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Elevated blood pressure remains a major cause of cardiovascular disease, disability, and premature death in Austria, with suboptimal rates of detection, treatment and control also in recent years. Management of hypertension is a common challenge for physicians with different spezializations. In an attempt to standardize diagnostic and therapeutic strategies and, ultimately, to increase the rate of patients with controlled blood pressure and to decrease the burden of cardiovascular disease, 13 Austrian medical societies reviewed the evidence regarding prevention, detection, workup, treatment and consequences of high blood pressure in general and in various clinical scenarios. The result is presented as the first national consensus on blood pressure. The authors and societies involved are convinced that a joint national effort is needed to decrease hypertension-related morbidity and mortality in our country.

Background: While contributors to system delay in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are well described, predictors of patient-related delays are less clear. The aim of this study was to identify predictors that cause delayed diagnosis of STEMI in a metropolitan system of care (VIENNA STEMI network) and to investigate a possible association with long-term mortality., Methods: The study population investigated consisted of 2366 patients treated for acute STEMI in the Vienna STEMI registry from 2003-2009. Multivariable regression modelling was performed for (a) onset of pain to first medical contact (FMC) as a categorical variable (pain-to-FMC⩽60 min versus >60 min: 'early presenters' versus 'late presenters'); and for (b) onset of pain-to-FMC (min) as a continuous variable., Results: After multivariable adjustment, female sex (odds ratio (OR) 1.348; 95% confidence interval (CI) 1.013-1.792; p=0.04) and diabetes mellitus (OR 1.355; 95% CI 1.001-1.835; p=0.05) were independently associated with late presentation in STEMI patients, whereas cardiogenic shock (OR 0.582; 95% CI 0.368-0.921; p=0.021) was a predictor of early diagnosis. When onset of pain-to-FMC was treated as a continuous variable, female sex ( p=0.003), anterior infarction ( p=0.004) and diabetes mellitus ( p=0.035) were independently associated with longer delay, while hyperlipidaemia ( p=0.002) and cardiogenic shock ( p=0.017) were strong predictors of short pain-to-FMC times. Three-year-all cause mortality was 9.6% and 11.3% ( p=0.289) for early and late presenters, respectively. After adjustment for clinical factors (sex, age, diabetes, current smoking, hypertension, hyperlipidaemia, cardiogenic shock and location of myocardial infarction) only a trend for increased risk of all-cause death was observed for longer pain-to-FMC times in a cox regression model (hazard ratio (HR) 1.012; 95% CI 0.999-1.025 for every 10 min of delay; p=0.061). Interestingly, early presentation within one hour of symptom onset was not associated with three-year mortality survival (HR 1.031; 95% CI 0.676-1.573; p=0.886)., Conclusion: In this all-comers study of STEMI patients in the VIENNA STEMI network, cardiogenic shock was the strongest predictor of short patient-related delays, whereas a history of diabetes and female sex were independent associated with late diagnosis in STEMI. After adjustment for clinical confounders, patient related delay did not significantly impact on long-term all-cause mortality.

Background: The Tako-Tsubo syndrome is still rarely diagnosed in patients presenting with symptoms of acute myocardial ischaemia. It is accompanied by wall motion abnormalities of the left ventricle but significant narrowings or occlusions of epicardial coronary arteries are absent. We investigated a potential relationship between electrocardiogram (ECG) changes, wall motion abnormalities and gender influence of Tako-Tsubo syndrome in an Austrian cohort of Tako-Tsubo syndrome patients., Methods and Results: We were recently able to describe four different anatomical types of Tako-Tsubo syndrome in 153 patients of the Austrian Tako-Tsubo syndrome registry. In the present retrospective analysis we investigated ischaemia-related changes in the first diagnostic ECG for the different types of Tako-Tsubo syndrome: the apical and the combined apical-midventricular type showed most frequently a ST elevation (41.1% and 35.3%), whereas the midventricular type of Tako-Tsubo syndrome was more often accompanied by T wave inversion (60%). ECG changes in relation to the Tako-Tsubo syndrome type were similar in women and men. There was no difference in the prevalence of clinical complications among patients presenting with ST elevation or left bundle branch block (14.5%) compared with patients without ST elevation (10.4%) (p=0.476)., Conclusion: Patients with Tako-Tsubo syndrome show characteristic ECG changes in the first diagnostic ECG which are associated to some extent with the anatomical type of Tako-Tsubo syndrome, but these ECG changes were not related to clinical outcome., (© The European Society of Cardiology 2015.)

