Increasing Incidence of ST-Elevation Acute Coronary Syndrome in Young South Asian Population, a Challenge for the World? An Assessment of Clinical and Angiographic Patterns and Hospital Course of Premature Acute Myocardial Infarction.

The incidence of premature ischemic heart disease (IHD) is increasing because of urbanization, a sedentary lifestyle, and various other unexplored factors, especially in South Asia. This study aimed to assess the distribution of premature ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (STE-ACS) with its clinical and angiographic pattern along with hospital course in a contemporary cohort of patients who underwent primary percutaneous intervention at a tertiary care center in the South Asian region. We included consecutive patients of either gender diagnosed with STE-ACS and who underwent primary percutaneous intervention. Patients were stratified based on age as ≤40 years (young) and >40 years (old). Clinical characteristics, angiographic patterns, and hospital course were compared between the 2 groups. Of the total of 4,686 patients, 466 (9.9%) were young (≤40 years). Young patients had a lower prevalence of hypertension (40.8% vs 54.5%, p <0.001), diabetes (26.6% vs 36.4%, p <0.001), metabolic syndrome (14.8% vs 24%, p <0.001), history of IHD (5.8% vs 9.3%, p = 0.013) and a higher frequency of smoking (33% vs 24.7%, p <0.001), positive family history (8.2% vs 3.2%, p <0.001), and single-vessel involvement (60.1% vs 33.2%, p <0.001). The composite adverse clinical outcome occurrence was significantly lower in young patients (14.2% vs 19.5%, p = 0.006). On multivariable analysis, history of IHD in young, whereas age, Killip class III/IV, intubated, arrhythmias on arrival, diabetes, history of IHD, pre-procedure left ventricular end-diastolic pressure, ejection fraction <40%, and slow flow/no-reflow during the procedure were found to be the independent predictors of adverse clinical outcome in old patients. In conclusion, we have a substantial burden of premature STE-ACS, mostly in male patients potentially driven by smoking and positive family history. Despite favorable pathophysiology, with mostly single-vessel hospital courses of STE-ACS in the young equally lethal in nature.

Impact of COVID-19 on cardiovascular clinics: Are we ready for telemedicine?

Objective: The need for telemedicine was felt more than ever during the COVID-19 pandemic, which impacted health care worldwide. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the difficulties faced by patients in visiting the cardiac outpatient department during COVID-19, along with assessing the awareness and acceptability of telemedicine. Methods: In this cross-sectional study, selected patients presenting to outpatient department of a tertiary care cardiac hospital were interviewed regarding the difficulties faced by patients in visiting the outpatient department during COVID-19 and their awareness and acceptability of telemedicine using a self-designed structured questionnaire. Results: Of the 403 patients, 58.3% were male, the mean age was 53.04 ± 11.73 years, and most (77.7%) were urban residents. Ischemic heart disease was present in 69.5%, followed by hypertension (38.7%) and heart failure (29.3%). A total of 26.6% required emergency room visits. Limited appointments (55.6%) was the most common problem faced by patients during COVID-19, followed by financial issues (17.1%), fear of acquiring infection (13.4%), and limited mobility due to lockdown (22.6%). Only 12.2% were aware of telemedicine, 4.5% had previously used it, and 41.2% were willing to opt for telemedicine in the future. No internet access (39.2%) was the key barrier to the usage of telemedicine, followed by a lack of free medicine (39%) and a lack of a smart device (31.5%). Conclusion: Limited appointments due to COVID-19 restrictions has made it difficult for patients to visit the clinics, which has led to increased emergency room visits. Telemedicine awareness was found to be limited; however, many patients were willing to adopt it provided their limitations could be overcome.

Predilation Ballooning in High Thrombus Laden STEMIs: An Independent Predictor of Slow Flow/No-Reflow in Patients Undergoing Emergent Percutaneous Coronary Revascularization.

Background: Distal embolization due to microthrombus fragments formed during predilation ballooning is considered one of the possible mechanisms of slow flow/no-reflow (SF/NR). Therefore, this study aimed to compare the incidence of intraprocedure SF/NR during the primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with high thrombus burden (≥4 grade) with and without predilation ballooning for culprit lesion preparation. Methodology. This prospective descriptive cross-sectional study included patients with a high thrombus burden (≥4 grades) who underwent primary PCI. Propensity-matched cohorts of patients with and without predilation ballooning in a 1 : 1 ratio were compared for the incidence of intraprocedure SF/NR. Results: A total of 765 patients with high thrombus burden undergoing primary PCI were included in this study. The mean age was 55.75 ± 11.54 years, and 78.6% (601) were males. Predilation ballooning was conducted in 346 (45.2%) patients. The incidence of intraprocedure SF/NR was significantly higher (41.3% vs. 27.4%; p < 0.001) in patients with predilation ballooning than in those without preballooning, respectively. The incidence of intraprocedure SF/NR also remained significantly higher for the predilation ballooning cohort with an incidence rate of 41.3% as against 30.1% (p=0.002) for the propensity-matched cohort of patients without predilation ballooning with a relative risk of 1.64 (95% CI: 1.20 to 2.24). Moreover, the in-hospital mortality rate remained higher but insignificant, among patients with and without predilation ballooning (8.1% vs. 4.9%; p=0.090). Conclusion: In conclusion, predilation ballooning can be associated with an increased risk of incidence of intraprocedure SF/NR during primary PCI in patients with high thrombus burden.

CHA2 DS2 -VASc score, a simple clinical tool for early prediction of no-reflow phenomenon in patients undergoing emergency percutaneous coronary revascularization.

Introduction: Slow flow/no reflow (SF/NR) phenomenon during emergency percutaneous revascularization is a feared complication associated with increased risk of adverse outcomes. CHA2 DS2 -VASc score has been proposed for the risk stratification but a very limited evidences are available regarding the accuracy of this system. Therefore, we conducted this study to assess the predictive value of CHA2 DS2 -VASc score for predicting SF/NR phenomenon during primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods: This analytical cross-sectional study included 596 consecutive patients undergoing PCI for STEMI at a tertiary care cardiac center of Karachi, Pakistan. Baseline -VASc sore was calculated and development of SF/NR phenomenon during primary PCI was recorded. Predictive value of the score was assessed through area under the curve (AUC) of receiver operating characteristic curve analysis and sensitivity and specificity were computed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to assess the predictive strength of the score. Results: A total of 596 patients were included, mean age was 56.28±11.44 years, and 75.7%(451) were male. The slow/no reflow phenomenon during the procedure was observed in 36.6%(218) of the patients. CHA2 DS2 -VASc≥2 was observed in 50.2%(299) of the patients. The CHA2 DS2 -VASc score was significantly higher in SF/NR patients, 2.06±1.25 vs. 1.37±1.33; P<0.001. The AUC of CHA2 DS2 -VASc score was 0.652 [0.607-0.696], CHA2 DS2 -VASc≥2 had sensitivity and specificity of 65.6% [58.9% to 71.9%] and 58.3% [53.6% to 63.7%] respectively for predicting SF/NR. CHA2 DS2 -VASc≥2 was insignificant on multivariate with odds ratio of 1.48 [0.72 -3.04]; P=0.283. Conclusion: CHA2 DS2 -VASc risk stratification system has moderate discriminating power for the stratification of SF/NR phenomenon during primary PCI.

Comparison of Intracoronary Epinephrine and Adenosine for No-Reflow in Normotensive Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome (COAR Trial).

BACKGROUND: Intracoronary epinephrine has been effectively used in treating refractory no-reflow, but there is a dearth of data on its use as a first-line drug in normotensive patients in comparison to the widely used adenosine. METHODS: In this open-labeled randomized clinical trial, 201 patients with no-reflow were randomized 1:1 into intracoronary epinephrine as the treatment group and intracoronary adenosine as the control group and followed for 1 month. The primary end points were improvement in coronary flow, as assessed by TIMI (Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction) flow, frame counts, and myocardial blush. Secondary end points were in-hospital and short-term mortality and major adverse cardiac events. RESULTS: In all, 101 patients received intracoronary epinephrine and 100 patients received adenosine. Epinephrine was generally well tolerated with no immediate table death or ventricular fibrillation. No-reflow was more effectively improved with epinephrine with final TIMI III flow (90.1% versus 78%, P=0.019) and final corrected TIMI frame count (24±8.43 versus 26.63±9.22, P=0.036). However, no significant difference was observed in final grade III myocardial blush (55.4% versus 45%, P=0.139), mean reduction of corrected TIMI frame count (-25.71±11.79 versus -26.08±11.71, P=0.825), in-hospital and short-term mortality, and major adverse cardiac events. CONCLUSIONS: Epinephrine is relatively safe to use in no-reflow in normotensive patients. A significantly higher frequency of post-treatment TIMI III flow grade and lower final corrected TIMI frame count with relatively better achievement of myocardial blush grade III translate into it displaying relatively better efficacy than adenosine. Registration: URL: https://www.clinicaltrials.gov; Unique identifier: NCT04699110.