Journal of Interventional Cardiology

Aims. Literature on percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) stated an inverse relationship between hospital volume and mortality, but the effects on other characteristics are unclear. Methods. Using German national records, all coronary angiographies with coronary artery disease in 2017 were identified. We applied risk-adjustment to account for differences in population characteristics. Results. Of overall 528,188 patients, 55.22% received at least one stent, with on average 1.01 stents implanted in all patients. Based on those patients who received at least one stent, this corresponds to an average number of 1.82 stents. In-hospital mortality across all patients was 2.93%, length of hospital stay was 6.46 days, and mean reimbursement was €5,531. There were comparatively more emergency admissions in low volume centers and more complex cases (3-vessel disease, left main stenosis, and in-stent stenosis) in high volume centers. In multivariable regression analysis, volume and likelihood of stent implantation () as well as number of stents () were positively correlated. No relationship was seen for in-hospital mortality (), length of stay (), and reimbursement (). Nonlinear influence of volume suggests a ceiling effect: In hospitals with ≤100 interventions, likelihood and number of implanted stents are lowest (∼34% and 0.6). After that, both rise steadily until a volume of 500 interventions. Finally, both remain stable in the categories of over 500 interventions (∼60% and 1.1). Conclusion. In PCI, lower volume centers contribute to emergency care. Higher volume centers treat more complex cases and show a higher likelihood of stent implantations, with a stable safety.

Introduction. Chronic total occlusion (CTO) of coronary arteries constitutes a substantial clinical challenge and has historically been managed through medical management and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, with the advancement in interventional technology, the success rate of percutaneous treatment has been significantly improved, and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has emerged as a primary mode of treatment for CTOs, demonstrating remarkable clinical efficacy. The objective of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate and contrast the outcomes of PCI and CABG in patients with CTO. Methods and Results. A systematic search was conducted in the databases of PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science. The primary endpoints evaluated in this meta-analysis were the occurrence of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints included myocardial infarction (MI), cardiac death, and the need for repeat revascularization. Nine studies, encompassing a total of 8,674 patients, were found to meet the criteria for inclusion and had a mean follow-up duration of 4.3 years. The results of the meta-analysis revealed that compared to CABG, PCI was associated with a lower incidence of all-cause mortality (RR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.66–0.92;  = 0.003) and cardiac death (RR: 0.55; 95% CI: 0.31–0.96;  < 0.05), but an increased risk of myocardial infarction (MI) (RR: 1.96; 95%CI: 1.07–3.62;  < 0.05) and repeat revascularization (RR: 7.13; 95% CI: 5.69–8.94;  < 0.00001). There was no statistically significant difference in MACE (RR: 1.11; 95% CI: 0.69–1.81;  = 0.66) between the PCI and CABG groups. Conclusion. In the present meta-analysis comparing PCI and CABG in patients with chronic total occlusion of the coronary arteries, the results indicated that PCI was superior to CABG in reducing all-cause mortality and cardiac death but inferior in decreasing myocardial infarction and repeat revascularization. There was no statistically significant difference in MACE between the two groups.

Background. Ventricular extrasystoles (VESs) are common and often harmless in a healthy heart, but they can significantly affect the quality of life. If changes in lifestyle and antiarrhythmic medication are not enough, invasive and often curative catheter ablation can be considered. Better understanding of the conformation of VESs with a 12-lead ECG, as well as their precise localization, have increased their treatment with catheter ablation. Our goal was to determine whether the anatomical site of VES had an effect on procedure success. We also analyzed the safety of the procedure and patient-related factors affecting the results. Materials and Methods. In this retrospective study, we analyzed the medical records of 63 consecutive patients with multiple idiopathic VESs treated by catheter ablation at Heart Hospital, Tampere University Hospital, during 2017 and 2018. Patients with structural heart disease were excluded. Ablation success was estimated with two endpoints, primary and follow-up success. Results. The majority of the patients received treatment on the right ventricular outflow tract (66.7%), others on the left ventricle (17.5%), or the aortic cusp (9.5%). The site of origin remained unknown in four procedures (6.3% of patients). Primary success was observed in 48 procedures (76.2%). During the follow-up period of three months, the procedure was successful in 70.3% of the cases. The anatomical site of VES had no significant effect on either primary or follow-up success. Those with a successful follow-up result had a lower body mass index (BMI = 26.4) than those who had an unsuccessful result (BMI = 28.7; ); this did not reach statistical significance, potentially due to the small study population size. Complications were observed in three patients (4.5%). All of them were related to the catheter insertion site. Conclusions. For a symptomatic patient, catheter ablation is an effective and often fully curative treatment. The success rate was similar regardless of the site of VESs. This suggests that catheter ablation should also be assessed early on for other cases besides classic right ventricular outflow tract VESs. A high BMI was the only factor associated with a poor procedure success rate. The procedure itself is safe, and adverse effects are rare. The radiation dose is also low partly due to the current magnetic navigation method.

