Role of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Optimizing Outcomes in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Intravascular ultrasound-guided versus angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention in acute coronary syndromes (IVUS-ACS): a two-stage, multicentre, randomised trial

BACKGROUND

Intravascular ultrasound-guided percutaneous coronary intervention has been shown to result in superior clinical outcomes compared with angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention. However, insufficient data are available concerning the advantages of intravascular ultrasound guidance for patients with an acute coronary syndrome. This trial aimed to investigate whether the use of intravascular ultrasound guidance, as compared with angiography guidance, improves the outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention with contemporary drug-eluting stents in patients presenting with an acute coronary syndrome.

METHODS

In this two-stage, multicentre, randomised trial, patients aged 18 years or older and presenting with an acute coronary syndrome at 58 centres in China, Italy, Pakistan, and the UK were randomly assigned to intravascular ultrasound-guided percutaneous coronary intervention or angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention. Patients, follow-up health-care providers, and assessors were masked to random assignment; however, staff in the catheterisation laboratory were not. The primary endpoint was target vessel failure, a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven target vessel revascularisation at 1 year after randomisation. This trial is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT03971500, and is completed.

FINDINGS

Between Aug 20, 2019 and Oct 27, 2022, 3505 patients with an acute coronary syndrome were randomly assigned to intravascular ultrasound-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (n=1753) or angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (n=1752). 1-year follow-up was completed in 3504 (>99·9%) patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 70 patients in the intravascular ultrasound group and 128 patients in the angiography group (Kaplan-Meier rate 4·0% vs 7·3%; hazard ratio 0·55 [95% CI 0·41-0·74]; p=0·0001), driven by reductions in target vessel myocardial infarction or target vessel revascularisation. There were no significant differences in all-cause death or stent thrombosis between groups. Safety endpoints were also similar in the two groups.

INTERPRETATION

In patients with an acute coronary syndrome, intravascular ultrasound-guided implantation of contemporary drug-eluting stents resulted in a lower 1-year rate of the composite outcome of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or clinically driven revascularisation compared with angiography guidance alone.

FUNDING

The Chinese Society of Cardiology, the National Natural Scientific Foundation of China, and Jiangsu Provincial & Nanjing Municipal Clinical Trial Project.

TRANSLATION

For the Mandarin translation of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

Intravascular ultrasound-guided versus angiography-guided percutaneous coronary intervention for acute myocardial infarction with cardiogenic shock

The benefits of intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in the clinical context of cardiogenic shock (CS) complicating acute myocardial infarction are lacking. We aimed to investigate the impact of IVUS-guided PCI in patients with AMI and CS. From the pooled data based on a series of Korean AMI registries during 2011-2020, we identified 1418 consecutive patients who underwent PCI with second generation drug-eluting stent (DES) for AMI and CS. The primary endpoint was the 1-year rate of target lesion failure (TLF), defined as the composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and ischemic-driven target lesion revascularization. In total, 294 (20.7%) and 1124 (79.3%) underwent IVUS-guided and angiography-guided PCI with second generation DES implantation, respectively. The 1-year TLF was not significantly different between groups after IPTW analysis (hazard ratio 0.93, 95% confidence interval 0.65-1.34, p = 0.70). Additionally, the adjusted landmark analysis for TLF at 30 days and between 30 days and 1 year after PCI demonstrated no significant difference between the groups. In conclusion, in patients with AMI and CS who underwent PCI with second-generation DES, IVUS-guided PCI did not improve the 1-year TLF compared with angiography-guided PCI.Registration: URL:  http://cris.nih.go.kr . KCT0000863 and KCT0008355.

Intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction and cardiogenic shock

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

There are no clinical data on the efficacy of intravascular imaging-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared with angiography-guided PCI in patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and cardiogenic shock. The current study sought to evaluate the impact of intravascular imaging-guided PCI in patients with AMI and cardiogenic shock.

