Positive predictive value of cardiovascular diagnoses in the Danish National Patient Registry: a validation study.

Objective: The majority of cardiovascular diagnoses in the Danish National Patient Registry (DNPR) remain to be validated despite extensive use in epidemiological research. We therefore examined the positive predictive value (PPV) of cardiovascular diagnoses in the DNPR.

Design: Population-based validation study.

Transcatheter Aortic Valve Thrombosis: Incidence, Predisposing Factors, and Clinical Implications.

Background: There are limited data on the incidence, clinical implications, and predisposing factors of transcatheter heart valve (THV) thrombosis following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR).

Objectives: The authors assessed the incidence, potential predictors, and clinical implications of THV thrombosis as determined by contrast-enhanced multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) after TAVR.

Methods: Among 460 consecutive patients who underwent TAVR with the Edwards Sapien XT or Sapien 3 (Edwards Lifesciences, Irvine, California) THV, 405 (88%) underwent MDCT in addition to transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography 1 to 3 months post-TAVR.

Effect of remote ischemic conditioning on myocardial perfusion in patients with suspected ischemic coronary artery disease.

Background: Remote ischemic conditioning (RIC) confers protection against myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury and may modulate coronary blood flow. We investigated whether RIC affects resting myocardial perfusion (MP) in patients with suspected ischemic coronary artery disease by quantitative MP imaging.

Methods And Results: We included 49 patients with suspected ischemic coronary artery disease.

Evaluation of algorithms for registry-based detection of acute myocardial infarction following percutaneous coronary intervention.

Background: Registry-based monitoring of the safety and efficacy of interventions in patients with ischemic heart disease requires validated algorithms.

Objective: We aimed to evaluate algorithms to identify acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the Danish National Patient Registry following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

Methods: Patients enrolled in clinical drug-eluting stent studies at the Department of Cardiology, Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, from January 2006 to August 2012 were included.

Ischaemic conditioning and targeting reperfusion injury: a 30 year voyage of discovery.

To commemorate the auspicious occasion of the 30th anniversary of IPC, leading pioneers in the field of cardioprotection gathered in Barcelona in May 2016 to review and discuss the history of IPC, its evolution to IPost and RIC, myocardial reperfusion injury as a therapeutic target, and future targets and strategies for cardioprotection. This article provides an overview of the major topics discussed at this special meeting and underscores the huge importance and impact, the discovery of IPC has made in the field of cardiovascular research.

Beta-Blocker Therapy Early After Myocardial Infarction: A Comparison Between Medication at Hospital Discharge and Subsequent Pharmacy-Dispensed Medication.

Background: Beta-blocker (BB) therapy after myocardial infarction (MI) reduces all-cause mortality.

Objective: The aim of this study was to investigate BB dosing patterns and compliance following MI.

Methods: Using medical patient files and nationwide databases, we identified 100 patients who were discharged following MI in 2012 from Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark, and subsequently redeemed one or more BB prescriptions within 6 months.

FFR Derived From Coronary CT Angiography in Nonculprit Lesions of Patients With Recent STEMI.

Objectives: This study sought to determine the diagnostic performance of noninvasive fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from coronary computed tomography angiography (CTA) (FFR) for the diagnosis of lesion-specific ischemia in nonculprit vessels of patients with recent in ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI).

Background: In patients with stable angina, FFR has high diagnostic performance in identification of ischemia-causing lesions. The potential value of FFR for assessment of multivessel disease in patients with recent STEMI has not been evaluated.

30-year nationwide trends in incidence of atrial fibrillation in Denmark and associated 5-year risk of heart failure, stroke, and death.

Background: Long-term nationwide trends in atrial fibrillation (AF) incidence and 5-year outcomes are rare.

Methods: We conducted a population-based cohort study using the Danish National Patient Registry covering all Danish hospitals. We computed standardized incidence rates during 1983-2012.

Adenosine Receptor Activation in the "Trigger" Limb of Remote Pre-Conditioning Mediates Human Endothelial Conditioning and Release of Circulating Cardioprotective Factor(s).

