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BACKGROUND Despite the revolution of coronary stents, there remain concerns about the risk of stent thrombosis, especially in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). The present study compared early vascular healing as a contributing factor to reducing stent thrombosis between Xience everolimus-eluting stents (X-EES) and Synergy everolimus-eluting stents (S-EES) in patients with STEMI. Methods and Results: The present study included 47 patients with STEMI requiring primary percutaneous coronary intervention with X-EES (n=25) or S-EES (n=22). Optical coherence tomography (OCT) assessments of the stented lesions were performed 2 weeks and 4 months after stent implantation. Neointimal strut coverage, malapposition and the frequency of thrombus formation were evaluated. In the 2-week OCT analysis, the proportion of covered struts in S-EES (42.4±15.4%) was significantly higher than in X-EES (26.3±10.1%, P

Disruption of atherosclerotic plaque and distal embolism often cause peri-procedural myocardial injury during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In the present study, we evaluate the association between the characteristics of the target lesion and the amount of debris captured by the filter-type distal protection device.We enrolled 120 consecutive patients with acute coronary syndrome, who underwent coronary stent implantation with a filter-type distal protection device after integrated backscatter intravascular ultrasound (IB-IVUS) analysis. The amount of debris captured by the protection filter was measured through microscopic evaluation.The lipid and fibrous volume evaluated with IB-IVUS was significantly correlated with the amount of the captured debris (r = 0.657, p 0.01), (r = 0.322, p 0.01). The lipid plaque fraction showed a positive correlation (r = 0.335, p 0.01), while the fibrous plaque fraction was found to be inversely correlated (r = -0.375, p 0.01) with the amount of captured debris. Multivariate regression analysis showed that lipid volume correlated independently with the amount of captured debris.The volume of the lipid-rich plaque was associated with the amount of procedure-related debris released and captured by the filter-type distal protection device.

BackgroundAlthough functional ischemia identification is important when determining revascularization, angiographic assessment alone is challenging in intermediate coronary stenosis. Previous studies have reported that lesion-specific characteristics affected the fractional flow reserve (FFR). However, the relationship between morphological lesion complexity and FFR has not yet been fully evaluated. This study aimed to evaluate the impact of morphological lesion complexity on FFR in intermediate coronary stenosis.MethodsA total of 109 consecutive patients with 136 intermediate coronary stenoses (visually estimated diameter stenosis: 40–70%) were assessed via quantitative coronary angiography, lesion-specific characteristics, and FFR. Indexed lesions were assessed according to 6 morphological lesion characteristics: eccentricity, bend, irregularity, calcification, bifurcation, and diffuse. The lesions were then classified into 3 groups according to the morphological severity count represented by the number of present characteristics (mild-complex: 0–1, moderate-complex: 2–3, and severe-complex: 4–6), and their functional severities were evaluated. Lesions with an FFR

The aim of this study was to determine the correlation between the fractional flow reserve (FFR) values and volumetric intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) parameters derived from classic gray-scale IVUS and integrated backscatter (IB)-IVUS, taking into account known confounding factors. Patients with unstable angina pectoris with the frequent development of vulnerable plaques often showed the discrepancy between the FFR value and the quantitative coronary angiography findings. Our target population was 107 consecutive subjects with 114 isolated lesions who were scheduled for elective coronary angiography. The FFR was calculated as the mean distal coronary pressure divided by the mean aortic pressure during maximal hyperemia. Various volumetric parameters such as lipid plaque volume (LPV) and percentage of LPV (%LPV) were measured using IB-IVUS. Simple and multivariate linear regression analysis was employed to evaluate the correlation between FFR values and various classic gray-scale IVUS and IB-IVUS parameters. The Akaike information criterion (AIC) was used to compare the goodness of fit in an each model. Both the %LPV (r = -0.24; p = 0.01) and LPV (r = -0.40; p < 0.01) were significantly correlated with the FFR value. Only the LPV (AIC = -147.0; p = 0.006) and %LPV (AIC = -152.9; p = 0.005) proved to be independent predictors for the FFR value even after the adjustment of known confounding factors. The volumetric assessment by IB-IVUS could provide better information in terms of the relationship between plaque morphology and the FFR values as compared to the classic IVUS 2-dimensional gray-scale analysis.

Objectives The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the multifunction cardiogram (MCG), and SYNTAX score (SS) and functional SYNTAX score (FSS) in detecting the presence of intermediate to obstructive coronary lesions. Background Performing coronary angiography (CAG) and measuring fractional flow reserve (FFR) to calculate the SS and FSS is inherently invasive and adds complexity. Methods The MCG was obtained and analyzed before performing CAG in 87 consecutive subjects with suspected coronary artery disease who were scheduled for elective CAG. The patients were divided into three groups according to risk based on high, borderline, and low MCG scores. The SS was determined, as well as FSS but only by counting lesions prone to functional ischemia (FFR ≤ 0.8). The relationship between the MCG and the SS and FSS was evaluated. Results The MCG was the only test significantly associated with the SS (odds ratio, 2.92 [1.60 – 5.31], P

Objectives We performed this study to evaluate the variability of fractional flow reserve (FFR) values which were measured from various methods of hyperemia induction. Background Concerns have been raised regarding the variability of FFR due to different routes for hyperemic agent administration and different hyperemic agents targeting different receptors to induce maximal hyperemia. Methods A total of 656 intermediate coronary lesions from 628 patients with coronary artery disease were analyzed. Among them, 238 lesions underwent FFR measurement with hyperemia induced by both intravenous (IV) and intracoronary (IC) adenosine administration, 318 by IV adenosine/adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and IC nicorandil injection, and 100 by IV adenosine and regadenoson infusion. Results Excellent correlation and close classification agreement (FFR ≤ 0.80) were observed between IV vs. IC adenosine (r = 0.980, CA = 92.9%, Cohen's Kappa = 0.887, P

AIMS The aim of this study was to address the association of lipid profiles with periprocedural myocardial infarction (pMI) after elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). METHODS AND RESULTS Of the 302 consecutive patients who received elective PCI at the Chubu Rosai Hospital, Nagoya, Japan between June 2009 and December 2010, data from 231 native coronary lesions were analysed. Various biomarkers including serum troponin T (TnT), eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), arachidonic acid (AA), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol were measured at baseline and at 18 hrs after PCI. pMI was defined as a post-procedural increase of TnT >3 times above the upper normal limit. Patients with pMI had significantly lower EPA/AA (0.25 [0.19-0.28] vs. 0.45 [0.21-0.62], p

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a useful modality to assess the functional significance of coronary stenoses. Although adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is generally used as the hyperemic stimulus, we sometimes encounter adverse events like hypotension during FFR measurement. Nicorandil, an ATP-sensitive potassium channel opener, recognized as an epicardial and resistance vessel dilator, has not been fully evaluated as a possible alternative hyperemic agent. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility and safety of intracoronary nicorandil infusion compared to intravenous ATP for FFR measurement in patients with coronary artery disease. A total of 102 patients with 124 intermediate lesions (diameter stenosis >40 and

Although late restenosis is one of the long-term complications of stent implantation, its pathogenesis has not been fully elucidated. For consecutive patients who developed in-stent restenosis (ISR) after stent implantation, integrated backscatter (IB) intravascular ultrasound was performed for ISR lesions. The tissue characteristics of neointima within the stented segment were compared between lesions with early restenosis and those with late restenosis. Of 73 ISR lesions arising after sirolimus-eluting stent (SES; n = 25) or bare-metal stent (BMS; n = 48) implantation, early and late restenosis were documented in 52 and 21 lesions, respectively. A higher prevalence of late restenosis was observed after SES implantation than after BMS implantation (60.0 vs. 12.5 %; p

Background Poststent fractional flow reserve (FFR) is a useful indicator of optimal percutaneous coronary intervention, and higher poststent FFR is associated with favorable long-term clinical outcome. However, little is known about the factors influencing poststent FFR. The purpose of this study was to determine the impact of lesion characteristics on poststent FFR. Methods For patients who had scheduled stent implantation for stable angina, FFR measurements at maximum hyperemia were performed before and after coronary stent implantation. As one of lesion characteristics, the FFR pressure drop pattern was evaluated and classified as either an abrupt or a gradual pattern according to the pullback curve of FFR. Results A total of 205 lesions with physiological significant stenosis were evaluated. Fractional flow reserve value increased from 0.67±0.10 to 0.87±0.07 after stent implantation. Optimal poststent FFR was achieved in 75 lesions (36.6%). Logistic regression analysis demonstrated that optimal poststent FFR was positively correlated with an abrupt pressure drop pattern (hazard ratio [HR] 2.11, 95% CI 1.06-4.15, P =.03) and prestent FFR (HR 1.04, 95% CI 1.03-2.04, P =.03; per 0.1 increase), and negatively correlated with lesion localization to the left anterior descending artery (HR 0.18, 95% CI 0.09-0.36, P c statistic for predicting optimal poststent FFR was 0.763 (95% CI 0.702-0.819). Conclusion Abrupt pressure drop patterns, prestent FFR, and lesion localization to the left anterior descending artery were independent predictors of optimal poststent FFR.

AIMS Our aim was to evaluate the safety and efficacy of intracoronary (IC) nicorandil as an alternative choice of hyperaemic agent for invasive physiologic studies. METHODS AND RESULTS A total of 480 intermediate coronary lesions from 429 patients enrolled from six Japanese and Korean centres were analysed. IC nicorandil showed earlier achievement of hyperaemia (time to the lowest FFR: 18.0 s [1st and 3rd quartile value 15.6-21.5] vs. 44.0 s [36.0-60.0], p

Introduction: Although fractional flow reserve (FFR) is helpful to evaluate functional lesion severity, the need of adenosine limits the widespread adoption of FFR. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that contrast media induced FFR (cFFR) with submaximal hyperemic condition could assess functional lesion severity of coronary artery stenos. The aim of this study was to evaluate the diagnostic ability of cFFR compared to FFR in entire range of coronary artery stenosis. Methods: A total of 96 patients with 123 lesions were prospectively enrolled in this study. At first, we measured resting Pd/Pa ratio before inducing hyperemia. Then, cFFR was obtained after intracoronary injection of 6 ml of contrast media, while FFR was measured after intravenous adenosine triphosphate administration (180 mcg/kg/min). Lesions with FFR less than or equal 0.80 were considered functional significance of coronary artery stenosis. Results: In 123 lesions, reference diameter, diameter stenosis, resting Pd/Pa ratio, cFFR, and FFR were 2.7±0.8 mm, 47±12%, 0.91±0.10, 0.83±0.12, and 0.81±0.12, respectively. Functional significance was observed in 41% of all lesions. Both of resting Pd/Pa and cFFR showed strong correlations with FFR (r=0.861, p0.89 was not corresponded to functional significance of entire coronary artery stenosis. Conclusions: The cFFR is an accurate, rapid and easy method in predicting functional significance of entire coronary artery stenosis. This physiology-based approach may be a possible alternative method for FFR measurements in daily practice.

Background: While anticoagulant therapy is standard management for atrial fibrillation (Af), dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is needed after stent implantation for coronary artery disease. HAS-BLED score estimates risk of major bleeding for patients on anticoagulation to assess risk-benefit in Af care. However, it is little known about usefulness of HAS-BLED score in Af patient treated with coronary stents requiring DAPT or DAPT plus warfarin (triple therapy: TT). The aim of this study was to evaluate the role of HAS-BLED score on major bleeding in Af patients undergoing DAPT or TT. Methods: A total of 837 consecutive patients were received PCI in our hospital from Jan. 2007 to Dec. 2010, and 66 patients had Af or paroxysmal Af at the time of PCI. Clinical events including major bleeding (cerebral or gastrointestinal bleeding) were investigated up to 3 years. Patients were divided into 2 groups based on HAS-BLED score (High-risk group: HAS-BLED score≥4, n=19 and Low-risk group: HAS-BLED score Results: Baseline characteristics were not different between High-risk and Low-risk group except for age. Overall incidence of major bleeding was observed in 8 cases (12.1%) at 3 years follow-up. Major bleeding event was significantly higher in High-risk group compared with Low-risk group (31.6% vs. 4.3%, p=0.002). However, management of DAPT and TT was not different between the 2 groups. Among component of HAS-BLED score, renal dysfunction and bleeding contributed with increased number of the score. Conclusion: High-risk group was more frequently observed major bleeding events compared with Low-risk group in patients with Af following DES implantation regardless of antiplatelet/anticoagulant therapy.

While drug-eluting stents (DES) have recently improved their efficacy and safety profiles, differences in stent deliverability among various coronary stents have not been systematically evaluated. The aim of this bench test study was to evaluate the impact of stent length on stent deliverability

Although scoring balloon usage as pre-dilatation is expected different vessel response compared with conventional balloon usage, detailed mechanism has not been evaluated. The Lacrosse non-slip element (NSE) balloon is an angioplasty catheter with 3 longitudinal elements that produce 3 endovascular

The aim of this study was to evaluate the relationship between the multifunction cardiogram (MCG), and SYNTAX score (SS) and functional SYNTAX score (FSS) in detecting the presence of intermediate to obstructive coronary lesions.Performing coronary angiography (CAG) and measuring fractional flow reserve (FFR) to calculate the SS and FSS is inherently invasive and adds complexity.The MCG was obtained and analyzed before performing CAG in 87 consecutive subjects with suspected coronary artery disease who were scheduled for elective CAG. The patients were divided into three groups according to risk based on high, borderline, and low MCG scores. The SS was determined, as well as FSS but only by counting lesions prone to functional ischemia (FFR ≤ 0.8). The relationship between the MCG and the SS and FSS was evaluated.The MCG was the only test significantly associated with the SS (odds ratio, 2.92 [1.60 - 5.31], P 0.001) and FSS (odds ratio, 3.66 [1.95 - 6.87], P 0.001). A high MCG score had a specificity of 92.6% (89.0-96.2%) and 92.3% (89.0-95.6%), and a predictive accuracy of 72.4% (67.6-77.2%) and 82.8% (78.7-86.8%) for the prediction of SS and FSS, respectively.The MCG showed high specificity and predictive accuracy especially for the FSS, suggesting that it is useful not only in identifying functionally significant ischemia but also in reducing unnecessary CAGs.

We performed this study to evaluate the variability of fractional flow reserve (FFR) values which were measured from various methods of hyperemia induction.Concerns have been raised regarding the variability of FFR due to different routes for hyperemic agent administration and different hyperemic agents targeting different receptors to induce maximal hyperemia.A total of 656 intermediate coronary lesions from 628 patients with coronary artery disease were analyzed. Among them, 238 lesions underwent FFR measurement with hyperemia induced by both intravenous (IV) and intracoronary (IC) adenosine administration, 318 by IV adenosine/adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and IC nicorandil injection, and 100 by IV adenosine and regadenoson infusion.Excellent correlation and close classification agreement (FFR ≤ 0.80) were observed between IV vs. IC adenosine (r = 0.980, CA = 92.9%, Cohen's Kappa = 0.887, P 0.001), between IV adenosine/ATP vs. IC nicorandil (r = 0.962, CA = 91.2%, Cohen's Kappa = 0.817, P 0.001), and between IV adenosine vs. regadenoson (r = 0.990, CA = 100%, Cohen's Kappa = 1.000, P 0.001). When changes in blood pressure (ΔBP) or heart rate (ΔHR) were compared with changes in FFR (ΔFFR) between IV adenosine/ATP and IC nicorandil administration, there were no significant correlations between ΔBP and ΔFFR nor between ΔHR and ΔFFR (r = -0.122, P = 0.076; r = 0.036, P = 0.605, respectively).This study suggests that the measurement of FFR is reproducible regardless of the hemodynamic changes, hyperemic agents used, or the route of administration.