Background and Aim: Systems of care to treat acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have been developed world wide in the past decade. Their effectiveness can only be proven by including and analyzing outcome data of consecutive patients in registries, which is not the case in the majority of STEMI networks. This study investigates 1-year mortality in STEMI patients in Vienna included over a 14 months time interval. The Vienna STEMI network is organized by a specific rotational system and offers both, primary percutaneous intervention (PPCI) and thrombolytic therapy (TT) as reperfusion strategies according to the recent guidelines., Methods: At the time of investigation, the Vienna STEMI network consisted of the Viennese Ambulance Systems and five high-volume interventional cardiology departments. This network has been organized in order to increase the number of STEMI patients admitted for PPCI and to offer the fastest available reperfusion strategy, in the majority PPCI but in selected patients also TT (STEMI of short duration, mainly anterior wall MI and mainly patients younger than 75 years), followed by rescue PCI in non-responders and elective angiography with/without PCI in responders to TT during the index hospital stay., Results: One-year all-cause mortality rates in the Vienna STEMI network by use of the fastest available reperfusion strategy were 13.4% in patients who received reperfusion therapy after 2 h of symptom onset and 7.4% in patients treated within 2 h; (p = 0.017). Whereas PPCI and TT demonstrated a nonsignificant difference in 1-year mortality rates when initiated within 2 h of symptom onset (10.0% vs 5.7%; p = 0.59), PPCI was more effective in acute STEMI of > 2 h duration as compared to TT but this difference did not reach statistical significance (12.1% vs 18.2%; p = 0.07)., Conclusions: The reassuring long-term results of the Viennese STEMI network are another example of a specific regional system of care to offer timely diagnosis, transfer and reperfusion in patients with STEMI. In contrast to other metropolitan areas where TT has almost completely abandoned, we still use pharmacological reperfusion as a backup in case of expected and unacceptable time delays for PPCI in order to reduce myocardial damage especially in patients with larger infarctions of short duration with a low risk of bleeding complications.

This was a prospective study comparing two groups: personalized and non-personalized treatment with P2Y12 receptor blockers during a 12-month follow-up. We aimed to investigate whether personalized antiplatelet treatment in patients with high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HTPR) improves clinical outcome. Platelet reactivity was assessed by adenosine diphosphate induced aggregation using a multiple electrode aggregometry (MEA) in 798 patients with coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Patients with HTPR received up to four repeated loading doses of clopidogrel or prasugrel in the personalized treatment group (n=403), whereas no change in the treatment strategy was undertaken in patients with HTPR in the non-personalized treatment group (n=395). There were fewer major adverse cardiac events (MACE) in the personalized treatment group than in the non-personalized treatment group (7.4% compared with 15.3% respectively; P<0.001). The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that the relative risk to develop MACE was 51% lower in the personalized treatment group as compared with the non-personalized treatment group [hazard ratio (HR)=0.49; 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.31-0.77; P<0.001]. Similarly, there was a clear net benefit of the personalized antiplatelet treatment over the non-personalized treatment (ischemic and bleedings events: 8.2% versus 18.7% respectively; HR=0.46; 95%CI: 0.29-0.70; P<0.001). Further analysis indicated that patients with aggregation values within the therapeutic window (21-49 units) experienced the lowest event rates (stent thrombosis and major bleeding: 2.5%) as compared with poor responders (≥50 units: 5.4%) or ultra-responders (0-20 units: 5.2%). In conclusion, personalized antiplatelet treatment might improve patients' outcome without increasing bleeding complications compared with the non-personalized treatment during a 12-month follow-up.

Objective: To evaluate the clinical utility of individualising dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in an all-comers population, including ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients., Setting: Tertiary care single centre registry., Participants: 1008 consecutive PCI patients with stent implantation, without exclusion criteria., Intervention: Peri-interventional individualisation of DAPT, guided by multiple electrode aggregometry (MEA), to overcome high on-treatment platelet reactivity (HPR) to ADP-induced (≥50 U) and arachidonic acid (AA)-induced aggregation (>35 U)., Outcome Measures: The primary efficacy end point was definite stent thrombosis (ST) at 30 days. The primary safety end point was thrombolysis in myocardial infarction (TIMI) major and minor bleeding. Secondary end points were probable ST, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular death and the combined end point: major cardiac adverse event (MACE)., Results: 53% of patients presented with acute coronary syndrome (9% STEMI, 44% non-ST-elevation). HPR to ADP after 600 mg clopidogrel loading occurred in 30% of patients (73±19 U vs 28±11 U; p<0.001) and was treated by prasugrel or ticagrelor (73%), or clopidogrel (27%) reloading (22±12 U; p<0.001). HPR to ADP after prasugrel loading occurred in 2% of patients (82±26 U vs 19±10 U; p<0.001) and was treated with ticagrelor (34±15 U; p=0.02). HPR to AA occurred in 9% of patients with a significant higher proportion in patients with HPR to ADP (22% vs 4%, p<0.001) and was treated with aspirin reloading. Definite ST occurred in 0.09% of patients (n=1); probable ST, myocardial infarction, cardiovascular death and MACE occurred in 0.19% (n=2), 0.09% (n=1) and 1.8% (n=18) of patients. TIMI major and minor bleeding did not differ between patients without HPR and individualised patients (2.6% for both)., Conclusions: Individualisation of DAPT with MEA minimises early thrombotic events in an all-comers PCI population to an unreported degree without increasing bleeding. A randomised multicentre trial utilising MEA seems warranted., Trial Registration Number: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov; NCT01515345., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://group.bmj.com/group/rights-licensing/permissions.)