Remote ischemic pre-conditioning (rIPC) has emerged as a potential mechanism to reduce ischemia-reperfusion injury. Clinical data, however, have been mixed, and its physiological basis remains unclear, although it appears to involve release of circulating factor(s) and/or neural pathways. Here, the authors demonstrate that adenosine receptor activation is an important step in initiating human pre-conditioning; that pre-conditioning liberates circulating cardioprotective factor(s); and that exogenous adenosine infusion is able to recapitulate release of this factor.

Inotropic Effects of Prostacyclins on the Right Ventricle Are Abolished in Isolated Rat Hearts With Right-Ventricular Hypertrophy and Failure.

Background: Prostacyclin mimetics are vasodilatory agents used in the treatment of pulmonary arterial hypertension. The direct effects of prostanoids on right-ventricular (RV) function are unknown. We aimed to investigate the direct effects of prostacyclin mimetics on RV function in hearts with and without RV hypertrophy and failure.

Mortality Risk Among Heart Failure Patients With Depression: A Nationwide Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background: The prevalence of depression is 4- to 5-fold higher in heart failure patients than in the general population. We examined the influence of depression on all-cause mortality in patients with heart failure.

Methods And Results: Using Danish medical registries, this nationwide population-based cohort study included all patients with a first-time hospitalization for heart failure (1995-2014).

Long-Term Survival Among Patients With Myocardial Infarction Before Age 50 Compared With the General Population: A Danish Nationwide Cohort Study.

Background: The long-term prognosis for young myocardial infarction (MI) survivors remains poorly understood.

Methods And Results: We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study using prospectively collected medical data from all hospitals in Denmark during 1980 to 2009. We examined 30-year cause-specific death rates among 21 693 MI patients <50 years versus 216 930 sex- and age-matched people from the general population.

sGC-cGMP-PKG pathway stimulation protects the healthy but not the failing right ventricle of rats against ischemia and reperfusion injury.

Background: To investigate whether modulation of the sGC-cGMP-PKG pathway protects against ischemia and reperfusion injury in the healthy and the failing right ventricle (RV).

Methods: Hearts from male Wistar rats with a healthy RV (n=39) or a hypertrophic and failing RV induced by pulmonary trunk banding (n=57) were isolated and perfused in a pressure-controlled modified Langendorff setup. The isolated hearts were randomized to control, ischemic preconditioning (IPC, 2×5min of global ischemia), a phosphodiesterase-5 (PDE5) inhibitor vardenafil (66nM) alone and in combination with a cGMP-dependent protein kinase (PKG) blocker KT 5823 (1μM).

Heart failure patients with prediabetes and newly diagnosed diabetes display abnormalities in myocardial metabolism.

Background: In type 2 diabetes, a decrease in myocardial glucose uptake (MGU) may lower glucose oxidation and contribute to progression of chronic heart failure (CHF). However, it is unsettled whether CHF patients with prediabetes have abnormal MGU and myocardial blood flow (MBF) during normal physiological conditions.

Methods And Results: We studied 35 patients with CHF and reduced left ventricular ejections fraction (34 ± 9%) without overt T2D (mean HbA1c: 40 ± 4 mmol/mol) using echocardiography and quantitative measurements of MGU by 18F-FDG-PET and perfusion by 15O-HO-PET.

A post hoc analysis of long-term prognosis after exenatide treatment in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Aims: We aimed to assess the effect of exenatide treatment as an adjunct to primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on long-term clinical outcome.

Methods And Results: We performed a post hoc analysis in 334 patients with a first STEMI included in a previous study randomised to exenatide (n=175) or placebo (n=159) as an adjunct to primary PCI. The primary endpoint was a composite of all-cause mortality and admission for heart failure during a median follow-up of 5.

Randomized Comparison of a Biodegradable Polymer Ultrathin Strut Sirolimus-Eluting Stent With a Biodegradable Polymer Biolimus-Eluting Stent in Patients Treated With Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: The SORT OUT VII Trial.

Background: Coronary drug-eluting stents with biodegradable polymers have been designed to improve safety and efficacy.

