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Background and aims Novel genetic determinants associated with coronary artery disease (CAD) have been discovered by genome wide association studies. Variants encompassing the CELSR2- PSRC1-SORT1 gene cluster have been associated with CAD. This study is aimed to investigate the rs629301 polymorphism association with the extent of CAD evaluated by coronary angiography (CAG), and to evaluate its associations with an extensive panel of lipid and lipoprotein measurements in a large Italian cohort of 2429 patients. Methods and results The patients were collected by four Intensive Care Units located in Palermo and Verona (Italy). Clinical Records were filed, blood samples were collected, lipids and apolipoproteins (apo) were measured in separate laboratories. CAD was defined by the presence of stenotic arteries (>50% lumen diameter) by CAG. The presence of CAD was associated with the rs629301 genotype. Patients with CAD were 78% and 73% (p = 0.007) of the T/T vs. T/G + G/G genotype carriers respectively. T/T genotype was also correlated with the number of stenotic arteries, with a 1.29 (1.04–1.61) risk to have a three-arteries disease. T/T genotype correlated with higher levels of LDL-, non-HDL cholesterol, apoB, apoE and apoCIII, and lower HDL-cholesterol. Logistic Regression confirmed that rs629301was associated with CAD independently from the common risk factors, with a risk similar to that conferred by ten years of age [odds ratios were 1.43 (1.04–1.96) and 1.39 (1.22–1.58) respectively]. Conclusions rs629301 risk allele was independently associated with the extension and severity of CAD and positively with apoE and apoB containing lipoproteins.

Background. Exercise causes enhanced sympathetic discharge and results in physiologic tachycardia. However, in some patients with a diseased conduction system resulting from acute ischemia, exercise can precipitate heart block. Methods and results. In this report we describe a 51 years old male patient with transient advanced degree atrioventricular (AV) block developed during recovery from exercise stress testing, resolved after the administration of atropine. Nuclear perfusion imaging demostrated stress-induced ischemia of the inferior-apical segments, and recovery of perfusion in the images obtained at rest. Coronarography showed critical stenosis of the right coronary artery, which was treated by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and drug eluting stent (DES) deployment. Conclusion. Nuclear myocardial perfusion imaging provides noninvasive evidence that transient ischemia of the infero- apical segment can result in advanced degree AV block in patient with critical severe right coronary disease.

Background: Cystatin C is the most abundant protease inhibitor in the plasma. Low plasma levels have been found in patients with aortic aneurysms and they seem correlated with the extension of the aortic lesions in early aneurysms detected by ultrasonography. Methods: In this study, plasma levels of cystatin C have been investigated in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI), unstable angina and controls. The effect on plasma levels of the G73A polymorphism of the CST3 gene has been also evaluated. Results: Patients with acute myocardial infarction showed significantly lower levels of cystatin C compared to unstable angina and controls, but levels were nearly normal in a week after the acute event. The genotype distribution of the G73A polymorphism was not different among the groups. Nevertheless, cystatin C levels decreased proportionally with the number of A alleles. Cystatin C levels were positively correlated with age, triglyceride/HDL cholesterol ratio and creatinine, and negatively with HDL cholesterol and the number of A alleles. All variables, but not HDL cholesterol, were independently correlated in a multivariate analysis. Conclusions: Cystatin C is decreased in acute myocardial infarction. It is still not clear whether lower cystatin C levels are causally linked to the acute event or just represent a negative acute phase response. The CST3 gene G73A polymorphism functionally affects cystatin C plasma levels.

Background: Carotid stenting (CAS) has been proposed as an alternative to carotid endoarterectomy also in elderly patients with discrepant results. However, the use of proximal neuroprotection devices have not been evaluated in octogenarians. Purpose: The aim of this multicenter prospective registry was to demonstrate that CAS in octogenarians is safe and effective if performed in high-volume centers by experienced operators. Methods: From July 2005 to May 2009, a total of 198 octogenarians patients, in three different institutions, were included in this registry. All patients underwent CAS using proximal endovascular occlusion device (Mo.Ma. device Invatec, Roncadelle, Italy). An independent neurologist evaluated all patients. The primary endpoint was death and stroke rate at 30 days. Results: 198 octogenarians (135 men; mean age: 83.2 years) were included in the registry. 39.4% of the patients were symptomatic. Procedural success was 100%. In-hospital complications: Two minor and two major strokes (2.02%) occurred. No device-related complications and no serious access site complication were noted. Between discharge and 30-day follow-up, one patient died due to a cardiac arrest. The overall 30-day combined stroke/death rate was 2.52%, resulting in 1.61% event incidence in asymptomatic and 3.9% in symptomatic patients (P = ns). Logistic regression did not identify independent predictor of neurological events, except in the female gender. Conclusion: This multicenter prospective registry shows that CAS performed with proximal flow blockage is safe and feasible also in octogenarians. Thirty days death/stroke rates are similar to those of the overall population and within the International guidelines. © 2010 Wiley-Liss, Inc.

