Risultati per: La nevralgia post-erpetica

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4139209-A4139209, November 12, 2024. Background:There has been growing awareness and recognition of discrepant health outcomes based on ethnic and racial background in patients undergoing cardiovascular procedures. Transcatheter aortic valve procedures has become the primary treatment for aortic stenosis and is currently the standard of care. Despite widespread adoption of TAVR, African Americans (AA) have continued to remain underrepresented and typically suffer poorer outcomes. Thus, we conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to compare TAVR outcomes between AA and non-AA populations.Methodology:We systematically searched all electronic databases (PubMed, EMBASE, Scopus, Web of science) from inception until May 25th, 2024. A pooled analysis of data from observational studies and randomized controlled trials reporting post-TAVR outcomes based on racial background were included. The key endpoints evaluated were in-hospital mortality, post-procedure myocardial infarction (MI), pacemaker placement, in-hospital stroke, vascular complications, major bleeding, acute kidney injury (AKI). We used the I2 statistic to assess heterogeneity among studies using the Random-Effects model, with significance set at I2 > 50%. All analysis was carried out using R version 4.3.2.Results:The meta-analysis of eleven observational studies, involving 953,892 TAVR patients [912,301 (95.64%) Caucasians and 41,591 (4.36%) AAs], showed a statistically significant higher risk of post-procedure pacemaker placement (OR 1.08, 95% CI: 0.77-1.51, p=

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4139241-A4139241, November 12, 2024. Background:Percutaneous coronary intervention has significantly improved the prognosis of STEMI, though there is still the risk of fetal mechanical complications, particularly cardiac rupture(CR), which remains an international clinical problem unresolved.Hypothesis:We hypothesized that the combined triple medical therapy(ANT) withAtorvastatin,Nicorandil and Chinese patent medicineTongxinluo(TXL) could be effective in post-infarction CR precautions via significantly inhibiting macrophage activation and secondary ferroptosis of cardiac fibroblasts(CFs) through TRAF6/NF-κB/C/EBPβ pathway.Methods:The 14-day survival and CR rates of AMI mice treated with Atorvastatin, Nicorandil and Tongxinluo, singly or in dual and triple combination, were all compared via the Kaplan-Meier curves. Then the inflammation level and infarct region were measured via ELISA, immunoblot and histopathology. Sequentially immunoprecipitation, luciferase report gene and transcriptome sequencing were introduced to understand the role of the TRAF6/NF-κB/C/EBPβ pathway and its upstream micro-RNAs in CR prevention. Further,in-vitroexperiments were performed to demonstrate the crosstalk between macrophages activation and CFs ferroptosis in CR prevention.Results:Among all therapies involved, the triple combined ANT therapy supremely reduced the incidence of post-infarction CR (from 26.7% to 10.0%) and the mortality of AMI (from 30.0% to 13.3%), during which macrophages reduced most nuclear NF-κB p65 and C/EPBβ by nearly 70% simultaneously through miR215-5p-, miR122-5p-, miR-299b-3p-mediated TRAF6 inhibition, with 50%+ MMP9 cut and more extracellular matrix remaining, especially collagens, Syndecan-1, Laminin and Agrin. And, with the ANT administration, only 20% macrophages remained in peri-infarct areas, accompanied by the lowest serum inflammatory level. Furthermore, CF ferroptosis alleviated most, evidenced by the 4-fold GPX4 and 3-fold FSP-1 up-regulation. Two independent anti-ferroptotic system, GPX4 and FSP-1, worked equally in the nicorandil effect on CF survival, however, with GPX4 or FSP-1 overwhelmingly underlying atorvastatin or Tongxinluo protection against CF ferroptosis respectively.Conclusions:Our results indicated the ANT combination upmost alleviated the excessive excitation of M1 macrophages and its induced CF ferroptosis via prohibiting TRAF6-mediated NF-κB and C/EBPβ translocation, and facilitated myocardial repair to prevent post-infarction cardiac rupture onset.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4140452-A4140452, November 12, 2024. Background:The recent REDUCE-AMI trial showed no benefit to beta-blockers (BB) for patients post-myocardial infarction (MI) with preserved ejection fraction (EF≥50%). Target doses were metoprolol 100 mg and bisoprolol 5 mg daily (50% of the target doses used in the initial randomized clinical trials [RCTs] of BB post-MI).Research question:Do lower BB doses improve survival in post-MI patients with EF≥50%?Aims:To compare the effect of BB dose on all-cause mortality post-MI in patients with EF≥50%.Methods:This is a sub-study from the OBTAIN prospective multi-center registry. Of 7057 patients enrolled with acute MI, 3402 with EF≥50% were discharged alive (age:62.5±13.4 