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Background: There is limited information about thymosin α1 (Tα1) as adjuvant immunomodulatory therapy, either used alone or combined with other treatments, in patients with non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). This study aimed to evaluate the effect of adjuvant Tα1 treatment on long-term survival in margin-free (R0)-resected stage IA-IIIA NSCLC patients., Methods: A total of 5746 patients with pathologic stage IA-IIIA NSCLC who underwent R0 resection were included. The patients were divided into the Tα1 group and the control group according to whether they received Tα1 or not. A propensity score matching (PSM) analysis was performed to reduce bias, resulting in 1027 pairs of patients., Results: After PSM, the baseline clinicopathological characteristics were similar between the two groups. The 5-year disease-free survival (DFS) and overall survival (OS) rates were significantly higher in the Tα1 group compared with the control group. The multivariable analysis showed that Tα1 treatment was independently associated with an improved prognosis. A longer duration of Tα1 treatment was associated with improved OS and DFS. The subgroup analyses showed that Tα1 therapy could improve the DFS and/or OS in all subgroups of age, sex, Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI), smoking status, and pathological tumor-node-metastasis (TNM) stage, especially for patients with non-squamous cell NSCLC and without targeted therapy., Conclusion: Tα1 as adjuvant immunomodulatory therapy can significantly improve DFS and OS in patients with NSCLC after R0 resection, except for patients with squamous cell carcinoma and those receiving targeted therapy. The duration of Tα1 treatment is recommended to be >24 months., (Copyright © 2021 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.)

Background: Thyroid dysfunction is associated with cardiovascular diseases. However, the role of thyroid function in lipid metabolism remains partly unknown. The present study aimed to investigate the causal association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism via a genetic analysis termed Mendelian randomization (MR)., Methods: The MR approach uses a genetic variant as the instrumental variable in epidemiological studies to mimic a randomized controlled trial. A two-sample MR was performed to assess the causal association, using summary statistics from the Atrial Fibrillation Genetics Consortium (n = 537,409) and the Global Lipids Genetics Consortium (n = 188,577). The clinical measures of thyroid function include thyrotropin (TSH), free triiodothyronine (FT3) and free thyroxine (FT4) levels, FT3:FT4 ratio and concentration of thyroid peroxidase antibodies (TPOAb). The serum lipid metabolism traits include total cholesterol (TC) and triglycerides, high-density lipoprotein, and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) levels. The MR estimate and MR inverse variance-weighted method were used to assess the association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism., Results: The results demonstrated that increased TSH levels were significantly associated with higher TC (β = 0.052, P = 0.002) and LDL (β = 0.041, P = 0.018) levels. In addition, the FT3:FT4 ratio was significantly associated with TC (β = 0.240, P = 0.033) and LDL (β = 0.025, P = 0.027) levels. However, no significant differences were observed between genetically predicted FT4 and TPOAb and serum lipids., Conclusion: Taken together, the results of the present study suggest an association between thyroid function and serum lipid metabolism, highlighting the importance of the pituitary-thyroid-cardiac axis in dyslipidemia susceptibility., (Copyright © 2021 The Chinese Medical Association, produced by Wolters Kluwer, Inc. under the CC-BY-NC-ND license.)

Background: The mechanism and characteristics of early and late drug-eluting stent in-stent restenosis (DES-ISR) have not been fully clarified. Whether there are different outcomes among those patients being irrespective of their repeated treatments remain a knowledge gap., Methods: A total of 250 patients who underwent initial stent implantation in our hospital, and then were readmitted to receive treatment for the reason of recurrent significant DES-ISR in 2016 were involved. The patients were categorized as early ISR (<12 months; E-ISR; n = 32) and late ISR (≥12 months; L-ISR; n = 218). Associations between patient characteristics and clinical performance, as well as clinical outcomes after a repeated percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were evaluated. Primary composite endpoint of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) included cardiac death, non-fatal myocardial infarction (MI), or target lesion revascularization (TLR)., Results: Most baseline characteristics are similar in both groups, except for the period of ISR, initial pre-procedure thrombolysis in myocardial infarction, and some serum biochemical indicators. The incidence of MACE (37.5% vs. 5.5%; P < 0.001) and TLR (37.5% vs. 5.0%; P < 0.001) is higher in the E-ISR group. After multivariate analysis, E-ISR (odds ratio [OR], 13.267; [95% CI 4.984-35.311]; P < 0.001) and left ventricular systolic dysfunction (odds ratio [OR], 6.317; [95% CI 1.145-34.843]; P = 0.034) are the independent predictors for MACE among DES-ISR patients in the mid-term follow-up of 12 months., Conclusions: Early ISR and left ventricular systolic dysfunction are associated with MACE during the mid-term follow-up period for DES-ISR patients. The results may benefit the risk stratification and secondary prevention for DES-ISR patients in clinical practice.

