Publications by authors named "Marcel A M Beijk"

Background And Aims: Invasive coronary function testing (CFT) identifies coronary vasomotor disorders in up to 90% of patients with angina with non-obstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA). The ILIAS ANOCA trial hypothesized that routine ad hoc CFT would be feasible, safe, and effective in providing an early, comprehensive diagnosis. Additionally, it was anticipated that combining CFT with a disease-specific treatment protocol would significantly improve quality of life in ANOCA patients compared with standard care.

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(1) Background: Prevalence of patent foramen ovale (PFO) in the general population is estimated at around 24%. We hypothesized that right-to-left shunting (RLS) resulting from PFO might contribute to angina symptoms in patients with coronary artery spasm (CAS), potentially triggered by vasoactive metabolites. Therefore, the aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of PFO-related RLS in patients with documented CAS.

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Background: Angina with nonobstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA) is a major cause of chronic coronary syndromes, affecting nearly half of patients with anginal symptoms who undergo invasive coronary angiography. ANOCA may lead to substantial symptom burden, increased risk of adverse cardiac events, increased healthcare utilization due to ongoing symptoms, repeat hospitalizations, and invasive testing. The pathophysiology of ANOCA often involves a variety of coronary disorders, such as coronary microvascular dysfunction, epicardial or microvascular vasospasm and endothelial dysfunction.

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Importance: Patients with angina and no obstructive coronary artery disease frequently have coronary vasomotor dysfunction as underlying pathophysiological mechanism, comprising epicardial spasm, microvascular spasm, and/or microcirculatory dysfunction. These endotypes can be diagnosed by invasive coronary function testing which has previously shown to be safe in tertiary and expert centers.

Objective: To determine the prevalence of vasomotor dysfunction in patients with angina and no obstructive coronary artery disease who were clinically referred for a coronary function test (CFT); and assess safety and feasibility of a CFT.

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Background: A coronary function test (CFT) is the recommended diagnostic test to identify coronary vasomotor dysfunction as a cause of symptoms in patients with angina and nonobstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA). Acetylcholine is the commonly used pharmacological agent for spasm provocation. We aimed to investigate an association between severity of symptoms and provocative acetylcholine dose.

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Background: Concomitant coronary artery disease (CAD) is highly prevalent in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI). The optimal treatment strategy for CAD is a topic of debate. An initial conservative strategy for CAD in patients undergoing TAVI may be favorable as multiple studies have failed to show an evident beneficial effect of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) on mortality after TAVI.

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Article Synopsis
  • The study evaluates how well epicardial vasomotion and coronary blood flow (CBF) alone can diagnose coronary endothelial dysfunction (CED) in patients with angina and non-obstructive coronary arteries.
  • It involved 110 patients undergoing coronary function testing, finding that using epicardial diameter or CBF alone missed significant instances of CED diagnoses.
  • The conclusion emphasizes that both parameters are necessary for a comprehensive diagnosis of CED to avoid missing cases related to microvascular and epicardial issues.
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Article Synopsis
  • About 25% of the population has a patent foramen ovale (PFO), which is usually asymptomatic, but it can sometimes cause right-to-left shunt (RLS)-mediated hypoxaemia, a rare condition.
  • In a case involving a 73-year-old woman, her oxygen levels significantly improved from 87% to 98% after undergoing percutaneous PFO closure due to her progressive difficulty breathing.
  • While most PFOs don't cause problems, RLS-mediated hypoxaemia can occur even in older adults, and percutaneous closure is a safe and effective treatment that provides quick relief.
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Coronary vasomotor dysfunction, an important underlying cause of angina and nonobstructive coronary arteries (ANOCA), encompassing coronary vasospasm, coronary endothelial dysfunction, and/or coronary microvascular dysfunction, is clinically assessed by invasive coronary function testing (ICFT). As ICFT imposes a high burden on patients and carries risks, developing noninvasive alternatives is important. We evaluated whether coronary vasomotor dysfunction is a component of systemic microvascular endothelial and smooth muscle dysfunction and can be detected using laser speckle contrast analysis (LASCA).