years, 67% male, 28% diabetics, length of stay 6.1±6.0 days). Discharge BB dose was indexed to the target daily BB dose used in RCTs, reported as %. Dosage groups were >0-12.5%, >12.5-25%, >25-50%, and >50% of the target dose. Follow-up vital status was obtained by chart review, Social Security Death Index, or direct contact up to 3 years post-MI. Kaplan-Meier (KM) method was used to calculate three-year survival. Cox proportional hazard regression model was used to identify significant predictors and conduct univariate and multivariate analysis.Results:The KM 3 year survival estimates were 89.0% and 84.3% for patients on and off BB, respectively (unadjusted hazard ratio (HR)=0.66, p=0.012; adjusted HR=0.52, p=0.18). The KM 3 year survival estimates(figure) were 89.8%, 91.0%, 87.9%, and 83.1% for patients on >0-12.5%, >12.5-25%, >25- 50%, and >50% of the BB target dose (unadjusted HR of 0.58, p=0.007; 0.58, p=0.003; 0.70; p=0.066; and 0.98, p=0.93), respectively, compared to no BB. After multivariate analysis, BB target dose showed similar trend, but not statistically significant (adjusted HR=0.65, p=0.46; 0.42, p=0.13; 0.53, p=0.31; 1.01, p=0.92).Conclusion:In OBTAIN, patients treated with low dose BB (≤25% of the target dose) had improved survival post-MI. As this dose was not studied in REDUCE-AMI, these findings are complementary and confirm only that high dose BB therapy provides no benefit post-MI in patients with preserved EF. RCTs to assess the benefit of low dose BB therapy post-MI with preserved EF are needed.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4126893-A4126893, November 12, 2024. Background:Suboptimal medication management is common in patients with heart failure (HF), particularly during transitions-of-care. To date, there are few studies assessing the feasibility of a nurse-pharmacist post-discharge telehealth service for medication optimisation in patients with HF. We performed a feasibility study to determine service uptake and acceptability, and ability to identify medication-related issues for HF patients as they transition from hospital to home.Methods:HF patients were referred to an existing post-discharge telehealth service and offered medication reconciliation and education in addition to their usual care; a service we termed ‘MedRec’ (MR). Primary outcomes were feasibility, measured through recruitment and successful MR completion, and acceptability, measured by an investigator-developed survey. Secondary outcomes were medication-related issues detected during MR.Results:A total of 100 HF patients were offered a post-discharge MR. Mean age of patients was 68.5 ±14.2 years, and mostly male sex (62%). Pharmacist MRs were requested by 80% of patients. In total 62 MRs (77.5%) were performed; 9 patients declined MR during follow-up and an additional 9 patients were uncontactable. Mean time to MR following nurse referral was 10.98 ±9.74 days. Drug-related toxicity or adverse effect presentation was identified in 25 (40.3%) MR recipients at the time of consultation and subsequently required general practitioner follow-up. Medication compliance issues were detected by the pharmacist in 13 (20.9%) patients; forgotten doses being the most common concern. Undertreated medical conditions, such as symptomatic HF and chronic pain, were identified in 12 (19.3%) MR recipients. Medications prescribed without any apparent indication were found in 8 (12.9%) patients. Drug or disease management information was requested by 35 (56.4%) MR recipients. A total of 35 (56.5%) post-MR surveys were successfully completed. All participants who completed a post-MR survey agreed that a post-discharge telehealth MR was an acceptable form of education provision. Engagement with a pharmacist MR was perceived to ease anxiety associated with understanding medication-related changes and empowered greater medication self-management.Conclusions:A post-discharge nurse-pharmacist telehealth service is a feasible and acceptable model of care. Inclusion of a routine MR post-discharge may be an effective means of maintaining continuity of care for HF patients.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page ASa1208-ASa1208, November 12, 2024. Throughout the world, neurologically intact survival to discharge remains low. The Joint Commission (TJC) released post resuscitation requirements in January of 2022. Sanford Bemidji reviewed options that would meet the TJC requirements: Transfer the patient or develop a novel way to meet those needs in the current setting. With the latter, the positive impact on patients is significant in that they receive a high care level of care close to home without delay in care.Sanford Bemidji Medical Center is a rural regional 118-bed hospital in Minnesota with a 14-bed Intensive Care unit. We are unique in that despite our size we serve a large regional footprint of over 100,000 people including three Native American reservations. Our objective was to utilize