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The application of a simple blood test to predict prognosis in acute heart failure (AHF) patients is not well established. Neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) is inexpensive and easy to obtain in hospitalized patients using a routine blood test. We evaluate the prognostic implications of NLR as an independent predictor of in-hospital and long-term mortality in AHF patients. Among 5625 patients enrolled in the Korean Acute Heart Failure registry, 5580 patients were classified into quartiles by their NLR level, and analyzed for in-hospital and post-discharge three-year mortality. Patients in the highest NLR quartile had the highest in-hospital and post-discharge three-year mortality. The same results were seen by dividing the aggravating factor into the infection or ischemia group and the non-infection or non-ischemia group. For patients aggravated from infection or ischemia, a cut-off NLR value was 7.0 that increase the risk of in-hospital and post-discharge three-year mortality. In subgroups of patients not aggravated from infection or ischemia, a cut-off NLR value was 5.0 that increase the risk of in-hospital and post discharge three-year mortality. Elevated NLR in AHF patients at the index hospitalization is an independent predictor for in-hospital and post-discharge three-year mortality. Taken together, NLR is a marker for risk assessment of AHF patients.

Background: β-Blockers can improve prognosis after acute myocardial infarction. However, it remains unclear how long β-blockers should be prescribed. Methods: We included patients from the prospective, nationwide Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry-National Institutes of Health registry and collected data on β-blockers and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) at 1-year follow-up. Patients were stratified into 2 groups: 1001 patients with a 1-year LVEF<50% and 3007 patients with a 1-year LVEF≥50%. The primary outcome was 2-year all-cause mortality from the 1-year follow-up. Results: A total of 3177 patients received β-blockers at 1 year, and 151 patients died during the 2-year follow-up from 1 year after index hospitalization. β-Blockers showed survival benefits in patients with a 1-year LVEF<50% (log-rank P =0.001) but not in those with a 1-year LVEF≥50% (log-rank P =0.311). After adjusting covariates, β-blockers were associated with a 51% reduction in mortality in patients with a 1-year LVEF<50% ( P =0.020) but not in their counterparts ( P =0.322). Indeed, there was a prognostic interaction between the use of β-blockers at 1 year and 1-year LVEF ( P for interaction=0.004). Conclusions: Use of β-blockers at 1-year follow-up after acute MI was associated with improved outcomes in patients with an LVEF<50% at 1 year but not in those with an LVEF>50% at 1 year. This study provides valuable information about differential responsiveness to β-blockers according to 1-year LVEF and might suggest the proper duration of β-blockers after acute MI. Registration: URL: http://cris.nih.go.kr/cris/en/ ; Unique identifier: KCT0000863.

Objectives. The aim of this study was to assess the clinical impact of 3 bifurcation angles in left main (LM) bifurcation treated with the 2-stent technique. Background. Data are limited regarding the impact of bifurcation angles after LM percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Methods. Using patient-level 4 multicenter registries in Korea, 462 patients undergoing LM bifurcation PCI with the 2-stent technique were identified (181 crush, 167 T-stenting; 63% 1st generation drug-eluting stent (DES), 37% 2nd generation DES). Three bifurcation angles, between the LM and left anterior descending (LAD), the LM and left circumflex (LCX), and the LAD and LCX, were measured. The primary outcome was target lesion failure (TLF), a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization (TLR). Results. In patients treated with the crush technique, the best cutoff value (BCV) to predict TLF was 152° of the LM-LAD angle. In the crush group, a significantly higher TLF rate, mostly driven by TLR, was observed in the LM-LAD angle ≥152° group compared with the <152° group (35.7% vs. 14.6%; adjusted hazard ratio 3.476; 95% confidence interval 1.612–7.492). An LM-LAD angle ≥152° was an independent predictor of TLF. In the T-stenting, no bifurcation angle affected the clinical outcomes. Conclusions. In LM bifurcation PCI using the 2-stent technique, wide LM-LAD angle (≥152°) was associated with a greater risk of TLF in the crush, whereas none of the bifurcation angles affected T-stenting outcomes.

Author's summary There is a fundamental trade-off that exists between ischemic and bleeding risk that must be considered in deciding the optimal strategy of dual antiplatelet therapy. Prasugrel-based de-escalation decreased the risk of net adverse clinical event (NACE) due to a reduction in bleeding in the HOST-REDUCE-POLYTECH-ACS trial. In non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes patients, prasugrel-based dose de-escalation from one-month post-percutaneous coronary intervention reduced the risk of NACE. In ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), de-escalation showed no benefit for NACE and a statistically insignificant but numerically higher rate of ischemic events. Our data raises caution about prasugrel dose reduction in higher thrombotic conditions.

