DESIGN: A retrospective analysis of STEMI patients from 18 hospitals across Malaysia contributing to the Malaysian National Cardiovascular Database-acute coronary syndrome) registry (NCVD-ACS) year 2006-2013.
PARTICIPANTS: 16 517 patients diagnosed of STEMI from 18 hospitals in Malaysia from the year 2006 to 2013.
PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: In-hospital and 30 day post-discharge mortality.
RESULTS: CS complicates 10.6% of all STEMIs in this study. They had unfavourable premorbid conditions and poor outcomes. The in-hospital mortality rate was 34.1% which translates into a 7.14 times mortality risk increment compared with STEMI without CS. Intravenous thrombolysis remained as the main urgent reperfusion modality. Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) in CS conferred a 40% risk reduction over non-invasive therapy but were only done in 33.6% of cases. Age over 65, diabetes mellitus, hypertension, chronic lung and kidney disease conferred higher risk of mortality.
CONCLUSION: Mortality rates of CS complicating STEMI in Malaysia are high. In-hospital PCI confers a 40% mortality risk reduction but the rate of PCI among our patients with CS complicating STEMI is still low. Efforts are being made to increase access to invasive therapy for these patients.
METHODS: We included ischaemic stroke cases admitted to Sarawak General Hospital between June 2013 and August 2018 from Malaysia National Stroke Registry. We performed descriptive analyses on patient demographics, cardiovascular risk factors, prior medications, smoking status, arrival time, thrombolysis rate, Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)-Stroke measures, and outcomes at discharge. We also numerically compared the results from Sarawak with the published data from selected national and international cohorts.
RESULTS: We analysed 1435 ischaemic stroke cases. The mean age was 60.1±13.2 years old; 64.9% were male; median baseline National Institute of Health Stroke Scale was seven points. Hypertension was the most prevalent risk factor of ischaemic stroke; 12.7% had recurrent stroke; 13.7% were active smokers. The intravenous thrombolysis rate was 18.8%. We achieved 80-90% in three GWTG-Stroke performance measures and 90-98% in four additional quality measures in our ischaemic stroke management. At discharge, 57% had modified Rankin Scale of 0-2; 6.7% died during hospitalisation. When compared with selected national and international data, patients in Sarawak were the youngest; Sarawak had more male and more first-ever stroke. Thrombolysis rate in Sarawak was higher compared with most studies in the comparison. Functional outcome at discharge in Sarawak was better than national cohort but still lagging behind when compared with the developed countries. In-hospital mortality rate in Sarawak was slightly lower than the national data but higher when compared with other countries.
CONCLUSION: Our study described characteristics, management, and outcomes of ischaemic stroke in Sarawak. We achieved high compliance with most of GTWG-Stroke performance and quality indicators. Sarawak had better outcomes than the national results on ischaemic stroke. However, there is still room for improvement when compared with other countries. Actions are needed to reduce the cardiovascular burdens for stroke prevention, enhance healthcare resources for stroke care, and improve intravenous thrombolysis treatment in Sarawak.
BACKGROUND: Few data regarding the safety and effectiveness of self-apposing sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent are available.
METHODS: 278 patients (30% stable coronary artery disease, 70% acute coronary syndromes, and 54% on unprotected left main) treated with sirolimus eluting Stentys stent were retrospectively included in the self-aPposing, bAlloon-delivered, siRolimus-eluting stent for the Treatment of the coronary Artery disease multicenter registry. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, target lesion revascularization, stent thrombosis) were the primary end-point, single components of MACE were the secondary ones.
RESULTS: After 13 months (interquartile range 5-32), MACE was 14%. Stent thrombosis occurred in 3.9% of the patients (2.5% definite stent thrombosis and 1.4% probable stent thrombosis), 66% of them presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) at admission. Cardiovascular death, target lesion revascularization and myocardial infarction was 4.7%, 8.3%, and 7.2%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, risk of MACE was increased by diabetes (hazard ratios 4.76; P = 0.002) but was not affected by the indication leading to sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent implantation (marked vessel tapering vs. coronary ecstasies, hazard ratios 0.74, P = 0.71).