evidence based guidelines to implement a post cardiac arrest care (PCAC) workflow for adult cardiac arrest patients who obtain return of spontaneous circulation (ROSC) by end of first quarter 2023. The project incorporated low cost equipment and staff training. We used the Plan, Do, Study, Act cycle for our methodology. The outcome metric was neurologically intact survival to hospital discharge. Process metrics included placement and use of the ROSC order set, fever avoidance, rapid EEG completed, MAP over 65, and oxygen saturations of 92-98%. Sixty-one adult patients (both in hospital and out of hospital) suffered cardiac arrest at Sanford Bemidji in the 9 months following project implementation in 2023. Demographics included 3 native americans and 2 caucasians, ages 57-73, 3 males and 2 females. Our overall survival rate remained above the national average. For the few patients who met criteria for ROSC interventions, 4 of 5 (80%) received the ROSC interventions, 2 of 4 (50%) survived hospital to discharge neurologically intact. Results showed an increase in maintaining optimal MAP from 81% in 2022 to 100% in 2023 and achieving oxygen saturation parameters 80% of the time in 2023 compared to 66% in 2022. Real time monitoring and coaching of the order set is needed to increase utilization of the order set in full (fever avoidance was at 20% and rapid EEG completed in 40% of cases with a goal of 100% for both).More data is needed to ascertain the outcomes of a ROSC workflow in like sized hospitals with similar resources. The novelty of this innovative project is in the implementation of an evidence based PCAC workflow in a 118-bed rural hospital giving all cardiac arrest patients a chance for a full recovery.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4137665-A4137665, November 12, 2024. Background:Nearly one million individuals in the U.S. experience ischemic stroke annually and one-year recurrent stroke risk may exceed 10%. American Heart Association (AHA) Get-With-The-Guidelines-Stroke® Registry (GWTG-S) data suggests that up to 40% of stroke patients are discharged with an undocumented or cryptogenic etiology which may lead to suboptimal secondary prevention. Consequently, improved cardiology and neurology collaboration and evidence-based post-stroke evaluation may help identify stroke etiology, reduce recurrent stroke risk and improve outcomes.Methods:In 2022, the AHA, in collaboration with HCA Healthcare and HCA Healthcare Foundation, designed and launched Getting to the Heart Of StrokeTM(GTTHOS) in 10 HCA Healthcare comprehensive stroke centers to improve: 1) cardiology and neurology stroke care collaboration, 2) evidence-based post-stroke diagnostic evaluation and 3) assessment of social determinants of health and barriers to care. Components included a learning collaborative model, virtual performance improvement consultations, Plan-Do-Study-Acts, multidisciplinary teams, custom and existing GWTG-S metrics and performance improvement feedback.Results:Using existing and custom GWTG-S data, GTTHOS centers increased rates of documented stroke etiology (58.06% vs. 48.63%), while decreasing cryptogenic stroke rates (31.01% vs. 34.89%) and lack of a documented stroke etiology (10.93% vs. 16.48%) (all comparisons on discharge, follow-up vs. baseline, p

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4144651-A4144651, November 12, 2024. Introduction:Post-transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) pacemaker (PPM) implantation is a known complication. Chronic total occlusion (CTO) of coronary arteries is common in TAVR patients and is a marker of advanced coronary calcification. Its influence on the requirement for PPM post-TAVR remains unclear. We investigated the association between pre-existing CTO and the incidence of PPM post-TAVR.Methods:A retrospective cohort study was conducted using the National Inpatient Sample database from 2018-2020 with 205,565 patients who underwent TAVR. Propensity score matching was utilized to create a matched cohort of patients with and without CTO, balancing key variables such as age, sex, elective procedure status, and comorbid conditions (heart failure, arrhythmias, pulmonary circulation disorders, peripheral vascular disorders, and complicated diabetes). Outcomes measured included the requirement for PPM implantation post-TAVR, in-hospital mortality, and major adverse cardiac events (MACE). Weighted samples were utilized and p-value

