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We aimed to investigate the relationship between left atrial (LA) reverse remodeling and prognosis of heart failure (HF) with recovered ejection fraction (EF) (HFrecEF). Among 1,246 patients with acute heart failure enrolled in the prospective longitudinal follow-up study, 397 patients with HF with mildly-reduced EF and with reduced EF at discharge were analyzed. Echocardiography was performed during the index hospitalization and at the 6-month follow-up after discharge. They were divided into non-HFrecEF (n = 227) and HFrecEF (n = 170) groups. The primary outcome measure was a composite of all-cause death or hospitalization for HF. The cumulative 180-day incidence of the primary outcome measure after follow-up echocardiography was significantly lower in the HFrecEF group than in the non-HFrecEF group (8.9% versus 23.4%, log-rank P = 0.0002). LA reverse remodeling was associated with a lower cumulative 6-month incidence of the primary outcome measure in the HFrecEF group (4.7% versus 18.0%; HR: 0.27, 95%CI: 0.09–0.79, P = 0.01), but not in the non-HFrecEF group (24.4% versus 22.6%; HR: 1.13, 95%CI: 0.65–1.96, P = 0.28) with a significant LA reverse remodeling-by-HFrecEF interaction (P for interaction = 0.02). Combination of left ventricular and atrial reverse remodeling may help in improving HF risk stratification. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Activities of daily living (ADL) are important prognostic factors for heart failure. The functional independent measure (FIM) has emerged as a comprehensive valid measure of ADL from both physical and cognitive perspectives. This study aimed to investigate the prognostic impact of the FIM score on clinical outcomes in hospitalized patients with acute decompensated heart failure (ADHF). We retrospectively analyzed 473 ADHF patients, with available pre-discharge FIM scores, admitted to our institution between May 2018 and May 2020. Primary outcome measures, defined as a composite of 180-day all-cause deaths and readmissions, were compared among three tertiles. The median FIM score was 102 (interquartile range: 85–115). Tertile 1 corresponded to an FIM score > 111 (n = 154), Tertile 2 to that of 90–111 (n = 167), and Tertile 3 to that of < 90 (n = 152). During follow-up, 28 deaths and 114 readmissions occurred. Patients with lower FIM scores were associated with a graded increase in the risk of primary outcome measure (p = 0.001). Even after multivariable adjustment, the results remained significant [Tertile 1 vs 3; adjusted hazard ratio: 3.28 (95% confidence interval: 1.72–6.56), p < 0.001; Tertile 2 vs 3; 2.32 (1.27–4.47), p = 0.006]. FIM scores were significantly associated with readmission or death within 180 days of discharge in hospitalized ADHF patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To date, clinical data on real-world treatment practices in Japanese patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) after bioprosthetic valve (BPV) replacement are needed. We conducted a large-scale, prospective, multicenter study to understand the actual usage of antithrombotic therapy and the incidence of thromboembolic and bleeding events in these patients, and to eliminate the clinical data gap between Japan and Western countries. Methods: This was an observational study, in patients who had undergone BPV replacement and had a confirmed diagnosis of AF, with no mandated interventions. We report the baseline demographic and clinical data for the 899 evaluable patients at the end of the enrollment period. Results: Overall, 45.7% of patients were male; the mean age was 80.3 years; AF was paroxysmal, persistent, or permanent in 36.9%, 34.6%, and 28.5% of patients, respectively. Mean risk scores for stroke and bleeding were 2.5 (CHADS2), 4.1 (CHA2DS2-VASc), and 2.5 (HAS-BLED). Many patients (76.2%) had comorbid hypertension and 54.8% had heart failure. Most BPVs (65.5%) were positioned in the aortic valve. Warfarin-based therapy, direct oral anticoagulant (DOAC)-based therapy, and antiplatelet therapy (without warfarin and DOAC) were administered to 55.0%, 29.3%, and 9.7% of patients, respectively. Conclusion: Patients enrolled into this study are typical of the wider Japanese AF/BPV population in terms of age and clinical history. Future data accruing from the observational period will contribute to future treatment recommendations and guide therapeutic decisions in patients with BPV and AF. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: UMIN000034485 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is unknown whether there is a threshold of creatine kinase (CK) or CK-MB affecting the subsequent mortality for post-discharge myocardial infarction (PDMI) after percutaneous coronary intervention. Current study sought to evaluate the impact of PDMI. The study population included 30,051 patients with successful coronary stenting and discharged alive in the pooled patient-level database of 4 Japanese studies (j-Cypher registry, CREDO-Kyoto PCI/CABG registry cohort-2, RESET, and NEXT). During 4.4 ± 1.4 year follow-up, 915 patients experienced PDMI (cumulative 5-year incidence of 3.6%). Among 466 patients with available peak CK ratio (peak CK/upper limit of normal), peak CK ratio (< 3) was present in 21% of patients, while peak CK ratios (≥ 3 and < 5), (≥ 5 and < 10), (≥ 10 and < 30), and (≥ 30) were present in 17, 25, 30, and 7.3% of patients, respectively. The excess mortality risk of patients with relative to those without PDMI for subsequent mortality was significant (adjusted HR 5.12, 95% CI 4.52-5.80, P < 0.001) by the Cox model with PDMI incorporated as the time-updated covariate. However, the mortality risk of patients in the smallest peak CK ratio category (< 3) was insignificant (HR 0.85, 95% CI 0.43-1.71, P = 0.65). In conclusion, despite significant overall mortality risk of PDMI, the mortality risk of small PDMI was similar to that of no PDMI, suggesting the presence of some threshold about infarct size influencing mortality.Trial registrations The Randomized Evaluation of Sirolimus-Eluting Versus Everolimus-Eluting Stent Trial (RESET); NCT01035450 and NOBORI Biolimus-Eluting Versus XIENCE/PROMUS Everolimus-Eluting Stent Trial (NEXT); NCT01303640. J-Cypher and CREDO-Kyoto PCI/CABG registry cohort 2 were not registered into clinical trial database. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One-month duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) has widely been adopted after bare-metal stent (BMS) implantation in the real clinical practice. However, it has not been adequately addressed yet whether DAPT for only 1-month could provide sufficient protection from ischemic events beyond 1-month after BMS implantation. We assessed the effects of short DAPT relative to prolonged DAPT on clinical outcomes with the landmark analysis at 2 month after BMS implantation. Among 13,058 consecutive patients enrolled in the CREDO-Kyoto registry cohort-2, this study population consisted of 4905 patients treated with BMS only in whom the information on the status of antiplatelet therapy was available at 2 month after stent implantation [single-antiplatelet therapy (SAPT) group: N = 2575 (acute myocardial infarction (AMI): N = 1257, and non-AMI: N = 1318), and DAPT group: N = 2330 (AMI: N = 1304, and non-AMI: N = 1026)]. Cumulative 3-year incidence of the primary outcome measure (a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, stroke, definite stent thrombosis, and GUSTO moderate/severe bleeding) was not significantly different between the SAPT and DAPT groups (9.8 versus 10.6 %, P = 0.34). After adjusting confounders, the risk of SAPT relative to DAPT for the primary outcome measure remained insignificant in the entire cohort (HR 0.97, 95 % CI 0.79-1.19, P = 0.77), and in both AMI and non-AMI strata without any significant interaction between clinical presentation (AMI versus non-AMI) and the effect of SAPT relative to DAPT (P interaction = 0.56). In conclusion, short DAPT <2 month after BMS implantation was as safe as prolonged DAPT ≥2-month in both AMI and non-AMI patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Backgrounds: Despite current therapies, acute heart failure (AHF) remains a major public health burden with high rates of in-hospital and post-discharge morbidity and mortality. Carperitide is a recombinantly produced intravenous formulation of human atrial natriuretic peptide that promotes vasodilation with increased salt and water excretion, which leads to reduction of cardiac filling pressures. A previous open-label randomized controlled study showed that carperitide improved long-term cardiovascular mortality and heart failure (HF) hospitalization for patients with AHF, when adding to standard therapy. However, the study was underpowered to detect a difference