Sex differences in coronary angiographic findings in patients with stable chest pain: analysis of data from the KoRean wOmen’S chest pain rEgistry (KoROSE)

Background Focused evaluations on potential sex differences in the angiographic findings of the coronary arteries are scarce. This study was performed to compare the angiographic extent and localization of coronary stenosis between men and women. Methods A total of 2348 patients (mean age 62.5 years and 60% women) with stable chest pain undergoing invasive coronary angiography (CAG) were recruited from the database of the nation-wide chest pain registry. Obstructive coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined as ≥ 50% stenosis of the left main coronary artery and/or ≥ 70% stenosis of any other epicardial coronary arteries. Results Although women were older than men (64.4 ± 10.3 vs. 59.5 ± 11.4 years, P < 0.001), men had worse risk profiles including high blood pressure, more frequent smoking and elevated triglyceride and C-reactive protein. The prevalence of obstructive CAD was significantly higher in men than in women (37.0% vs. 28.4%, P < 0.001). Men had a higher prevalence of LM disease (10.3% vs. 3.5%, P < 0.001) and three-vessel disease (16.1% vs. 9.5%, P = 0.007) compared to women. In multiple binary logistic regression analysis, the risk of men having LM disease or three-vessel disease was 7.4 (95% confidence interval 3.48–15.97; P < 0.001) and 2.7 (95% confidence interval 1.57–4.64; P < 0.001) times that of women, respectively, even after controlling for potential confounders. Conclusions In patients with chest pain undergoing invasive CAG, men had higher obstructive CAD prevalence and more high-risk angiographic findings such as LM disease or three-vessel disease.

A rare cause of chest pain in paediatric age: a teenager with acute myocardial infarction due to spontaneous coronary artery dissection

A healthy 17-year-old boy was admitted to the emergency department presenting with a pressure-like sternal pain that started during exercise. His physical examination was normal. Twelve-lead ECG and transthoracic echocardiogram suggested a myocardial infarction. The patient was submitted to an invasive coronary angiography, which revealed a distal occlusion of the left anterior descending artery, due to a spontaneous coronary artery dissection. A balloon angioplasty was performed, with good results. Aetiological study did not discover any pathologic condition. Chest pain in paediatric age is a frequent complaint, despite not being usually caused by a serious condition. However, it is important to remember warning signs in order to diagnose life-threatening diseases, as soon as possible.

Fractional Flow Reserve in Choosing the Tactics of Interventional Treatment of Multilevel Coronary Artery Lesions

When choosing tactics for the treatment of patients with stable coronary artery disease, invasive coronary angiography remains the gold standard for diagnosis and is a crucial method in choosing tactics and volume of revascularization. However, in the presence of borderline (>50-70%), multilevel lesions of the coronary artery, there is a need for additional assessment of the physiological significance of each stenosis. The aim. To develop an algorithm to optimize the use of fractional flow reserve (FFR) measurement in interventional treatment of borderline (>50-70%), multilevel lesions of coronary arteries, to show the safety of “functional revascula­ rization” in comparison with traditional angiography. Materials and methods. The study included 32 patients who were treated at the National Amosov Institute of Cardiovascular Surgery in the period from 2017 to 2021 (the vast majority were men – 25 patients (67%) and 7 (33%) women) aged 60.3±8.3 years who had >50-75% multilevel lesions of one of the main coronary arteries according to selective invasive coronary angiography. The patients were divided into two groups: 1) Angiographic group (n = 17, 53%), where the volume and tactics of revascularization were determined only by angiography (maximum complete anatomical revascularization); 2) Functional group (n=15, 47%) (combination of angiography data and FFR measurement, the so-called “functional revascularization”). Conclusions. An effective and safe algorithm for measuring FFR in multilevel lesions (reducing the number of implanted stents) is shown.

472 Coronary disease in ADPKD patient: a giant coronary aneurysm

Aims Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) is a monogenic disorder driven by mutation of one of two genes: PKD1, which codifies polycystin-1, and PKD2, which codifies polycystin-2. The mutated proteins determine the formation of multiple renal cysts with a consequent decline in kidney function eventually leading to end-stage renal disease (ESRD). In the last decades the cardiovascular complications of ADPKD are emerging as the leading cause of death, but coronary artery disease (CAD) remains to be an uncommon complication. Methods and results A 60-year-old male patient affected by ADPKD, in dialysis treatment for ESRD, was admitted in 2020 to our hospital for invasive coronary angiography (ICA), checking eligibility for kidney transplantation. He had a previous history of hypertension and chronic ischaemic cardiomyopathy. ICA performed in 2017 for unstable angina assessed ectasiant coronary arteries with diffuse atherosclerotic disease (Figure 1), determining significant stenosis of the proximal left anterior descending artery and proximal circumflex artery, treated with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In 2020 was so repeated ICA, that evidenced a good result of the previous PCI, but pointed out a severe progression of ectasiant disease, which led to formation of giant aneurysm of the proximal tract of the right coronary artery, assessed at 3.8 cm × 2.5 cm (Figure 2), fistulizing to the right atrium and determining significant flow limitation in the following part of the right coronary artery. The absence of any symptoms and the lack of evidence of ongoing heart dysfunction, led our team to indicate conservative management and angiography follow-up. Conclusions Cardiovascular disease is a major cause of morbidity and death in ADPKD, underlying a tendency towards accelerated atherosclerosis, but wide data about coronary involvement are still lacking. ADPKD patients seem to have an increased risk of developing coronary aneurisms, but either due to the expression of mutated proteins in arterial smooth cells, to the accelerated atherosclerotic disease or to the combination of both, is still controversial. Consequently, it is difficult to differentiate the underlying pathophysiology of aneurysm formation in an individual patient and to speculate whether ADPKD patients have an increased risk of developing coronary aneurysms independent of their accelerated atherosclerotic process.

Non ST Elevation Myocardial Infarction: Correlation of RBC Distribution Width with Syntax Score

Background and objective: RDW (Red blood cells distribution width) is basically a numerical value and measure of the variability in size of erythrocytes. The main objective of the study is to analyse the correlation of RBC Distribution width with syntax score. Material and methods: This correlational study was conducted in Shalamar Medical & Dental College Lahore During June 2020 till December 2020. The data was collected from 120 patients. The age range for this study was 25 to 60 years and patients with non-STEMI undergoing invasive coronary angiography were included in the study. A comprehensive clinical history along with detailed history for major risk factors for IHD was taken from all patients followed by detailed clinical examination. Results: The data was collected from 120 patients of NSTEMI patients. There were 85 males and 35 females and mean age was 54.25±5.67 years. There were no statistical difference between low and intermediate SYNTAX group patients. There were 65.78% patients who had the history of smoking and 34.9% patients with hypertension. Conclusion: It is concluded that there is a strong and positive correlation between mean RDW and mean SYNTAX score in patients of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction. Key words: RDW, Score, Erythrocytes, SYNTAX

Importance of Visual Estimation of Coronary Artery Stenoses and Use of Functional Evaluation for Appropriate Guidance of Coronary Revascularization—Multiple Operator Evaluation

Background: Visual estimation (VE) of coronary stenoses is the first step during invasive coronary angiography. The aim of this study was to evaluate the accuracy of VE together with invasive functional assessment (IFA) in defining the functional significance (FS) of coronary stenoses based on the opinion of multiple operators. Methods: Fourteen independent operators visually evaluated 133 coronary lesions which had a previous FFR measurement, indicating the degree of stenosis (DS), FS and IFA intention. We determined the accuracy of FS prediction using several scenarios combining individual and group decision, considering IFA as deemed necessary by the operator or only in intermediate lesions. Results: The accuracy of VE in predicting FS was largely variable between operators (average 66.1%); it improved significantly when IFA was used either as per operator’s opinion (86.3%; p < 0.0001) or only in intermediate DS (82.9; p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between using IFA per observer’s opinion or only in intermediate DS lesions (p = 0.166). The poorest accuracy of VE for FS was obtained in intermediate DS lesions (59.1%). Conclusions: There are significant inter-observer differences in reporting the degree of DS, while the accuracy of VE prediction of FS is also largely dependent on the operator, and the worst performance is obtained in the evaluation of intermediate DS.

Aorta unfolding index as an indicator for coronary artery disease severity

Background Aortic unfolding index (AUI) is an independent predictor of cardiovascular events, yet there is scarcity in the literature on its association with the severity of coronary artery disease (CAD). Purpose To investigate the correlation between aortic unfolding and coronary artery disease severity score. Material and Methods The study included 115 patients with various degrees of CAD who underwent invasive coronary angiography and were retrospectively studied. AUI derived from non-contrast computed tomography (CT) of the chest was correlated to the Gensini score describing the CAD severity. Its sensitivity and specificity in the detection of severe stenosis were examined at various cutoff points. Results CAD severity was significantly correlated with the patient age and AUI. On multivariate regression analysis, AUI was an independent predictor of severe CAD. The best cutoff value was ≥66, with 94.9% sensitivity and 81.6% specificity. Conclusion AUI ≥66 was a predictor of severe CAD independent of the patient age.

Vasomotor Dysfunction in Patients with Ischemia and Non-Obstructive Coronary Artery Disease: Current Diagnostic and Therapeutic Strategies

Many patients who present with symptoms or objective evidence of ischemia have no or non-physiologically-significant disease on invasive coronary angiography. The diagnosis of ischemic heart disease is thus often dismissed, and patients receive false reassurance or other diagnoses are pursued. We now know that a significant proportion of these patients have coronary microvascular dysfunction and/or vasospastic disease as the underlying pathophysiology of their clinical presentation. Making the correct diagnosis of such abnormalities is important not only because they impact the quality of life, with recurring symptoms and unnecessary repeated testing, but also because they increase the risk for adverse cardiovascular events. The mainstay of diagnosis remains an invasive comprehensive physiologic assessment, which further allows stratifying these patients into appropriate “endotypes”. It has been shown that tailoring treatment to the patient’s assigned endotype improves symptoms and quality of life. In addition to the conventional drugs used in chronic stable angina, multiple newer agents are being investigated. Moreover, innovative non-pharmacologic and interventional therapies are emerging to provide a bail-out in refractory cases. Many of these novel therapies fail to show consistent benefits, but others show quite promising results.