Background and Objectives: Clopidogrel non-responsiveness is associated with adverse clinical outcome. We aimed to investigate whether individualized antiplatelet treatment in clopidogrel non-responders is an effective and safe strategy., Methods: This was a prospective non-randomized non-blinded study comparing two cohorts (guided and non-guided treatment) with a follow-up of 1-month. Responsiveness to clopidogrel was assessed by multiple electrode aggregometry (MEA) in 798 patients with coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). In the guided group (n=403) clopidogrel non-responders received repeated loading doses of clopidogrel or prasugrel, in the non-guided group (n=395) clopidogrel non-responders did not undergo any change in treatment., Results: Stent thrombosis occurred significantly less often in the guided group than in the non-guided group (0.2% vs. 1.9%; p=0.027). The multivariate Cox regression analysis showed that patients in the non-guided group were at a 7.9-fold higher risk to develop stent thrombosis compared to the guided group (OR: 7.9; 95% CI: 1.08-69.2; p=0.048). In line with this, acute coronary syndrome occurred significantly less often in the guided group than in the non-guided group (0% vs. 2.5%; p=0.001) whereas there was no difference in the event rates of cardiac death (2% vs. 1.3%; p=0.422) or major bleedings (1% vs. 0.3%; p=0.186)., Conclusion: Personalized antiplatelet treatment according to the platelet function testing with MEA resulted in an improved efficacy with an equal safety compared to the standard treatment., (Copyright © 2012 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Current guidelines still recommend the bolus and infusion administration of glycoprotein IIbIIIa inhibitors in patients with high-risk acute coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. We sought to evaluate the extent of platelet inhibition by a blocking and bridging strategy with intracoronary abciximab bolus-only administration and oral loading of adenosine diphosphate receptor antagonists., Patients and Methods: Fifty-six consecutive high-risk acute coronary syndrome patients with bolus-only abciximab administration (0.25 mg/kg i.c.) and loading with 600 mg clopidogrel (55%) or 60 mg prasugrel (45%) were included in this study. Platelet aggregation induced by thrombin receptor-activating peptide and adenosine diphosphate was measured by multiple electrode aggregometry up to 7 days., Results: Thrombin receptor-activating peptide induced platelet aggregation was significantly suppressed for a minimum of 48 h (45±17U) and returned to a normal range (>84 U) after 6 days (90±26U; p<0.001). Co-medication with prasugrel significantly reduced adenosine diphosphate-induced (p=0.002) and thrombin receptor-activating peptide-induced (p=0.02) platelet aggregation compared with clopidogrel throughout the observation period. No stent thrombosis or repeat myocardial infarction occurred at 30-day follow-up., Conclusions: Immediate blocking of platelet aggregation in high-risk acute coronary syndrome patients by intracoronary abciximab bolus-only administration and bridging to prolonged inhibition via oral blockade of ADP receptors effectively inhibited overall platelet reactivity for at least 48 h, questioning the value of continuous abciximab infusion. Co-medication with prasugrel vs. clopidogrel synergistically augmented platelet inhibition., (Copyright © 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Tako-Tsubo syndrome (TS) is a still rarely diagnosed clinical syndrome, which is characterized by acute onset of chest pain, transient cardiac dysfunction with (frequently) reversible wall motion abnormalities (WMAs), but with no relevant obstructive coronary artery disease., Methods and Results: Among 179 consecutive patients with proven diagnosis of TS that were retrospectively analysed in this multicentre registry, women represented the majority of patients (94%) while only 11 men (6%) developed TS. Mean age was 69.1±11.5 years (range 35-88 years). Cardinal symptoms of TS, which led to admission, were acute chest pain (82%) and dyspnoea (32%), respectively. All patients demonstrated typical WMAs, whereby four different types of WMAs could be defined: (1) a more common apical type of TS (n=89; 50%); (2) a combined apical and midventricular form of TS (n=23; 13%); (3) the midventricular TS (n=6; 3%); and (4) an unusual type of basal WMAs of the left ventricle (n=3). Only in 101 patients (57%), a clear causative trigger for onset of symptoms could be identified. In-hospital cardiovascular complications occurred in 25 patients (14%) and consisted of cardiac arrhythmias in 10 patients (40%), cardiogenic shock in six patients (24%), cardiac decompensation in eight patients (32%) and cardiovascular death in one patient, respectively. Echocardiographic control of left ventricular function after the initial measurement was available in almost 70% of the patients: complete recovery of WMAs was found in 73 patients (58.87%); 49 patients (39.52%) showed persistent WMAs. Recurrences of TS were only seen in four patients. During the follow-up period, 13 patients died: three of cardiovascular causes and 10 of non-cardiac causes. In-hospital mortality was 0.6%, 30-day mortality was 1.3% and 2-year mortality was 6.7%., Conclusions: This study represents to date the largest series of patients suffering from TS in Austria and worldwide. Similar to others, in our series the prevalence of TS was significantly higher in women than in men, while in contrast to other studies, the apical type of TS was detected most frequently. The similar clinical presentation of TS patients to the clinical picture of acute myocardial infarction demonstrates the importance of immediate coronary angiography for adequate differential diagnosis of TS. TS is not necessarily a benign disease due to cardiovascular complications as well as persistent WMAs with delayed recovery.

