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Background: Previous studies have suggested a relationship between type A personality and the occurrence of coronary artery disease, so we used intravascular optical coherence tomography (OCT) to investigate the morphological characteristics of culprit plaques in acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients with different scores of type A personality., Methods and results: A total of 221 AMI patients who underwent preintervention imaging of culprit lesions and an assessment of type A behavior pattern were included. According to the scores for the behavior questionnaire, these patients were divided into 3 groups: non-type A personality (n=91), intermediate personality (n=73), and type A personality (n=57). Patients with type A personality were younger (P=0.003) and had a higher level of total cholesterol (P=0.029) and more severe luminal stenosis (P=0.046). In addition, the prevalence of microchannels (P<0.001), macrophage accumulation (P<0.001), and plaque rupture (P=0.010) with greater number (P<0.001), cavity angle (P<0.001), and length (P<0.001) was highest in the type A personality group., Conclusions: The culprit lesions of AMI patients with increased scores for type A personality had more severe coronary luminal stenosis, and the proportion of vulnerable features was increased.

Background: Type 2 myocardial infarction (T2MI) related to a supply/demand imbalance of coronary blood flow is common and associated with poor prognosis. Coronary artery disease (CAD) may predispose some individuals to T2MI and contribute to its high rate of recurrent cardiovascular events. Little is known about the presence and extent of CAD in this population., Objectives: The goal of this study was to evaluate the presence and characteristics of CAD among patients with T2MI., Methods: In this prospective study, consecutive eligible individuals with Fourth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction criteria for T2MI were enrolled. Participants underwent coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA), fractional flow reserve derived with coronary CTA (FFR CT ), and plaque volume analyses., Results: Among 50 participants, 25 (50%) were female, and the mean age was 68.0 ± 11.4 years. Atherosclerotic risk factors were common. Coronary CTA revealed coronary plaque in 46 participants (92%). A moderate or greater stenosis (≥50%) was identified in 42% of participants, and obstructive disease (≥50% left main stenosis or ≥70% stenosis in any other epicardial coronary artery) was present in 26%. Prevalence of obstructive CAD did not differ according to T2MI cause (P = 0.54). A hemodynamically significant focal stenosis identified by FFR CT was present in 13 participants (26%). Among participants with a stenosis ≥50% (n = 21), FFR CT excluded lesion-specific hemodynamically significant stenosis in 8 cases (38%)., Conclusions: Among individuals with adjudicated T2MI, CAD was prevalent, but the majority of patients had nonobstructive CAD. Mediators of ischemia are likely multifactorial in this population. (Defining the Prevalence and Characteristics of Coronary Artery Disease Among Patients with Type 2 Myocardial Infarction using CT-FFR [DEFINE TYPE 2 MI]; NCT04864119)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This work was supported by a grant from HeartFlow Inc. Dr McCarthy was supported by a National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute T32 postdoctoral training grant (5T32HL094301-12); and has received consulting income from Abbott Laboratories and Roche Diagnostics. Dr Mohebi is supported by the Barry Fellowship. Dr Wasfy is supported by the American Heart Association (18 CDA 34110215); is chair of the New England Comparative Effectiveness Public Affairs Council (CEPAC); has received grant support from the American Heart Association and the National Institutes of Health; and has received consulting fees from Pfizer and Biotronik. Dr Januzzi is supported by the Hutter Family Professorship; is a Trustee of the American College of Cardiology; is a Director at Imbria Pharmaceuticals; is an advisor at Jana Care; has received grant support from Abbott, Applied Therapeutics, HeartFlow Inc, Innolife, and Roche Diagnostics; has received consulting income from Abbott, Janssen, Novartis, Merck, and Roche Diagnostics; and participates in clinical endpoint committees/data safety monitoring boards for Abbott, AbbVie, Bayer, CVRx, Intercept, Pfizer, and Takeda. Dr Ghoshhajra is on the Executive Committee of the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (President); has received grant support from Siemens Healthineers and the National Institutes of Health; and has received consulting fees from Siemens Healthineers, Philips Healthcare, and 3DR Labs (all unrelated to this work). Dr Rogers is an employee and shareholder of HeartFlow Inc. Dr Blankstein has received research support from Amgen Inc and Novartis Inc; and has served as a consultant/advisory board member for Caristo Inc, Elucid Inc, HeartFlow Inc, Beren Therapeutics, and Nanox.AI. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Right ventricular (RV) dysfunction after acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a recognized predictor of dismal prognosis. However, the most reliable RV index to predict mortality early after revascularization remains undetermined. This study aimed to explore the ability of RV global longitudinal strain (GLS) to predict inhospital mortality in patients with first AMI. All consecutive patients with first AMI were prospectively enrolled from March 2022 until February 2023. An echocardiogram was performed 24 hours after successful revascularization and RV GLS alongside conventional echocardiographic indexes were measured. Inhospital mortality was recorded. A total of 300 patients (age 61.2 ± 11.8 years, 74% male) were included in the study. RV GLS was the only RV performance index that differed significantly between anterior and inferior ST-segment-elevation patients with AMI (14.5 ± 5.2% vs 17.4 ± 5.1% respectively, p <0.001). After revascularization, 23 patients (7.7%) died in hospital. The model of Global Registry of Acute Coronary Event risk score and left ventricular ejection fraction, built for predicting inhospital mortality, significantly improved its prognostic performance only by the addition of RV GLS (chi-square value increase by 7.485, p = 0.006) compared with the other RV function indexes. RV GLS was independently associated with inhospital mortality (odds ratio 0.83, 95% confidence interval 0.71 to 0.97, p = 0.017) after adjustment for Global Registry of Acute Coronary Event risk score and left ventricular ejection fraction. Echocardiographic RV GLS measured 24 hours after revascularization in patients with first AMI outperformed conventional RV function indexes in predicting inhospital mortality., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Dr. Delgado received speaker fees from Edwards Lifesciences, Medtronic, Novartis, and Philips and consulting fees from Edwards Lifesciences and Novo Nordisk. The remaining authors have no competing interests to declare., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Complete revascularization using either angiography-guided or fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided strategy can improve clinical outcomes in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and multivessel disease. However, there is concern that angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may result in un-necessary PCI of the non-infarct-related artery (non-IRA), and its long-term prognosis is still unclear., Objectives: This study sought to evaluate clinical outcomes after non-IRA PCI according to the quantitative flow ratio (QFR)., Methods: We performed post hoc QFR analysis of non-IRA lesions of AMI patients enrolled in the FRAME-AMI (FFR Versus Angiography-Guided Strategy for Management of AMI With Multivessel Disease) trial, which randomly allocated 562 patients into either FFR-guided PCI (FFR ≤0.80) or angiography-guided PCI (diameter stenosis >50%) for non-IRA lesions. Patients were classified by non-IRA QFR values into the QFR ≤0.80 and QFR >0.80 groups. The primary outcome was a major adverse cardiac event (MACE), a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and repeat revascularization., Results: A total of 443 patients (552 lesions) were eligible for QFR analysis. Of 209 patients in the angiography-guided PCI group, 30.0% (n = 60) underwent non-IRA PCI despite having QFR >0.80 in the non-IRA. Conversely, only 2.7% (n = 4) among 209 patients in the FFR-guided PCI group had QFR >0.80 in the non-IRA. At a median follow-up of 3.5 years, the rate of MACEs was significantly higher among patients with non-IRA PCI despite QFR >0.80 than in patients with deferred PCI for non-IRA lesions (12.9% vs 3.1%; HR: 4.13; 95% CI: 1.10-15.57; P = 0.036). Non-IRA PCI despite QFR >0.80 was associated with a higher risk of non-IRA MACEs than patients with deferred PCI for non-IRA lesions (12.9% vs 2.1%; HR: 5.44; 95% CI: 1.13-26.19; P = 0.035)., Conclusions: In AMI patients with multivessel disease, 30.0% of angiography-guided PCI resulted in un-necessary PCI for the non-IRA with QFR >0.80, which was significantly associated with an increased risk of MACEs than in those with deferred PCI for non-IRA lesions. (FFR Versus Angiography-Guided Strategy for Management of AMI With Multivessel Disease [FRAME-AMI] ClinicalTrials.gov number; NCT02715518)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures This trial is investigator initiated with grant support from Medtronic, BIOTRONIK, Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical, and JW Pharmaceutical. None of the funders were involved with the protocol development or study process, including site selection, management, data collection, and analysis of the results. The executive committee and all the authors vouch for the accuracy and completeness of the data and for the fidelity of the trial to the protocol. Dr S.H. Lee received an institutional research grant from Abbott Vascular. Dr Hahn has received an institutional research grant from National Evidence-based Healthcare Collaborating Agency, Ministry of Health and Welfare, Republic of Korea; Abbott Vascular; Biosensors; Boston Scientific; Daiichi Sankyo; Donga-ST; and Medtronic Inc. Dr Gwon has received an institutional research grant from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, and Medtronic Inc. Dr J.M. Lee has received an institutional research grant from Abbott Vascular, Boston Scientific, Philips Volcano, Terumo Corporation, Donga-ST, and Zoll Medical. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Cardiac tumors, although rare, present intricate diagnostic and therapeutic challenges, necessitating timely intervention for optimal patient outcomes. This case report focuses on a 65-year-old woman admitted with chest pain and loss of consciousness, ultimately diagnosed with a left ventricular cardiac myxoma. The patient's presentation mimicked acute coronary syndrome, highlighting the diagnostic complexity associated with cardiac tumors. Advanced imaging modalities, including transthoracic echocardiography, computed tomography, and invasive coronary angiography, played a pivotal role in characterizing the intracardiac mass. Histopathological (HP) examination, utilizing immunohistochemistry, confirmed the tumor as a cardiac myxoma. The patient management involved a multidisciplinary approach, leading to surgical resection of the mass and mitral valve replacement. The case underscores the importance of the HP confirmation in patients with cardiac masses, especially when multimodality cardiac imaging suggests various tumor types, simultaneously emphasizing the need for a comprehensive diagnostic approach that includes advanced imaging and histopathology to ensure an accurate diagnosis and tailored management of cardiac tumors.

