Catheter-Directed Thrombolysis or Catheter-Based Thrombectomy in Acute Pulmonary Embolism: Horses for Courses.

Venous thromboembolism is a common disorder encompassing both pulmonary embolism (PE) and deep vein thrombosis (DVT). In the United States, up to 2 million people are diagnosed with DVT and 600,000 with PE annually. The purpose of this review is to discuss the indications and evidence for catheter-directed thrombolysis versus catheter-based thrombectomy.

Intermediate and Late Outcomes With PCI vs CABG for Left Main Disease - Landmark Meta-Analysis of Randomized Trials.

PCI to improve survival is currently recommended as a reasonable alternative to CABG in patients with unprotected left main disease. However, RCTs to support this recommendation has generated mixed results and recently published EXCEL trial has sparked debate about differences in late mortality. To address this point, we performed landmark meta-analysis of 4 RCTs with 5 year follow up data - EXCEL, NOBLE, PRECOMBAT and SYNTAX LEFT MAIN. Overall, there was no significant difference in all-cause mortality between PCI and CABG at 5 years (RR = 1.03 [95% CI = 0.79-1.33]). However, there was apparent change in the direction of association before and after the 1 year landmark that underscores the need for long term follow up in these trials. In addition, we found that PCI was associated with significantly lower rate of intermediate stroke at 1 year (RR = 0.44 [0.24-0.82]) but higher rate of late MI after 1 year (3.31 [2.11-5.18]) compared to CABG.

Aortic Valve Replacement for Severe Aortic Stenosis Before and During the Era of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation.

Recent positive results of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI) in clinical trials have sparked debate on whether TAVI should be first line for all patients with aortic stenosis. However, limited evidence exists on the clinical impact of TAVI on a national level. Using the national inpatient sample (NIS) of hospital discharges in the United States from 2001 to 2016, we evaluated the rate of AVR and associated in-hospital outcomes in pre-TAVI and TAVI era. Hierarchical mixed effect modeling was used to assess for trend and calculate risk adjusted estimates. Annual volume of AVR increased from 49,357 in 2001 to 100,050 in 2016 (103% increase). Compared with the pre-TAVI era, mean annual change in volume of AVR was higher in the TAVI era (+2.9% vs +9.4%, respectively, p <0.001). In contrast, rate of in-hospital mortality decreased from 5.4% in 2001 to 2.7% in 2016 (50% decrease). Compared with the pre-TAVI era, magnitude of mean annual change in mortality was higher in TAVI era (-4.0% vs -6.7%, respectively, p = 0.04). Unlike SAVR for which risk-adjusted rate for most outcomes seems to have plateaued, TAVI demonstrated significant improvement from 2012 to 2016 for mortality (4.6% to 1.8%), acute kidney injury (15.1% to 2.6%) and nonroutine home discharge (63.6% to 44.6%). However, no significant change in the rate of stroke (2.4% to 2.1%) and pacemaker implantation remained high (8.1% to 9.4%). Lastly, median length of stay was shorter for TAVI compared with isolated SAVR (3 vs 8 days, respectively). In conclusion, the adoption of TAVI has led to increase in volume of AVR for severe aortic stenosis in the United States with favorable short-term outcome.

Discovery of an Experimental Model of Unicuspid Aortic Valve.

BACKGROUND: The epithelial growth factor receptor family of tyrosine kinases modulates embryonic formation of semilunar valves. We hypothesized that mice heterozygous for a dominant loss-of-function mutation in epithelial growth factor receptor, which are EgfrVel/+ mice, would develop anomalous aortic valves, valve dysfunction, and valvular cardiomyopathy. METHODS AND RESULTS: Aortic valves from EgfrVel/+ mice and control mice were examined by light microscopy at 2.5 to 4 months of age. Additional EgfrVel/+ and control mice underwent echocardiography at 2.5, 4.5, 8, and 12 months of age, followed by histologic examination. In young mice, microscopy revealed anatomic anomalies in 79% of EgfrVel/+ aortic valves, which resembled human unicuspid aortic valves. Anomalies were not observed in control mice. At 12 months of age, histologic architecture was grossly distorted in EgfrVel/+ aortic valves. Echocardiography detected moderate or severe aortic regurgitation, or aortic stenosis was present in 38% of EgfrVel/+ mice at 2.5 months of age (N=24) and in 74% by 8 months of age. Left ventricular enlargement, hypertrophy, and reversion to a fetal myocardial gene expression program occurred in EgfrVel/+ mice with aortic valve dysfunction, but not in EgfrVel/+ mice with near-normal aortic valve function. Myocardial fibrosis was minimal or absent in all groups. CONCLUSIONS: A new mouse model uniquely recapitulates salient functional, structural, and histologic features of human unicuspid aortic valve disease, which are phenotypically distinct from other forms of congenital aortic valve disease. The new model may be useful for elucidating mechanisms by which congenitally anomalous aortic valves become critically dysfunctional.