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4144944-A4144944, November 12, 2024. Background:The American Heart Association’s (AHA) Life’s Essential 8 (LE8) concept serves as a quantitative framework for assessing cardiovascular health (CVH). Post-operative coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) and percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) patients are at high-risk for subsequent cardiovascular events (CVE). However, LE8 scores for post-procedural CABG or PCI patients remain unknown.Methods:Isolated post-operative CABG (n=208) or PCI (n=739) non-institutionalized patients from the National Institutes of Health’s (NIH) All of Us (AoU) Research Program (2017-2022) were included. LE8 scores (range 0-100, higher = better CVH; excluding diet metric) were calculated using methods recommended by the AHA. Physical activity and sleep metrics were derived from patients’ Fitbit data, while all other metrics were sourced from electronic health records (EHR).Results:Overall LE8 scores for post-operative CABG (57.9 [95% CI: 56.6-59.2]) and PCI patients (55.3 [54.4-56.1]) were significantly lower than that of the general population (65.9 [65.1-66.7] (p

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4140074-A4140074, November 12, 2024. Background:Long QT syndrome (LQTS) is a potentially lethal cardiac channelopathy. Among women with LQT2, the post-partum period has been considered high risk for cardiac events. However, whether this risk persists after establishing their diagnosis and implementing their LQT2-directed treatment program remains to be determined.Objective:To describe the management and outcomes of LQT2 women during the 9 months post-partum period.Methods:A retrospective analysis of 1869 patients with LQTS treated and evaluated at a tertiary center specializing in Genetic Heart Disease from January 2000 to November 2023 was performed to identify women with diagnosed and treated LQT2 who had a pregnancy during follow-up. Data were abstracted for patient demographics, clinical characteristics, symptomatic status, and treatment plans before and after pregnancy.Results:Overall, 30 pregnancies occurred in 22 women with LQT2. Their average QTc was 489 ± 34 ms with 7 patients (32%) having a resting QTc > 500 ms. Prior to their first post-partum period, 5/22 (23%) were symptomatic with 2 (9%) experiencing a LQT2-triggered sudden cardiac arrest (SCA). Before their post-partum period, their LQT2-directed therapy comprised preventative measures only in 7 (23%), drug therapy in 16 (53%), combination therapy in 7 (23%), and 10 women (43%) had an implantable cardioverter defibrillator (ICD). Pre-emptive treatment intensification was done for 24/30 post-partum periods. Only a single VF-terminating ICD therapy occurred in 1 (3%) of the 30 post-partum periods involving a 21-year-old with p.Lys610Asn-KCNH2 variant, QTc = 490 ms, and a pre-diagnosis presentation of seizures.Conclusion:Although the post-partum period is regarded as a ‘high risk’ window of time for women with LQT2, the risk of a LQT2-triggered cardiac event after diagnosis and implementation of contemporary therapies is very low. This designation of “high risk” among correctly diagnosed and treated women is misleading and generates inappropriate and unnecessary anxiety.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4146283-A4146283, November 12, 2024. Objective:The incidence of cognitive decline following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is well-documented, significantly impacting patient morbidity, mortality, and quality of life. We conducted a systematic review that examines cognitive outcomes in CABG randomized controlled trials (RCTs) to identify which cognitive assessments were used, their administration frequency, attrition rates, and their effectiveness in detecting perioperative cognitive changes in control groups.Methods:We conducted a search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, Cochrane Library, and PsycINFO for CABG RCTs that included cognitive assessments, from January 2005 to December 2023. Descriptive statistics were used to summarize the frequency, domains, and attrition rates of each cognitive task. For tasks assessed both pre- and post-operatively in at least three RCTs, control group scores and standard deviations were reported.Results:Out of 3337 screened studies, 2163 were CABG RCTs, and only 69 (3.2%) included cognitive evaluations (Figure 1). These trials involved 15,839 subjects (79% male, mean age 64.4, median follow-up time 90 days) and used 145 unique cognitive tasks. The Trailmaking Test Part B (40/69; 58.0%) and Part A (38/69; 55.0%) were the most frequently used. Only 7 tasks had means and standard deviations reported before and after surgery in more than three RCTs, and none detected significant pre- to post-operative changes. Attrition rates averaged 19.3%, with a wide range from 0% to 62%. Figure 2 demonstrates the decline in cognitive assessments in CABG trials over the years, with a sharp decline after 2014. Trials that assessed cogntion after 2014 tended to favor screening tasks (MMSE/MoCA) alone.Conclusion:Cognitive assessments are infrequent in CABG trials, and existing tests fail to consistently detect cognitive changes. To effectively evaluate and address cognitive impact after CABG, new assessment strategies that are resilient to attrition and practical for use in diverse trial settings are needed.