Italian contributions to the history of acute myocardial infarction treatment.

The reduction in mortality from cardiovascular disease has been one of the crowning achievements of medicine over the past century. The evolution in management of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) has played a key role. Yet, the epidemiology of patients with STEMI continues to evolve. The Global Registry of Acute Coronary Events (GRACE) documented that STEMI accounted for ~36% of ACS cases. According to an analysis of a large USA database, the age-adjusted and sex-adjusted incidence of hospitalizations for STEMI significantly decreased from 133 per 100,000 person-years in 1999 to 50 per 100,000 person-years in 2008. Despite advances in both the early management and longer-term treatment of AMI, this condition still represents a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in western countries, making essential understanding its determinants. Early mortality gains noted in all AMI patients may not be sustained over the longer term and reciprocal trends of decreasing mortality after AMI accompanied by an increasing incidence of heart failure have been demonstrated in more recent years. Greater salvage of high-risk MI patients in recent periods may contribute to these trends. Over the past century, insights into the pathophysiology of AMI revolutionized approaches to management through different historical phases. This review provides a historic perspective on the underlying discoveries and pivotal trials that have been the foundation of the key changes of pharmacological and interventional treatment of AMI leading to the dramatic improvement of prognosis during the last tre decades, with special emphasis to the Italian contributions to the field.

[Ischemic burden or anatomic burden: which non-invasive testing in stable patients with suspected coronary artery disease?] / Valutazione anatomica o ricerca di ischemia: quale esame non invasivo preferire?

Guidance on the diagnostic approach to coronary artery disease has diverged as the increasing complexity of atherosclerotic clinicopathologic correlations has been revealed. Foundational concepts linking stenosis, the ischaemic cascade and prognosis have been re-evaluated in light of the underwhelming results from the percutaneous revascularization of stenotic vessels. These studies have revealed ischaemia to be an important marker for cardiovascular outcomes, but likely separate from the causal pathway of hard clinical events. Instead, observations from non-invasive anatomical imaging have redefined risk, shifting the focus away from discrete lesions towards total atherosclerotic burden, and with it elevating the role of computed tomography in contemporary diagnostic pathways. As it currently stands, functional and anatomical approaches provide complementary information; stress testing continues to provide guidance for potential revascularization in current guidelines, yet anatomical testing may additionally identify individuals likely to benefit from preventive therapy. While guidelines attempt to keep pace with the advancing technology and expanding literature, clinicians are left to apply clinical acumen to decide on a vast and confusing array of investigative options. This review will deal with strenghts and limitations of the current approach to the diagnosis of coronary artery disease, providing the rationale for both functional and anatomical approaches.

Long-term follow-up after invasive or conservative management of stable coronary disease: the ISCHEMIA-EXTEND study.

The ISCHEMIA trial found no statistical difference in the primary endpoint between initial invasive and conservative management of patients with chronic coronary disease and moderate-to-severe ischaemia on stress testing. However, an invasive strategy increased peri-procedural myocardial infarction (MI) but decreased spontaneous MI with continued separation of curves over time. Thus, in order to assess the long-term effect of invasive management strategy on mortality, the ISCHEMIA-EXTEND observational study was planned including surviving participants from the initial phase of the ISCHEMIA trial with a projected median follow-up of nearly 10 years. Recently, an interim report of 7-year all-cause, cardiovascular (CV), and non-CV mortality rates has been published showing no difference in all-cause mortality between the two strategies, but with a lower risk of CV mortality and higher risk of non-CV mortality with an initial invasive strategy over a median follow-up of 5.7 years. The trade-offs in CV and non-CV mortality observed in ISCHEMIA-EXTEND raise many important questions regarding the heterogeneity of treatment effect, the drivers of mortality, and the relative importance and reliability of CV vs. all-cause mortality. Overall, findings from ISCHEMIA and ISCHEMIA-EXTEND trials might help physicians in shared decision-making as to whether to add invasive management to guideline-directed medical management in selected patients with chronic coronary artery disease and moderate or severe ischaemia.

[Incidental myocardial mass: differential diagnosis, clinical approach and literature review]. / Massa cardiaca incidentale: diagnosi differenziale, approccio clinico e revisione della letteratura.