CONCLUSION: Sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent may represent a potential solution for specific coronary anatomies such as bifurcation, ectasic, or tapered vessels. Risk of stent thrombosis appears related to clinical presentation with STEMI and to anatomic features, stressing the importance of the use of intracoronary imaging for self-expandable stents implantation.
BACKGROUND: SES may provide a valuable option to treat distal ULM, particularly when significant caliber gaps with side branches are observed.
METHODS: Patients from the multicenter SPARTA (clinicaltrials.gov: NCT02784405) and FAILS2 registries were included. Propensity-score with matching was performed to account for the lack of randomization. Primary end-point was the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, a composite of all cause death, myocardial infarction, target lesion revascularization [TLR], unstable angina and definite stent thrombosis [ST]). Single components of MACE were the secondary end-points.
RESULTS: Overall, 151 patients treated with SES and 1270 with DES-II were included; no differences in MACE rate at 250 days were observed (9.8% vs. 11.5%, P = 0.54). After propensity score with matching, 129 patients treated with SES and 258 with DES-II, of which about a third of female gender, were compared. After a follow-up of 250 days, MACE rate did not differ between the two groups (9.9% vs. 8.5%, P = 0.66), as well as the rate of ULM TLR (1.6% vs. 3.1%, P = 0.36) and definite ST (0.8% vs. 1.2%, P = 0.78). These results were consistent also when controlling for the treatment with provisional vs. 2-stents strategies for the ULM bifurcation.
CONCLUSION: SES use for ULM treatment was associated with a similar MACE rate compared to DES-II at an intermediate-term follow-up. SES might represent a potential option in this setting.
OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study was to compare the health care of FH in countries of the Asia-Pacific region and Southern Hemisphere.
METHODS: A series of questionnaires were completed by key opinion leaders from selected specialist centers in 12 countries concerning aspects of the care of FH, including screening, diagnosis, risk assessment, treatment, teaching/training, and research; the United Kingdom (UK) was used as the international benchmark.
RESULTS: The estimated percentage of patients diagnosed with the condition was low (overall <3%) in all countries, compared with ∼15% in the UK. Underdetection of FH was associated with government expenditure on health care (ϰ = 0.667, P
BACKGROUND: Recently published randomized trials comparing BMS to DES with a focus on shortened dual-antiplatelet therapy reported incidences of stent thrombosis (ST) and bleeding complications (LEADERS FREE) in favor of drug eluting stents (DES).
METHODS: Data of previously published large-sale, international, single-armed, multicenter, observational studies of ultra-thin PF-SES, and BMS were propensity score (PS) matched for selected lesion morphological and cardiovascular risk factors to compare target lesion revascularization (TLR), myocardial infarction, cardiac death, major adverse cardiac events (MACE), bleeding complications and ST rates. Primary endpoint in both studies was TLR at 9 months.
RESULTS: At 9 months the rates of TLR was significantly lower in the PF-SES group as compared with patients treated with the BMS analogue of identical stent design (1.4% vs. 4.6%, P = 0.005). Likewise the 9-month MACE rates were lower in the PF-SES group (3.2% vs. 8.7%, P = 0.001) whereas there were no differences in the accumulated ST rates (0.5% vs. 1.5%, P = 0.109). Overall accumulated bleeding incidences (BARC 1-5) were not significantly different between PF-SES and BMS patients (1.8% vs. 2.7%, p = 0.388).
CONCLUSIONS: PF-SES are superior over analogue BMS of identical stent architecture in daily clinical routine with lower rates of TLR and MACE in a PS-matched, unselected patient population without differences in accumulated ST rates and bleeding frequencies given the currently favored postprocedural comedication (ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT02629575).
METHODS: SUDOSCAN, a non-invasive tool, provides an age-adjusted electrochemical skin conductance (ESC) composite score incorporating hands/feet ESC measurements, with a score ≤53 indicating sudomotor dysfunction. A consecutive cohort of 2833 Chinese adults underwent structured diabetes assessment in 2012-13; 2028 participants without preexisting cardiovascular disease (CVD) and CKD were monitored for incident cardiovascular-renal events until 2015.
