Prediction of Bleeding by the PRECISE-DAPT Score in Patients with Carotid Artery Stenting.

PURPOSE: The predicting bleeding complications in patients undergoing stent implantation and the subsequent dual antiplatelet therapy (PRECISE-DAPT) score predicts the risk of bleeding in patients with dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs). Patients with carotid artery stenting (CAS) are also treated with DAPT. In this study, we aimed to investigate the performance of the PRECISE-DAPT score in predicting bleeding in patients with CAS. METHODS: Patients who had CAS between January 2018 and December 2020 were retrospectively enrolled. The PRECISE-DAPT score was calculated for each patient. The patients were divided into two groups based on their PRECISE-DAPT score: low < 25 and high ≥ 25. Bleeding and ischemia complications and laboratory data among the two groups were compared. RESULTS: A total of 120 patients with a mean age of 67.3 ± 9.7 years were included. Forty-three patients had high PRECISE-DAPT scores, and 77 patients had low PRECISE-DAPT scores. Six patients developed bleeding events during the six-month follow-up, and five of them were in the PRECISE DAPT score ≥ 25 group. The difference between the two groups regarding bleeding events at six months was significant (P = 0.022). CONCLUSION: The PRECISE-DAPT score might be used for predicting the bleeding risk in patients with CAS, and the bleeding rate was significantly higher in patients with a PRECISE-DAPT score ≥ 25.

Acute-Phase Stroke Outcome and Lipids.

Objectives: The aim of the study is to investigate the relationship of lipid subgroups with short-term mortality in acute stroke (AS). Methods: This retrospective study included 698 patients with AS who presented within 24 h of symptom onset. A hemogram from peripheral venous blood samples was taken at admission. Total cholesterol (TC), triglyceride (TG), high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), TC/HDL-C rate, and TG/HDL-C rate were recorded. Duration of follow-up was defined as 30 days. Results: 64 out of 698 patients died during the follow-up period. The mean TG, TG/HDL-C, and TC/HDL-C levels were significantly lower in the mortality group than the survival group. In the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, the cutoff values and area under the curve of the TG, TG/HDL-C, TC, and TC/HDL-C levels for short-term stroke mortality are as follows ([100.2 mg/dL, 0.648]; [2.52, 0.650]; [170.50 mg/dL, 0.598]; and [4.32, 0.640], respectively). In the Cox regression model, only TG and TG/HDL-C, according to their ROC cutoff values, were independent variables as short-term mortality predictors (TG ≤100.2 mg/dL, HR:2.413 , 95% CI: 1.345-4.327, P:0.004); (TG/HDL ≤2.56, HR: 2.720, 95% CI: 1.389-5.359, P:0.003, respectively). Conclusion: Dyslipidemia is a well-known as a risk factor of stroke. However, this study focused on the estimation that lower TG and TG/HDL-C levels at the time of hospital admission might be predictors of short-term mortality within a month of AS attack, which is a different subject from long term risk factors of stroke. Serum TG level may be a better indicator for mortality in the acute hypercatabolic trauma such as stroke.