 2011, were analyzed, and patients with diabetes weaning from dialysis-requiring AKI were identified. Cox proportional hazards models and inverse-weighted estimates of the probability of treatment were used to adjust for treatment selection bias. The outcomes were incident end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and mortality, major adverse cardiovascular events, and hospitalized heart failure. Results Of a total of 6165 patients with diabetes weaning from dialysis-requiring AKI identified, 5635 (91.4%) patients were DPP4i nonusers and 530 (8.6%) patients were DPP4i users. Compared with DPP4i nonusers, DPP4i users had a lower risk of ESRD (hazard ratio, 0.81; 95% CI, 0.70-0.94; P=.04) and all-cause mortality (hazard ratio, 0.28; 95% CI, 0.23-0.34; P