A 30-year-old male was evaluated in our hospital for the presence of transient palpitations. The ECG showed sporadic ventricular extrasystolic beats with normal ventricular depolarization and repolarization phases. Two-dimensional transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated a localized intraventricular myocardial mass (measuring 3 x 2 mm) in the basal lateral wall. To further characterize the mass, the patient was addressed to cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Noninvasive myocardial tissue characterization with T2-weighted sequences (with and without fat suppression), and T1-weighted after contrast suggested the presence of fat tissue associated with undiversified muscle tissue. The intramyocardial mass was not capsulated and partially infiltrated the surrounding myocardium. The imaging features suggested the diagnosis of a benign myocardial mass with mixed aspects between cardiac hamartoma and lipoma. To monitor mass growth and in the absence of new symptoms, the patient is followed up yearly with transthoracic echocardiography, and with cardiac MRI exams every 3 years. This case highlights the utility of cardiac MRI to assess a myocardial mass noninvasively and delineate its anatomy and tissue characterization, which potentially avoids myocardial biopsy.

Prescription at discharge of recommended treatments for secondary prevention in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction according to reperfusion strategies. Results from the IN-ACS outcome study.

PURPOSE: To analyse discharge prescription of recommended treatments in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) according to reperfusion strategies. METHODS: IN-ACS (Italian Network on Acute Coronary Syndromes) Outcome, an observational, multicenter study, enrolled 6045 ACS patients admitted within 48 h. In the present study we compared the discharge prescription rates of secondary prevention drugs among the 2144 patients with STEMI (72.5% men, age 65+/-13 years) who received primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI) 1044 (48.7%) or thrombolytic therapy (TT) 575 (26.8%) or no reperfusion treatment (NR) 525 (24.5%). RESULTS: Despite the higher risk profile, NR patients respect to pPCI and TT were less frequently receiving antiplatelet (93.0% versus 99.7% versus 96.4%), dual antiplatelet (57.9% versus 93.9% versus 62.8%), beta-blockers (71.2% versus 82.9 versus 75.0%) and statins (68.4% versus 78.6% versus 76.9%) (P <0.0001) at discharge. After multivariable analysis, NR respect to pPCI was an independent predictor of not receiving antiplatelet (OR: 19.6; 95% CI: 6.0-62.5), dual antiplatelet (OR: 10.2; 95% CI: 7.6-13.5), beta-blocker (OR: 1.6; 95% CI: 1.3-2.0). CONCLUSIONS: According to our results NR patients with STEMI, despite their higher risk profile, were less likely to receive the recommended drugs at discharge compared to patients treated with pPCI.

Impact of thrombus aspiration on myocardial tissue reperfusion and left ventricular functional recovery and remodeling after primary angioplasty.

BACKGROUND: Failure to achieve myocardial reperfusion often occurs during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients with myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation. We hypothesized that manual thrombus aspiration during primary PCI would favorably influence tissue-level myocardial perfusion and left ventricular (LV) functional recovery and remodeling. METHODS AND RESULTS: We prospectively randomized 111 patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction to either standard or thrombus-aspiration PCI. Primary end point of the study was postprocedural incidence of ST-segment resolution >or=70%. Secondary end points included Thrombolysis in Myocardial Infarction (TIMI) myocardial perfusion grade >or=2, the combination of TIMI myocardial perfusion grade >or=2 and ST-segment resolution >or=70%, post-PCI TIMI grade 3 flow, corrected TIMI frame count, myocardial contrast echocardiography score index, the absence of persistent ST-segment deviation, and time course of wall-motion score index, LV ejection fraction, and LV volume in the 2 groups. The incidence of ST-segment resolution >or=70% was 71% and 39% in the thrombus-aspiration and standard PCI groups, respectively (odds ratio, 3.7; 95% CI, 1.7 to 8.3; P=0.001). TIMI myocardial perfusion grade >or=2 was attained in 93% in the thrombus-aspiration group compared with 71% in the standard PCI group (P=0.006). The percentage of patients with ST-segment resolution >or=70% and TIMI myocardial perfusion grade >or=2 was significantly greater in the thrombus-aspiration group compared with the standard PCI group (69% versus 36%, P=0.0006). Myocardial contrast echocardiography score index was significantly higher in the thrombus-aspiration group compared with the standard PCI group (0.86+/-0.20 versus 0.65+/-0.31; P<0.0001). A significantly greater improvement in LV ejection fraction and in wall-motion score index from baseline to 6-month follow-up was observed in the thrombus-aspiration group compared with the standard PCI group (LV ejection fraction from 48+/-6% to 55+/-6% versus 48.7+/-7% to 49+/-8%, P<0.0001; wall-motion score index from 1.59+/-0.13 to 1.31+/-0.19 versus 1.64+/-0.20 to 1.51+/-0.26, P=0.008). Twelve patients (11%) developed LV remodeling at 6 months, 2 (4%) in the thrombus-aspiration group and 10 (18%) in the standard PCI group (P=0.02). CONCLUSIONS: Manual thrombus aspiration in the setting of primary PCI improves myocardial tissue-level perfusion as well as LV functional recovery and remodeling.