Background: Imprecise interpretation of coronary angiograms was reported and resulted in inappropriate revascularization. Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention with Taxus and Cardiac Surgery (SYNTAX) score is a comprehensive system to evaluate the complexity of the overall lesions. We hypothesized that a real-time SYNTAX score feedback from image analysts may rectify the mis-estimation and improve revascularization appropriateness in patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD)., Methods: In this single-center, historical control study, patients with stable CAD with coronary lesion stenosis ≥50% were consecutively recruited. During the control period, SYNTAX scores were calculated by treating cardiologists. During the intervention period, SYNTAX scores were calculated by image analysts immediately after coronary angiography and were provided to cardiologists in real-time to aid decision-making. The primary outcome was revascularization deemed inappropriate by Chinese appropriate use criteria for coronary revascularization., Results: A total of 3245 patients were enrolled and assigned to the control group (08/2016-03/2017, n = 1525) or the intervention group (03/2017-09/2017, n = 1720). For SYNTAX score tertiles, 17.9% patients were overestimated and 4.3% were underestimated by cardiologists in the control group. After adjustment, inappropriate revascularization significantly decreased in the intervention group compared with the control group (adjusted odds ratio [OR]: 0.83; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.73-0.95; P = 0.007). Both inappropriate percutaneous coronary intervention (adjusted OR: 0.82; 95% CI: 0.74-0.92; P < 0.001) and percutaneous coronary intervention utilization (adjusted OR: 0.88; 95% CI: 0.79-0.98; P = 0.016) decreased significantly in the intervention group. There was no significant difference in 1-year adverse cardiac events between the control group and the intervention group., Conclusions: Real-time SYNTAX score feedback significantly reduced inappropriate coronary revascularization in stable patients with CAD., Clinical Trial Registration: Nos. NCT03068858 and NCT02880605; https://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Background: The Chinese appropriate use criteria (AUC) for coronary revascularization was released in 2016 to improve the use of coronary revascularization. This study aimed to evaluate the association between the appropriateness of coronary revascularization based on the Chinese AUC and 1-year outcomes in stable coronary artery disease (CAD) patients., Methods: We conducted a prospective, multi-center cohort study of stable CAD patients with coronary lesion stenosis ≥50%. After the classification of appropriateness based on Chinese AUC, patients were categorized into the coronary revascularization group or the medical therapy group based on treatment received. The primary outcome was a composite of death, myocardial infarction, stroke, repeated revascularization, and ischemic symptoms with hospital admission., Results: From August 2016 to August 2017, 6085 patients were consecutively enrolled. Coronary revascularization was associated with a lower adjusted hazard of 1-year major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs; hazard ratio [HR]: 0.62; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.45-0.86; P = 0.004) than medical therapy in patients with appropriate indications (n = 1617). No significant benefit in 1-year MACCEs was found after revascularization compared to after medical therapy in patients with uncertain indications (n = 2658, HR: 0.81; 95% CI: 0.52-1.25; P = 0.338) and inappropriate indications (n = 1810, HR: 0.80; 95% CI: 0.51-1.23; P = 0.308)., Conclusions: In patients with appropriate indications according to Chinese AUC, coronary revascularization was associated with significantly lower risk of MACCEs at 1 year. No benefit was found in coronary revascularization in patients with inappropriate indications. Our findings provide evidence for using Chinese AUC to guide clinical decision-making., Clinical Trial Registration: NCT02880605. https://www.clinicaltrials.gov.