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4139469-A4139469, November 12, 2024. Introduction:Pulmonary Vein Isolation (PVI) has become the cornerstone during ablation of Atrial Fibrillation. The primary goal of the procedure is to prevent potential arrhythmogenic triggers from accessing the main left atrial substrate. However, incomplete fibrosis leading to PV reconnection has been identified as the primary reason for AF recurrence. It is unclear whether immediate voltage mapping and additional lesions delivered to areas of residual or recovered voltages will improve the outcome. This study evaluates the 1-year success and long-term recurrence-free survival in patients who underwent post-procedure voltage mapping (PPVM) to identify residual Low-Voltage Areas (LVAs) to guide the delivery of additional ablation lesions.Methods:We analyzed 588 patients who underwent PVI from 2015 to 2023. Of these, 243 had PPVM done to determine LVAs and guide additional ablation lesions. The control arm comprised 345 patients who underwent PVI by the same operators without PPVM. The primary endpoints were 1-year success and longer-term recurrence-free survival. Secondary endpoints were the incidence of complications and the prevalence of LVAs in patients who underwent PPVM.Results:Patients who underwent remapping were older than the control arm (68.3 vs 65.6 years, p = 0.005). There were no other significant differences in baseline characteristics between the two groups. At 1-year follow-up, the success rates were 79% in the treatment arm compared to 72% in the control arm (p = 0.038). Patients in the intervention arm had a recurrence-free survival rate of 65% and 54% at 2 and 4 years, respectively, compared to 62% and 43% in the control arm (p = 0.044). The prevalence of LVAs in the treatment arm was 56.8%. Additionally, complication rates were not increased in the remapping arm (3% vs 8%, p = 0.012).Conclusion:PPVM-guided incremental ablation lesions improve the 1-year success rate and recurrence-free survival at 2 and 4 years compared to traditional PVI without increasing complications due to additional lesion delivery.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4138268-A4138268, November 12, 2024. Background:Treatment of left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction involves a combination of negative inotropic agents. However, these therapies have limitations which may result in insufficient control of symptoms, leading to more invasive options such as surgical septal myectomy or septal alcohol ablation. Mavacamten, a cardiac myosin inhibitor, is currently approved for the treatment of patients with symptomatic obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). We present a case of a patient treated with mavacamten in addition to β-blockers (BB) for management of post-TAVR LVOT obstruction.Case:A 76 year old female with a past medical history of hypertension, severe aortic stenosis, and coronary artery disease underwent a Medtronic Evolut TAVR in March 2022. Her TTE post TAVR showed LVOT peak gradient greater than 100 mm Hg, LVEF 75% and severe eccentric mitral regurgitation secondary to systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve (MV). After multidisciplinary discussion, the patient was discharged on maximally tolerated BB therapy. Follow up TTE showed persistent obstruction and gradients, so diltiazem was added to her regimen. Her subsequent TTE showed a peak LVOT > 100 mmHg at rest, and severe MR. Given persistent findings, she was started on mavacamten, continued on metoprolol, and tapered off of diltiazem. Her TTE two months after initiation of mavacamten revealed resolution of LVOT gradients, reduction of MR to mild and normal LV and TAVR function. She tolerated the therapy well and endorsed ongoing symptomatic improvement on subsequent follow up.Discussion:With the increasing use of TAVR therapy, there has been a corresponding rise in cases of post-TAVR obstruction that must be managed. As demonstrated by this case, management with BB therapy alone may be suboptimal. Although mavacamten is currently approved in patients with HCM, the obstruction in post-TAVR patients is functionally similar. Thus, this medication was trialed as a supplemental treatment in this patient and yielded positive results. This case highlights the potential benefit of extending use of mavacamten alongside β-blocker therapy for this patient population and suggests the need for future studies.