Treatment disparities in acute coronary syndromes, heart failure, and kidney disease.

It has been consistently observed that patients with renal dysfunction have more premature, severe, complicated, and fatal cardiovascular disease than age- and sex-matched individuals with normal renal function. There have been 4 major explanations for this finding: (1) positive confounding by third variables associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD), including diabetes mellitus and hypertension; (2) therapeutic nihilism or lesser use of beneficial therapies in CKD; (3) greater toxicities of therapies, such as bleeding from anticoagulants or contrast-induced kidney injury; (4) biological factors which result directly from CKD that work to promote and accelerate cardiovascular disease. In this paper, we focus on the issue of treatment disparities or therapeutic nihilism and its contribution to poor outcomes in the setting of acute coronary syndromes and acutely decompensated heart failure. This issue is important because if we can overcome barriers to the utilization of beneficial treatments, then clinical outcomes should improve over time.

Antirestenotic effects of a locally delivered caspase inhibitor in a balloon injury model.

BACKGROUND: The precise role of arterial barotrauma-mediated apoptosis in causing restenosis is unclear. The purpose of this study was to determine if a link exists between angioplasty-mediated medial smooth muscle cell apoptosis and subsequent neointimal hyperplasia. METHODS AND RESULTS: Bilateral iliac artery angioplasty was performed in 25 male New Zealand White rabbits. Simultaneous with balloon injury, each artery was treated locally with either the caspase inhibitor N-benzyloxycarbonyl-Val-Ala-Asp(Ome)-fluoromethylketone (ZVAD-fmk) or control. In the acute cohort that was survived to 4 hours (n=10, 7 high dose and 3 low dose), an apoptotic index was calculated using the terminal deoxynucleotidyl TUNEL method. In the intermediate cohort that was survived to 2 weeks (n=5), luminal reendothelialization was measured via CD-31 staining. In the chronic cohort that was survived to 4 weeks (n=10), neointimal area was measured. In the acute cohort, there was a 40% reduction in the apoptotic index with high-dose ZVAD-fmk (P=0.008) and a 33% reduction with low-dose ZVAD-fmk (P=0.08). At 2 weeks, there was no significant difference in the degree of luminal reendothelialization. However, at 4 weeks, there was a 33% (0.33+/-0.23 versus 0.22+/-0.20 mm2) (P<0.005) reduction in neointimal area in ZVAD-fmk-treated arteries. CONCLUSIONS: The local delivery of ZVAD-fmk during balloon injury inhibits smooth muscle cell apoptosis. This corresponds to a significant reduction in neointimal proliferation seen at 4 weeks without a significant change in the degree of reendothelialization at 2 weeks.