METHODS

Among a total of 28 732 patients from the nationwide pooled registry of KAMIR-NIH (November, 2011 to December, 2015) and KAMIR-V (January, 2016 to June, 2020), we selected a total of 1833 patients (6.4%) with AMI and cardiogenic shock who underwent PCI of the culprit vessel. The primary endpoint was major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) at 1 year, a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, repeat revascularization, and definite or probable stent thrombosis.

RESULTS

Among the study population, 375 patients (20.5%) underwent intravascular imaging-guided PCI and 1458 patients (79.5%) underwent angiography-guided PCI. Intravascular imaging-guided PCI was associated with a significantly lower risk of 1-year MACE than angiography-guided PCI (19.5% vs 28.2%; HR, 0.59; 95%CI, 0.45-0.77; P<.001), mainly driven by a lower risk of cardiac death (13.7% vs 24.0%; adjusted HR, 0.53; 95%CI, 0.39-0.72; P<.001). These results were consistent in propensity score matching (HR, 0.68; 95%CI, 0.46-0.99), inverse probability weighting (HR, 0.61; 95%CI, 0.45-0.83), and Bayesian analysis (Odds ratio, 0.66, 95% credible interval, 0.49-0.88).

CONCLUSIONS

In AMI patients with cardiogenic shock, intravascular imaging-guided PCI was associated with a lower risk of MACE at 1-year than angiography-guided PCI, mainly driven by the lower risk of cardiac death.

Does Gender Affect the Outcomes of Myocardial Revascularization for Left-Main Coronary Artery Disease?

Currently, gender is not considered in the choice of the revascularization strategy for patients with unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease. This study analyzed the effect of gender on the outcomes of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) vs coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with ULMCA disease. Females who had PCI (n = 328) were compared with females who had CABG (n = 132) and PCI in males (n = 894) was compared with CABG (n = 784). Females with CABG had higher overall hospital mortality and major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) than females with PCI. Male patients with CABG had higher MACE; however, mortality did not differ between males with CABG vs PCI. In female patients, follow-up mortality was significantly higher in CABG patients, and target lesion revascularization was higher in patients with PCI. Male patients had no difference in mortality and MACE between groups; however, MI was higher with CABG, and congestive heart failure was higher with PCI. In conclusion, women with ULMCA disease treated with PCI could have better survival with lower MACE compared with CABG. These differences were not evident in males treated with either CABG or PCI. PCI could be the preferred revascularization strategy in women with ULMCA disease.

Effect of ticagrelor versus clopidogrel after implantation of drug-eluting stents guided by either intravascular ultrasound or angiography in patients with acute coronary syndrome-propensity score matching analysis

BACKGROUND

The effect of different dual antiplatelet therapies on thrombotic events on the background of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guidance is unclear. We investigated whether ticagrelor can provide any additional benefit to clopidogrel in reducing thrombotic events in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with drug- eluting stent (DES), when guided by IVUS or not.

METHODS

A total of 5,666 ACS patients who underwent DES implantation and who were discharged on dual antiplatelet therapy were enrolled and grouped according to the use of IVUS or not. Each group was subdivided into two subgroups according to the type of P2Y12 inhibitor used after discharge. Propensity score matching (PSM) was used between the IVUS and no-IVUS groups. Covariate adjustment of Cox proportional hazards model was used between the ticagrelor and clopidogrel groups. Thrombotic event at 12 months was compared in groups separately.

