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There have been mixed results regarding the efficacy and safety of various percutaneous coronary intervention bifurcation techniques. An electronic search of Medline, Scopus, and Cochrane databases was performed for randomized controlled trials that compared the outcomes of any bifurcation techniques. We conducted a pairwise meta-analysis comparing the 1-stent versus 2-stent bifurcation approach, and a network meta-analysis comparing the different bifurcation techniques. The primary outcome was major adverse cardiac events (MACEs). The analysis included 22 randomized trials with 6,359 patients. At a weighted follow-up of 25.9 months, there was no difference in MACE between 1-stent versus 2-stent approaches (risk ratio [RR] 1.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.92 to 1.56). Exploratory analysis suggested a higher risk of MACE with a 1-stent approach in studies using second-generation drug-eluting stents, if side branch lesion length ≥10 mm, and when final kissing balloon was used. There was no difference between 1-stent versus 2-stent approaches in all-cause mortality (RR 0.95, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.30), cardiovascular mortality (RR 1.07, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.68), target vessel revascularization (TVR) (RR 1.22, 95% CI 0.90 to 1.65), myocardial infarction (MI) (RR 1.04, 95% CI 0.69 to 1.56) or stent thrombosis (RR 1.10, 95% CI 0.68 to 1.78). Network meta-analysis demonstrated that double kissing crush technique was associated with lower MACE, MI, TVR, and target lesion revascularization, whereas culotte technique was associated with higher rates of stent thrombosis. In this meta-analysis of randomized trials, we found no difference between 1-stent versus 2-stent bifurcation percutaneous coronary intervention approaches in the risk of MACE during long-term follow-up. Among the various bifurcation techniques, double kissing crush technique was associated with lower rates of MACE, target lesion revascularization, TVR, and MI.

In patient undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), stroke remains a potentially devastating complication associated with significant morbidity, and mortality. To reduce the risk of stroke, cerebral protection devices (CPD) were developed to prevent debris from embolizing to the brain during TAVI. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to determine the safety and efficacy of CPD in TAVI. The MEDLINE (PubMed, Ovid) and Cochrane databases were queried with various combinations of medical subject headings to identify relevant articles. Statistical analysis was performed using a random-effects model to calculate unadjusted odds ratio (OR), including subgroup analyses based on follow-up duration, study design, and type of CPD. Using a pooled analysis, CPD was associated with a significant reduction in major adverse cardiovascular events MACE (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.70-0.81, P0.01), mortality (OR 0.65, 95% CI 0.58-0.74, P0.01) and stroke (OR 0.84, 95% CI 0.76-0.93, P0.01) in patients undergoing TAVI. Similarly, on MRI volume per lesion were lower for patients with CPD use. No significant difference was observed in acute kidney injury (OR 0.75, 95% CI 0.42-1.37, P = 0.68), bleeding (OR 0.92, 95% CI 0.71-1.20, P = 0.55) or vascular complications (OR 0.90, 95% CI 0.62-1.31, P = 0.6) for patients undergoing TAVI with CPD. In conclusion, CPD device use in TAVI is associated with a reduction of MACE, mortality, and stroke compared with patients undergoing TAVI without CPD. However, the significant reduction in mortality is driven mainly by observational studies.

