Ridaforolimus eluting stent for the treatment of Japanese patients with coronary disease: 1 year outcomes of the JNIR study.

BACKGROUND: Japanese patients have shown improved outcomes after treatment with drug eluting stents compared with Western patients. Outcomes with the ridaforolimus-eluting EluNIR stent in Japanese patients are unknown. METHODS AND RESULTS: This was a multi-center trial in Japanese patients undergoing PCI with the ridaforolimus eluting EluNIR stent. A propensity-score matched analysis was performed with the EluNIR arm of the BIONICS trial. The matched cohort was compared with the Japanese patients for the primary endpoint of target lesion failure (TLF) in a non-inferiority study. 104 Japanese patients were compared with 410 matched patients from BIONICS. Baseline characteristics were similar except for more frequent multi-vessel disease in the BIONICS cohort. Post dilation was more likely in Japanese patients (90.4% vs. 64.6%, p < 0.001). TLF at 12 months was met by 2 patients (1.9%) in the JNIR study compared with 5.3% in the BIONICS group (Pnoninf = 0.0028). Rates of MI (0% vs. 4.7%, p = 0.03), target vessel MI (0% vs. 3.7%, p = 0.04), MACE (1.0% vs. 6.2%, p = 0.03) and TVF (1.0% vs. 6.9%, p = 0.02) were all significantly lower among Japanese patients. CONCLUSION: Treatment of Japanese patients with the EluNIR stent is associated with very low rates of adverse events, significantly fewer than seen in the BIONICS trial.

Sirolimus eluting coronary stent implantation in patients on maintenance hemodialysis: the OUCH study (outcome of cypher stent inhemodialysis patients).

BACKGROUND: Pivotal studies on drug-eluting stents have excluded hemodialysis (HD) patients. No quantitative coronary angiography (QCA) analysis has been reported. METHODS AND RESULTS: The OUtcome of Cypher stent in Hemodialysis patients (OUCH) Study is a prospective non-randomized single-arm registry designed to assess the results of sirolimus-eluting stents in HD patients, with follow-up QCA in an independent core laboratory. The primary endpoint was the occurrence of target-vessel failure (TVF) defined as cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), and target-vessel revascularization (TVR) at 1 year. A total of 117 patients were enrolled. The TVF rate was 24.9% (2.6% cardiac death, 1.4% MI, 23.9% TVR), and stent thrombosis was documented in 1 patient (0.9%). Coronary calcification was a predictor of TVF. Late lumen loss (LLL) averaged 0.69±0.93mm. The histogram of LLL showed that a total of 76% of lesions were distributed the same normally as that in normal renal function (average LLL 0.20±0.29mm), but 24% of lesions were outliers (average LLL 2.07±0.62mm). CONCLUSIONS: This report describes different clinical and QCA results in HD patients as higher TVF rate, different predictive factors, and different histogram of LLL compared with normal renal function. The different histogram of LLL was the existence of many outliers with the same average and the same deviation, suggesting the loss of sirolimus had an effect on a significant number of HD patients.

Acute myocardial infarction presenting with pharyngeal pain alone.

BACKGROUND: Pharyngeal pain alone due to acute myocardial infarction is rare. CASE REPORT: A 37-year-old man felt sudden pharyngeal pain. He was transferred to a medical facility under a misdiagnosis of pharyngitis. However, he was thereafter found to have acute myocardial infarction and thus was transferred to another hospital. An emergency coronary angiogram revealed complete occlusion of the right coronary artery and he underwent coronary angioplasty. The patient was later discharged ambulatory. CONCLUSION: A misdiagnosis of acute myocardial infarction can lead to unfavorable outcomes; therefore, physicians or emergency medical technicians should be aware of this disease even when a patient complains of sudden pharyngeal pain alone.

Matrix Gla protein is associated with coronary artery calcification as assessed by electron-beam computed tomography.

Matrix Gla protein (MGP) is an extracellular matrix protein with wide tissue distribution. It has been demonstrated that the expression of MGP is detected not only in the normal blood vessels but also calcified atherosclerotic plaques, and that MGP deficient mice develop extensive arterial calcification. MGP is thought to be a regulator of vascular calcification. A recent clinical study demonstrates the association between polymorphisms of the MGP gene and increased risk of myocardial infarction. However, there are no reports of the relationship between serum MGP levels and coronary artery calcification (CAC). We evaluated the severity of CAC using electron-beam computed tomography (EBCT), and measured serum MGP levels by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay in 115 subjects with suspected coronary artery disease. CAC scores were correlated with traditional risk factors, such as age, gender, hyper-tension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia and smoking. The serum MGP levels were lower in patients with CAC than in those without CAC (p<0.001). As the severity of CAC increased, there was a significant decrease in serum MGP levels. Serum MGP levels (U/L) were 116.7 +/- 20.3, 104.9 +/- 19.2, 95.2 +/- 15.2 and 82.2 +/- 19.7, (medians 115.5, 105.0, 94.8, and 81.9) for the subjects with normal (CAC score=0), mild (CAC score=1 to 99), moderate (CAC score=100 to 400), and severe (CAC score >400) coronary calcification, respectively. We found that serum MGP levels are inversely correlated with the severity of CAC. These data suggest a possible role for MGP in the development of vascular calcification.