Introduction Drug-eluting stents (DES) significantly improved angiographic and clinical outcomes compared with bare-metal stents in patients with diabetes. The clinical effects of BioMime sirolimus-eluting stent (SES) in patients with diabetes have not been evaluated. Therefore, we compared the efficacy of BioMime DES in coronary artery disease (CAD) patients with versus without diabetes. Methods This prospective analytical study compared angiographic in-segment late loss and clinical effectiveness of BioMime SES stents in treating patients with (patients: 77 and lesions: 83) versus without (patients: 154 and lesions: 162) diabetes. The purpose of this study was the comparison of angiographic in-segment late loss at 12 months. Major adverse cardiac events (MACEs) were also monitored as secondary outcomes 24 months after the index procedure. Results Of 231 patients enrolled in the study, the mean age was 63.3 years and 153 patients were male. Angiographic follow-up rate was 84.8% (patients: 196) and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) follow-up rate was 67.9% (patients: 157) at 12 months. Diabetic patients were comparable to nondiabetic patients for 12-month in-segment late loss (0.01 ± 0.31 mm for the nondiabetes group versus 0.04 ± 0.11 mm for the diabetes group; P = 0.158; P < 0.05). At 24 months, MACEs, including death, myocardial infarction and ischemic-driven target lesion revascularization were not statistically different between the two treatment groups. Conclusions BioMime SES stents in treating patients with diabetes were comparable in reducing angiographic restenosis at 12 months and MACEs at 24 months compared to nondiabetic patients with CAD.

Background: The role of immediate percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI; door-to-balloon time ≤90 minutes) in patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction who present ≥12 hours after symptom onset is still obscure. We sought to explore the clinical outcomes of immediate PCI in patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction depending on presentation time. Methods: Using the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry, a nationwide prospective multicenter registry in the Republic of Korea, we analyzed data from 5968 patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction. These patients were classified into the following groups: early presenters (n=5104 with symptom onset-to-door time <12 hours), late presenters (n=599 with symptom onset-to-door time 12–48 hours), and very late presenters (n=265 with symptom onset-to-door time ≥48 hours). The primary outcome was major adverse cardiac events, a composite of cardiac death, any myocardial infarction, and clinically driven target lesion revascularization. Results: In early presenters, immediate PCI was significantly associated with a lower rate of major adverse cardiac events compared with delayed PCI (door-to-balloon time >90 minutes; immediate versus delayed PCI, 8.6% versus 17.9%; inverse probability weighting adjusted hazard ratio, 0.63 [95% CI, 0.56–0.71]). In late presenters, immediate PCI was not associated with better major adverse cardiac events outcomes (13.0% versus 14.8%; inverse probability weighting adjusted hazard ratio, 1.05 [95% CI, 0.77–1.44]). The same trend was found for cardiac death (early presenters: immediate versus delayed PCI, 5.6% versus 14.3%; inverse probability weighting adjusted hazard ratio, 0.55 [95% CI, 0.48–0.64]; late presenters: 9.9% versus 9.8%; inverse probability weighting adjusted hazard ratio, 1.25 [95% CI, 0.86–1.82]). Very late presenters also showed the same trends as late presenters. Immediate PCI was an independent predictor of major adverse cardiac events in early presenters but not in late presenters. Conclusions: Immediate PCI, defined by time door-to-balloon time ≤90 minutes, for patients with ST-segment–elevation myocardial infarction who present ≥12 hours after symptom onset is not associated with improved long-term clinical outcomes as compared with delayed PCI (door-to-balloon time >90 minutes).

BACKGROUND Dipeptidyl peptidase-4 (DPP4) inhibitors are widely used to treat type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). In a previous study, we demonstrated a plausible mechanism how DPP4 inhibitors may cause accumulation of stroma derived factor-1 (SDF1) in ischemic retina, leading to vascular permeability and diabetic retinopathy (DR). We sought to investigate the association of DPP4 inhibitors with DR in patients using the Korean National Health Insurance Service (NHIS) data. METHODS This was a retrospective, population-based cohort study using the Korean NHIS database. The Korean NHIS is a government-run, mandatory medical insurance service and keeps records of patient sociodemographic data, inpatient and outpatient medical services and prescriptions. The database consists of records from the entire Korean, totaling 51 million people, regardless of the medical institution from which they received service. RESULTS Among the total study population, 26.0% (152,149 of 585,191) received prescriptions of DPP4 inhibitors. The incidence of DR in the DPP4 inhibitor group was 55.03 per 1,000 person-years (PPY), compared to 50.17 PPY in the non-DPP4 group (P < 0.001). Patients prescribed with DPP4 inhibitors as second-line therapy had a 9% increased risk of developing DR compared to those on other medications after adjustment for age, gender, hypertension, dyslipidemia, and duration of disease (adjusted HR 1.09, 95% CI 1.07–1.11, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS In Korean T2DM patients that received second line oral hypoglycemic agents, DPP4 inhibitor prescription was associated with a higher risk of newly-developed DR, suggesting that the effect of DPP4 inhibitors on vascular permeability and neovascularization may have clinical implications.