Objective: This study aims at identifying the relationship between amyloidosis and atrial fibrillation Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common cardiac arrhythmia and is associated with an increased risk of stroke, heart failure, and mortality. Recent advances in cardiac imaging have increased the frequency of diagnosis of cardiac amyloidosis. Data is limited on the role of cardiac amyloid in patients with AF. Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of patients with amyloidosis from the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) 2014. The primary outcome was diagnosis of AF in the amyloidosis vs. non-amyloidosis population. Logistic regression models were used to assess predictors of AF among the study population. Results: 5, 872,587 health encounters from the NIS were identified. Of these, 4,287 subjects had a diagnosis of amyloidosis. AF was found in 28.7% of the amyloidosis vs. 13.4% % of the non-amyloidosis group, p < 0.001. The average age of the amyloidosis is 71 yrs. old, female represents 55.9% of the study population. Systolic heart failure (8.5% vs. 3.9%, p < 0.001), diastolic heart failure (14.7% vs. 4.6%, p < 0.001), ischemic stroke (6.3% vs. 1.9%, p < 0.001) and chronic kidney disease (42.3% vs. 14.4%, p < 0.001) were more prevalent in the amyloidosis vs. non-amyloidosis group. Amyloidosis was associated with the black ethnicity (19.4% vs. 14.1%, p < 0.001). In addition, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and obesity were common in the amyloidosis group. On multivariate analysis, amyloidosis was a strong predictor of AF (OR 1.37 (95% CI 1.28-1.47, p < 0.001)) Conclusion: AF and amyloidosis are mutually associated identities. High suspicion should be maintained for the diagnosis of amyloidosis in patients presenting with AF. This may allow early recognition and treatment of underlying amyloidosis in patients with AF.

Purpose to investigate the Thyroid Imaging Reporting and Data System (TIRADS) as a new classification system for solitary thyroid nodules by high resolution Ultrasonography in correlation with histopathological study. Materials and Methods Thirty patients with clinically suspected thyroid nodules referred to Radiology department at Ain shams University hospitals after fulfilling inclusion and exclusion criteria. All thyroid nodules are examined by ultrasound and charactrized according to internal components, margins, echogenicity, shape and evidence of echogenic foci the classified according to the American college of radiology (ACR) TIRADS guidline, then compared with histopathological examination by Fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) . Results Many ultrasound features were predeictors of malignancy hypoechoic echopattern, taller than wider shape, punctate echogenic foci, and lobulated and irregular margins with (p Conclusion Our results suggest that ACR TIRADS classification is reliable in predicting thyroid malignancy. It could lead to a significant decrease of the number of unnecessary FNAC.

Contemporary data on gender differences in outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI), after stratification by age, remain limited. We studied age-stratified (60 to 70, 71 to 80, and 81 to 90 years) inhospital outcomes by gender after TAVI from the National Inpatient Sample database between 2012 and 2018. We analyzed National Inpatient Sample data using the International Classification of Diseases, Clinical Modification, Ninth Revision, and Tenth Revision claims codes. Between the years 2012 and 2018, a total of 188,325 weighted hospitalizations for TAVI were included in the analysis. A total of 21,957 patients were included in the 60 to 70 age group (44% females), 60,770 (45% females) in the 71 to 80 age group, and 105,580 (50% females) in the 81 to 90 age groups, respectively. Propensity-matched inhospital mortality rates were significantly higher for females than males for the age group of 81 to 90 years (3.0% vs 2.1%, p0.01). Vascular complications and a need for blood transfusions remained significantly higher for females on propensity-matched analysis across all categories of ages. Conversely, acute kidney injury and the need for pacemaker implantation remained significantly higher for males across all age groups. In conclusion, we report that mortality is higher in female patients who underwent TAVI between the ages of 81 to 90. Moreover, the female gender was associated with higher vascular complications and bleeding requiring transfusions. Conversely, the male gender was associated with higher rates of pacemaker implantation and acute kidney injury.

Introduction: Myocardial infarction (MI) remains a leading cause of mortality. Palliative care (PC) has recently expanded in scope to include noncancer-related conditions. There is little data available regarding the use of PC in critical MI patients. Methods: We used discharge data from the National Inpatient Sample for the years 2012 to 2014. We examined discharges with a primary diagnosis of MI. We measured the rate of PC referral, trend in utilization during the study period and possible predictors of PC utilization. Results: Among 1 667 520 discharges of those patients ≥18 years of age and with a primary diagnosis of MI, use of PC was seen in 2.5% of all patients and in 24% of patients who died. In a multivariable logistic regression, we found the presence of cancer, cardiogenic shock, dementia, stroke, hemiplegia, the use of circulatory support, and mechanical ventilation were associated with higher likelihood of PC referral. Palliative care referral increased during the study period, odds ratio of 1.18 per year (95% confidence interval: 1.14-1.21; P value Conclusion: Several comorbidities were associated with the use of PC, most notably the use of mechanical ventilation and the presence of metastatic cancer. There was a trend of increasing use of PC during the study period.

Major bleeding remains one of the most frequent complications seen in transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The purpose of this study was to evaluate outcomes, trends, and predictors of major bleeding in patients undergoing TAVI.We utilized the National Inpatient Sample (NIS) data from the year 2011 to 2018. Baseline characteristics were compared using a Pearsonχ2 test for categorical variables and Mann-Whitney U-Test for continuous variables. A multivariable logistic regression model was used to evaluate predictors of major bleeding. Propensity Matching was done for adjusted analysis to compare outcomes in TAVI with and without major bleeding.A total of 215,938 weighted hospitalizations for TAVI were included in the analysis. Of the patient undergoing the procedure, 20,102 (9.3%) had major bleeding and 195,836 (90.7%) patients did not have in-hospital bleeding events. Patients in the major bleeding cohort were older and had greater female gender representation. At baseline patients with thrombocytopenia (Odds Ratio [OR], 1.47[confidence interval (CI), 1.36-1.59]), colon cancer (OR, 1.70[CI, 1.27-2.28]), coagulopathy (OR, 1.17[CI, 1.08-1.27]), liver disease (OR, 1.31[CI, 1.21-1.41]), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (OR, 1.29[CI, 1.25-1.33]), congestive heart failure (OR, 1.12[CI, 1.08-1.16]), and end-stage renal disease (ESRD) (OR, 1.47[CI, 1.38-1.57]) had higher adjusted rates of major bleeding. The percentage of adjusted in-hospital mortality (14.4% vs. 4.2%, P 0.01) was significantly higher in the major bleeding group Patients with major bleeding had higher median cost of stay ($235,274 vs. $177,920) and length of stay (7 vs 3 days).In conclusion, we report that mortality is higher in patients with major bleeding and that baseline comorbidities like ESRD, liver disease, coagulopathy and colonic malignancy are important predictors of this adverse event.

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A real residential building consists of 15 stories which have been built in Cairo – Egypt is studied against lateral loads, also the linear analysis repeated for the same building after increasing the number of repeated stories reaching 30, 45 and 60 stories,using two lateral load resisting systems which are outriggers and bracing systems. The ETABS 2015 program is used to analyzeall the buildings by the Egyptian, European and American codes. The most common high rise buildings in Egypt consists of 15 to30 stories, so linear analysis was conducted to the 30 stories building using Egyptian, European and American codes but in different region and soil type than what they were studied. Seismic demands were studied are the base shear force resulted fromthe seismic loads on the structure, the inter-story drift between the stories of the structure, the maximum displacement of thestructure and the weight of reinforced concrete and steel bracing in the structure. Finally, the nonlinear analysis applied to the 30stories building. It is concluded that the Egyptian code gives base shear, maximum displacement and total weight of the buildingmore than that of the European and the American codes, the buildings contain outriggers and belts system have more weight than building contain bracing system while the both have the safety requirements for the building, the total weight of the buildingincreased slightly by changing the region of the building from the seismic region to higher seismic region while the quantity of the lateral load resisting system increased extremely, finally the nonlinear analysis of the buildings give near results to the linearanalysis so the linear analysis can be dependable