RESULTS: In this prospective cohort {mean age 57.0 [standard deviation (SD) 10.0] years; median T2D duration 7.0 [interquartile range (IQR) 3.0-13.0] years; 56.1% men; 72.5% never-smokers; baseline ESC composite score 60.7 (SD 14.5)}, 163 (8.0%) and 25 (1.2%) participants developed incident CKD and CVD, respectively, after 2.3 years of follow-up. The adjusted hazard ratios (aHRs) per 1-unit decrease in the ESC composite score for incident CKD, CVD and all-cause death were 1.02 [95% confidence interval (CI) 1.01-1.04], 1.04 (1.00-1.07) and 1.04 (1.00-1.08), respectively. Compared with participants with an ESC composite score >53, those with a score ≤53 had an aHR of 1.56 (95% CI 1.09-2.23) for CKD and 3.11 (95% CI 1.27-7.62) for CVD, independent of common risk markers. When added to clinical variables (sex and duration of diabetes), the ESC composite score improved discrimination of all outcomes with appropriate reclassification of CKD risk.
CONCLUSIONS: A low ESC composite score independently predicts incident cardiovascular-renal events and death in T2D, which may improve the screening strategy for early intervention.
OBJECTIVE: We examined the association between sweet-beverage consumption (including total, sugar-sweetened, and artificially sweetened soft drink and juice and nectar consumption) and pancreatic cancer risk.
DESIGN: The study was conducted within the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition cohort. A total of 477,199 participants (70.2% women) with a mean age of 51 y at baseline were included, and 865 exocrine pancreatic cancers were diagnosed after a median follow-up of 11.60 y (IQR: 10.10-12.60 y). Sweet-beverage consumption was assessed with the use of validated dietary questionnaires at baseline. HRs and 95% CIs were obtained with the use of multivariable Cox regression models that were stratified by age, sex, and center and adjusted for educational level, physical activity, smoking status, and alcohol consumption. Associations with total soft-drink consumption were adjusted for juice and nectar consumption and vice versa.
RESULTS: Total soft-drink consumption (HR per 100 g/d: 1.03; 95% CI: 0.99, 1.07), sugar-sweetened soft-drink consumption (HR per 100 g/d: 1.02; 95% CI: 0.97, 1.08), and artificially sweetened soft-drink consumption (HR per 100 g/d: 1.04; 95% CI: 0.98, 1.10) were not associated with pancreatic cancer risk. Juice and nectar consumption was inversely associated with pancreatic cancer risk (HR per 100 g/d: 0.91; 95% CI: 0.84, 0.99); this association remained statistically significant after adjustment for body size, type 2 diabetes, and energy intake.
CONCLUSIONS: Soft-drink consumption does not seem to be associated with pancreatic cancer risk. Juice and nectar consumption might be associated with a modest decreased pancreatic cancer risk. Additional studies with specific information on juice and nectar subtypes are warranted to clarify these results.
METHODS: 79 patients with DLBCL (nodal, 59% and extranodal, 41%) treated with rituximab combined with cyclophosphamide, doxorubicin, vincristine and prednisone (R-CHOP) therapy were selected. Expression levels of BCR and linked signalling pathway molecules were inter-related with Lymph2Cx-based cell of origin (COO) types and overall survival (OS).
RESULTS: Activated B-cell (ABC) type DLBCL constituted 49% (39/79) compared with germinal centre B-cell (GCB) type DLBCL (29/79; 37%) and revealed poor prognosis (p=0.013). In ABC-DLBCL, high BTK expression exerted poor response to R-CHOP, while OS in ABC-DLBCL with low BTK expression was similar to GCB-DLBCL subtype (p=0.004). High LYN expression coupled with a poor OS for ABC-DLBCL as well as GCB-DLBCL subtypes (p=0.001). Furthermore, high coexpression of BTK/LYN (BTKhigh/LYNhigh) showed poor OS (p=0.019), which linked with upregulation of several genes associated with BCR repertoire and nuclear factor-kappa B pathway (p<0.01). In multivariate analysis, high BTK and LYN expression retained prognostic significance against established clinical predictive factors such as age, International Prognostic Index and COO (p<0.05).
CONCLUSIONS: Our data provide a clear association between high BCR activity in DLBCL and response to therapy in a distinct population. Molecular data provided here will pave the pathway for the provision of promising novel-targeted therapies to patients with DLBCL in Southeast Asia.