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We sought to examine the impact of gender differences in clinical outcomes at 3 years also comparing the role of double versus single stenting approach for the treatment of coronary unprotected LM bifurcation lesions. We retrospectively analyzed both the procedural and medical data of patients referred to our hub center for complex LM bifurcation disease, treated using Crossover provisional stenting, T or T-and-Protrusion (TAP), Culotte, and Nano-inverted-T (NIT) techniques between January 1st, 2008 and May 1st 2018. The main outcome of the study was to evaluate the association between gender and target lesion failure (TLF) based on the different stenting technique used. Five hundred and sixty-seven patients (251 females, mean age 70.0 ± 10 years, mean Syntax score 31.6 ± 6.3) were evaluated. Crossover, T or TAP, culotte and NIT techniques were performed in 171 (30.1%), 61 (10.7%), 98 (17.2%) and 237 (41.8%) patients, respectively with no differences in baseline and peri-procedural items among gender. At a mean follow-up of 37.1 ± 10.8 months (range 22.1-39.3 moths), the overall TLF rate, cardiovascular mortality and stent thrombosis were 12.1%, 3.1% and 1.0%, respectively. Female gender was associated with an increased rate of major bleeding when treated with double stent strategy (p = 0.02). No gender difference in TLF was noted among gender, independently from the stenting approach used. Among patients with ULM bifurcation disease undergoing PCI, TLF rates were not different between genders at 3-year follow-up either using a single or double stent technique., (© 2022. Springer Japan KK, part of Springer Nature.)

Acute pulmonary embolism (PE) is the third cause of cardiovascular (CV) mortality. We evaluated a new risk index, named Age-Mean Arterial Pressure Index (AMAPI), to predict 30-day CV mortality in patients with acute PE. Data of 209 patients (44.0% male and 56.0% female, mean age 70.58 ± 14.14 years) with confirmed acute PE were retrospectively analysed. AMAPI was calculated as the ratio between age and mean arterial pressure (MAP), which was defined as [systolic blood pressure + (2 × diastolic blood pressure)]/3. To test AMAPI accuracy, a comparison with shock index (SI) and simplified pulmonary embolism severity index (sPESI) was performed. Patients were divided in two groups according their hemodynamic stability, or not, at admission. 30-day mortality rate, in all cases for CV events, was 10.5% (n = 22). Hemodynamically unstable patients had a higher AMAPI compare to those without hypotension at admission (1.28 ± 0.39 vs 0.78 ± 0.27, p < 0.0001). Receiving operative curve analyses (ROC) found the optimal cut-off for AMAPI in hemodynamically stable and unstable patients ≥0.9 and ≥0.92, respectively. In both groups, patients with an AMAPI over the cut-off were significantly older, hypotensive (both systolic and diastolic blood pressure), with a higher SI and lower MAP. In hemodynamically stable patients, 30-day CV mortality risk prediction was improved adding AMAPI ≥0.9 to both SI and sPESI (net reclassification improvement-NRI-of 14.2%, p = 0.0006 and 11.5%, p = 0.0002, respectively). In hemodynamically unstable patients NRI was 19.2%, p = 0.006. Mantel-Cox analysis revealed a statistical significant difference in the distribution of survival between hemodynamically stable patients with an AMAPI index ≥0.9 compared to those with an AMAPI <0.89 [log rank (Mantel-Cox) p < 0.0001] and in hemodynamically unstable patients with an AMAPI ≥0.92 [log rank (Mantel-Cox) p = 0.001]. AMAPI ≥0.90 and ≥0.92 predict 30-day CV mortality in hemodynamically stable and unstable patients with acute PE.

