SummaryBackground Current guidelines recommend potent platelet inhibition with prasugrel or ticagrelor for 12 months after an acute coronary syndrome managed with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, the greatest antiischaemic benefit of potent antiplatelet drugs over the less potent clopidogrel occurs early, while most excess bleeding events arise during chronic treatment. Hence, a stage-adapted treatment with potent platelet inhibition in the acute phase and de-escalation to clopidogrel in the maintenance phase could be an alternative approach. We aimed to investigate the safety and efficacy of early de-escalation of antiplatelet treatment from prasugrel to clopidogrel guided by platelet function testing (PFT).

AimsCardiac dyssynchrony is common in patients with heart failure, whether or not they have ischaemic heart disease (IHD). The effect of the underlying cause of cardiac dysfunction on the response to cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) is unknown. This issue was addressed using data from the CARE-HF trial.Methods and resultsPatients (n = 813) were grouped by heart failure aetiology (IHD n = 339 vs. non-IHD n = 473), and the primary composite (all-cause mortality or unplanned hospitalization for a major cardiovascular event) and principal secondary (all-cause mortality) endpoints analysed. Heart failure severity and the degree of dyssynchrony were compared between the groups by analysing baseline clinical and echocardiographic variables. Patients with IHD were more likely to be in NYHA class IV (7.5 vs. 4.0%; P = 0.03) and to have higher NT-proBNP levels (2182 vs. 1725 pg/L), indicating more advanced heart failure. The degree of dyssynchrony was more pronounced in patients without IHD (assessed using mean QRS duration, interventricular mechanical delay, and aorta-pulmonary pre-ejection time). Left ventricular ejection fraction and left ventricular end-systolic volume improved to a lesser extent in the IHD group (4.53 vs. 8.50% and −35.68 vs. –58.52 cm3). Despite these differences, CRT improved all-cause mortality, NYHA class, and hospitalization rates to a similar extent in patients with or without IHD.ConclusionThe benefits of CRT in patients with or without IHD were similar in relative terms in the CARE-HF study but as patients with IHD had a worse prognosis, the benefit in absolute terms may be greater.

The success and safety of standard catheter radiofrequency ablation may be limited for ablation of atrial fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The aim of this study was to characterize and compare different cooled and noncooled catheter systems in terms of their specific lesion geometry, incidence of impedance rise, and crater and coagulum formation to facilitate appropriate catheter selection for special indications. The study investigated myocardial lesion generation of three cooled catheter systems (7 Fr, 4-mm tip): two saline irrigation catheters with a showerhead-type electrode tip (sprinkler) and a porous metal tip and an internally cooled catheter. Noncooled catheters (7 Fr) had a large tip electrode (8 mm) and a standard tip electrode (4 mm). RF energy was delivered on isolated porcine myocardium superfused with heparinized pig blood (37 degrees C) at power settings of 10-40 W. Both irrigated systems were characterized by a large lesion depth (8.1 +/- 1.6 mm) and a large lesion diameter (13.8 +/- 1.6 mm). In comparison, internally cooled lesions showed a similar lesion depth (8.0 +/- 1.0 mm), but a significantly smaller lesion diameter (12.3 +/- 1.2 mm,P = 0.04). Large tip lesions had a similar lesion diameter (14.5 +/- 1.6 mm), but a significantly smaller lesion depth (6.3 +/- 1.0 mm,P = 0.002) compared to irrigated lesions. However, lesion volume was not significantly different between the three cooled and the large tip catheter. To induce maximum lesion size, power requirements were three times higher for the irrigation systems and two times higher for the internally cooled and the large tip catheter compared to the standard catheter. Impedance rise was rarest with irrigated and large tip ablation. In case of impedance rise crater formation was a frequent observation (61-93%). Irrigated catheters prevented coagulum formation most effectively. Irrigated rather than internally cooled ablation appears to be most adequate for the induction of deep and long lesions at a low rate of impedance rise and thrombus formation. Large tip ablation may be feasible for the creation of long linear lesions, however, with an increased risk of thrombus formation.

Transvenous polyurethane ICD leads showed a high rate of lead insulation failure late after implantation with frequent inappropriate shock deliveries. Close follow-up is mandatory in patients with these leads. Automated device control features with patient alert function integrated into new devices may contribute to early detection of lead failure.

Arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia is a structural heart disease characterized by fibrofatty degeneration of right ventricular myocardium and arrhythmias of right ventricular origin. The aim of this study was to characterize endocardial right ventricular activation by electroanatomic mapping as a guide for catheter ablation in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. Electroanatomic mapping and entrainment procedures were performed in 5 patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia. Endocardial mapping during ventricular tachycardia demonstrated a focal activation pattern with radial spreading of activation from a site of earliest ventricular activation in all directions. Right ventricular activation time (127 +/- 34 ms) was markedly shorter than tachycardia cycle length (415 +/- 92 ms). The site of earliest ventricular activation was found in an aneurysmal outflow tract (n = 2), at the border of aneurysms near the tricuspid annulus (n = 2), and at the apex of the right ventricle (n = 1). Entrainment mapping criteria of these areas of earliest endocardial activity were consistent with exit sites of a reentrant circuit in an area of abnormal myocardium. Fractionated potentials were found 61 +/- 29 ms before the onset of the QRS complex at these sites. Catheter ablation rendered the "clinical" ventricular tachycardia noninducible in four patients but "nonclinical" faster ventricular tachycardias were inducible in three patients. During the follow-up of 7 +/- 3 months after ablation, the frequency of therapies in 4 patients with an implantable cardioverter defibrillator decreased from 49 +/- 61 episodes per month before ablation, to 0.3 +/- 0.5 episodes per month after ablation (P < 0.05). Electroanatomic mapping during ventricular tachycardia facilitates localization of exit sites in relation to aneurysms in diseased right ventricle and may guide catheter ablation in patients with arrhythmogenic right ventricular dysplasia.