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Background Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is the most important cardiovascular (CV) disease with a prevalence that increases with age. There is no data which compared the prognosis with premature ACS and mature ACS using propensity score matched analysis Purpose The purpose of this study was to compare the prognosis of premature ACS patients and mature ACS patients using propensity score matched analysis. Methods We analyzed of 4249 ACS patients (69.1±12.6, male 77%) including 773 premature ACS patients (50.1±6.8, male 78%) and 3476 mature ACS (73.3±9.3, male 77%) from January 2013 to December 2018, using data from Mie ACS Registry, a prospective and multicenter registry in Japan. Premature onset of ACS was defined as younger than 65 years old in male and 55 years old in female. Primary end point was as major adverse cardiac event (MACE) including cardiovascular death, non-fetal myocardial infarction, heart failure requiring admission and unstable angina. Results During median follow duration of 742 days ranging from409 to 828 days, 502 MACE were occurred. Premature ACS patients were younger and showed higher body mass index compared to mature ACS patients (50.1±6.8 vs 73.3±9.3 y.o., 25.5 vs 23.0, P Conclusion Premature ACS patients are required very careful management because they might have factors with unfavorable prognosis, such as lifestyle habit and genetics, that may be beyond age. Figure 1 Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None

Aims Unrecognized myocardial scar by late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is strongly associated with cardiac event in patients with stable coronary artery disease. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of unrecognized non-infarct-related LGE (non-IR-LGE) in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Methods and results We studied 269 patients with a first clinical episode of AMI underwent cardiac MRI within 6 weeks after onset (209 men; age, 66 ± 12 years). LGE, cine MRI and T2-weighted imaging were obtained to evaluate the presence and extent of LGE and to evaluate cardiac function. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as cardiovascular death, non-fatal AMI, unstable angina requiring revascularization, fatal arrhythmia, and heart failure. Unrecognized non-IR LGE was observed in 13.0% of patients. During follow-up periods (median, 22 months; range, 3-95 months), 8.9% of patients experienced MACE in this study. In addition, 22.9% of patients with unrecognized non-IR LGE and 6.8% of patients without unrecognized non-IR-LGE experienced MACE (P

Background: Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is useful for assessing the functional significance of coronary artery stenosis, even in lesions with prior myocardial infarction (pMI). Instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) is a vasodilator-free alternative for the physiological assessment of coronary artery stenosis. In addition, iFR shows good diagnostic agreement with FFR and an iFR-guided revascularization strategy was non-inferior to an FFR-guided revascularization strategy. However, the clinical usefulness of iFR for the evaluation of a coronary artery lesions with pMI has not been evaluated. Methods and Results: A total of 200 lesions from 200 patients (44 pMI territories lesions and 156 non-pMI coronary artery lesions) were analyzed retrospectively. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were defined as cardiovascular death, non-fatal MI, unstable angina pectoris, fatal arrhythmia and heart failure during 12 months follow-up after the physiological assessment of coronary artery stenosis. iFR was closely correlated with FFR in pMI and non-pMI lesions (r = 0.81 and 0.72; P

Ezetimibe has been reported to provide significant incremental reduction in low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) when added to a statin; however, its effect on coronary atherosclerosis has not yet been evaluated in detail. The aim of this study was to investigate the add-on effect of ezetimibe to a statin on coronary atherosclerosis evaluated by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS).In this prospective randomized open-label study, a total of 51 patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were enrolled, and assigned to a combination group (n = 26, rosuvastatin 5 mg/day + ezetimibe 10 mg/day) or a monotherapy group (n = 25, rosuvastatin 5 mg/day). Volumetric IVUS analyses were performed at baseline and 6 months after the treatment for a non-PCI site. LDL-C level was significantly reduced in the combination group (-55.8%) versus that in the monotherapy group (-36.8%; P = 0.004). The percent change in plaque volume (PV), the primary endpoint, appeared to decrease more effectively in the combination group compared with the monotherapy group (-13.2% versus -3.1%, respectively, P = 0.050). Moreover, there was a significant group × time interaction in the effects of the two treatments on PV (P = 0.021), indicating the regressive effect of the combination therapy on PV was greater than that of monotherapy for subtly different values of baseline PV in the two treatment groups. Moreover, percent change in PV showed positive correlations with percent change of LDL-C (r = 0.384, P = 0.015).Intensive lipid-lowering therapy with ezetimibe added to usual-dose statin may provide significant incremental reduction in coronary plaques compared with usual-dose statin monotherapy.

Background CYP2C19 loss-of-function genotype (*2 and/or *3 alleles) is related to low responsiveness to clopidogrel, which is a risk factor for ischemic cardiac events. The contribution of these genotypes to platelet reactivity in Japanese patients in a steady state receiving dual antiplatelet therapy after coronary stenting was evaluated. Methods and results A total of 155 Japanese patients were classified according to their CYP2C19 loss-of-function genotype. Platelet reactivity was assayed by plasma levels of soluble P-selectin and platelet-derived microparticles, light transmittance aggregometry induced by ADP (ADP-LTA), shear stress-induced platelet aggregometry, vasodilator-stimulated phosphoprotein phosphorylation (VASP) index and the VerifyNow-P2Y12 assay. Linear and logistic regression models were used to assess the associations between CYP2C19 loss-of-function genotype and high on-treatment platelet reactivity. In total, 62 patients (40.0%) were extensive metabolizers (EMs), 70 (45.2%) were intermediate metabolizers (IMs) and 23 (14.8%) were poor metabolizers (PMs). ADP-specific assays (ADP-LTA, the VASP index and VerifyNow-P2Y12) differed according to CYP2C19 genotype, with a significant gene-dose effect (PMs>IMs>EMs). CYP2C19 loss-of-function carrier status was associated with more frequent high platelet reactivity. CYP2C19 loss-of-function genotype alone could explain 12.2%, 14.3%, and 14.7% of the variability in the ADP-LTA, VASP and VerifyNow-P2Y12 assays, respectively. Conclusions CYP2C19 loss-of-function genotype is associated with more frequent high platelet reactivity, as assessed by ADP-specific platelet function tests, in Japanese patients.

The use of a biventricular pacing system for patients with complete right-bundle branch block (CRBBB) is still controversial. Although cardiac resynchronization therapy-defibrillator (CRT-D) was implanted in a heart failure patient with CRBBB, dyssynchrony worsened and stroke volume decreased, and this patient was re-admitted due to exacerbated heart failure. Therefore, evaluation of dyssynchrony and cardiac function after implantation of a biventricular pacing system may be needed in patients with atypical indications for CRT.

Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio (iFR) is a novel alternative method for detecting myocardial ischemia, which shows close correlation with Fractional Flow Reserve (FFR). On the other hand, iFR shows better agreement with coronary flow reserve than FFR. These findings might suggest that iFR is affected

Previous report demonstrated unrecognized myocardial scar detected by LGE MRI is strongly associated with event-free survival in patients with stable coronary artery disease. However, the prognostic value of CMR detection of myocardial scar in non-infarct related coronary territories in acute

Background: Recent clinical trials have demonstrated that intensive low-density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) lowering therapy by strong statins could prevent recurrent cardiovascular event and have beneficial regressive effects on coronary plaques. Otherwise, the use of ezetimibe in combination with statin has been reported to provide greater reduction in LDL-C level than statin monotherapy. However, it is not established whether additional LDL-C lowering achieved with the addition of ezetimibe to statin monotherapy will lead to further reduction in coronary plaque volume. Methods: In this prospective, open-label, randomized study, 40 patients with stable coronary artery disease (CAD) requiring percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), whose LDL-C levels were higher than 100 mg/dl, were divided into combination therapy group (n=21, rosuvastatin 5mg plus ezetimibe 10mg daily) or statin monotherapy group (n=19, rosuvastatin 5mg daily). Serial volumetric intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) analysis were performed at baseline and after 6 months of follow-up for a non-PCI site. Results: LDL-C level was significantly decreased by 54.1% in the combination group (from 132.7±31.7 mg/dl to 59.5±17.1 mg/dl, p