Shifting from pharmacological to systematic mechanical reperfusion therapy for acute myocardial infarction via a cooperating network: impact on reperfusion rate and in-hospital mortality.

BACKGROUND: Primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty is the preferred reperfusion strategy for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction in selected settings. Limited data are available about the clinical impact of the implementation of a systematic primary angioplasty infarct reperfusion program in the real world. METHODS AND RESULTS: We organized a comprehensive district network allowing the coordinated and timely transfer of patients with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction to the hub hospital with catheterization facilities in order to expand the use of mechanical reperfusion. Implementation of the network resulted in increased numbers of patients receiving reperfusion therapies (from 57.5% to 74.1%; P < 0.001). In addition, the proportion of elderly individuals (those aged > or = 75 years) who received a reperfusion therapy significantly increased (from 25.7% to 66.3%; P < 0.001). Accordingly, the proportion of patients not receiving reperfusion therapy dropped from 42.5% to 25.9%. Primary percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty usage increased from 24.5% to 73.1% (P < 0.001). As a consequence, in-hospital mortality decreased from 13.5% before establishment of the network to 6.0% (P = 0.016), and major adverse cardiac events decreased from 17.5% to 7.8% (P = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of a systematic primary angioplasty infarct reperfusion program improves reperfusion rate and reduces in-hospital mortality and total major adverse cardiovascular events.

A perspective on atrioventricular delay optimization in patients with a dual chamber pacemaker.

Atrioventricular delay (AVD) is critical in patients with DDD pacemakers (PM). Echo/Doppler evaluation of AVD providing the longest left ventricular filling time (FT) or the highest cardiac output (CO) is used for AVD optimization. Recently myocardial performance index (MPI) has been shown to improve by optimizing AVD. The aim was to compare the CO, FT, MPI derived optimal AVD, and to analyze systolic and diastolic performance at every optimal AVD. Twenty-five patients, 16 men 68 +/- 11 years, ejection fraction >or= 50%, with a DDD PM for third-degree AV block, without other major cardiomyopathies, underwent echo/Doppler AVD optimization. CO, FT, and MPI derived optimal AVDs were identified as the AVDs providing the highest CO, the longest FT, and the minimum MPI, respectively. Isovolumic contraction and relaxation time (ICT, IRT), ejection time (ET), ICT/ET, and IRT/ET ratios were also evaluated at every optimal AVD. CO, FT, and MPI derived optimal AVDs were significantly different (148 +/- 36 ms, 116 +/- 34 ms, and 127 +/- 33 ms, respectively). ICT/ET was similar at CO, FT, and MPI derived optimal AVD (0.22 +/- 0.10, 0.23 +/- 0.11, and 0.21 +/- 0.10, respectively). IRT/ET ratio was similar at FT and MPI derived optimal AVDs (0.34 +/- 0.15 and 0.33 +/- 0.15, respectively) and significantly shorter (P < 0.02) than at CO derived optimal AVD (0.40 +/- 0.15). Different methods indicate different optimal AVDs. However analysis of systolic and diastolic performance shows that different AVDs result in similar systolic or diastolic performance. At MPI optimized AVD, a high CO combined with the most advantageous conditions of both isovolumic contraction and relaxation phases is achieved.

Interatrial septum pacing avoids the adverse effect of interatrial delay in biventricular pacing: an echo-Doppler evaluation.

AIMS: Biventricular pacing (BVP) can improve haemodynamics in patients with dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) and left bundle branch block by reducing interventricular delay (IVD). Since in DCM interatrial delay (IAD) and IVD frequently coexist, the aim of this study was to test the hypothesis that IVD reduction associated with IAD produces an imbalance between the programmed right atrioventricular (AV) delay and the effective AV delay on the left, and that interatrial septum pacing (IASP) combined with BVP overcomes this adverse effect. METHODS AND RESULTS: IAD, IVD, left and right mechanical atrioventricular delay (L-RMAVD) were measured by echo-Doppler in 29 patients with BVP: 17 patients (Group A) had the atrial lead in the right atrial appendage, 12 patients (Group B) who experienced paroxysmal atrial fibrillation had the atrial lead on the interatrial septum. In Group A, LMAVD was significantly shorter than RMAVD (172 +/- 24 vs 207 +/- 24 ms, P<0.002), IAD was significantly longer than IVD (52 +/- 24 vs 21 +/- 18 ms, P<0.0001). In Group B, no differences were observed between LMAVD and RMAVD (187 +/- 32 vs 185 +/- 28 ms, NS), and between IAD and IVD (11 +/- 12 vs 13 +/- 16 ms, NS). CONCLUSIONS: IAD produces different left and right atrioventricular sequences in BVP. IASP combined with BVP, by resynchronizing both atria and ventricles, is able to avoid this adverse effect.