in mortality because of the small sample size. Methods: Low-dose Administration of Carperitide for Acute Heart Failure (LASCAR-AHF) is a multicenter, randomized, open-label, controlled study designed to evaluate the efficacy of intravenous carperitide in hospitalized patients with AHF. Patients hospitalized for AHF will be randomly assigned to receive either intravenous carperitide (0.02 μg/kg/min) in addition to standard treatment or matching standard treatment for 72 h. The primary end point is death or rehospitalization for HF within 2 years. A total of 260 patients will be enrolled between 2013 and 2018. Conclusion: The design of LASCAR-AHF will provide data of whether carperitide reduces the risk of mortality and rehospitalization for HF in selected patients with AHF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent randomized clinical trials demonstrated that transradial approach was a preferred approach for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in ST-elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, clinical outcomes of transradial approach in STEMI have not been adequately evaluated yet in the real-world practice, which includes hemodynamically unstable high-risk patients. We identified 3662 STEMI patients who had primary PCI within 24 h after symptom onset and were treated by transradial ( N = 471) or transfemoral ( N = 3191) approach in the CREDO-Kyoto AMI registry. In the current analysis, we compared clinical characteristics and long-term outcomes between the 2 groups of patients treated by transradial approach and transfemoral approach. The prevalence of hemodynamically compromised patients (Killip II-IV) was significantly less in the transradial group than in the transfemoral group (19 vs. 25%, P = 0.002). Cumulative 5-year incidences of death/MI/stroke, and major bleeding were not significantly different between the transradial and transfemoral groups (26.7 vs. 25.9%, log-rank P = 0.91, and 11.3 vs. 11.5%, log-rank P = 0.71, respectively). After adjustment for confounders, the risks of the transradial group relative to the transfemoral group were not significant for both death/MI/stroke [Hazard ratio (HR) 1.15, 95% confidence interval (CI) 0.83-1.59, P = 0.41] and major bleeding (HR 1.29, 95% CI 0.77-2.15, P = 0.34). In the subgroup of hemodynamically compromised patients, there were also no significant differences in the risks for death/MI/stroke and major bleeding between the 2 groups. Clinical outcomes of transradial approach were not different from those of transfemoral approach in primary PCI for STEMI in the real-world practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Mitral annular disjunction is a structural abnormality of the mitral annulus fibrosus and is pathologically defined by a separation between the atrial wall-mitral valve junction and the left ventricular attachment. Mitral annular disjunction can cause hypermobility of the mitral valve apparatus and is often associated with mitral valve prolapse (MVP). The aim of this study was to investigate the frequency and characteristics of mitral annular disjunction in the patients referred to an echocardiography laboratory and to compare these with previously reported pathological data. Methods and results: We retrospectively studied 1439 patients (mean age 65 ± 17 years, 58% male) referred to our echocardiography laboratory from 6 January 2014 to 31 March 2014. The echocardiographic parameters were compared between the patients with and without mitral annular disjunction. There were 125 cases (8.7%) with mitral annular disjunction, of which 15 (12%) also had MVP. The number of MVP patients in the group with mitral annular disjunction was significantly larger than in the group without mitral annular disjunction ( p < 0.0001). The grade of mitral regurgitation was not significantly different between the two groups. Conclusions: Mitral annular disjunction was detected not only in patients with a myxomatous mitral valve but also in normal cases. The number of MVPs was significantly larger in patients with mitral annular disjunction than patients without mitral annular disjunction. Further investigation is needed to clarify the clinical significance of the mitral annular disjunction detected by routine echocardiography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study is to evaluate the impact of cooperation between acute care hospital and rehabilitation