Quantitative flow ratio (QFR) is a new method for the assessment of the extent of coronary artery stenosis. But it may be obscured by the cardiac remodeling and abnormal blood flow of the coronary artery when encountering atrial fibrillation (AF). The present study aimed to examine the impact of these changed structures and blood flow of coronary arteries on QFR results in AF patients. Methods and Results. We evaluated QFR in 223 patients (112 patients with AF; 111 non-AF patients served as controls) who had undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) due to severe stenoses in coronary arteries. QFR of the target coronary was determined according to the flow rate of the contrast agent. Results showed that AF patients had significantly higher QFR values than control (0.792 ± 0.118 vs. 0.685 ± 0.167, ). We further analyzed local QFR around the stenoses (0.858 ± 0.304 vs. 0.756 ± 0.146, ), residual QFR (0.958 ± 0.055 vs. 0.929 ± 0.093, ), and index QFR (0.807 ± 0.108 vs. 0.713 ± 0.152, ) in these two groups of patients with and without AF. Further analysis revealed that QFR in AF patients was negatively correlated with coronary flow velocity (R = −0.22, ) and area of stenosis (R = −0.70, ) but positively correlated with the minimum lumen area (MLA) (R = 0.47, ). Conclusion. AF patients with coronary artery stenosis have higher QFR values, which are associated with decreased blood flow velocity, smaller stenosis, and larger MLA in AF patients upon cardiac remodeling.

Objectives. To study trends of utilization, in-hospital outcomes, and short outcomes in patients undergoing transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR) vs. surgical mitral valve repair (SMVR) in atrial fibrillation (AF). Background. TMVR is a treatment option in inoperable or high-risk patients with mitral regurgitation (MR). AF is a common comorbidity of MR. Data comparing between TMVR and SMVR in MR patients with AF is lacking. Methods. The National Readmission Database from 2016 to 2019 was utilized to identify hospitalizations undergoing TMVR or SMVR with AF. Outcomes of interest included mortality, postoperative complications, length of stay, and 30-day readmission rate. Results. A total of 9,195 patients underwent TMVR and 16,972 patients underwent SMVR with AF; the number of AF undergoing TMVR was increasing from 1,342 in 2016 to 4,215 in 2019 and SMVR. The incidence of in-hospital mortality decreased from 2.6% in 2016 to 1.8% in 2019. We identified length of stay>5 days, dyslipidemia, cerebrovascular disease, heart failure with reduced ejection fraction, and urgent/emergent admissions as independent risk factors for in-hospital mortality. After matching, we included 4,680 patients in each group; the in-hospital death, transfusion, acute kidney injury, sepsis, stroke, and mechanical ventilation were lower in TMVR compared with SMVR. TMVR was associated with a similar rate of all-cause readmission at 30 days compared with SMVR. Conclusion. Patients with AF receiving TMVR have been increasing along with progressive improvement in in-hospital death and length of stay. Compared to SMVR, AF patients receiving TMVR had a lower rate of in-hospital death and postoperative complications.

At present, there is a lack of indicators, which can accurately predict the post-percutaneous coronary intervention (post-PCI) vessel-oriented composite endpoint (VOCE). Recent studies showed that the post-PCI quantitative flow ratio (QFR) can predict post-PCI VOCE. PubMed, Embase, and Cochrane were searched from inception to March 27, 2022, and the cohort studies about that the post-PCI QFR predicts post-PCI VOCE were screened. Meta-analysis was performed, including 6 studies involving 4518 target vessels. The results of the studies included in this meta-analysis all showed that low post-PCI QFR was an independent risk factor for post-PCI VOCE after adjusting for other factors, HR (95% CI) ranging from 2.718 (1.347–5.486) to 6.53 (2.70–15.8). Our meta-analysis showed that the risk of post-PCI VOCE was significantly higher in the lower post-PCI QFR group than in the higher post-PCI QFR group (HR: 4.14, 95% CI: 3.00–5.70,  < 0.001, I² = 27.9%). Post-PCI QFR has a good predictive value for post-PCI VOCE. Trial Registration. This trial is registered with CRD42022322001.