Objective: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is characterized by heart damage resulting from blocked blood flow. Prompt diagnosis is vital for timely treatment and saving lives. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic value of cTnl, NT-pro BNP, and a combined test in AMI patients., Methods: In this study, a retrospective observational design was employed, and we selected 221 patients with AMI admitted to our hospital within a 3-year period as the research subjects and included them in the AMI group. Additionally, 200 patients from the control group, who visited our hospital for physical examinations, were selected to compare the expressions of cardiac Troponin I (cTnl) and N-Terminal pro-B-type Natriuretic Peptide (NT-pro BNP) between the two groups. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curves were constructed to analyze the diagnostic value of cTnl combined with NT-pro BNP for AMI. Furthermore, AMI patients were categorized into four groups based on the New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification (grades I, II, III, and IV). The differences in cTnl, NT-pro BNP, and Left Ventricular Ejection Fraction (LVEF) were compared among the AMI patients with different cardiac function grades to analyze their correlation and diagnostic value in assessing the severity of AMI-related cardiac insufficiency., Results: The levels of cTnl and NT-pro BNP in AMI patients were significantly higher than those in the control group, and their combined detection effectively facilitated the diagnosis of AMI occurrence. Moreover, cTnl and NT-pro BNP concentrations increased with the severity of cardiac dysfunction (NYHA grades) and showed a notable negative correlation with LVEF. Furthermore, the combined testing of cTnl and NT-pro BNP demonstrated significant value in evaluating the severity of AMI in patients., Conclusions: The combined detection of cTnl and NT-pro BNP holds considerable application value in diagnosing AMI occurrence and assessing its severity.

Background: Postinfarction ventricular septal defect (VSD) is a catastrophic complication of myocardial infarction. Surgical repair still has poor outcomes. This report describes clinical outcomes after a novel hybrid transcatheter/surgical repair in patients with apical VSD., Methods: Seven patients with postmyocardial infarction apical VSD underwent hybrid transcatheter repair via subxiphoid surgical access. A transcatheter occluder (Amplatzer Septal Occluder) with a trailing premounted suture was deployed through the right ventricular wall and through the ventricular septum into the left ventricular apex. The trailing suture was used to connect an anchor external to the right ventricular wall. Tension on the suture then collapses the right ventricular free wall against the septum and left ventricular occluder, thereby obliterating the VSD. Outcomes were compared with 9 patients who underwent surgical repair using either patch or primary suture closure., Results: All patients had significant left-to-right shunt (Qp:Qs 2.5:1; interquartile range [IQR, 2.1-2.6] hybrid repair versus 2.0:1 [IQR, 2.0-2.5] surgical repair), and elevated right ventricular systolic pressure (62 [IQR, 46-71] versus 49 [IQR, 43-54] mm Hg, respectively). All had severely depressed stroke volume index (22 versus 21 mL/m 2 ) with ≈45% in each group requiring mechanical support preprocedurally. The procedure was done 15 (IQR, 10-50) versus 24 (IQR, 10-134) days postmyocardial infarction, respectively. Both groups of patients underwent repair with technical success and without intraprocedural death. One patient in the hybrid group and 4 in the surgical group developed multiorgan failure. The hybrid group had a higher survival at discharge (86% versus 56%) and at 30 days (71% versus 56%), but similar at 1 year (57% versus 56%). During follow-up, 1 patient in each group required reintervention for residual VSD (hybrid: 9 months versus surgical: 5 days)., Conclusions: Early intervention with a hybrid transcatheter/surgical repair may be a viable alternative to traditional surgery for postinfarction apical VSD., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Leshnower is a member of scientific advisory board for Artivion Inc and is a consultant for Endospan Inc. Drs Brent Keeling, Guyton, Xie, Gleason, Byku, Devireddy, Greenbaum, and Babaliaros have institutional research contracts for clinical investigation of transcatheter aortic, mitral, and tricuspid devices from Edwards Lifesciences, Abbott Vascular, Medtronic, and Boston Scientific. Drs Greenbaum and Babaliaros have received institutional research support from Abbott Vascular, Ancora Heart, Edwards Lifesciences, Gore Medical, JenaValve, Medtronic, Polares Medical, Transmural Systems, and 4C Medical; have received consulting fees from Abbott Vascular, Edwards Lifesciences, and Medtronic; and have an equity interest in Transmural Systems. The other authors report no conflicts.

Acute coronary syndromes typically result from the formation of atherosclerotic lesions in a large epicardial vessel, which restrict blood flow either partially or completely. These lesions can be identified through angiography, an invasive imaging technique that enables visualization of the coronary arteries. However, a small percentage of patients, usually ranging from 5% to 10%, experience symptoms and/or signs of myocardial ischemia, either acute or chronic, without significant obstructive coronary lesions visible on angiography. This condition is particularly prevalent in young women and is characterized by two distinct forms: myocardial infarction with no obstructive coronary arteries (MINOCA) and myocardial ischemia with no obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA). MINOCA can be caused by a variety of heterogeneous mechanisms, including coronary vascular spasm, microvascular disease, spontaneous coronary dissection, and plaque rupture or erosion. Conversely, coronary vasospasm and microvascular dysfunction account for the majority of patients with INOCA. We here present three cases of MINOCA/INOCA that were evaluated using optical coherence tomography, coronary flow reserve, index of microcirculatory resistance, and acetylcholine provocative test. These diagnostic tests allowed us to identify a specific condition and adopt a targeted treatment for each patient.

Background: The solid-state cadmium-zinc-telluride (CZT) gamma camera for myocardial perfusion single-photon emission computed tomography (MPS) has theoretical advantages compared to the conventional gamma camera technique. This includes more sensitive detectors and better energy resolution. We aimed to explore the diagnostic performance of gated MPS with a CZT gamma camera compared to a conventional gamma camera for detection of myocardial infarct (MI) and assessment of left ventricular (LV) volumes and ejection fraction (LVEF), using cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) as the reference method., Methods: Seventy-three patients (26% female) with known or suspected chronic coronary syndrome were examined with gated MPS using both a CZT gamma camera and a conventional gamma camera as well as with CMR. Presence and extent of MI on MPS and late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) CMR was evaluated. For LV volumes, LVEF and LV mass, gated MPS images and cine CMR images were evaluated., Results: MI was found in 42 patients on CMR. The overall sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values for the CZT and the conventional gamma camera were the same (67%, 100%, 100% and 69%). For infarct size > 3% on CMR, the sensitivity was 82% for the CZT and 73% for the conventional gamma camera, respectively. LV volumes were significantly underestimated by MPS compared to CMR (P ≤ .002 for all measures). The underestimation was slightly less pronounced for the CZT compared to the conventional gamma camera (2-10 mL, P ≤ .03 for all measures). For LVEF, however, accuracy was high for both gamma cameras., Conclusion: Differences between a CZT and a conventional gamma camera for detection of MI and assessment of LV volumes and LVEF are small and do not appear to be clinically significant., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: In the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), there are no data regarding the benefits of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients., Methods and results: This study used data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry, a large, multicenter prospective cohort. We evaluated 1,759 patients with AMI and CKD, defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m 2 , and patients were classified into 2 groups: with and without IVUS. The primary outcome was target lesion failure (TLF) at 3 years. The hazard ratio (HR) of TLF according to eGFR was also analyzed. A total of 1,759 patients with AMI and CKD who underwent IVUS-guided PCI (19.2%) had a significantly lower risk of TLF at 3 years (8.9% vs. 15.3%; HR 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.38 to 0.81; P=0.002) than those who underwent angiography-guided PCI, regardless of their eGFR and the presence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The results were consistent after confounder adjustment and inversed probability weighting., Conclusions: In patients with CKD and AMI who underwent PCI with 2nd-generation DES implantation, the use of IVUS guidance was associated with a significant reduction in 3-year TLF and showed consistently favorable outcomes regardless of eGFR and ESRD.