hospital on physical function, exercise tolerance, activities of daily living (ADL), health-related quality of life (HR-QOL), and psychological function in heart disease patients undergoing cardiac rehabilitation. Among patients undergoing concurrent medical treatment and cardiac rehabilitation starting early in acute care hospitalization, we selected 30 patients who required continued cardiac rehabilitation in rehabilitation hospitals as subjects. At the time of admission and discharge from the rehabilitation hospital, we measured and compared physical function [grip strength, knee extension strength, and the short physical performance battery (SPPB)], ADL ability using the Functional Independence Measure (FIM), exercise tolerance [six-minute walking distance (6MD)], and psychological functions such as the MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). The average age of the subjects was 76.8 years and 60% were women. In 70% of cases, musculoskeletal causes were the reasons for continued cardiac rehabilitation in a rehabilitation hospital. In evaluations before and after hospitalization, significant improvements were observed in knee extension strength and the results of the SPPB ( p < 0.01), FIM, and 6MD ( p < 0.01). In SF-36, significant improvements were observed in physical function, role functioning, vitality, and emotional functioning ( p < 0.05, p < 0.01). With intensive cardiac rehabilitation in rehabilitation hospitals, physical function, ADL, exercise tolerance, and HR-QOL improved significantly. As the severity and prevalence of heart disease are expected to increase in association with multiple disabilities and aging, the importance of cooperation between acute care hospitals and rehabilitation hospitals will increase; therefore, cardiac rehabilitation should be the basis for such cooperation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

There has been no previous prospective study evaluating dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) duration shorter than 6 months after cobalt-chromium everolimus-eluting stent (CoCr-EES) implantation. STOPDAPT trial is a prospective multi-center single-arm study evaluating 3-month DAPT duration after CoCr-EES implantation. The primary endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction (MI), stroke, definite stent thrombosis (ST) and TIMI major/minor bleeding at 1 year. Between September 2012 and October 2013, a total of 1525 patients were enrolled from 58 Japanese centers, with complete 1-year follow-up in 1519 patients (99.6 %). Thienopyridine was discontinued within 4 months in 1444 patients (94.7 %). The event rates beyond 3 months were very low (cardiovascular death: 0.5 %, MI: 0.1 %, ST: 0 %, stroke: 0.7 %, and TIMI major/minor bleeding: 0.8 %). Cumulative 1-year incidence of the primary endpoint was 2.8 % [upper 97.5 % confidence interval (CI) 3.6 %], which was lower than the pre-defined performance goal of 6.6 % ( P < 0.0001). Using the CoCr-EES group in the RESET trial as a historical comparison group, where nearly 90 % of patients had continued DAPT at 1 year, cumulative incidence of the primary endpoint tended to be lower in the STOPDAPT than in the RESET (2.8 versus 4.0 %, P = 0.06) and adjusted hazard ratio was 0.64 (95 % CI 0.42-0.95, P = 0.03). The cumulative incidence of definite/probable ST was lower in the STOPDAPT than in the RESET [0 patient (0 %) versus 5 patients (0.3 %), P = 0.03]. In conclusion, stopping DAPT at 3 months in selected patients after CoCr-EES implantation was at least as safe as the prolonged DAPT regimen adopted in the historical control group. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The effect of β-blockers in ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients who have undergone primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has not been adequately evaluated. Using a large multi-center registry in Japan, we identified 3,692 patients who underwent PCI within 24 h from onset of STEMI and were discharged alive from 2005 to 2007. Three-year cardiovascular outcomes were compared between the 2 groups of patients with ( N = 1,614) or without ( N = 2,078) β-blocker prescription at discharge. Compared with patients in the no-β group, patients in the β group were younger, more frequently male, more often had hypertension and atrial fibrillation but less often had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease than in the no-β group. Statins and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors/angiotensin receptor blockers were more frequently prescribed in the β group. Crude incidence of cardiac death and/or recurrent myocardial infarction (cardiac death/MI) tended to be higher in the β group (7.6 vs. 6.2 %, log-rank p = 0.1). After adjusting for potential confounders, β-blockers were associated with significantly higher risk for cardiac death/MI (hazard ratio 1.43, 95 % CI: 1.06-1.94, p = 0.01). β-Blocker prescription at discharge was not associated with better cardiovascular outcomes in patients who underwent PCI after STEMI. Large-scale randomized controlled trials are needed to evaluate the role of β-blocker therapy in these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A 39-year-old woman with Marfan syndrome presented to our hospital with chest oppression on effort. She underwent aortic root remodeling combined with aortic valve replacement 14 years ago and Bentall operation for enlargement of remaining native Valsalva sinus 3 years ago. A coronary computed tomography and a coronary angiography showed left main coronary artery stenosis, which was subsequently treated with percutaneous coronary intervention using a bare-metal stent. Follow-up coronary angiography performed 1 year after stenting revealed no restenosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several previous publications have consistently reported that surgical procedures performed early after coronary stenting were associated with significantly higher risk for ischemic events than those performed late. In the current post hoc analysis of the Coronary REvascularization Demonstrating Outcome Study in Kyoto PCI/coronary artery bypass grafting Registry Cohort-2, we compared the outcomes of early (within 42 days) versus late surgery (beyond 42 days) after coronary stenting stratified by the initial clinical presentations [acute myocardial infarction (AMI) [early N = 153, and late N = 586] and non-AMI (early N = 202, and late N = 1457)]. Cumulative incidence of death/myocardial infarction/stent thrombosis at 30 days after surgery was significantly higher in the early group than in the late group in the AMI stratum [18.4 vs. 2.6 %, P < 0.0001, and adjusted HR 5.65 (95 % CI 2.42-13.5), P < 0.0001], but not in the non-AMI stratum [3.0 vs. 1.8 %, P = 0.3, and adjusted HR 1.52 (95 % CI 0.47-4.17), P = 0.5]. There was a significant interaction for the risk of ischemic events between the clinical presentation and the timing of surgery ( P interaction = 0.03). Deaths in patients with early surgery in the AMI stratum were mostly related to preoperative complications of AMI (76 %), but not related to perioperative stent-related complications (4.0 %). In conclusion, significantly higher risk of early versus late surgery for perioperative ischemic events was seen only in patients with initial AMI presentation, but not in patients with non-AMI presentation. Previous observations suggesting higher risk in early surgery might not be related to the timing after stent implantation per se, but related to more morbid preoperative conditions in patients who underwent early surgery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several clinical studies have reported the use of cilostazol in addition to aspirin and thienopyridine (triple antiplatelet therapy, TAPT) after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) decreases clinical events. However, the efficacy and safety of TAPT have not been fully evaluated in Japan. The prospectively collected data from 12824 Japanese patients received PCI as part of the j-Cypher Registry were analyzed. We selected 10356 patients who exclusively received implantation of sirolimus-eluting stents (SES), and compared the data from 10128 patients who received dual antiplatelet therapy (aspirin + thienopyridine, DAPT) with 228 patients who received TAPT at the time of discharge. Patients who received TAPT had more comorbidities, such as peripheral vascular disease, renal failure with hemodialysis or insulin dependent diabetes mellitus, and more patients received stenting for the left main trunk. The cardiovascular event rates at 3 years after PCI in the TAPT group were not significantly different from DAPT group, even after adjusted risks for cardiovascular events; all-cause death (7.8 vs. 6.7 %, log-rank p = 0.44, adjusted Hazard Ratio [HR] 0.88: 95 % confidence interval [CI] 0.52-1.38, p = 0.61), myocardial infarction (1.7 vs. 2.4 %, log-rank p = 0.49 and HR 0.71: 95 % CI 0.20-1.57, p = 0.40), target legion revascularization (12.7 vs. 9.9 %, log-rank p = 0.11 and HR 1.05: 95 % CI 0.71-1.50, p = 0.91) and stroke (3.9 vs. 3.2 %, log-rank p = 0.52 and HR 1.09: 95 % CI 0.52-2.00, p = 0.80). In conclusion, TAPT after SES implantation was associated with similar long-term clinical outcomes as DAPT in Japanese real-world clinical practice, although we did not evaluate the bleeding outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Transradial approach is an established procedure in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, long term clinical outcomes of transradial PCI compared to transfemoral PCI have not been fully elucidated. Among 13087 patients undergoing first PCI in the CREDO-Kyoto registry Cohort-2 from January 2005 to December 2007, we identified 2736 patients with transradial approach and 4092 patients with transfemoral approach, excluding patients with acute myocardial infarction, patients on dialysis and patients treated with transbrachial approach. Using propensity score methodology, 2701 patients with transfemoral approach were randomly matched to 2701 patients with transradial approach based on clinical, angiographic, and procedural characteristics. The rates for procedural success of PCI were high in both transradial and transfemoral PCI (99 vs. 98%, P = 0.57). At 30 days, there was no significant difference in the incidence of all-cause death between the 2 groups (radial group 0.2% vs. femoral group 0.2%, P = 0.73). Incidence of bleeding event tended to be lower in the radial group than in the femoral group (1.0 vs. 1.6%, P = 0.09), and incidence of puncture site bleeding was significantly lower in the radial group than in the femoral group (0.2 vs. 0.6%, P = 0.005). Through 3-year follow up, cumulative incidence of all-cause death was not significantly different between the 2 groups (5.6 vs. 6.7%, hazard ratio 0.90 (95% confidence interval 0.71-1.13), P = 0.35]. In conclusion, transradial PCI reduced 30-day puncture site bleeding event compared to transfemoral PCI, with similar PCI success rates. In contrast, 3-year mortality rate was comparable between transradial and transfemoral PCI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Previous studies have shown inconsistent results regarding the effects of concomitant use of clopidogrel and proton pump inhibitors (PPI) on cardiovascular outcomes. We sought to evaluate the clinical impact of PPI-use in patients treated with thienopyridines after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in a large Japanese observational database. Among 12446 patients discharged alive on thienopyridines (ticlopidine 90.4% and clopidogrel 9.6%), 3223 patients were treated with PPIs and 9223 patients without PPI at the time of hospital discharge. The PPI group included more patients with co-morbidities than the non-PPI group. The adjusted hazard ratio (HR) of PPI-use for a composite of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke was 1.26 (95% confidence interval (CI) 1.09-1.47, p = 0.002). The adjusted HR of PPI-use for bleeding was 1.26 (95% CI 1.05-1.52, p = 0.013). Cardiovascular and bleeding outcomes were not different among the three groups receiving three different types of PPI. The negative effect of PPI on cardiovascular outcome was consistently seen in both drug-eluting stent (DES) [HR 1.31 (95% CI 1.07-1.6, p = 0.0097)] and non-DES strata [HR 1.25 (95% CI: 0.99-1.57, p = 0.057)] (Interaction p = 0.79) despite the fact that the duration of thienopyridine administration was significantly longer in patients receiving DES. In conclusion, cardiovascular outcomes after PCI were significantly worse in patients with PPI than in patients without PPI in the Japanese real clinical practice. However, the observed poorer cardiovascular outcome in patients receiving PPI was most likely to be related to residual confounding and seemed not causally related to attenuation of antiplatelet effect of thienopyridine through interaction with PPI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Long-term safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents remains controversial. The CREDO-Kyoto registry cohort-2 is a physician-initiated non-company sponsored multi-center registry enrolling consecutive patients undergoing first coronary