Objectives The aim of this study was to assess the effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on peri-procedural (type IVa) myocardial infarction (MI) following elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods and results We analyzed data from 165 of 178 consecutive patients with stable angina pectoris who underwent de novo successful stent implantation in the native coronary artery. Patients were assigned to receive statin therapy in combination with 1800 mg/day of EPA or statin alone. Post-procedural index of microcirculatory resistance (IMR) values were calculated for 30 patients in the EPA group and 32 controls. In the multivariate logistic model, EPA administration, low kidney function, and the presence of slow flow/no reflow were significantly and independently associated with type IVa MI. Post-procedural IMR values were significantly lower in the EPA group [19.8 (6.4, 51.1) vs. 27.8 (8.2, 89.3), p = 0.003] compared to the control group. Conclusions Pre-treatment with EPA in addition to statins significantly reduced the incidence of type IVa MI compared to statin therapy only, which may be attributed to the ability of EPA to reduce microvascular dysfunction induced by PCI.

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has become standard invasive assessment for determining the functional significance of coronary artery stenosis. Intravenous (IV) infusion of adenosine is the gold standard method for the induction of hyperemia. Intracoronary (IC) bolus injection of nicorandil, a

金沢大学医薬保健研究域医学系, Background: The JAPAN-ACS (Japan Assessment of Pitavastatin and Atorvastatin in Acute Coronary Syndrome) trial showed that intensive statin therapy could induce significant coronary plaque regression in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We evaluated the impact of metabolic syndrome (MetS) and its components on coronary plaque regression in the JAPAN-ACS patients. Methods and Results: Serial intravascular ultrasound measurements over 8-12 months were performed in 242 ACS patients receiving pitavastatin or atorvastatin. Patients were divided into groups according to the presence of MetS or the number of MetS components. Although the percent change in plaque volume (%PV) was not significantly different between the MetS (n=119) and non-MetS (n=123) groups (P=0.50), it was significantly associated with an increasing number of MetS components (component 0: -24.0%, n=7; components 1: -20.8%, n=31; components 2: -16.1%, n=69; components 3: -18.7%, n=83; components 4: -13.5%, n=52; P=0.037 for trend). The percent change in body mass index (%BMI) significantly correlated with %PV (r=0.15, P=0.021), especially in the MetS components 4 group (r=0.35, P=0.017). In addition, %BMI was an independent predictor of plaque regression after adjustment for the changes of low- and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, triglycerides and HbA1c. Conclusions: The clustering of MetS components, but not the presence of MetS itself, could attenuate coronary plaque regression during intensive statin therapy in ACS patients. Therefore, to achieve a greater degree of plaque regression, it is necessary to treat to each MetS component and use lifestyle modification., 出版者照会後に全文公開

Although fractional flow reserve (FFR) is helpful to evaluate functional lesion severity in the catheterization laboratory, the need of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) administration limits the widespread adoption of FFR. It was previously reported that resting Pd/Pa ratio without hyperemic condition

Concerns have been raised regarding the variability of FFR (fractional flow reserve) due to the routes of administration and different hyperemic agents targeting different receptors to induce maximal hyperemia. A total of 644 intermediate coronary lesions from 622 patients with coronary artery

Fractional flow reserve (FFR) has been recognized as useful modality to assess functional significance of coronary stenosis. It is important to obtain maximal hyperemia for optimal FFR measurement. Although adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is generally used as hyperemic stimulus, we sometimes encounter

Although follow-up event rates have significantly improved since the introduction of drug-eluting stents, pre-dilatation strategy before stenting is still important to achieve better stent expansion. The Lacrosse non-slip element (NSE) balloon is an angioplasty catheter with 3 longitudinal elements