RESULTS

After PSM, 12-month follow-up data were available for 1,174 patients. Major adverse cardiac events (MACE) were less frequent in the IVUS-guided group (2.2% vs. 4.3%, P = 0.081) with a trend toward statistical significance. Comparison of antiplatelet regimens revealed significantly fewer major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) with ticagrelor in the entire PSM cohort and angiography-guided subgroup (2.9% vs. 5.7%, P = 0.035; 3.1% vs. 6.4%, P = 0.020, respectively). Among patients in the IVUS-guided group the outcome was comparable (2.5% vs. 4.4%, P = 0.312). Ticagrelor was associated with increasing bleeding incidence in the entire PSM cohort (1.3% vs. 3.3%, P = 0.030), mainly due to Bleeding Academic Research Consortium type 2 bleeding (0.7% vs. 2.6%, P = 0.010). The results were consistent after covariate adjustment of Cox proportional hazards model.

CONCLUSION

The comparison of ischemic benefit between ticagrelor and clopidogrel was similar in patients receiving IVUS guidance during stent implantation, probably due to the precise implantation of IVUS. Multicenter, randomized studies should be performed to validate this conclusion.

Optical coherence tomography-guided versus intravascular ultrasound-guided percutaneous coronary intervention in patients with acute myocardial infarction

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Optical coherence tomography (OCT)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) yields clinical outcomes comparable to intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided PCI in patients with stable ischemic heart disease. However, there is a scarcity of data comparing the clinical outcomes of OCT-guided and IVUS-guided PCI in the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We sought to compare the clinical outcomes of OCT-guided vs IVUS-guided PCI for patients with AMI in the era of second-generation drug-eluting stent (DES).

METHODS

We identified 5260 consecutive patients who underwent PCI with a second-generation DES for AMI under IVUS or OCT guidance from pooled data derived from a series of Korean AMI registries between 2011 and 2020. The primary endpoint was the 1-year rate of target lesion failure, defined as a composite of cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, or ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization.

RESULTS

A total of 535 (10.2%) and 4725 (89.8%) patients were treated under OCT and IVUS guidance, respectively. The 1-year target lesion failure rates were comparable between the OCT and IVUS groups before and after propensity score matching (hazard ratio, 0.92; 95%CI, 0.42-2.05, P=.84). The OCT utilization rate did not exceed 5% of total patients treated with second-generation DES implantation during the study period. The primary factors for the selection of OCT over IVUS were the absence of chronic kidney disease, non-left main vessel disease, single-vessel disease, stent diameter <3mm, and stent length ≤ 25mm.

CONCLUSIONS

OCT-guided PCI in patients with AMI treated with a second-generation DES provided comparable clinical outcomes for 1-year target lesion failure compared with IVUS-guided PCI.

Intracoronary imaging in PCI for acute coronary syndrome: Insights from British Cardiovascular Intervention Society registry

BACKGROUND

While previous studies have demonstrated the superiority of ICI-guided PCI over an angiography-based approach, there are limited data on all-comer ACS patients. This study aimed to identify the characteristics and in-hospital outcomes of patients undergoing intracoronary imaging (ICI) guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS).

METHODS

All patient undergoing PCI for ACS in England and Wales between 2006 and 2019 were retrospectively analyzed and stratified according to ICI utilization. The outcomes assessed were in-hospital all-cause mortality and major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) using multivariable logistic regression models.

RESULTS

598,921 patients underwent PCI for ACS, of which 41,716 (7.0 %) had ICI which was predominantly driven by IVUS use (5.6 %). ICI use steadily increased from 1.4 % in 2006 to 13.5 % in 2019. Adjusted odds of mortality (OR 0.69, 95%CI 0.58-0.83) and MACCE (OR 0.77, 95%CI 0.73-0.83) were significantly lower in the ICI group. The association between ICI and improved outcomes varied according to vessel treated with both left main stem (LMS) and LMS/left anterior descending (LAD) PCI associated with significantly lower odds of mortality (OR 0.34, 95%CI 0.27-0.44, OR 0.51 95%CI 0.45-0.56) and MACCE (OR 0.44 95%CI 0.35-0.54, OR 0.67 95%CI 0.62-0.72) respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

Although ICI use has steadily increased, less than one in seven patients underwent ICI-guided PCI. The association between ICI use and improved in-hospital outcomes was mainly observed in PCI procedures involving LMS and LAD.