Methods And Results: The Scandinavian Organization for Randomized Trials With Clinical Outcome (SORT OUT) VII trial-a large-scale registry-based randomized, multicenter, single-blind, 2-arm, noninferiority trial-compared 2 biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stents: the thin-strut cobalt-chromium sirolimus-eluting Orsiro stent and the stainless steel biolimus-eluting Nobori stent in an all-comer patient population. The primary end point target lesion failure was a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction (not related to other than index lesion), or target lesion revascularization within 1 year, analyzed by intention to treat (noninferiority margin of 3.

Staged re-evaluation of non-culprit lesions in ST segment elevation myocardial infarction: a retrospective study.

Objective: It remains unknown whether complete revascularisation is optimally performed in patients with ST segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during the index or at staged procedures. The aims of this study were to quantify the number of primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures in which non-culprit lesions needed further evaluation, to determine the consequence of the re-evaluation and to quantify adverse cardiac events during the waiting time for re-evaluation and intervention.

Methods: The study was observational and retrospective and included all patients with STEMI treated with primary PCI during 1 year at our centre.

Invasively Measured Aortic Systolic Blood Pressure and Office Systolic Blood Pressure in Cardiovascular Risk Assessment: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Aortic systolic blood pressure (BP) represents the hemodynamic cardiac and cerebral burden more directly than office systolic BP. Whether invasively measured aortic systolic BP confers additional prognostic value beyond office BP remains debated. In this study, office systolic BP and invasively measured aortic systolic BP were recorded in 21 908 patients (mean age: 63 years; 58% men; 14% with diabetes mellitus) with stable angina pectoris undergoing elective coronary angiography during January 2001 to December 2012.

Association Between Changes in Coronary Artery Disease Progression and Treatment With Biologic Agents for Severe Psoriasis.

Importance: Inflammatory pathways of psoriasis share similarities with the mechanisms identified in atherosclerosis, and the association between psoriasis and cardiovascular disease due to accelerated coronary artery disease is well established. The effect of anti-inflammatory drugs on the development of coronary atherosclerosis remains essentially unknown.

Objective: To investigate the association of biological therapy with changes in coronary artery disease progression, measured by repeated coronary computed tomography (CT).

Cardiovascular risk factor control is insufficient in young patients with coronary artery disease.

Background: Control of cardiovascular risk factor is important in secondary prevention of coronary artery disease (CAD) but it is unknown whether treatment targets are achieved in young patients. We aimed to examine the prevalence and control of risk factors in this subset of patients.

Methods: We performed a cross-sectional, single-center study on patients with documented CAD before age 40.

Long-Term Risk of Stroke in Myocardial Infarction Survivors: Thirty-Year Population-Based Cohort Study.

Background And Purpose: Improved survival after myocardial infarction (MI) has increased the number of patients at risk of post-MI stroke. We examined risks of ischemic stroke, intracerebral hemorrhage (ICH), and subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH) in patients with MI compared with the general population.

Methods: We conducted a nationwide population-based cohort study using Danish medical registries.

Venous thromboembolism in patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators.

Aims: To examine the incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) and its risk factors among patients with implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs).

Methods And Results: All first-time ICD recipients in Denmark during 2000-12 were identified from medical databases. Incident VTEs were ascertained, overall and according to gender, age, Charlson Comorbidity Index score (no, moderate, or severe comorbidity), prior pacemaker or cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT-D) implantation, and ICD type (single-chamber, dual-chamber, or CRT-D).

Gastroscopy-related adverse cardiac events and bleeding complications among patients treated with coronary stents and dual antiplatelet therapy.

Background And Study Aims: Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) is recommended following percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with drug-eluting stent (DES). DAPT is a risk factor for gastrointestinal bleeding. We aimed to quantify (1) the rate of gastroscopy within 12 months after PCI, (2) the rate of adverse cardiac events and gastroscopy-related bleeding complications within 30 days of gastroscopy, and (3) the association between antiplatelet therapy and these events.

Coronary atherosclerotic plaque burden and composition by CT angiography in Caucasian and South Asian patients with stable chest pain.

Aims: South Asian (SA) patients are known to have an increased incidence of acute cardiovascular events compared with Caucasians. The aim of this observational study was to compare the prevalence of coronary stenoses, the amount and composition of coronary atherosclerosis in a cohort of Caucasian and SA patients with stable chest pain, in non-acute settings.

Methods And Results: The study protocol conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki.