Gender-specific outcomes after balloon aortic valvuloplasty: Inhospital and long-term outcomes.

BACKGROUND: Increasing numbers of balloon aortic valvuloplasty (BAV) are performed in the management of symptomatic aortic stenosis as bridge and therapeutic challenge in the work-up for transcatheter aortic valve replacement. However, the significance of gender in outcomes following BAV remains controversial. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 664 consecutive patients who underwent BAV from January 2005 to December 2012. Patients were stratified according to gender. Clinical and procedural characteristics as well as in-hospital outcomes and 1-year mortality were collected. Cumulative survival curves for women and men were constructed using the Kaplan-Meier method and were compared by the log-rank test. Cox regression analysis was performed to identify the independent effect of sex on 1-year mortality. RESULTS: Of the 664 patients, 333 (52%) were women. Women had lower body surface area, tended to be frailer and were less likely to have history of coronary artery disease. Women were more likely to present with heart failure whereas men presented more commonly with chest pain. In hospital death was significantly higher in women compared to men, mainly driven by the difference in cardiac death (8.1% vs 3.9%, P = .02 and 6.3% vs 2.6%, P = .02 respectively). One-year mortality rates were similar in women and men (25.4% vs 29.4%, P = .42) and after multivariate analysis gender had no association with 1-year mortality (HR = 0.9, P = .65). CONCLUSIONS: Significant differences exist in baseline characteristics and presentation between genders. Although in hospital mortality after BAV was significantly higher in women, 1-year mortality was similar between women and men.

Multimodality Intravascular Imaging to Predict Periprocedural Myocardial Infarction During Percutaneous Coronary Intervention.

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study is to compare the relative merits of optical coherence tomography (OCT), intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), and near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) in patients with coronary artery disease for the prediction of periprocedural myocardial infarction (MI). BACKGROUND: Although several individual intravascular imaging modalities have been employed to predict periprocedural MI, it is unclear which of the imaging tools would best allow prediction of this complication. METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed 110 patients who underwent OCT, IVUS, and NIRS. Periprocedural MI was defined as a post-procedural cardiac troponin I (cTnI) elevation above 3× the upper limit of normal; analysis was also performed for cTnI ≥5× the upper limit of normal. RESULTS: cTnI ≥3× was observed in 10 patients (9%) and 8 patients had cTnI ≥5×. By OCT, minimum cap thickness was significantly lower (55 vs. 90 µm, p < 0.01), and the plaque burden by IVUS (84 ± 9% vs. 77 ± 8%, p < 0.01) and maximum 4-mm lipid core burden index by NIRS (556 vs. 339, p < 0.01) were greater in the cTnI ≥3× group. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified cap thickness as the only independent predictor for cTnI ≥3× the upper limit of normal (odds ratio [OR]: 0.90, p = 0.02) or cTnI ≥5× (OR: 0.91, p = 0.04). If OCT findings were excluded from the analysis, plaque burden (OR: 1.13, p = 0.045) and maximum 4-mm lipid core burden index (OR: 1.003, p = 0.037) emerged to be the independent predictors. CONCLUSIONS: OCT-based fibrous cap thickness is the most important predictor of periprocedural MI. In the absence of information about cap thickness, NIRS lipid core or IVUS plaque burden best determined the likelihood of the periprocedural event.

Optical coherence tomography assessment of the mechanistic effects of rotational and orbital atherectomy in severely calcified coronary lesions.

OBJECTIVES: This study sought to assess the mechanistic effect of rotational atherectomy (RA) and orbital atherectomy (OA) on heavily calcified coronary lesions and subsequent stent placement using optical coherence tomography (OCT). BACKGROUND: RA and OA are two main approaches to ablate coronary calcium. While small case reports have described the mechanistic effect of RA in calcified coronary lesions, there has been no imaging study to assess the effect of OA on coronary artery architecture and/or compare the effects of two atherectomy devices. METHODS: This study analyzed 20 consecutive patients with OCT imaging performed after atherectomy and after stent implantation, RA (n = 10) and OA (n = 10). RESULTS: Postatherectomy OCT analysis identified tissue modification with deep dissections in around a third of lesions after RA and OA; however, post OA dissections ("lacunae") were significantly deeper (1.14 vs. 0.82 mm, P = 0.048). Post OA/RA lesions with dissections had significantly higher percentage of lipid rich plaques and smaller calcification arcs as compared to plaques without dissections. Stents after OA were associated with a significantly lower percent of stent strut malapposition than post RA stents (4.36 vs. 8.02%, P = 0.038). CONCLUSIONS: Although the incidence of dissections was comparable between RA and OA cases, OA resulted in deeper tissue modifications (lacunae) as shown by OCT imaging. The finding might provide an explanation for a better stent apposition after OA as compared to RA. Their impact on long-term outcome needs to be determined.