Enhancing percutaneous coronary intervention with heuristic path planning and deep-learning-based vascular segmentation

Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is a minimally invasive technique for treating vascular diseases. PCI requires precise and real-time visualization and guidance to ensure surgical safety and efficiency. Existing mainstream guiding methods rely on hemodynamic parameters. However, these methods are less intuitive than images and pose some challenges to the decision-making of cardiologists. This paper proposes a novel PCI guiding assistance system by combining a novel vascular segmentation network and a heuristic intervention path planning algorithm, providing cardiologists with clear and visualized information. A dataset of 1077 DSA images from 288 patients is also collected in clinical practice. A Likert Scale is also designed to evaluate system performance in user experiments. Results of user experiments demonstrate that the system can generate satisfactory and reasonable paths for PCI. Our proposed method outperformed the state-of-the-art baselines based on three metrics (Jaccard: 0.4091, F1: 0.5626, Accuracy: 0.9583). The proposed system can effectively assist cardiologists in PCI by providing a clear segmentation of vascular structures and optimal real-time intervention paths, thus demonstrating great potential for robotic PCI autonomy.

Unveiling the Heart of the Matter: Intravascular Ultrasound in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) has become crucial in contemporary percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs), offering detailed two-dimensional (2D) arterial wall visualization. Current guidelines consider it valuable for guiding coronary stent placement, especially in complex cases like the left main (LM) artery, allowing a comprehensive assessment of vessel characteristics and stent performance. There are some studies that highlight the potential impact of IVUS on acute myocardial infarction (AMI) management, notably improving outcomes. This case involves a 37-year-old man who experienced an AMI, necessitating the use of IVUS to ascertain the underlying cause of his acute coronary syndrome (ACS). This approach was essential for guiding appropriate treatment and ultimately led to successful stent implantation.

Outcomes of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Among Patients With Acute Coronary Syndrome

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) use in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) improves outcomes. However, data on outcomes of IVUS-guided PCI in patients presenting with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is scarce. Therefore, we sought to study the utilization rate and outcomes of IVUS-guided PCI in patients with ACS. Using the National Readmission database, we identified all patients with ACS who underwent PCI from 2016 to 2019. We used a 1:1 propensity-matched analysis to compare the outcome of patients with ACS who underwent PCI with and without IVUS. In 1,263,997 patients with ACS, 563,521 (44.6%) underwent PCI without IVUS and 40,095 (3.17%) underwent IVUS-guided PCI. A Propensity scored matched comparison of PCI with and without IVUS showed IVUS-guided PCI was associated with a lower risk of in-hospital mortality (odds ratio 0.74, 95% confidence interval 0.64 to 0.85, p <0.01) compared with PCI without IVUS. The utilization of IVUS increased from 2.64% in 2016 to 4.10% in 2019, p <0.001. In conclusion, IVUS-guided PCI is associated with lower in-hospital mortality in patients with ACS, yet the current utilization of IVUS-guided PCI remains low across the United States.

Impact of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Patients With Acute Myocardial Infarction and Chronic Kidney Disease

BACKGROUND

In the setting of acute myocardial infarction (AMI), there are no data regarding the benefits of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) for chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients.Methods and Results: This study used data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry, a large, multicenter prospective cohort. We evaluated 1,759 patients with AMI and CKD, defined as estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60 mL/min/1.73 m2, and patients were classified into 2 groups: with and without IVUS. The primary outcome was target lesion failure (TLF) at 3 years. The hazard ratio (HR) of TLF according to eGFR was also analyzed. A total of 1,759 patients with AMI and CKD who underwent IVUS-guided PCI (19.2%) had a significantly lower risk of TLF at 3 years (8.9% vs. 15.3%; HR 0.55; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.38 to 0.81; P=0.002) than those who underwent angiography-guided PCI, regardless of their eGFR and the presence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The results were consistent after confounder adjustment and inversed probability weighting.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients with CKD and AMI who underwent PCI with 2nd-generation DES implantation, the use of IVUS guidance was associated with a significant reduction in 3-year TLF and showed consistently favorable outcomes regardless of eGFR and ESRD.

The Usefulness of Intracoronary Imaging in Patients with ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction

Intracoronary imaging (ICI) modalities, namely intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), have shown to be able to reduce major adverse cardiovascular events in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Nevertheless, patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) have been practically excluded from contemporary large randomized controlled trials. The available data are limited and derive mostly from observational studies. Nevertheless, contemporary studies are in favor of ICI utilization in patients who undergo primary PCI. Regarding technical aspects of PCI, ICI has been associated with the implantation of larger stent diameters, higher balloon inflations and lower residual in-stent stenosis post-PCI. OCT, although used significantly less often than IVUS, is a useful tool in the context of myocardial infarction without obstructive coronary artery disease since, due to its high spatial resolution, it can identify the underlying mechanism of STEMI, and, thus, guide therapy. Stent thrombosis (ST) is a rare, albeit a potential lethal, complication that is expressed clinically as STEMI in the vast majority of cases. Use of ICI is encouraged with current guidelines in order to discriminate the mechanism of ST among stent malapposition, underexpansion, uncovered stent struts, edge dissections, ruptured neoatherosclerotic lesions and coronary evaginations. Finally, ICI has been proposed as a tool to facilitate stent deferring during primary PCI based on culprit lesion characteristics.

Comparison of Long-Term Outcomes Between Intravascular Ultrasound-, Optical Coherence Tomography- and Angiography-Guided Stent Implantation: A Meta-Analysis

Intravascular ultrasonography (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) guided percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) are alternative techniques to angiography-guided (ANG-g) PCI in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), especially for optimal stent deployment in coronary arteries. We conducted a network meta-analysis including studies comparing those three techniques. We searched databases for studies that compared IVUS, OCT, and ANG-g PCI in patients with CAD. Overall, 52 studies with 231,137 patients were included in this meta-analysis. ANG-g PCI had higher major adverse cardiovascular events (MACEs), all-cause death, cardiac death, myocardial infarction (MI), target lesion revascularization (TLR), and stent thrombosis (ST) than IVUS-guided PCI. Of note, both OCT-guided and IVUS-guided PCI had similar outcomes. The frequency of MACEs, cardiac death, and MI were higher in ANG-g PCI than in OCT-guided PCI. The highest benefit was established with OCT for MACEs (P-score=.973), MI (P-score=.823), and cardiac death (P-score=.921) and with IVUS for all-cause death (P-score=.792), TLR (P -score=.865), and ST (P-score=.930). This network meta-analysis indicated that using OCT or IVUS for optimal stent implantation provides better outcomes in comparison with ANG-g in patients with CAD undergoing PCI.

Fractional flow reserve use in coronary artery revascularization: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Fractional flow reserve (FFR)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is recommended in revascularization guidelines for intermediate lesions. However, recent studies comparing FFR-guided PCI with non-physiology-guided revascularization have reported conflicting results. PubMed and Embase were searched for studies comparing FFR-guided PCI with non-physiology-guided revascularization strategies (angiography-guided, intracoronary imaging-guided, coronary artery bypass grafting). Data were pooled by meta-analysis using random-effects model. 26 studies enrolling 78,897 patients were included. FFR-guided PCI as compared to non-physiology-guided coronary revascularization had lower risk of all-cause mortality (odds ratio [OR] 0.79 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.64-0.99, I² = 53%) and myocardial infarction (MI) (OR 0.74 95% CI 0.59-0.93, I² = 44.7%). However, no differences between groups were found in terms of major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) (OR 0.86 95% CI 0.72-1.03, I² = 72.3%) and repeat revascularization (OR 1 95% CI 0.82-1.20, I² = 43.2%). Among patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), FFR-guided PCI as compared to non-physiology-guided revascularization was associated with a lower risk of all-cause mortality and MI.