Background: Mesenchymal stromal cell (MSC) transplantation can improve the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Transplanted MSCs exert a paracrine effect, which might be augmented if repeated doses are administered. This study aimed to compare the effects of single versus double transplantation of Wharton's jelly MSCs (WJ-MSCs) on LVEF post-AMI., Methods: We conducted a single-blind, randomized, multicenter trial. After 3-7 days of an AMI treated successfully by primary PCI, 70 patients younger than 65 with LVEF < 40% on baseline echocardiography were randomized to receive conventional care, a single intracoronary infusion of WJ-MSCs, or a repeated infusion 10 days later. The primary endpoint was the 6-month LVEF improvement as per cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging., Results: The mean baseline EF measured by CMR was similar (~ 40%) in all three groups. By the end of the trial, while all patients experienced a rise in EF, the most significant change was seen in the repeated intervention group. Compared to the control group (n = 25), single MSC transplantation (n = 20) improved the EF by 4.54 ± 2%, and repeated intervention (n = 20) did so by 7.45 ± 2% when measured by CMR imaging (P < 0.001); when evaluated by echocardiography, these values were 6.71 ± 2.4 and 10.71 ± 2.5%, respectively (P < 0.001)., Conclusions: Intracoronary transplantation of WJ-MSCs 3-7 days after AMI in selected patients significantly improves LVEF, with the infusion of a booster dose 10 days later augmenting this effect., Trial Registration: Trial registration: Iranian Registry of Clinical Trials, IRCT20201116049408N1. Retrospectively Registered 20 Nov. 2020, https://en.irct.ir/trial/52357., (© 2023. BioMed Central Ltd., part of Springer Nature.)

Despite significant improvement in prognosis, myocardial infarction (MI) remains a major cause of morbidity and mortality around the globe. MI is a life-threatening cardiovascular condition that requires prompt diagnosis and appropriate treatment. The primary objective of this research is to identify instances of anterior and inferior myocardial infarction by utilizing data obtained from Ultra-wideband radar technology in a hospital for patients of anterior and inferior MI. The collected data is preprocessed to extract spectral features. A novel feature engineering approach is designed to fuse temporal features and class prediction probability features derived from the spectral feature dataset. Several well-known machine learning models are implemented and fine-tuned to obtain optimal performance in the detection of anterior and inferior MI. The results demonstrate that integration of the fused feature set with machine learning models results in a notable improvement in both the accuracy and precision of MI detection. Notably, random forest (RF) and k-nearest neighbor showed superb performance with an accuracy of 98.8%. For demonstrating the capacity of models to generalize, K-fold cross-validation is carried out, wherein RF exhibits a mean accuracy of 99.1%. Furthermore, the examination of computational complexity indicates a low computational complexity, thereby indicating computational efficiency.

Coronary 18 F-sodium fluoride ( 18 F-fluoride) uptake is a marker of both atherosclerotic disease activity and disease progression. It is currently unknown whether there are rapid temporal changes in coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake and whether these are more marked in those with clinically unstable coronary artery disease. This study aimed to determine the natural history of coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake over 12 mo in patients with either advanced chronic coronary artery disease or a recent myocardial infarction. Methods: Patients with established multivessel coronary artery disease and either chronic disease or a recent acute myocardial infarction underwent coronary 18 F-fluoride PET and CT angiography, which was repeated at 3, 6, or 12 mo. Coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake was assessed in each vessel by measuring the coronary microcalcification activity (CMA). Coronary calcification was quantified by measuring calcium score, mass, and volume. Results: Fifty-nine patients had chronic coronary artery disease (median age, 68 y; 93% male), and 52 patients had a recent myocardial infarction (median age, 65 y; 83% male). Reflecting the greater burden of coronary artery disease, baseline CMA values were higher in those with chronic coronary artery disease. Coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake (CMA > 0) was associated with higher baseline calcium scores (294 Agatston units [AU] [interquartile range, 116-483 AU] vs. 72 AU [interquartile range, 8-222 AU]; P < 0.001) and more rapid progression of coronary calcification scores (39 AU [interquartile range, 10-82 AU] vs. 12 AU [interquartile range, 1-36 AU]; P < 0.001) than was the absence of uptake (CMA = 0). Coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake did not markedly alter over the course of 3, 6, or 12 mo in patients with either chronic coronary artery disease or a recent myocardial infarction. Conclusion: Coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake is associated with the severity and progression of coronary artery disease but does not undergo a rapid dynamic change in patients with chronic or unstable coronary artery disease. This finding suggests that coronary 18 F-fluoride uptake is a temporally stable marker of established and progressive disease., (© 2023 by the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging.)

The aim of the recent study was to collect data on the genotype characteristics of the Hungarian self-bred Pannon minipigs by adapting a standardized infarct model procedure. Closed chest AMI was induced by balloon occlusion for 90 min in the left anterior descendent coronary artery (LAD) in 24 adult intact female minipigs followed by reperfusion. To assess the left ventricular (LV) function, serial cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cMRI) was performed prior to the experimental procedure, on day 3 post-AMI (72 ± 12 h), and at 1 month follow-up (Day 30 ± 2 days). Compared to baseline cMRI scans the end-diastolic volume (EDV) was increased on days 3 and 30 On day 3 the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) decreased significantly but there was no statistical difference between the baseline and day 30 measurements. Cardiac output, stroke volume, and end-systolic volume significantly were increased compared to baseline on day 30 A high percentage (54%) of malignant arrhythmias occurred during the AMI procedure, with a 25% mortality rate. The compensatory capacity of the Pannon minipig heart is excellent therefore the use of different cardiac parameters and invasive measurements is advisable in chronic pharmacological experiments to complement cMRI data., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Elevated coronary artery calcium (CAC) scores in subjects without prior atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) have been shown to be associated with increased cardiovascular risk., Objectives: The authors sought to determine at what level individuals with elevated CAC scores who have not had an ASCVD event should be treated as aggressively for cardiovascular risk factors as patients who have already survived an ASCVD event., Methods: The authors performed a cohort study comparing event rates of patients with established ASVCD to event rates in persons with no history of ASCVD and known calcium scores to ascertain at what level elevated CAC scores equate to risk associated with existing ASCVD. In the multinational CONFIRM (Coronary CT Angiography Evaluation for Clinical Outcomes: An International Multicenter) registry, the authors compared ASCVD event rates in persons without a history of myocardial infarction (MI) or revascularization (as categorized on CAC scores) to event rates in those with established ASCVD. They identified 4,511 individuals without known coronary artery disease (CAC) who were compared to 438 individuals with established ASCVD. CAC was categorized as 0, 1 to 100, 101 to 300, and >300. Cumulative major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), MACE plus late revascularization, MI, and all-cause mortality incidence was assessed using the Kaplan-Meier method for persons with no ASCVD history by CAC level and persons with established ASCVD. Cox proportional hazards regression analysis was used to calculate HRs with 95% CIs, which were adjusted for traditional cardiovascular risk factors., Results: The mean age was 57.6 ± 12.4 years (56% male). In total, 442 of 4,949 (9%) patients experienced MACEs over a median follow-up of 4 years (IQR: 1.7-5.7 years). Incident MACEs increased with higher CAC scores, with the highest rates observed with CAC score >300 and in those with prior ASCVD. All-cause mortality, MACEs, MACE + late revascularization, and MI event rates were not statistically significantly different in those with CAC >300 compared with established ASCVD (all P > 0.05). Persons with a CAC score <300 had substantially lower event rates., Conclusions: Patients with CAC scores >300 are at an equivalent risk of MACE and its components as those treated for established ASCVD. This observation, that those with CAC >300 have event rates comparable to those with established ASCVD, supplies important background for further study related to secondary prevention treatment targets in subjects without prior ASCVD with elevated CAC. Understanding the CAC scores that are associated with ASCVD risk equivalent to stable secondary prevention populations may be important for guiding the intensity of preventive approaches more broadly., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Budoff has received grant support from the National Institute of Health and General Electric. Dr Al-Mallah has received support from the American Heart Association, BCBS Foundation of Michigan, and Astellas. Dr Cademartiri has received grant support from GE Healthcare; and has served on the Speakers Bureau of Bracco and as a consultant for Servier. Dr Chow holds the Saul and Edna Goldfarb Chair in Cardiac Imaging Research; and has received research support from TD Bank, AusculSciences, Siemens Healthineers, and Artrya. Dr Hausleiter has received a research grant from Siemens Medical Systems. Dr Kaufmann has received institutional research support from GE Healthcare; and has received grant support from Swiss National Science Foundation. Dr Berman has a consultant agreement with General Electric. Dr Min has served as an employee and retains equity from Cleerly, Inc; has served on the medical advisory board for Arineta; and has received grant support from the National Institutes of Health. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Electrocardiogram (ECG) signal is an important basis for the diagnosis of arrhythmia and myocardial infarction. In order to further improve the classification effect of arrhythmia and myocardial infarction, an ECG classification algorithm based on Convolutional vision Transformer (CvT) and multimodal image fusion was proposed. Through Gramian summation angular field (GASF), Gramian difference angular field (GADF) and recurrence plot (RP), the one-dimensional ECG signal was converted into three different modes of two-dimensional images, and fused into a multimodal fusion image containing more features. The CvT-13 model could take into account local and global information when processing the fused image, thus effectively improving the classification performance. On the MIT-BIH arrhythmia dataset and the PTB myocardial infarction dataset, the algorithm achieved a combined accuracy of 99.9% for the classification of five arrhythmias and 99.8% for the classification of myocardial infarction. The experiments show that the high-precision computer-assisted intelligent classification method is superior and can effectively improve the diagnostic efficiency of arrhythmia as well as myocardial infarction and other cardiac diseases.

