Citations

AbstractObjectivesWe examined the contemporary incidence, types, predictors, angiographic characteristics, management and outcomes of coronary perforation.BackgroundCoronary perforation is a rare, but important, complication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). There is lack of data on perforations stratified as large and distal vessel perforations.MethodsRetrospective, observational cohort study of all patients who underwent PCI at a high volume, tertiary hospital between the years 2009 and 2016. Angiograms of all coronary perforation cases were reviewed to determine the mechanism, type, and management of perforation. Risk‐adjusted periprocedural complication rates were compared between patients with and without coronary perforation. One‐year mortality outcomes of patients with large vessel vs. distal vessel perforation were also examined.ResultsCoronary perforation occurred in 68 of 13,339 PCIs (0.51%) performed during the study period: 51 (75%) were large vessel perforations and 17 (25%) distal vessel perforations. Most (67%) large vessel perforations were due to balloon/stent inflation, whereas most (94%) distal vessel perforations were due to guidewire exit. Patients with coronary perforations had significantly higher risk for periprocedural complications (adjusted odds ratio 7.57; 95% CI: 4.22–13.50; P < 0.001). Only one patient with large vessel perforation required emergency cardiac surgery, yet in‐hospital mortality was high with both large vessel (7.8%) and distal vessel (11.8%) perforations.ConclusionsCoronary perforation is an infrequent, but potentially severe PCI complication. Most coronary perforations are large vessel perforations. Although coronary perforations rarely lead to emergency cardiac surgery, both distal vessel and large vessel perforations are associated with high in‐hospital mortality, highlighting the importance of prevention.

Aims: First, describe how acute myocardial infarction criteria are used to diagnose type 1 (T1MI) and 2 (T2MI) myocardial infarction. Second, determine whether subjective or objective criteria are used for T2MI. Third, examine outcomes for T2MI based on the presence or absence of objective evidence of myocardial ischemia compared with myocardial injury. Methods and results: Post-hoc analysis of UTROPIA (NCT02060760), a prospective, observational, cohort study involving 1640 consecutive emergency department patients with serial high-sensitivity cardiac troponin I among whom 74 (4.5%) had T1MI, 103 (6.3%) T2MI, and 245 (15%) myocardial injury. Compared with T1MI, patients with T2MI were less likely to have ischemic symptoms (97% vs. 83%), Q waves (24% vs. 1%), new ST-T wave changes (74% vs. 51%), new regional wall motion abnormality (64% vs. 11%), and a culprit lesion on coronary angiography (59% vs. 0%) (all p <0.05). T2MIs were more likely to be diagnosed using subjective criteria (symptoms alone) than T1MI (42% vs. 12%, p <0.0001). Patients with objective T2MI, but not subjective T2MI, had a two-fold increase in early mortality compared with myocardial injury, with 30- and 60-day hazard ratios (95% confidence interval) of 2.3 (0.9, 6.2) and 2.0 (0.9, 4.7) respectively. Conclusions: Among patients with T2MI, many cases are diagnosed using subjective criteria. The presence of objective evidence of myocardial ischemia may identify a higher-risk group of T2MI patients in whom early outcomes are worse than myocardial injury. Emphasis on using objective evidence of myocardial ischemia to diagnose T2MI may result in a more precise and specific disease definition.

AbstractObjectivesThis study sought to compare the clinical outcomes of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) performed by sleep deprived and non‐sleep deprived operators.BackgroundInterventional cardiologists are at risk for sleep deprivation as they often have to perform emergent procedures at night, but the effects of sleep deprivation on clinical outcomes have received limited study.MethodsWe examined the frequency, clinical characteristics, and outcomes of daytime PCIs performed by sleep deprived and non‐sleep deprived operators at a tertiary medical center. Operators were considered sleep deprived when performing a daytime (7 am–11:59 pm) procedure preceded by a nighttime (12 am–6:59 am) procedure on the same date.ResultsOf the 12,680 daytime PCIs performed from 6/29/09 to 12/30/2016, 367 (2.9%) were performed by sleep deprived operators. Patients undergoing PCI performed by a sleep deprived operator were more likely to be younger, white, and to present with ST‐elevation acute myocardial infarction (STEMI). The incidence of in‐hospital death (1.1% vs. 1.3%, P = 1.0) and bleeding within 72 hr (3.9% vs. 2.9%, P = 0.29) were similar for procedures performed by sleep‐deprived and non‐sleep deprived operators. When the sleep deprived group was further stratified based on degree of sleep deprivation or length of sleep interruption, differences in mortality and total bleeding remained non‐significant.ConclusionsIn this large single center study, operator sleep deprivation did not appear to adversely impact PCI outcomes.

AbstractThe burden and impact of sleep deprivation on both patient care and on the health of interventional cardiologists is not well understood. Due to the nature of emergent procedures occurring in the cardiac catheterization laboratory, interventionalists are prone to suffer from acute and/or chronic sleep deprivation. Sleep deprivation has been associated with numerous adverse effects, such as impaired performance, cognitive deficits, reduced psychomotor vigilance, and workplace errors and injuries, among many others. Although sleep deprivation has been linked to more errors in trainees, there is paucity of data addressing outcomes in interventional cardiology. The purpose of this overview is to explore the possible impact of sleep deprivation on interventional cardiology in relation to patient care and physician health, and examine potential approaches to this issue.

Abstract BACKGROUND Cardiac troponin I (cTnI) and cardiac troponin T (cTnT) determinations are fixtures in clinical practice and research. Cardiac troponin testing has been the standard of practice for the diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), early rule-out, risk stratification, and outcomes assessment in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and non-ACS myocardial injury. We recognize from reading the literature over the past several years how poorly understood the analytical characteristics are for cTnI and cTnT assays by laboratorians, clinicians, and scientists who use these assays. CONTENT The purposes of this mini-review are (a) to define limit of blank, limit of detection, limit of quantification, and imprecision, (b) overview the analytical characteristics of the existing cardiac troponin assays, (c) recommend approaches to define a healthy (normal) reference population for determining the 99th percentile and the appropriate statistic to use for this calculation, (d) clarify how an assay becomes designated as “high sensitivity,” and (e) provide guidance on determining delta (Δ) change values. SUMMARY This review raises important educational information regarding cTnI and cTnT assays, their 99th percentile upper reference limits (URL) differentiated by sex, and specifically addresses high-sensitivity (hs)-assays used to measure low concentrations. Recommendations are made to help clarify the nomenclature and analytical and clinical characteristics to define hs-assays. The review also identifies challenges for the evolving implementation of hs-assays into clinical practice. It is hoped that with the introduction of these concepts, laboratorians, clinicians and researchers can develop a more unified view of how these assays should be used worldwide.