Summary Objective Small, dense low-density lipoproteins (LDL) are a feature of the metabolic syndrome (MS) but their predictive role still remains to be established. We performed a 2-year follow-up study in 124 subjects with MS (63 ± 6 years), as defined by the American Heart Association/National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute guidelines, to assess clinical and biochemical predictors of cerebro- and cardio-vascular events. Methods and results Beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors, we measured LDL size and subclasses by gradient gel electrophoresis. Clinical events were registered in the 25% of subjects. At univariate analysis subjects with events had increased prevalence of elevated fasting glucose (P = 0·0117), smoking (P = 0·0015), family history of coronary artery disease (P = 0·0033) and higher levels of total- and LDL-cholesterol (P = 0·0027 and P = 0·0023, respectively); LDL size was lower (P

Since the type of dyslipidemia in patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is still insufficiently defined, we measured plasma lipids and analyzed LDL size and subclasses by gradient gel electrophoresis in 30 male patients (69±6 years, BMI: 27±3) with newly diagnosed AAA and in 26 age- and BMI-matched male healthy controls. Patients with AAA had lower HDL-cholesterol ( p p =.0002) and smaller LDL size ( p p =.0210) in relation to controls. Multivariate analysis also showed that small LDL size was independently associated with the presence of AAA ( p =.0350). Increased levels of small, dense LDL may therefore represent a common feature in patients with AAA.

Background Recent findings have suggested that subjects with non-coronary atherosclerosis may show elevated prevalence of atherogenic dyslipidemia, including higher triglyceride levels, reduced HDL-cholesterol concentrations and increased levels of small, dense low-density lipoproteins (LDL). These three lipid abnormalities constitute the so-called “atherogenic-lipoprotein-phenotype” (ALP) but its predictive role in these patients still remains to be established. Methods We performed a 2-year follow-up study to assess clinical and biochemical predictors of cardiovascular events in 44 male patients (64 ± 5 years, BMI: 27 ± 3), 26 with peripheral arterial disease and 18 with abdominal aortic aneurysm. Beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors, we measured LDL size and subclasses by gradient gel electrophoresis. Results Clinical events were registered in the 43% of patients. At univariate analysis we found that patients with events had increased prevalence of hypertension (p = .0098), diabetes (p = .0089), family history of cardiovascular diseases (p = .0089), of elevated small, dense LDL (p = .0222) and ALP (p = .0224). At multivariate analysis (including all clinical and laboratory variables) we found the following independent predictors of events: hypertension (OR 8.9, p = .0347), diabetes (OR 9.4, p = .0270), elevated small, dense LDL (OR 6.9, p = .0488) and ALP (OR 8.7, p = .0497). Conclusions This is the first study that evaluated the predictive role of ALP beyond traditional cardiovascular risk factors in patients with peripheral arterial disease or abdominal aortic aneurysm. We confirmed that hypertension and diabetes are strong predictors of cardiovascular events in these subjects but ALP seems to be an independent predictor too. Yet, the therapeutical consequences of these findings need to be tested by future studies.

The type of dyslipidemia in patients with peripheral arterial disease (PAD) is still ill defined. PAD patients often show elevated triglycerides and reduced HDL-cholesterol, two lipid abnormalities usually accompanied by decreased LDL size in the "atherogenic lipoprotein phenotype" (ALP). We investigated (1) whether PAD patients have lower LDL size, (2) altered LDL subclass distribution and (3) the prevalence of ALP. We measured plasma lipids and LDL size and subclasses by gradient gel electrophoresis in 31 adults with intermittent claudication and 31 age-BMI-matched controls. Patients had higher prevalence of hypertension (p = .0132), smoking (p < .0020) and diabetes (p = .0024), with lower HDL-cholesterol (p < .0001) and increased triglycerides (p = .0057); LDL size was smaller (p < .0001), with decreased larger subclasses (LDL-I, p < .0001; LDL-IIA, p = .0068) and increased smaller particles (LDL-IIIA, p < .0001; LDL-IIIB, p = .0013; LDL-IVA, p = .0029; LDL-IVB, p < .0001). The presence of PAD was independently associated with smoking (OR 7.2, p = .0099), hypertension (OR 6.5, p = .0362), diabetes (OR 5.5, p = .0450) and elevated small, dense LDL (OR 6.7, p = .0497). The concomitant presence of high triglycerides, low HDL-cholesterol and elevated small, dense LDL in patients was 26% (versus 0% controls, p = .0024). ALP seems to characterize PAD dyslipidemia, but prospective studies are needed to test whether this lipoprotein phenotype may represent a risk factor too. © 2007 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.