Objective: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is one of the most common microvascular complications of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The reported prevalence of DR from different populations in the last decade was 13 - 38.1%. A report from our center 17 years ago showed that DR prevalence was 43.6%. With the all accumulated evidence showing that diabetes control decreases DR risk and the introduction of new drugs that helped better T2D control, we aimed to assess the current prevalence and predictors of DR among patients with T2D attending out-patient department at our tertiary care center. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving 638 patients. We collected information about their baseline characteristics, confirmed DR with its severity and maculopathy diagnosis, age at T2D diagnosis, duration of T2D, and averages of HbA1C, blood pressure (BP), cholesterol, and vitamin D levels over the previous year. A statistical analysis was performed using the software SPSS 23.0. A multivariate logistic regression analysis examined the independent predictors of DR development. Results: The mean age of the patients was 55.8 ± 10.3 years, and 42.8% were males. The mean BMI was 32.4 ± 12.4 kg/m2 with 58% had obesity. The mean duration of T2D was 11.5 ± 7.7 years, and the mean age at T2D diagnosis was 44.0 ± 9.98 years. The mean HbA1C was 8.3 ± 1.6 % with 77% had average HbA1C above 7% and 51.3% had average HbA1c above 8%. The mean systolic and diastolic BP were 136.37 ± 15.01 mmHg and 74.12 ± 8.078 mmHg, respectively. DR was diagnosed in 223 cases (35%). Of the 638 patients, 24.5% had non-proliferative DR, 9.2% had proliferative DR, and 4.2% had maculopathy. There was no significant difference in DR prevalence between males (36%) and females (34.1%) (P = 0.59). Predictors of DR development were age above 40 years, duration of T2D more than 10 years, early age of T2D diagnosis, average HbA1C more than 8%, and hypertension. Discussion: T2D is a major health challenge to our community with its very high prevalence. The prevalence of DR in T2D patients attending our institution was significant (more than one-third, 35%) in comparison to reports from other centers. However, we showed an improvement in DR development in our patients from 43.6% to 35%, probably due to better T2D and BP control. Similar to previous reports, T2D patients with older age, long T2D duration, younger age at T2D diagnosis, uncontrolled diabetes, and uncontrolled BP were more likely to develop DR. Conclusion: Physicians treating T2D patients should ensure regular retina screening especially for those with risk factors for DR. Also, they should fix the modifiable risk factors of DR; diabetes and BP control. References: (1) Alaboud et al. Saudi Med J 2016; Vol. 37 (12): 1408–1411.doi: 10.15537/smj.2016.12.17062. (2) Lim MC et al. Ann Acad Med Singapore. 2008 Sep;37(9):753–9. (3) Hammes H-P et al. PLoS ONE 10(7): e0132492. doi:10.1371/journal. pone.0132492

Obstructive Sleep Apnea (OSA) increases the risk of diastolic dysfunction and heart failure. The impact of OSA on hospitalization for heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF) is not well elucidated. We used data from the National Inpatient Sample for the years 2012 to 2014. We identified discharges (age ≥18 years) associated with OSA and HFpEF using the International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes (327.23 and 428.3x), respectively. Propensity score analysis, adjusting for age, gender, race, and comorbidities, compared the rates of admission for HFpEF in patients with OSA to those without OSA. Out of 12,608,637 discharges included, there were 147,463 patients with HFpEF, and 653,762 or 5.2% of all discharges had OSA. The prevalence of OSA in patients with HFpEF was 16.8%. Patients with OSA were older, more likely to be men, more likely to have diabetes, hypertension, history of coronary artery disease, chronic kidney disease, obesity, atrial fibrillation, African-American race, and smoking status. In patients with OSA, HFpEF occurred in 3.8% versus 1.0%, with adjusted odds ratio: 2.2 (95% confidence interval 2.16 to 2.23), p0.001. Subgroup analysis showed similar results in men and women. After propensity score matching, OSA was associated with increased risk of admission with HFpEF, relative risk = 2.2 (95% confidence interval 2.12 to 2.21). In conclusion, OSA was associated with increased risk of hospitalization for HFpEF.

BACKGROUND: Delirium is associated with worse outcomes in critically ill patients. In the subset of patients with myocardial infarction (MI), the impact on clinical outcomes of delirium is not as well elucidated. HYPOTHESIS: Delirium is associated with increased mortality in patients hospitalized for MI. METHODS: The study used data from the National Inpatient Sample 2012 to 2014, Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project. We included discharges associated with the primary diagnosis of MI using the relevant International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification codes. The outcome was inpatient mortality between the delirium group and propensity score–matched controls without delirium. RESULTS: The study included 1 330 020 weighted discharges with MI as the principal diagnosis. Within this cohort, 18 685 discharges (1.4%) had delirium. Delirium was associated with older age, lower rates of percutaneous coronary intervention, and increased comorbid conditions. The delirium group had higher mortality (10.5% vs 2.6%, P