Background: The impact of body mass index (BMI) on the clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients ≥ 75 years old remained unclear., Methods: A total of 1098 elderly patients undergoing PCI with stent implantation were recruited. Patients were divided into four groups by the value of BMI: Underweight (≤ 20.0 kg/m 2 ), normal weight (20.0-24.9 kg/m 2 ), overweight (25.0-29.9 kg/m 2 ) and obese (≥ 30.0 kg/m 2 ). Major clinical outcomes after PCI were compared between the groups. The primary endpoint was defined as in-hospital major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), which included death, myocardial infarction (MI) and target vessel revascularization. The secondary endpoint was defined as 1 year death. Logistic regression analysis was performed to adjust for the potential confounders., Results: Totally, 1077 elderly patients with available BMIs were included in the analysis. Patients of underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese accounted for 5.6%, 45.4%, 41.5% and 7.5% of the population, respectively. Underweight patients were more likely to attract ST-segment elevation MI, and get accompanied with anemia or renal dysfunction. Meanwhile, they were less likely to achieve thrombolysis in MI 3 grade flow after PCI, and receive beta-blocker, angiotensin converting enzyme inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker after discharge. In underweight, normal weight, overweight and obese patients, in-hospital MACE were 1.7%, 2.7%, 3.8%, and 3.7% respectively (P = 0.68), and 1 year mortality rates were 5.0%, 3.9%, 5.1% and 3.7% (P = 0.80), without significant difference between the groups. Multivariate regression analysis showed that the value of BMI was not associated with in-hospital MACE in patients at 75 years old., Conclusions: The BMI "obese paradox" was not found in patients ≥ 75 years old. It was suggested that BMI may not be a sensitive predictor of adverse cardiovascular events in elderly patients.

Background: Previous studies have suggested that hypothyroidism correlated with coronary heart diseases (CHD) mortality in long-term cohort, but whether the thyroid function status is associated with myocardial injury in acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) has not been investigated sufficiently., Methods: Five hundred and eighty-two hospitalized patients from January 2010 to December 2011, with the diagnosis of STEMI, were enrolled in this study. All patients underwent testing for thyroid function status, cardiac troponin I (cTnI), cardiac enzymes, C-reactive protein (CRP). We investigated the association between thyroid hormone levels and cardiac markers (creatine kinase-MB and cTnI), and thus evaluated the potential role of thyroid function status in predicting the myocardial injury., Results: There were 76 patients (13.06%) who had hypothyroidism including low-T3-syndrome (34 patients, 5.84%), subclinical hypothyroidism (28 patients, 4.81%) and clinical hypothyroidism (14 patients, 2.41%). After adjusting for conventional risk factors (age, gender, smoking, diabetes mellitus, dyslipidemia, hypertension), free triiodothyronine (FT3) was significantly and negatively correlated with log-CKMB (r = -0.244, P < 0.001) and log-cTnI (r = -0.290, P < 0.001), indicating that the lower thyroid hormone level correlates with the severer cardiac injury in STEMI patients. FT3 also had a moderate negative correlation with CRP (r = -0.475, P < 0.001), which might indicate that hypothyroidism may activate the inflammation response. No significant correlation was found between other thyroid parameters (TSH, FT4) and cardiac markers., Conclusions: As the lower FT3 level correlates with higher level of cardiac markers and lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF), the hypothyroidism may be a predictor for myocardial injury in STEMI. And these results may warrant further study to investigate whether reversing the hypothyroidism could benefit the STEMI patients.

Background: ST-elevated acute myocardial infarction (STEAMI) happening in the first month post percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is almost related to acute thrombosis or subacute thrombosis in-stents. This study aimed to investigate the possible causes of myocardial infarction one month later., Methods: Patients who had a history of successful PCI, and received coronary angiography or re-PCI due to STEAMI were included in this study. The AMI-related lesions and previous angiographic findings such as the number of lesions, the degree of the stenosis, the type of stents and acute results of last PCI were recorded. If the AMI-related lesion was localized in-stents or at the edge of stents (distance apart from the edge < or = 5 mm), it was defined to be late thrombosis; otherwise as a new-lesion induced AMI., Results: One hundred and ninety-two patients aged 40 - 79 years were included in this study. New lesions, as the cause of STEAMI, were found in 144 patients (Group A, 75%), and late thrombosis in 48 patients (Group B, 25%). Almost all newly built thromboses were found at the sites of previous insignificant lesions (diameter stenosis < 50%). There was a significant difference in the average time from previous PCI to AMI ((30.1 +/- 12.4) vs (20.3 +/- 11.9) months) between the two groups. Diabetes mellitus (DM) and drug-eluting stent (DES) utilization were associated with markedly higher morbidity of late thrombosis in adjusted Logistic regression (hazard ratio (HR) 3.4, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.1 - 10.9 and 5.3, 95% CI 1.1 - 26.5)., Conclusions: STEAMIs happening 1 month after PCI are more likely to develop from previous insignificant lesion rupture than from late thrombosis in-stents. Moreover, DM and DES are associated with the high incidence of late thrombosis, which may indicate that intensive antiplatelet therapy should be considered in patients with diabetes.