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Article Synopsis
  • * A case study of four VSA patients revealed that all experienced significant coronary vasoconstriction during acetylcholine testing, but their ECGs differed between spontaneous episodes and induced spasms in three out of four cases.
  • * The findings indicate that the ECG during spontaneous VSA episodes may not match those seen during acetylcholine-induced spasms, emphasizing the need for ECG monitoring during spontaneous angina to improve diagnosis
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  • Young patients with cryptogenic stroke and a patent foramen ovale (PFO) sometimes receive device closure to prevent future strokes, but about 25% may still have a residual right-to-left shunt after 6 months.
  • In a study of 227 patients, it was found that at 6 months post-closure, 72.7% had no shunt, while the rest had varying degrees of residual shunt.
  • By 12 months, many of these residual shunts had either diminished or closed completely, indicating that while residual shunts are common at 6 months, most are small and tend to close over time.
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We present 2 patients with angina with no obstructive coronary artery disease and concomitant myocardial bridging. Despite maximal tolerated pharmacotherapy, symptoms remained. Invasive anatomical and hemodynamic assessment identified myocardial bridging as a contributing cause of angina.

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Article Synopsis
  • The hyperaemic stenosis resistance (HSR) index is a new measure that combines pressure drop and blood flow to provide a better assessment of coronary artery disease severity compared to traditional methods like fractional flow reserve (FFR) and coronary flow reserve (CFR).
  • This study analyzed data from 853 patients with chronic coronary syndromes to evaluate HSR's diagnostic and prognostic value, finding it to more accurately identify inducible ischaemia and predict long-term target vessel failure.
  • The results suggest HSR can help determine which obstructed vessels may benefit from treatment, reinforcing its potential as a superior tool in clinical practice for managing coronary artery disease.
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Background: We present a case of a pregnant patient with recurrent angina, in which her symptoms were initially attributed to coronary artery spasm. However, during follow-up, she was diagnosed as having pheochromocytoma, a rare neuroendocrine tumour.

Case Summary: The 35-year-old patient was admitted to the hospital because of chest pain and elevated cardiac troponins after the use of MDMA.

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Coronary endothelial dysfunction (CED) and coronary artery spasm (CAS) are causes of angina with no obstructive coronary arteries in patients. Both can be diagnosed by invasive coronary function testing (ICFT) using acetylcholine (ACh). This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic yield of a 3-minute ACh infusion as compared with a 1-minute ACh bolus injection protocol in testing CED and CAS.

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Recently, a novel method to estimate wedge pressure (P)-corrected minimal microvascular resistance (MR) was introduced. However, this method has not been validated since, and there are some theoretical concerns regarding the impact of different physiological conditions on the derivation of P measurements. This study sought to validate the recently introduced method to estimate P-corrected MR in a Doppler-derived study population and to evaluate the impact of different physiological conditions on the P measurements and the derivation of P-corrected MR.

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Article Synopsis
  • The microvascular resistance reserve (MRR) is a new index used to evaluate how well the coronary circulation can dilate, particularly in patients with coronary artery disease (CAD), and its assessment may require special considerations for women.
  • This study aimed to evaluate how effective the MRR is for diagnosis and prognosis in women compared to men, using data from the ILIAS Registry.
  • Results showed that MRR is a significant predictor of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) for both sexes, with similar correlations and cut-off values for predicting outcomes in women and men.
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  • This study evaluates the prognostic value of coronary pressure and flow parameters in patients who did not undergo revascularization due to borderline readings.
  • It included 1,971 blood vessels, and found that abnormal pressure and flow metrics significantly predicted long-term risks of target vessel failure (TVF), myocardial infarction (MI), and cardiac death over five years.
  • The study concluded that both resting and hyperemic conditions are important independent factors in predicting cardiac events, with their abnormal flow readings providing additional prognostic information.
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  • International guidelines recommend assessing frailty before Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI), but there's no standard method to do so; this study used the Edmonton Frail Scale (EFS) to evaluate frailty status in patients.
  • In a study of 357 TAVI patients, higher EFS scores (indicating greater frailty) were linked to longer hospital stays and increased mortality rates within 30 days to 4 years post-procedure.
  • The findings suggest that the EFS is an effective tool for identifying frailty in TAVI patients and could guide clinical decisions to improve patient outcomes and reduce the risk of complications.
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In the last decade, significant advancements have been made in the field of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) with the development of new devices and drugs, the application of new technology and the utilization of artificial intelligence/machine learning, and new indications for revascularization [...

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Article Synopsis
  • Patients with non-obstructive lipid-rich plaques (LRPs) are at a high risk for future health issues, prompting the exploration of a new treatment strategy involving a paclitaxel-eluting drug-coated balloon (PE-DCB).
  • This pilot study focuses on assessing the safety and effectiveness of PE-DCB treatment on non-culprit LRPs, aiming to reduce the lipid core burden over a 9-month follow-up period through advanced imaging techniques (IVUS and NIRS).
  • Outcomes will be measured based on changes in lipid core burden, clinical events, and various cardiac parameters, with ongoing follow-up extending to one year to evaluate long-term safety and effectiveness.
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