Outcomes of Intravascular Ultrasound-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention in Non-ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction-Propensity Matched Regression Analysis

Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is indicated in complex interventions. There is a paucity of evidence for outcomes with large studies on using IVUS during PCI in non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI). Our objective was to compare the in-hospital outcome of IVUS-guided with that of nonguided PCI among NSTEMI hospitalizations. The National Inpatient Sample (2016 to 2019) was queried to identify all hospitalizations with a principal diagnosis of NSTEMI. In our study, we compared outcomes of PCI with and without IVUS guidance using a multivariate logistic regression model after propensity score matching, with the primary outcome being in-hospital mortality. A total of 671,280 NSTEMI-related hospitalizations were identified, of whom 48,285 (7.2%) underwent IVUS-guided PCI compared with 622,995 (92.8%) who underwent non-IVUS PCI. After adjusted analysis on matched pairs, we found that IVUS-guided PCI had a lower risk of in-hospital mortality than that of non-IVUS PCI (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 0.736, confidence interval (CI) 0.578 to 0.937, p = 0.013). However, there was a higher use of mechanical circulatory support in the IVUS-guided PCI (aOR 2.138, CI 1.84 to 2.47, p <0.001) than in non-IVUS PCI. The odds of cardiogenic shock (aOR 1.11, CI 0.93 to 1.32, p = 0.233) and procedural complications (aOR 0.794, CI 0.549 to 1.14, p = 0.22) were similar between the cohorts. Hence, we conclude that patients with NSTEMIs who underwent IVUS-guided PCI had less risk of in-hospital mortality and a greater requirement of mechanical circulatory support than did those who underwent non-IVUS PCI, with no difference in procedural complications. Large prospective trials are essential to validate these findings.

Impact of the adjunctive use criteria for intravascular ultrasound-guided percutaneous coronary intervention and clinical outcomes

The impact of the adherence to the adjunctive use criteria (AUC) for intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and clinical outcomes in low IVUS volume countries are limited. The current study compared the procedural success and complication rates between used and not used IVUS catheter in the patients who were met (C +) and were not met (C-) the AUC for IVUS-guided PCI. From June 2018 through June 2019, a total of 21,066 patients were included in the Thai PCI registry. Among the study population, 15,966 patients (75.8%) have met the IVUS-AUC. The IVUS-guided PCI rates were 14.5% and 11.3% in the C + and C - groups, respectively. After adjusting for covariables by propensity model, IVUS-guided PCI was identified as an independent predictor of the procedural success rate regardless of whether the AUC were met with the relative risk [RR (95% confidence interval (CI)] of 1.033(1.026-1.040) and 1.012(1.002-1.021) in C + and C- groups, respectively. IVUS-guided PCI increased the procedural complication risks in both groups but were not significant with corresponding RRs of 1.171(0.915-1.426) and 1.693(0.959-2.426). Procedural success was achieved with IVUS-guided PCI regardless of whether the AUC were met. IVUS-guided PCI did not lead to an increase in procedural complications.

Utilization Rate and Outcomes of Intravascular Imaging in Elderly Patients Presenting With ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

BACKGROUND

Elderly patients presenting with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) represent a vulnerable population with comorbid conditions and complex coronary anatomy. We aimed to describe the utilization rate and outcomes of intravascular imaging to guide percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in this population.

METHODS

The Nationwide Readmissions Database was queried for all hospitalizations for STEMI involving PCI from 2018 to 2019. Hospitalizations were stratified by patient age into a younger cohort <75 years (mean age 58.7 ± 9.5 years) and an older cohort ≥75 years. Propensity score-weighed regression analysis was used to identify the association of intravascular imaging with in-hospital mortality, 90-day all-cause readmission, and readmission for myocardial infarction (MI).