We present the case of a 51-year-old male patient who received adjuvant chemotherapy consisting of oxaliplatin, bolus and continuous 5-fluorouracil (5-FU) and leucovorin after anterior resection because of locally advanced rectal cancer. Preoperative chemotherapy with capecitabine (an oral 5-FU prodrug) had been well tolerated. Two days after initiation of the first course of chemotherapy, the patient reported typical chest pain. The ECG showed ST elevations and prominent T waves in almost all leads. Due to suspicion of a high-risk acute coronary syndrome, an urgent cardiac catheterization was performed. It showed a generally reduced coronary flow with multiple significant stenoses (including the ostia of the left and right coronary artery), as well as a highly reduced left ventricular function with diffuse hypokinesia. Due to the meanwhile completely stable situation of the patient after medical acute coronary syndrome treatment, no ad hoc intervention was performed to allow further discussion of the optimal management. Thereafter, the patient remained clinically asymptomatic, without any rise in cardiac necrosis parameters; only NT-pro-BNP was significantly elevated. A control cardiac catheterization 2 days later revealed a restored normal coronary artery flow with only coronary calcifications without significant stenoses, as well as a normal left ventricular ejection fraction. Cardiovascular symptoms occurred on the second day of continuous 5-FU treatment. As cardiotoxic effects seem to appear more frequently under continuous application of 5-FU, compared to the earlier established 5-FU bolus regimens, treating medical oncologists should pay special attention to occurring cardiac symptoms and immediately interrupt 5-FU chemotherapy and start a cardiologic work-up.

Based on the evidence from large clinical and epidemiological studies indicating an independent prognostic role of heart rate in cardiovascular disease, the assessment and correction of elevated heart rate is of significant prognostic relevance. In the present study conducted with the support of 74 specialists of Internal Medicine in 2009 in Austria, heart rate in patients with coronary heart disease (CHD) and chronic stable angina pectoris was evaluated in relation to pre-existing and concomitant diseases, angina-severity (CCS), angina-symptoms and treatment. For all variables, descriptive statistical analyses were performed according to three predefined groups with heart rates <60 bpm (HR-1), 60-70 bpm (HR-2), and >70 bpm (HR-3). Of the 1280 patients 21.8% had a heart rate of <60 bpm, 39.6% of 60-70 bpm, and 38.5% of >70 bpm. A significant association was shown between elevated heart rate and concomitant disease, e.g., peripheral artery disease (p = 0.046), psoriasis (p = 0.029), previous acute coronary syndrome (p = 0.001), COPD (p < 0.001), diabetes mellitus (p = 0.004), and depression (p < 0.001). CCS-severity was correlated with heart rates (mean values; CCS-0: 66.8 bpm, CCS-IV: 77.5 bpm). Angina-pectoris (AP) symptoms were more common in patients with heart rates of >70 bpm (HR-3: 1,2 AP-events/week; HR-2: 1 AP-events/week; HR-1: 0,7 AP events/week; each time p < 0.001). The majority of patients were treated with betablockers (74%); yet, the average dose was approximately half the maximal recommended dose. Despite inadequate heart rate reduction in patients on betablockers, selective heart rate lowering agents such as ivabradine were used in only 1.6% of patients. Overall, these results illustrate that heart rate as an important therapeutic target in CHD-patients with chronic stable angina is still underestimated in contemporary clinical practice.