Medicine and: a blog about everything medicine.

This study investigated the clinical outcomes of intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for complex coronary-artery lesions compared to angiography-guided PCI. The study was a prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in South Korea, and 1639 patients were randomly assigned to undergo either intravascular imaging-guided PCI or angiography-guided PCI. In the intravascular imaging group, the choice between…

The study is a prospective, multicenter, open-label trial in South Korea that aims to compare the clinical outcomes of intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and angiography-guided PCI in patients with complex coronary-artery lesions. The trial randomly assigned 1639 patients in a 2:1 ratio, with 1092 patients in the intravascular imaging group and 547 patients…

The article discusses the importance of selecting the optimal antiplatelet agent in patients who have undergone percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), particularly in those with diabetes. The study aims to investigate cardiovascular outcomes with clopidogrel versus aspirin in patients with and without diabetes. The study is a post hoc analysis of the HOST-EXAM randomized clinical trial,…

The DELIVER trial evaluated the effectiveness of dapagliflozin in reducing the risk of time to first worsening heart failure (HF) event or cardiovascular death in patients with HF with mildly reduced or preserved ejection fraction (EF). In this prespecified analysis, the objective was to assess the impact of dapagliflozin on total (i.e., first and recurrent)…

In this study, researchers investigated the effects of bempedoic acid, an ATP citrate lyase inhibitor, on cardiovascular outcomes in patients who were unable or unwilling to take statins due to adverse effects. The study was conducted using a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled design with 13,970 patients, of whom 6,992 were assigned to the bempedoic acid group…

The study aimed to compare the quality of care and clinical outcomes of patients hospitalized for heart failure (HF) in rural versus urban hospitals in the US. The retrospective cohort study analyzed data from the Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure (GWTG-HF) registry, including 774,419 patients hospitalized for HF at 569 sites between January 2014 and…

Structural valve deterioration (SVD) is a condition where the implanted valve in the heart fails to function properly. This study aimed to understand the frequency, clinical outcomes, and predictors of hemodynamic SVD in patients undergoing self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) or surgery. The study analyzed data from four trials, including 4,762 patients with severe…

The study aimed to evaluate the prevalence and prognostic significance of bradyarrhythmias in persons screened for atrial fibrillation (AF) using an implantable loop recorder (ILR) compared to unscreened persons. The post-hoc analysis of the Implantable Loop Recorder Detection of Atrial Fibrillation to Prevent Stroke (LOOP) randomized clinical trial involved 6004 participants aged 70 years or…

This study aimed to compare the performance of short-term (10-year) and long-term (30-year) atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) risk prediction tools in young adults and evaluate the incidence of ASCVD associated with predicted short-term and long-term risk. The study included 414,260 young adults aged 18 to 39 years from a US integrated health care system and…

The Cardiovascular Abnormalities and Brain Lesions study aimed to investigate the association between left atrial strain (LAε) and left atrial strain rate (LASR) with ischemic stroke in older adults. The study was conducted from 2005 to 2010 and included 806 participants aged 55 years or older without prior history of stroke or atrial fibrillation. Annual…