RESULTS

A total of 299,619 STEMI PCI hospitalizations were included. Intravascular imaging was utilized less frequently in the older cohort (6.8 % vs 7.8 %, odds ratio [OR] 0.87, 95 % CI 0.82-0.92, p < 0.001). In both cohorts, intravascular imaging was more likely to be used with anterior STEMI, complex PCI, mechanical support, and thrombectomy. Propensity score analysis showed the use of intravascular imaging was associated with lower in-hospital mortality in both cohorts (OR 0.60, 95 % CI 0.52-0.68, p < 0.001 in the younger cohort and OR 0.61, 95 % CI 0.51-0.72, p < 0.001 in the older cohort). There was no difference in 90-day all-cause readmission or readmission for MI with intravascular imaging.

CONCLUSIONS

Intravascular imaging during STEMI PCI is associated with lower in-hospital mortality regardless of age. Further studies are needed to understand the low utilization rates especially among elderly patients.

Impact of intravascular ultrasound in acute myocardial infarction patients at high ischemic risk

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES

Evidence for the role of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in patients at high ischemic risk of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is lacking. This study aimed to investigate the long-term clinical impact of IVUS-guided PCI in patients at high ischemic risk of AMI.

METHODS

Among 13 104 patients with AMI enrolled in the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institutes of Health, we selected 8890 patients who underwent successful PCI with second-generation drug-eluting stent implantation and classified them into 2 groups based on whether or not they were at high ischemic risk or not, defined as any of the following: number of stents implanted ≥ 3, 3 vessels treated, ≥ 3 lesions treated, total stent length> 60mm, left main PCI, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease. The primary outcome was target lesion failure including cardiac death, target vessel myocardial infarction, and ischemia-driven target lesion revascularization at 3 years.

RESULTS

In 4070 AMI patients at high ischemic risk, IVUS-guided PCI (21.6%) was associated with a significantly lower risk of target lesion failure at 3 years (6.7% vs 12.0%; HR, 0.54; 95%CI, 0.41-0.72; P <.001) than angiography-guided PCI. The results were consistent after confounder adjustment, inversed probability weighting, and propensity score matching.

CONCLUSIONS

In patients at high ischemic risk of AMI who underwent PCI with second-generation drug-eluting stent implantation, use of IVUS guidance was associated with a significant reduction in 3-year target lesion failure. iCreaT study No. C110016.

Comparison of 3-Year Outcomes between Early and Delayed Invasive Strategies in Older and Younger Adults with Non-ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction Undergoing New-Generation Drug-Eluting Stent Implantation

We evaluated the 3-year clinical outcomes of early invasive (EI) and delayed invasive (DI) strategies in older and younger adults with non-ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) undergoing successful new-generation drug-eluting stent (DES) implantation to reflect current real-world practice. Overall, 4513 patients with NSTEMI were recruited from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institute of Health and divided into two groups according to age: group A (age ≥ 65 years, n = 2253) and group B (age < 65 years, n = 2260). These two groups were further divided into two subgroups: group EI (A1 and B1) and DI (A2 and B2). The primary clinical outcome was the occurrence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCEs), defined as all-cause death, recurrent MI (re-MI), any repeat coronary revascularization, or stroke. The secondary clinical outcome was definite or probable stent thrombosis (ST). In both groups A and B, after multivariable-adjusted and propensity score-adjusted analyses, MACCE (group A, p = 0.137 and p = 0.255, respectively; group B, p = 0.171 and p = 0.135, respectively), all-cause death, cardiac death (CD), non-CD, re-MI, any repeat revascularization, stroke, and ST rates were similar between the EI and DI groups. When including only those with complex lesions, the primary and secondary clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the EI and DI groups. In the era of new-generation DESs, major clinical outcomes were not significantly different between the EI and DI strategies in both older and younger adults with NSTEMI.