ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction patients undergoing PPCI frequently exhibit impaired response to ticagrelor in the early hours after drug administration, which cannot be overcome by increasing LD regimens. These PD findings are largely attributed to an impaired PK profile, indicating a delay in drug absorption compared with that reported in stable clinical settings. (High Ticagrelor Loading Dose in STEMI; NCT01898442).

From May through July 2015, a total of 26 cases of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome were reported from 2 hospitals in Daejeon, South Korea, including 1 index case and 25 new cases. We examined the epidemiologic features of these cases and found an estimated median incubation period of 6.1 days (8.8 days in hospital A and 4.6 days in hospital B). The overall attack rate was 3.7% (4.7% in hospital A and 3.0% in hospital B), and the attack rates among inpatients and caregivers in the same ward were 12.3% and 22.5%, respectively. The overall case-fatality rate was 44.0% (28.6% in hospital A and 63.6% in hospital B). The use of cohort quarantine may have played a role in preventing community spread, but additional transmission occurred among members of the hospital cohort quarantined together. Caregivers may have contributed in part to the transmission.

Dual antiplatelet therapy with a combination of aspirin and an inhibitor of the ADP P2Y12 receptor is the recommended treatment for patients with acute coronary syndrome or who are undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, patients may continue to have ischemic recurrences, including stent thrombosis, which have been linked with the well-known variability in individual response to antiplatelet therapy, and clopidogrel in particular. There are currently several assays available to measure platelet reactivity, and platelet function testing has been shown to be a valuable tool to assess the pharmacodynamic efficacy of antiplatelet drugs. Moreover, platelet reactivity has important prognostic implications, as several studies have shown an association with thrombotic and bleeding events in patients with high and low platelet reactivity, respectively. Consequently, over the past years there has been a plethora of studies investigating the optimal range of platelet reactivity associated with the highest protection against ischemic complications and the lowest risk of bleeding. Given the correlation between on-treatment platelet reactivity and outcomes, the use of platelet function testing has also been advocated to create personalized antiplatelet therapy. Several studies have been conducted in this field, but major clinical trials have failed to demonstrate a benefit of such a strategy in improving clinical outcomes. Indeed, inherent limitations of these trials may have contributed to their failure. The present manuscript provides an overview on the role of platelet function testing in contemporary clinical and interventional practice.

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NCT01852175.

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Dual antiplatelet therapy with aspirin and an oral ADP P2Y12 receptor antagonist is the standard-of-care for the prevention of ischemic events in patients with acute coronary syndrome or undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, currently available ADP P2Y12 receptor antagonists have several limitations, such as interindividual response variability, drug-drug interactions, slow onset/offset and only oral availability. Cangrelor is a reversible, potent, intravenous, competitive inhibitor of the ADP P2Y12 receptor that rapidly achieves near complete and predictable platelet inhibition. Along with reversible binding to the receptor cangrelor also has a very short half-life (3-5 min), which in turn results in a rapid offset of action. These properties make cangrelor a promising drug for clinical use in patients undergoing PCI or patients waiting for major surgery but still require antiplatelet protection. This manuscript provides an update of the current status of knowledge on cangrelor, focusing on its pharmacologic properties and clinical trial development, including the BRIDGE and CHAMPION-PHOENIX trials.

Circulation Journal Official Journal of the Japanese Circulation Society http://www. j-circ.or.jp espite remarkable progress in the technique of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), the recanalization of chronic total occlusion (CTO) of native coronary artery remains as one of the major challenges in interventional cardiology. 1-4 The success rates of top level operators are still considerably lower than those achieved in non-occluded coronary arteries or acutely occluded arteries by average-volume operators. 5-7One of the major hurdles of CTO PCI is the inability to visualize the exact vessel course, size, and hardness because of the inability to obtain luminal continuity on traditional coronary angiography. Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) has been used as a valuable non-invasive tool for evaluation of coronary artery atherosclerotic plaque. 8-14 Furthermore, recent developments in MDCT technology, including increased detectors and dedicated coronary artery analysis software, have enabled sophisticated volumetric plaque analysis on intravascular ultrasound (IVUS). 15, 16 We therefore reasoned that MDCT can provide additional information beyond coronary angiography, and can predict the success of CTO PCI. Background: The purpose of the present study was to investigate whether multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) can identify the nature of chronic total occlusion (CTO) plaque, which cannot be measured quantitatively using traditional coronary angiography, and predict the success of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).