revascularization in 26 centers in Japan. We compared 3-year outcome between patients treated with sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) only (5092 patients) and bare-metal stent (BMS) only (5405 patients). SES-use as compared with BMS-use was associated with significantly lower adjusted risk for all-cause death [hazard ratio (HR) [95% confidence interval (CI)] 0.72 (0.59-0.87), P = 0.0007], which was mainly driven by the reduction in non-cardiac death [HR (95% CI) 0.64 (0.48-0.85), P = 0.002]. The risk of cardiac death [HR (95% CI) 0.82 (0.63-1.07), P = 0.15], myocardial infarction [HR (95% CI) 0.73 (0.51-1.03), P = 0.07] and definite stent thrombosis [HR (95% CI) 0.62 (0.35-1.09), P = 0.1] was not different between the two groups. Despite longer duration of thienopyridine administration, SES-use was associated with significantly lower risk for bleeding [HR (95% CI) 0.75 (0.6-0.95), P = 0.02] and similar risk for stroke [HR (95% CI) 1.0 (0.75-1.34), P = 1.0]. The risk for target-lesion revascularization (TLR) was markedly lower in the SES group [HR (95% CI) 0.42 (0.36-0.48), P < 0.0001]. The direction and magnitude of the effect of SES relative to BMS in patients presenting acute myocardial infarction (AMI) were similar to those in patients presenting otherwise. In conclusion, SES-use as compared with BMS-use was associated with marked reduction of TLR without any increases in death, myocardial infarction, stent thrombosis, stroke and bleeding in real world clinical practice regardless of clinical presentation including AMI. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Angiogenesis is believed to be involved in the pathogenesis and progression of multiple myeloma (MM). In some young patients, the MM has been reported to be complicated with high-output cardiac failure (HOCF), in which an increase in the vascular bed may be involved in the pathogenesis; however, no throughput studies have been conducted to determine what angiogenic factors are associated with HOCF in MM patients. We experienced a 34-year-old MM patient with HOCF and used the cytokine array system to investigate the expression of angiogenic cytokines and related factors in his serum before and after treatment and to compare the results with those of a healthy volunteer. We treated the patient with chemotherapy in combination with autologous peripheral blood stem cell transplantation. Following the treatment, he showed a good partial response without any signs of cardiac failure. The patient had experienced dramatic increases in the expression levels of angiopoietin 2, insulin-like growth factor-binding protein 6, and glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor. After treatment, the levels of these factors decreased remarkably in association with an improvement in the patient's clinical condition. We review previous case reports in our discussion of the significance of these findings in the pathogenesis of MM with HOCF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Multicentric Castleman disease (MCD) is a rare lymphoproliferative disorder characterized by systemic lymphadenopathy and inflammatory symptoms that are associated with the overproduction of interleukin 6 (IL-6). Although several nonlymphoid organs can also be damaged in MCD, only a few cases with cardiac complications have been reported to date. We report a case of congestive heart failure in a female patient with MCD. On admission, her echocardiogram revealed a dilated and diffusely hypokinetic left ventricle. No stenosis was evident in the coronary angiogram. A histopathologic examination of a myocardial biopsy specimen showed mildly hypertrophic myocytes without infiltration of plasma cells or amyloid deposits. Repeated administration of an anti-IL-6 receptor antibody, tocilizumab (formerly known as MRA), gradually improved the ventricular wall motion over 6 months without any additional treatment for heart failure, suggesting the involvement of IL-6 in the pathogenesis of her cardiomyopathy. This report is the first of MCD complicated by heart failure treated successfully with tocilizumab. Administering tocilizumab in cases of MCD with unexplained cardiac dysfunction is worthwhile, because such a complication could be reversible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A letter to the editor discussing efficacy of radiation monotherapy for Tolosa-Hunt syndrome (THS) is presented.