Coronary Artery Disease

In the FAME 3 trial, PCI guided by fractional flow reserve failed to meet noninferiority for reduction of MACCE at 1 year compared with CABG in patients with three-vessel CAD.

The Women’s Health Access Matters organization released a report that adding $20 million in CAD research funding for women generates nearly $2 billion in economic benefit.

In a meta-analysis of randomized trials that included patients with CAD, nonfatal MI was not an adequate surrogate for all-cause or CV mortality, researchers reported.

In patients with diabetes and chronic coronary disease, researchers found no incremental benefit employing routine invasive management compared with initial medical therapy, according to results from the ISCHEMIA trials.

The risk for CAD in women with stage I or II breast cancer who received left-sided radiation therapy may be more than twofold greater compared with those who received right-sided radiation.

CAD has proved to be a highly preventable disease. Reduction in risk for CAD has been accomplished by changes in lifestyle such as cessation of smoking or lowering plasma cholesterol by drug therapy. Multiple randomized placebo-controlled clinical trials since the early 1990s targeting lowering of plasma cholesterol have consistently been associated with a 30% to 40% reduction in cardiac morbidity and mortality. Despite these efforts, CVD remains the most common cause of death in the U.S. and is also the most common cause of death throughout the world. Secondary prevention has been effective, whereas primary prevention offers even greater benefits and is more appropriate, if not necessary, to reduce this pandemic.

CAD severity, not ischemia severity, was associated with 4-year risk for death and MI among patients with stable ischemic heart disease in the ISCHEMIA trial, researchers reported.

Adults with differentiated thyroid cancer who undergo thyroidectomy are at increased risks for atrial fibrillation, cardiovascular disease, increased heart rate and left ventricular mass development, data from a review show.

High-sensitivity cardiac troponin may be used as a marker for predicting coronary artery disease risk in patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, according to a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

Influenza vaccination early after MI or in high-risk CAD was associated with a 28% lower risk for all-cause death, MI or stent thrombosis at 12 months compared with placebo, according to results of the IAMI trial.