This study sought to evaluate the prognostic implications of the presence of preprocedural unrecognized myocardial infarction (UMI) and periprocedural myocardial injury (PMI) evaluated by delayed gadolinium enhancement cardiac magnetic resonance (DE-CMR) in patients with chronic coronary syndrome (CCS) undergoing elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). We enrolled 250 CCS patients scheduled for elective PCI. UMI was defined as the presence of late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) detected by pre-PCI CMR in the region without medical history of revascularization and/or MI. Periprocedural new occurrence or increased volume of LGE in the target territory detected by post-PCI CMR (PPL) were used to assess PMI. In the final analysis of 235 patients, UMI and PPL were detected in 43 patients (18.3%) and 45 patients (19.1%), respectively. During follow-up for a median of 2.2 years, major adverse cardiac events (MACE) occurred in 31 (13.2%) patients. On multivariable analysis, UMI and PPL remained as significant predictors of MACE after adjusting confounding factors (HR 4.62, 95% CI 2.24-9.54, P < 0.001, HR 2.33, 95% CI 1.11-4.91, P = 0.026). In patients with CCS who underwent elective PCI, UMI and PPL were independent predictors of worse outcomes. UMI and PPL on DE-CMR might provide additional potential insight for the risk stratification of patients undergoing elective PCI., (© 2023. Springer Nature Limited.)

Background: Zalunfiban (RUC-4) is a novel, subcutaneously administered glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitor (GPI) designed for prehospital treatment to initiate reperfusion in the infarct-related artery (IRA) before primary percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Since GPIs have been reported to rapidly reperfuse IRAs, we assessed whether there was a dose-dependent relationship between zalunfiban treatment and angiographic reperfusion indices and thrombus grade of the IRA at initial angiogram in patients with STEMI., Methods: This was a post hoc analysis from the open-label Phase IIa study that investigated the pharmacodynamics, pharmacokinetics, and tolerability of three doses of zalunfiban - 0.075, 0.090 and 0.110 mg/kg - in STEMI patients. This analysis explored dose-dependent associations between zalunfiban and three angiographic indices of the IRA, namely coronary and myocardial blood flow and thrombus burden. Zalunfiban was administered in the cardiac catheterization laboratory prior to vascular access, ∼10 to 15 minutes before the initial angiogram. All angiographic data were analyzed by a blinded, independent, core laboratory., Results: Twentyfour out of 27 STEMI patients were evaluable for angiographic analysis (0.075 mg/kg [n=7], 0.090 mg/kg [n=9], and 0.110 mg/kg [n=8]). TIMI flow grade 2 or 3 was seen in 1/7 patients receiving zalunfiban at 0.075 mg/kg, in 6/9 patients receiving 0.090 mg/kg, and in 7/8 patients receiving 0.110 mg/kg (p trend  = 0.004). A similar trend was observed based on TIMI flow grade 3. Myocardial perfusion was also related to zalunfiban dose (p trend  = 0.005) as reflected by more frequent TIMI myocardial perfusion grade 3. Consistent with the dose-dependent trends in greater coronary and myocardial perfusion, TIMI thrombus ≥4 grade was inversely related to zalunfiban dose (p trend  = 0.02)., Conclusion: This post hoc analysis found that higher doses of zalunfiban administered in the cardiac catheterization lab prior to vascular access were associated with greater coronary and myocardial perfusion, and lower thrombus burden at initial angiogram in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest Sem A.O.F. Rikken has nothing to declare. Willem L. Bor has nothing to declare. Abi Selvarajah has nothing to declare. Kai L. Zheng has nothing to declare. Amy Hack has nothing to declare. C. Michael Gibson serves as a scientific advisory to CeleCor Therapeutics, Inc. Christopher B. Granger serves as a scientific advisory to CeleCor Therapeutics, Inc. Barry S. Coller is a founder of CeleCor Therapeutics, Inc., which is developing zalunfiban for human use, and is an equity owner in CeleCor and serves as a paid scientific advisor to CeleCor. Ohad Bentur has nothing to declare. Arnoud W.J. van ’t Hof serves as a scientific advisor to CeleCor Therapeutics, Inc. Jurriën M. ten Berg serves as a scientific advisor to CeleCor Therapeutics, Inc., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Coronary microvascular obstruction also known as no-reflow phenomenon is a major issue during myocardial infarction that bears important prognostic implications. Alterations of the microvascular network remains however challenging to assess as there is no imaging modality in the clinics that can image directly the coronary microvascular vessels. Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (ULM) imaging was recently introduced to map microvascular flows at high spatial resolution (∼10 μm). In this study, we developed an approach to image alterations of the microvascular coronary flow in ex vivo perfused swine hearts., Methods: A porcine model of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion was used to obtain microvascular coronary alterations and no-reflow. Four female hearts with myocardial infarction in addition to 6 controls were explanted and placed immediately in a dedicated preservation and perfusion box manufactured for ultrasound imaging. Microbubbles (MB) were injected into the vasculature to perform Ultrasound Localization Microscopy (ULM) imaging and a linear ultrasound probe mounted on a motorized device was used to scan the heart on multiple slices. The coronary microvascular anatomy and flow velocity was reconstructed using dedicated ULM algorithms and analyzed quantitatively., Findings: We were able to image the coronary microcirculation of ex vivo swine hearts at a resolution of tens of microns and measure flow velocities ranging from 10 mm/s in arterioles up to more than 200 mm/s in epicardial arteries. Under different aortic perfusion pressures, we measured in large arteries of a subset of control hearts an increase of flow velocity from 31 ± 11 mm/s at 87 mmHg to 47 ± 17 mm/s at 132 mmHg (N = 3 hearts, P < 0.05). This increase was compared with a control measurement with a flowmeter in the aorta. We also compared 6 control hearts to 4 hearts in which no-reflow was induced by the occlusion and reperfusion of a coronary artery. Using average MB velocity and average density of MB per unit of surface as two ULM quantitative markers of perfusion, we were able to detect areas of coronary no-reflow in good agreement with a control anatomical pathology analysis of the cardiac tissue. In the no-reflow zone, we measured an average perfusion of 204 ± 305 MB/mm 2 compared to 3182 ± 1302 MB/mm 2 in the surrounding re-perfused area., Interpretation: We demonstrated this approach can directly image and quantify coronary microvascular obstruction and no-reflow on large mammal perfused hearts. This is a first step for noninvasive, quantitative and affordable assessment of the coronary microcirculation function and particularly coronary microvascular anatomy in the infarcted heart. This approach has the potential to be extended to other clinical situations characterized by microvascular dysfunction., Funding: This study was supported by the French National Research Agency (ANR) under ANR-21-CE19-0002 grant agreement., Competing Interests: Declaration of interests All authors declare no competing interests., (Copyright © 2023 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Risk stratification of patients with ischemic heart disease (IHD) still depends mainly on the left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). LV inward displacement (InD) is a novel parameter of LV systolic function, derived from feature tracking cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging. We aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of InD in patients with IHD and prior myocardial infarction. A total of 111 patients (mean age 57 ± 10, 86% male) with a history of myocardial infarction who underwent CMR were included. LV InD was quantified by measuring the displacement of endocardially tracked points towards the centreline of the LV during systole with feature tracking CMR. The endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality, heart failure hospitalization and arrhythmic events. During a median follow-up of 142 (IQR 107-159) months, 31 (27.9%) combined events occurred. Kaplan-Meier analysis demonstrated that patients with LV InD below the study population median value (23.0%) had a significantly lower event-free survival (P < 0.001). LV InD remained independently associated with outcomes (HR 0.90, 95% CI 0.84-0.98, P = 0.010) on multivariate Cox regression analysis. InD also provided incremental prognostic value to LVEF, LV global radial strain and CMR scar burden. LV InD, measured with feature tracking CMR, was independently associated with outcomes in patients with IHD and prior myocardial infarction. LV InD also provided incremental prognostic value, in addition to LVEF and LV global radial strain. LV InD holds promise as a pragmatic imaging biomarker for post-infarct risk stratification., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Echocardiographic evaluation of left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) provides important information regarding both myocardial function and prognosis. This parameter presents various limitations and does not allow early detection of myocardial dysfunction. LVEF may be related to hemodynamic load, geometric assumptions, to image quality, and it does not reflect myocardial contractility. It has been hypothesized that speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) may allow overcoming such limits. STE through the measurement of strain and strain rate, which detect myocardial deformation, allows earlier identification of myocardial dysfunction in different settings both in presence of systolic and diastolic dysfunction, helps to predict left ventricular remodeling after acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and helps to decide the timing of surgery in asymptomatic severe valvular heart disease which is still a problematic issue. Increasingly interest regards the role of STE for the assessment of cardiomyopathies, myocarditis, and pulmonary hypertension. STE may be applied to the evaluation of systolic and diastolic dysfunction. STE is useful in all conditions in which cardiac dysfunction is not still overt, but a subclinical involvement is undoubtedly present such as in presence of cardiovascular risk factors and in cardio-oncology at earlier stages. It has been confirmed its role in predicting left ventricular remodeling after AMI which represents an important prognostic datum and in deciding the timing of surgery in asymptomatic valvular diseases. STE is an important tool to detect myocardial impairment even at earlier stages. 3DSTE and layer-specific strain represent promising fields of clinical application of STE.

To reduce the mortality of myocardial infarction (MI), accurate detection of the infarct and appropriate prevention against ischemia/reperfusion (I/R) induced cardiac dysfunction are highly desired. Considering that vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) receptors are overexpressed in the infarcted heart and VEGF mimetic peptide QK binds specifically to VEGF receptors and activates vascularization, the PEG-QK-modified, gadolinium-doped carbon dots (GCD-PEG-QK) were formulated. This research aims to investigate the magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) capability of GCD-PEG-QK on myocardial infarct and their therapeutic effect on I/R-induced myocardial injury. These multifunctional nanoparticles exhibited good colloidal stability, excellent fluorescent and magnetic property, and satisfactory biocompatibility. Intravenous injection of GCD-PEG-QK nanoparticles post myocardial I/R displayed accurate MRI of the infarct, enhanced efficacy of QK peptide on pro-angiogenesis, and amelioration of cardiac fibrosis, remodeling and dysfunction, probably via the improvement on QK's in vivo stability and MI-targeting. Collectively, the data suggested that this theranostic nanomedicine can realize precise MRI and effective therapy for acute MI in a non-invasive manner., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Sudden cardiac death (SCD) after myocardial infarction (MI) is mostly caused by ventricular arrhythmias. As an arrhythmogenic substrate, infarct border zone (BZ) results in adverse electrophysiological properties., Purpose: To explore myocardial scar entropy (BZ, infarct core [IC], BZ + IC, expressed as IBZ) and to investigate their prognostic value combined with left ventricular (LV) strain parameters (global radial strain [GRS], global circumferential strain [GCS], global longitudinal strain [GLS]) in patients after MI., Study Type: Prospective., Population: One hundred fifty-seven patients with previous MI, 26 in primary endpoint events group, 30 in secondary endpoint events group, and 43 in total endpoint events (primary + secondary)., Field Strength/sequence: 3.0 T/cine, late gadolinium enhancement (LGE)., Assessment: Three-dimensional feature tracking analysis for three directions (radial, circumferential, and longitudinal), entropy and extent of infarct-related areas (BZ, IC, and IBZ), LV functional parameters., Statistical Tests: Student t-test, Mann-Whitney U, Spearman or Pearson rank correlation analysis, receiver operating characteristic curve, Kaplan-Meier event-free survival curve, and Cox proportional hazards regression were used. Results were considered statistically significant at P < 0.05., Results: LGE extent and entropy of all infarct-related areas (BZ, IC, and IBZ) were significantly higher and GLS were lower in patients with endpoint events than those without. BZ and IBC entropy were further associated with LV strain in after-MI patients. In the univariable and multivariable Cox analysis, BZ entropy manifested independent association with primary endpoint events (hazard ratio: 3.859; 95% confidence interval: 2.136-6.974). Primary and secondary endpoint events prognostic value was improved by the addition of BZ entropy and GLS to the LVEF model (Delong test, Z = 2.729 for primary endpoint events; Z = 3.230 for secondary endpoint events)., Data Conclusion: Entropy of myocardial fibrosis was associated with LV strain. Assessment of BZ entropy and GLS improved prognostic value for endpoint events of LVEF., Level of Evidence: 1 TECHNICAL EFFICACY: Stage 5., (© 2022 International Society for Magnetic Resonance in Medicine.)

Data visualization is critical to unraveling hidden information from complex and high-dimensional data. Interpretable visualization methods are critical, especially in the biology and medical fields, however, there are limited effective visualization methods for large genetic data. Current visualization methods are limited to lower-dimensional data and their performance suffers if there is missing data. In this study, we propose a literature-based visualization method to reduce high-dimensional data without compromising the dynamics of the single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) and textual interpretability. Our method is innovative because it is shown to (1) preserves both global and local structures of SNP while reducing the dimension of the data using literature text representations, and (2) enables interpretable visualizations using textual information. For performance evaluations, we examined the proposed approach to classify various classification categories including race, myocardial infarction event age groups, and sex using several machine learning models on the literature-derived SNP data. We used visualization approaches to examine clustering of data as well as quantitative performance metrics for the classification of the risk factors examined above. Our method outperformed all popular dimensionality reduction and visualization methods for both classification and visualization, and it is robust against missing and higher-dimensional data. Moreover, we found it feasible to incorporate both genetic and other risk information obtained from literature with our method., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Myocardial lipomatous metaplasia (LM) has been increasingly reported in patients with prior myocardial infarction. Cardiac magnetic resonance and cardiac contrast-enhanced computed tomography have been used to noninvasively detect and quantify myocardial LM in postinfarct patients, and may provide useful information for understanding cardiac mechanics, arrhythmia susceptibility, and prognosis. This review aims to summarize the advantages and disadvantages, clinical applications, and imaging features of different cardiac magnetic resonance sequences and cardiac contrast-enhanced computed tomography for LM detection and quantification. We also briefly summarize LM prevalence in different cohorts of postinfarct patients and review the clinical utility of cardiac imaging in exploring myocardial LM as an arrhythmogenic substrate in patients with prior myocardial infarction., Competing Interests: Disclosures Dr Nazarian is a consultant for CardioSolv, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Dyne Pharmaceuticals, and Circle CVI; and principal investigator for research funding from Biosense Webster, ImriCor, Siemens, ADAS software, and the US National Institute of Health (NIH). The University of Pennsylvania Conflict of Interest Committee manages all commercial arrangements. The other authors report no conflicts.

Background: Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is the prototypical cause of cardiogenic shock (CS), yet CS due to heart failure (HF-CS) is increasingly common. Little is known regarding cardiac function in AMI-CS versus HF-CS. We compared transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) findings in AMI-CS versus HF-CS and identified predictors of mortality in AMI-CS patients., Methods: We performed a single-center, retrospective analysis of CS admissions between 2007 and 2018. We compared baseline demographic and TTE parameters in patients with AMI-CS and HF-CS as well as ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)-CS versus non-ST elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI)-CS., Results: We included 893 unique patients, including 581 (65%) with AMI-CS. AMI-CS patients were older but had lower illness severity and non-cardiac comorbidity burden. AMI-CS patients had better left ventricular function (LVEF 35% versus 28%), lower biventricular filling pressures, and higher stroke volume versus those with HF-CS. Among TTE measurements, myocardial contraction fraction had the highest discrimination for mortality in AMI-CS (AUC: 0.64); AUC values for LVEF and SOFA score were 0.61 and 0.65, respectively. Differences in TTE findings between STEMI-CS versus NSTEMI-CS were modest. There were no significant differences in unadjusted or adjusted in-hospital mortality between AMI-CS and HF-CS (31% versus 35%) or STEMI-CS and NSTEMI-CS (31% versus 30%) groups (all p > 0.05)., Conclusions: Patients with HF-CS and AMI-CS differ in terms of clinical and TTE variables yet have similar prognoses. TTE is useful in determining prognosis of patients admitted with AMI-CS and may allow for early triage and directed therapy., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest Narayana Sarma V. Singam is a co-founder and owner of High Enroll, LLC. None of the authors report a direct conflict of interest for this work., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Although consistent clinical data support intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) use during complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), long-term follow-up outcomes on differential effects of IVUS according to operator experience are scarce., Objectives: The current study aimed to evaluate the influence of operator experience on lesion complexity, long-term clinical outcomes, and the interactions of IVUS guidance in patients undergoing complex PCI., Methods: A total of 6,005 patients who underwent PCI with drug-eluting stents for complex lesions were recruited from the institutional registry of Samsung Medical Center. The study population was stratified by the use of IVUS and operator experience (less experienced operator [lifetime independent experience with PCI ≤5 years] vs experienced operator). The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiac death or target vessel myocardial infarction (TVMI) up to 10 years., Results: Compared with less experienced operators, experienced operators used IVUS more frequently (29.6% [1,128/3,805] vs 24.8% [546/2,200]; P < 0.001) and achieved a lower risk of cardiac death or TVMI (experienced vs less experienced, adjusted HR: 0.779; 95% CI: 0.663-0.915; P = 0.002). IVUS use was associated with a significantly lower risk of cardiac death or TVMI than angiography alone for less experienced operators (23.5% vs 11.4%; adjusted HR: 0.477; 95% CI: 0.337-0.673; P < 0.001) as well as experienced operators (18.0% vs 13.5%; adjusted HR: 0.747; 95% CI: 0.559-0.998; P = 0.048). There were significant interactions for the risk of cardiac death or TVMI between IVUS use and operator experience (P = 0.037)., Conclusions: PCI by experienced operators and the use of IVUS during complex PCI were independently associated with lower long-term risks of cardiac death or TVMI. The beneficial effects of IVUS were more prominent for less experienced operators. (Prospective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Registry [SMC-PCI]; NCT05624905)., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures The authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Multimerin-2 is an adhesion substrate between pericytes and basal membranes during angiogenesis. The present study aimed to assess the relationship between serum Multimerin-2 and coronary collateral flow grade., Patients and Methods: Between April 2022 and August 2022, 88 patients with subacute ST-elevation myocardial infarction were included in this study. The main inclusion criteria were patients who present 12-48 hours after symptom onset and aged between 18 and 90 years. The patients were divided into two groups according to the Rentrop classification: poor collateral group (Rentrop grade 0-1) and good collateral group (Rentrop grade 2-3). Biochemical and hematological parameters were measured before coronary angiography., Results: Serum Multimerin-2 levels were found to be significantly different between the two groups, and levels were higher in the Rentrop 2-3 group than in the Rentrop 0-1 group (3,527.9 ± 1,194.2 pg/ml and 946.7 ± 249.1 pg/ml; p < 0.00). Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis indicated that the area under the curve was 0.918 (p = 0.001), and the best cut-off value of 849 pg/ml had a sensitivity of 90.1% and a specificity of 84.1% for predicting Rentrop grade 2-3 coronary flow. The number of patients with low left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) by echocardiography at 30 days was significantly higher in patients with poor collateralization., Conclusions: Multimerin-2 levels were found to be higher in patients with Rentrop grade 2-3 coronary flow than Rentrop grade 0-1 coronary flow after myocardial infarction. We detected a potential relationship between MMR-2 and good coronary collateral formation.

Myocardial infarction (MI) is one of the most prevalent cardiovascular diseases with associated clinical decision-making typically based on single-valued imaging biomarkers. However, such metrics only approximate the complex 3D structure and physiology of the heart and hence hinder a better understanding and prediction of MI outcomes. In this work, we investigate the utility of complete 3D cardiac shapes in the form of point clouds for an improved detection of MI events. To this end, we propose a fully automatic multi-step pipeline consisting of a 3D cardiac surface reconstruction step followed by a point cloud classification network. Our method utilizes recent advances in geometric deep learning on point clouds to enable direct and efficient multi-scale learning on high-resolution surface models of the cardiac anatomy. We evaluate our approach on 1068 UK Biobank subjects for the tasks of prevalent MI detection and incident MI prediction and find improvements of ∼13% and ∼5% respectively over clinical benchmarks. Furthermore, we analyze the role of each ventricle and cardiac phase for 3D shape-based MI detection and conduct a visual analysis of the morphological and physiological patterns typically associated with MI outcomes.Clinical relevance- The presented approach enables the fast and fully automatic pathology-specific analysis of full 3D cardiac shapes. It can thus be employed as a real-time diagnostic tool in clinical practice to discover and visualize more intricate biomarkers than currently used single-valued metrics and improve predictive accuracy of myocardial infarction.

Papillary muscle rupture (PMR) is a rare complication of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) associated with high mortality and morbidity. Surgery is the gold-standard treatment for these patients, but it is burdened by a high perioperative risk due to hemodynamic instability. Mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (M-TEER) was reported to be safe and effective in unstable patients with significant mitral regurgitation. However, data in patients with post-AMI PMR are limited to a few case reports. In this review, we summarized all data available regarding percutaneous treatment of post-AMI PMR. These results show that M-TEER is safe and effective in this setting with low in-hospital mortality and complications and high rate of significant mitral regurgitation reduction., (© 2023 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) treatment with primary percutaneous coronary intervention has dramatically impacted prognosis. However, despite satisfactory angiographic result, occurrence or persistence of coronary microvascular dysfunction after revascularization still affects long-term outcomes. The diagnostic and therapeutic value of understanding the status of coronary microcirculation is gaining attention in the cardiology community. However, current methods to assess microvascular function (namely, cardiac magnetic resonance and invasive wire-based coronary physiology) remain, at least in part, limited by technical and logistic aspects. On the other hand, angiography-based indices of microcirculatory resistance are emerging as valid and user-friendly tools with potential impact on prognostic stratification of patients with STEMI. This review provides an overview about conventional and novel methods to assess coronary microvascular dysfunction in patients with STEMI. The authors also provide a proposed procedural algorithm to facilitate optimal use of wire-based and angiography-based indices in the acute setting of STEMI., Competing Interests: Funding Support and Author Disclosures Dr Scarsini has received research grants from Abbott Vascular and Philips; and speaker fees from Abbott and Miracor. Prof Banning has received an institutional research grant from Boston Scientific. Prof Ribichini has received research grants from Abbott Vascular and Philips. Dr De Maria has received research grants from Miracor, Medtronic, Terumo, Abbott, Philips; and consultant fees from Miracor. All other authors have reported that they have no relationships relevant to the contents of this paper to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 American College of Cardiology Foundation. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) is typically caused by thrombotic occlusion of a coronary artery with subsequent hypoperfusion and myocardial necrosis. In approximately half of patients with STEMI, despite successful restoration of epicardial coronary patency, downstream myocardium perfusion remains impeded. Coronary microvascular injury is one of the key mechanisms behind suboptimal myocardial perfusion and it is primarily, yet not exclusively, related to distal embolization of atherothrombotic material following recanalization of the culprit artery. Routine manual thrombus-aspiration has failed to show clinical efficacy in this scenario. This could be related with limitations in technology adopted as well as patients' selection. To this end, we set out to explore the efficacy and safety of stent retriever-assisted thrombectomy based on clot-removal device routinely used in stroke intervention., Study Design and Objectives: The stent RETRIEVEr thrombectomy for thrombus burden reduction in patients with Acute Myocardial Infarction (RETRIEVE-AMI) study has been designed to establish whether stent retriever-based thrombectomy is safe and more efficacious in thrombus modification than the current standard of care: manual thrombus aspiration or stenting. The RETRIEVE-AMI trial will enrol 81 participants admitted for primary PCI for inferior STEMI. Participants will be 1:1:1 randomised to receive either standalone PCI, thrombus aspiration and PCI, or retriever-based thrombectomy and PCI. Change in thrombus burden will be assessed via optical coherence tomography imaging. A telephone follow-up at 6 months will be arranged., Conclusions: It is anticipated by the investigators that stent retriever thrombectomy will more effectively reduce the thrombotic burden compared to current standard of care whilst being clinically safe., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest Rafail A Kotronias reports grants from Medtronic and Terumo Inc. in relation to the submitted work during the conduct of the study. Prof. Banning reports grants from Boston Scientific, personal fees from Boston Scientific, personal fees from Abbott, personal fees from Medtronic, personal fees from Phillips, outside the submitted work. Dr. De Maria reports grants from Medtronic, grants from Terumo, during the conduct of the study in relation to the submitted work. Dr. De Maria reports grants, personal fees and speaker fees from Miracor Medical SA, speaker fees from Abbott, grants from Opsens, grants from Hexacath, grants from Medis, outside the submitted work., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Assessments of coronary disease activity with 18 F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography and radiomics-based precision coronary plaque phenotyping derived from coronary computed tomography angiography may enhance risk stratification in patients with coronary artery disease. We sought to investigate whether the prognostic information provided by these 2 approaches is complementary in the prediction of myocardial infarction., Methods: Patients with known coronary artery disease underwent coronary 18 F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography and coronary computed tomography angiography on a hybrid positron emission tomography/computed tomography scanner. Coronary 18 F-NaF uptake was determined by the coronary microcalcification activity. We performed quantitative plaque analysis of coronary computed tomography angiography datasets and extracted 1103 radiomic features for each plaque. Using weighted correlation network analysis, we derived latent morphological features of coronary lesions which were aggregated to patient-level radiomics nomograms to predict myocardial infarction., Results: Among 260 patients with established coronary artery disease (age, 65±9 years; 83% men), 179 (69%) participants showed increased coronary 18 F-NaF activity (coronary microcalcification activity>0). Over 53 (40-59) months of follow-up, 18 patients had a myocardial infarction. Using weighted correlation network analysis, we derived 15 distinct eigen radiomic features representing latent morphological coronary plaque patterns in an unsupervised fashion. Following adjustments for calcified, noncalcified, and low-density noncalcified plaque volumes and 18 F-NaF coronary microcalcification activity, 4 radiomic features remained independent predictors of myocardial infarction (hazard ratio, 1.46 [95% CI, 1.03-2.08]; P =0.03; hazard ratio, 1.62 [95% CI, 1.04-2.54]; P =0.02; hazard ratio, 1.49 [95% CI, 1.07-2.06]; P =0.01; and hazard ratio, 1.50 (95% CI, 1.05-2.13); P =0.02)., Conclusions: In patients with established coronary artery disease, latent coronary plaque morphological features, quantitative plaque volumes, and disease activity on 18 F-sodium fluoride positron emission tomography are additive predictors of myocardial infarction., Competing Interests: Disclosures None.

Aim      To study the interrelation of changes in coronary microcirculation by data of dynamic single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) and myocardial injury by data of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI).Material and methods  The study included patients admitted to the emergency cardiology department with new-onset AMI. Contrast-enhanced cardiac MRI was performed for all patients on day 2-7 of admission. Dynamic SPECT of the myocardium with evaluation of semiquantitative and quantitative parameters of perfusion was performed on day 7-10.Results All patients were divided into two groups based on the type of MR contrast agent accumulation: 1) patients with the ischemic type of contrast enhancement (n=34; 62 %); 2) patients with the non-ischemic type of contrast enhancement (n=21; 38 %). According to data of myocardial perfusion scintigraphy (MPS), the group of ischemic MR pattern had larger perfusion defects at rest and during a stress test. Moreover, this group was characterized by lower global stress-induced blood flow and absolute and relative myocardial flow reserve (MFR). When the study group was divided into patients with transmural (n=32; 58 %) and non-transmural (n=23; 42 %) accumulation of the MR-contrast agent, lower values of global stress-induced blood flow and of absolute and relative MFR were observed in the group of transmural MR-enhancement pattern. A moderate inverse correlation was found between the stress-induced myocardial blood flow and the volume of myocardial edema (r= -0.47), infarct area (r= -0.48) and microvascular obstruction area (r= -0.38).Conclusion      The variables of dynamic SPECT characterizing microcirculatory disorders that are independent on or due to injuries of the epicardial coronary vasculature reflect the severity and depth of structural changes of the myocardium in AMI. In this process, quantitative variables of myocardial perfusion are interrelated with the myocardial injury more closely than semiquantitative MPS indexes. The findings of the present study can also contribute to the heterogenicity of a patient group with acute coronary syndrome and AMI. Further study is required for understanding the prognostic significance of dynamic SPECT parameters.

Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None declared.

Aims: Peri-procedural myocardial infarction (PMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has been shown to be associated with worse clinical outcomes. We aimed to investigate the value of coronary plaque characteristics and physiologic disease patterns (focal vs. diffuse) assessed by coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) in predicting PMI and adverse events., Methods and Results: Three hundred fifty-nine patients with normal pre-PCI high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) underwent CTA before PCI were analysed. The high-risk plaque characteristics (HRPC) were assessed on CTA. The physiologic disease pattern was characterized using CTA fractional flow reserve-derived pullback pressure gradients (FFRCT PPG). PMI was defined as an increase in hs-cTnT to >5 times the upper limit of normal after PCI. The major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) were a composite of cardiac death, spontaneous myocardial infarction, and target vessel revascularization. The presence of ≥3 HRPC in the target lesions [odds ratio (OR) 2.21, 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.29-3.80, P = 0.004] and low FFRCT PPG (OR 1.23, 95% CI 1.02-1.52, P = 0.028) were independent predictors of PMI. In a four-group classification according to HRPC and FFRCT PPG, patients with ≥3 HRPC and low FFRCT PPG had the highest risk of MACE (19.3%; overall P = 0.001). Moreover, the presence of ≥3 HRPC and low FFRCT PPG was an independent predictor of MACE and showed incremental prognostic value compared with a model with clinical risk factors alone [C index = 0.78 vs. 0.60, P = 0.005, net reclassification index = 0.21 (95% CI: 0.04-0.48), P = 0.020]., Conclusions: Coronary CTA can evaluate plaque characteristics and physiologic disease patterns simultaneously, which plays an important role for risk stratification before PCI., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest: None declared., (© The Author(s) 2023. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Society of Cardiology. All rights reserved. For permissions, please e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.)

BACKGROUND Kawasaki disease (KD), a systemic vasculitis, affects children aged <5 years and is the leading acquired cardiovascular disease in developed countries. Although intravenous immunoglobulin is an effective treatment for KD and decreases the rate of cardiovascular complications, some patients still develop coronary sequelae, including coronary aneurysms and myocardial infarction. CASE REPORT A 9-year-old boy was diagnosed with KD at the age of 6 years. For coronary sequelae of a giant coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) 8.8 mm in diameter, he was prescribed aspirin and warfarin. At 9 years old, he visited the Emergency Department because of acute chest pain. Electrocardiography revealed an incomplete right bundle branch block and ST-T change over right and inferior leads. Also, troponin I was elevated. Coronary angiography found acute thrombotic occlusion of the right CAA. We performed aspiration thrombectomy with intravenous tirofiban. Coronary angiography and optical coherence tomography (OCT) images later found white thrombi, calcification, destruction of media layer, irregular intimal thickening, and uneven intima edge. We prescribed antiplatelet therapy and warfarin, and he was doing well at a 3-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS OCT is a promising modality that can impact the clinical care in patients with coronary artery disease. This report presents treatment management and OCT images of KD complicated with a giant CAA and acute myocardial infarction. We used aspiration thrombectomy in combination with medical treatments as the initial intervention strategy. Afterward, the OCT images showed vascular wall abnormalities, which were helpful for defining the future risk and decision making of further coronary interventions and medical treatments.

Background: There is a paucity of information about the clinical features and angiographic findings in young patients with acute myocardial infarction (MI), especially in the Arab Peninsula countries., Objective: The aim of this study was to assess the proposed risk factors, clinical presentation, and angiographic findings of acute myocardial infarction in young adults., Methods: This prospective study included young (range, 18 to 45 years) patients who presented with acute MI based on clinical evaluation, laboratory investigation, and electrocardiogram, and they underwent a coronary angiography procedure., Key Findings: Data of 109 patients with a diagnosis of acute MI were collected. Patients' mean age was 39.98 ± 7.52 years (range, 31 to 45 years), and 92.7% (101) were male. Smoking was the highest risk factor in 67% of patients, obesity and overweight in 66%, sedentary lifestyle in 64%, dyslipidaemia in 33%, and hypertension in 28%. Smoking was the most common risk factor for acute MI in males (p = 0.009), whereas sedentary lifestyle was the most common risk factor in females (p = 0.028). Chest pain typical of acute MI was the most common presenting symptom in 96% of patients (p < 0.001). On admission, 96% of patients were conscious, and 95% were oriented. On angiography, the left anterior descending artery (LAD) was affected in 57%, the right coronary artery (RCA) was affected in 42%, and the left circumflex artery (LCX) was affected in 32% of patients. The LAD was severely affected in 44%, the RCA was severely affected in 25.7%, and the LCX was severely affected in 19.26% of patients (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: Smoking, obesity, sedentary lifestyle, dyslipidaemia, and hypertension were the most common risk factors for acute MI. Smoking was the most common risk factor in males and sedentary lifestyle in females. The LAD was the most commonly affected coronary artery, followed by the RCA and LCX arteries, with the same order for severity of stenosis., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Background: In cases of evolving myocardial injury not definitively attributed to coronary ischaemia precipitated by plaque rupture, referral for invasive coronary angiography (ICA) may be influenced by observed troponin profiles. We sought to explore association between early ICA and elevated high-sensitivity troponin T (hs-cTnT) concentrations with and without dynamic changes, to examine if there may be a hs-cTnT threshold associated with benefit from an initial ICA strategy., Methods: Using published studies (hs-cTnT study n = 1937, RAPID-TnT study n = 3270) and the Fourth Universal Definition of Myocardial Infarction (MI), index presentations of patients with hs-cTnT concentrations 5-14ng/L were classified as 'non-elevated' (NE). Hs-cTnT greater than upper reference limit (14ng/L) were classified as 'elevated hs-cTnT with dynamic change' (encompassing acute myocardial injury, Type 1 MI, and Type 2 MI), or 'non-dynamic hs-cTnT elevation' (chronic myocardial injury). Patients with hs-cTnT <5ng/L and/or eGFR<15mmol/L/1.73m2 were excluded. ICA was performed within 30 days of admission. Primary outcome was defined as composite endpoint of death, MI, or unstable angina at 12 months., Results: Altogether, 3620 patients comprising 837 (23.1%) with non-dynamic hs-cTnT elevations and 332 (9.2%) with dynamic hs-cTnT elevations were included. Primary outcome was significantly higher with dynamic and non-dynamic hs-cTnT elevations (Dynamic: HR: 4.13 95%CI:2.92-5.82; p<0.001 Non-dynamic: HR: 2.39 95% confidence interval [CI]:1.74-3.28, p<0.001). Hs-cTnT thresholds where benefit from initial ICA strategy appeared to emerge was observed at 110ng/L and 50ng/L in dynamic and non-dynamic elevations, respectively., Conclusion: Early ICA appears to portend benefit in hs-cTnT elevations with and without dynamic changes, and at lower hs-cTnT threshold in non-dynamic hs-cTnT elevation. Differences compel further investigation., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2023 Eng-Frost et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Background: The majority of patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome presenting to the emergency department will be discharged once myocardial infarction has been ruled out, although a proportion will have unrecognised coronary artery disease. In this setting, high-sensitivity cardiac troponin identifies those at increased risk of future cardiac events. In patients with intermediate cardiac troponin concentrations in whom myocardial infarction has been ruled out, this trial aims to investigate whether outpatient computed tomography coronary angiography (CTCA) reduces subsequent myocardial infarction or cardiac death., Methods: TARGET-CTCA is a multicentre prospective randomised open label with blinded endpoint parallel group event driven trial. After myocardial infarction and clear alternative diagnoses have been ruled out, participants with intermediate cardiac troponin concentrations (5 ng/L to 99th centile upper reference limit) will be randomised 1:1 to outpatient CTCA plus standard of care or standard of care alone. The primary endpoint is myocardial infarction or cardiac death. Secondary endpoints include clinical, patient-centred, process and cost-effectiveness. Recruitment of 2270 patients will give 90% power with a two-sided P value of 0.05 to detect a 40% relative risk reduction in the primary endpoint. Follow-up will continue until 97 primary outcome events have been accrued in the standard care arm with an estimated median follow-up of 36 months., Discussion: This randomised controlled trial will determine whether high-sensitivity cardiac troponin-guided CTCA can improve outcomes and reduce subsequent major adverse cardiac events in patients presenting to the emergency department who do not have myocardial infarction., Trial Registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03952351. Registered on May 16, 2019., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

Objectives: To evaluate myocardial viability in patients with myocardial ischemia reperfusion injury (MIRI) via dual-energy computed tomography myocardial blood pool imaging (DECT MBPI)., Methods: Between September 2017 and January 2019, we prospectively recruited 59 patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) who developed MIRI after revascularization during invasive coronary angiography (ICA). Then, they received DECT MBPI, SPECT, and PET sequentially within 1 week after the onset of MIRI. A total of 1003 myocardial segments of 59 patients were recruited for this study. The iodine reduction areas and delayed enhancement areas were calculated by cardiac iodine map with SPECT rest myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) + PET myocardial metabolism imaging (MMI) as reference criteria. The paired sample t-test was used to measure the difference of the myocardial iodine value. Cohen's Kappa analysis was used to test the consistency among different observers. ROC analysis was used to calculate the myocardial viability of DECT MBPI., Results: ROC showed the AUCs of DECT MBPI iodine value to identify a normal myocardium, an ischemic myocardium, and an infarcted myocardium were 0.957, 0.900, and 0.906 (p < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of DECT MBPI in identifying an ischemic myocardium were 87.6%, 89.3%, and 97.9% (p < 0.001). The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy of DECT MBPI in identifying an infarcted myocardium were 88.9%, 92.2%, and 98.6% (p < 0.001). The cutoff value for DECT MBPI to differentiate between an ischemic and a normal myocardium was 0.84 mg I/mL. The cutoff value for DECT MBPI to differentiate between an infarct and a normal myocardium was 2.01 mg I/mL., Conclusion: DECT MBPI can be used to assess myocardial viability in patients with MIRI with high sensitivity and specificity., Key Points: • Dual-energy computed tomography myocardial blood pool imaging (DECT MBPI) can evaluate myocardial viability of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (MIRI). • DECT MBPI is a non-invasive and timesaving method for evaluation on myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury in patients with acute myocardial infarction after coronary intervention., (© 2022. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to European Society of Radiology.)

Purpose: Trimetazidine, a metabolic agent with anti-ischemic effects, was reported to reduce reperfusion injury in animal models. In this randomized double-blind placebo-controlled trial, we investigated the effects of trimetazidine on the reduction of infarction size in patients undergoing revascularization for ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI)., Methods: Patients with STEMI randomly received trimetazidine (n = 87) or placebo (n = 86) before primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), and subsequently received oral trimetazidine or placebo for 12 months after reperfusion. The predefined primary endpoint was infarction size on cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) performed at 7 days after primary PCI. The trial was registered on www., Clinicaltrials: gov (registration number: NCT02826616)., Results: The clinical characteristics of the patients in both groups were well-matched at baseline. At 7 days after primary PCI, the percentage and absolute infarction size in the trimetazidine group were significantly smaller than those in the control group (22% ± 12% [n = 74] vs. 27% ± 13% [n = 74], p = 0.011 and 28 ± 18 g [n = 74] vs. 35 ± 19 g [n = 74], p = 0.022, respectively), and the incidence of myocardial microvascular obstruction (MVO) measured by CMR was significantly reduced in the trimetazidine group (29.7% [22/74] vs. 52.7% [39/74], p = 0.005). The myocardial salvage index (MSI) measured by CMR was significantly higher in the trimetazidine group (48% ± 20% vs. 39% ± 20%, p = 0.008). The incidence of readmission due to aggravated heart failure did not differ significantly between the trimetazidine group and the control group (8.0% vs. 14.0%, p = 0.234)., Conclusions: In patients with STEMI undergoing primary PCI, early trimetazidine before reperfusion reduced myocardial infarction size and MVO, and improved MSI., (© 2021. Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)