In the setting of acute myocardial infarction, hyperglycemia and acute insulin resistance may represent a stress response to myocardial injury mainly related to acute catecholamine release. By measuring glucose values and insulin resistance (Homeostatic Model Assessment index-HOMA), we evaluated in 356 non-diabetic patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) undergone mechanical revascularization: (a) the acute glycometabolic response by evaluating insulin resistance, glucose levels, and their combination and (b) whether insulin resistance and increased glucose values (and their combination) are able to affect in-Intensive Cardiac Care Unit (ICCU) mortality and complications. In the overall population, 226 (63.5%) patients showed glucose values ≤140 mg/dl (group B), while 130 patients had glucose values >140 mg/dl (group A) (36.5%). Within group B, insulin resistance (as inferred by positive HOMA index) was present in 125 patients (55.3%), whereas 101 patients (44.7%) exhibited normal values of HOMA index. Within group A, 109 patients (83.8%) were insulin resistant, while 21 patients (16.2%) had normal values of HOMA index. At multivariable analysis, glucose values were independently associated with in-ICCU mortality (OR: 7.387; 95% CI 2.701-20.201; P < 0.001) and complications (OR: 1.786; 95% CI 1.089-2.928; P = 0.022). In the early phase of STEMI, the acute glycometabolic response to stress is heterogeneous (ranging from no insulin resistance to glucose levels >140 mg/dl and, finally, to the combination of increased glucose values and insulin resistance). Increased glucose values are stronger prognostic factors since they are independently associated with in-ICCU mortality and complications.

Due to the lack of appropriately designed randomized trials, the definitive answer in regard to the prognostic role of in-hospital glucose values in patients with AMI is lacking. We prospectively assessed the prognostic role of in-hospital peak glycemia (≤1.40, 141-180 and >180 g/l) in 611 consecutive STEMI patients (diabetic and without previously known diabetes) submitted to percutaneous coronary intervention. One hundred and fifteen (18.8%) were diabetic and the remaining 496 (81.2%) without previously known diabetes. At multivariable logistic regression analysis, peak glycemia was an independent predictor for in-ICCU death in the overall population and in patients without previously known diabetes. At follow-up, in the overall population (as well as in diabetic and non-diabetic patients), patients with peak glycemia >1.8 g/l showed the lowest survival rate, those with peak glycemia <1.4 g/l the highest and patients with peak glycemia >1.4 and <1.8 g/l intermediate survival rates. In-hospital peak glycemia is an independent predictor for early death in patients without previously known diabetes, but not in diabetic STEMI patients. At follow-up, in-hospital peak glycemia is able to affect long-term survival in diabetic and non-diabetic patients. Our data underscore strongly suggest that different glucose targets and thresholds may be pursued in diabetic and non-diabetic STEMI patients.

Hypertension is well established as a risk factor for the development of atherosclerosis. Data on the impact of hypertension in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction are so far inconsistent, and are mainly related to studies performed in the thrombolytic era. We assessed the impact of hypertension over the short and long term in 560 patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and without previously known diabetes, all of whom were submitted to mechanical revascularization and consecutively admitted to our Intensive Cardiac Care Unit. Hypertensive patients were older (p < 0.001), more frequently male (0.005), and they showed a reduced eGFR (p < 0.001). Smoking was more frequent in nonhypertensive patients (p < 0.001), while the incidence of three-vessel coronary artery disease was higher in hypertensive patients (p = 0.003). No difference in the in-hospital mortality rates for the two subgroups was detected. At follow-up (median 32.5 months, 25th-75th percentile 16.9-47.3 months), Kaplan-Meier survival analysis detected no differences in mortality between hypertensive and nonhypertensive patients (log rank χ(2) 0.38, p = 0.538). According to our data, obtained from a large series of consecutive STEMI patients without previously known diabetes, all of whom were submitted to primary PCI, a history of hypertension does not affect mortality over either the short or the long term. Moreover, hypertensive patients showed an altered glucose response to stress, as indicated by higher admission glucose values, poorer in-hospital glucose control, and a higher incidence of acute insulin resistance (as indicated by the HOMA index). Hypertensive patients therefore appear to warrant careful metabolic management during their hospital courses.