Sirolimus-eluting stents (SESs) reduce the rate of in-stent restenosis in selected cases. Their performance in more complex patients and their impact on the final clinical outcome of these patients, however, remains uncertain. RESTEM Registry (REgistro delle PCI in era di STEnt Medicati), a prospective multicenter registry collecting all percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) performed over 20 months and monitored up to 2 years, includes 5524 consecutive patients treated with bare metal stent (BMS) (72%), sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) (15%), combined BMS+SES (4%), or other techniques (9%). The combination of death, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), unstable angina and revascularizations had been chosen as primary endpoint. One-year multivariate analysis shows no significant advantage of SES in combined clinical events, a slight benefit in primary endpoint [18.5 vs. 25.0% BMS=odds ratio (OR) 0.78) and revascularizations (13.6 vs. 20.4% BMS=OR 0.74], a consistent advantage when only target vessel revascularizations (TVRs) are considered (5.5 vs. 10.5% BMS=OR 0.52). The two-year adjusted results confirm a significant advantage of SES in TVR (8.3 vs. 13.7% BMS=OR 0.65), a slight benefit for revascularizations (18.3 vs. 25.6% BMS=OR 0.76), without reducing mortality and other clinical events; these data refute the benefit on primary endpoint observed at 12 months (25.8 vs. 32.4% BMS=OR 0.84). After analyzing events recorded during the first and second year follow-up periods separately, the incidence of many of them favors SES in the first year, yet appear independent of the technique utilized in the second. RESTEM results confirming SES's capacity to reduce TVR without reduction of other clinical events, suggest that this advantage is limited to the first year after PCI, and show no evidence of excess of deaths, AMIs and late thrombosis following SES implantation described in recent meta-analyses.

SummaryIn recent years new biomarkers able to measure the coronary atherosclerotic burden have been investigated. The aim of the present study was: i) to measure plasma levels of four biomarkers: C reactive protein (CRP), soluble intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), interleukin 6 (IL-6), 8-isosprostane (8-ISO),in a series of patients undergoing coronary angiography; ii) to assess the power of the biomarkers to predict critical coronary stenosis detected by angiography. The study population consisted of a group of 438 subjects undergoing coronary angiography; 160 patients with 0, 1, 2, or 3 critical vessels were selected, and biomarkers plasma levels were measured in plasma samples obtained before the procedure. The most predictive biomarker was then assayed in 120 patients with critical stenosis and 120 unmatched patients without stenosis. CRP, sICAM-1, IL-6 and 8-ISO plasma levels increased with the number of diseased vessels. All biomarkers were good predictors of critical stenosis (receiver-operator-curve [ROC] areas; CRP=0.880, IL-6=0.936, sICAM-1=0.907, 8-ISO=0.873). IL-6 was confirmed in an expanded sample of 240 subjects to be the best predictor with a ROC area=0.959.With a threshold of 3.6 ng/l,a 100% sensitivity (120/120) and a 90% specificity (108/120) was observed. In conclusion, IL-6, sICAM-1, CRP and 8-ISO are predictive of CAD. IL-6 predicts critical coronary stenosis with the highest sensitivity and specificity.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: In this study we addressed some open questions in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). First, we analysed which of the traditional risk factors was associated with the spreading of coronary stenosis and second, we aimed to identify if any variable was predictive of post-percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) clinical events. METHODS AND RESULTS: We collected a consecutive series of patients with CAD (n=301) and in the subgroup of patients undergoing PTCA (n=135) we performed a prospective one-year follow-up study recording cardiovascular morbidity and total mortality. According to the extension of coronary atherosclerosis, we found a significant relationship with the prevalence of diabetes in men and with plasma HDL-cholesterol concentrations in women. The follow-up was completed in 95% of patients; we did not document any death whereas clinical events were registered in 16% of patients. At univariate analysis, we found that patients with clinical events had a higher prevalence of family history of CAD (43% vs 14%, p