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4141358-A4141358, November 12, 2024. Background:Tirzepatide is a once weekly GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonist approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes (T2D) and obesity. This post hoc analysis evaluated the contribution of body weight reduction-associated and -unassociated effects on the lipid profile of tirzepatide-treated participants living with obesity, without and with T2D, from the SURMOUNT-1 and SURMOUNT-2 clinical trials, respectively.Methods:Participants treated with tirzepatide (pooled doses of 5, 10, 15 mg in SURMOUNT-1 [N=1765] and 10 and 15 mg in SURMOUNT-2 [N=587]) were included in this analysis. The estimated treatment effects and the body weight reduction-associated and -unassociated attribution on changes from baseline in lipid profile (total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, non-HDL-C, VLDL-C, and triglycerides) at 24 and 72 weeks were assessed via the SAS CAUSALMED procedure.Results:In SURMOUNT-1, after 24 weeks of tirzepatide treatment in participants without T2D, 69-85% of the changes in total cholesterol, HDL-C, LDL-C, and non-HDL-C, and 41-43% of the changes in VLDL-C and triglycerides occurred unassociated with body weight reduction (Table). At 72 weeks, most of the effect on the lipid profile was associated with body weight reduction. In SURMOUNT-2, after 24 weeks of tirzepatide treatment in participants with T2D, most of the changes in the lipid profile occurred unassociated with body weight reduction. At 72 weeks, changes observed in the lipid profile were predominantly associated with body weight reduction, although 43-50% of those changes also occurred unassociated with body weight reduction, except for LDL-C which was almost completely (92%) associated with body weight reduction.Conclusions:In this post hoc analysis from SURMOUNT-1 and SURMOUNT-2, changes in lipid profile were mostly unassociated with body weight reduction after 24 weeks of tirzepatide treatment and associated with of body weight reduction at 72 weeks. Body weight reduction-unassociated mechanisms responsible for the initial changes in lipid profile in participants with obesity treated with tirzepatide warrants further research studies.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4141547-A4141547, November 12, 2024. Introduction:Branched chain amino acids (BCAAs) are essential amino acids that are elevated in the failing heart and that have been linked with cardiovascular disease risk. Yet, it remains unclear how BCAAs influence the heart after injury. In this study, we examined in mice whether dietary alterations of BCAA levels influences cardiac structure and function after myocardial infarction (MI).Methods and Results:To assess whether altering dietary BCAA levels would impact circulating BCAA concentrations, mice were fed a low (1/3×), normal (1×), or high (2×) BCAA diet over a 7-day period. The low and high BCAA diets were matched for macronutrient content, nitrogen content, and caloric density. We found that mice fed the low BCAA diet had >2-fold lower circulating BCAA concentrations when compared with normal and high BCAA diet feeding strategies (n=8/group; p

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4139933-A4139933, November 12, 2024. Introduction:Calcific aortic valve stenosis is the more frequent valvular disease, affecting more than 10% of patients >75 years old. Surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement is the only treatment available. There is an increase use of bioprosthetic valves, even if they present a limited durability with the progressive development of structural bioprosthetic deterioration (SVD). Recent clinical studies highlighted an association between circulating lipid factors, such as proprotein convertase subtilisin/kexin type 9 (PCSK9), Lipoprotein (a) and LDL-cholesterol, and SVD. However, the underlying mechanisms remain unknown.Objective:We aim at deciphering the role of hypercholesterolemia and/or PCSK9 on the early processes leading to SVD.Methods:Subcutaneous implantation of bioprosthetic tissue was performed on 10-week old wild type (WT), PCSK9 knock-out (KO) and PCSK9 overexpressing C57BL/6J mice for 28 days. A qualitative anatomopathological score evaluating cell density, infiltration, and tissue degradation was developed. Infiltrated immune cells were characterized by IHC, with a focus on anti- (CD163+) and pro-inflammatory (F4/80+) macrophages, lymphocytes (CD3+) and polynuclear eosinophils (CCR3+).Results:An important infiltration of mononuclear cells into the explanted punches was observed among the 3 groups (n=10 mice/group). Cell recruitment was more pronounced in mice overexpressing PCSK9 compared to WT and KO. The anatomopathological score of PCSK9 overexpressing mice was significantly higher as compared to WT and KO (7.0 [4.1-8.4] vs 4.0 [3.0-4.5] and 2.8 [2.0-3.9], respectively; p=0.008). The infiltrate was mainly composed of macrophages (CD163+ F4/80+) and polynuclear eosinophils, even if few lymphocytes were observed. Polynuclear eosinophils were more abundant in mice overexpressing PCSK9 compared to WT and KO (p=0.01 and p=0.002).Conclusion:Hypercholesterolemia and/or high PCSK9 level promote the cellular response against the bioprosthetic tissue. It potentiates the infiltration of polynuclear eosinophils and macrophages, pointing out for an exacerbated inflammatory response, post implantation. Deeper cellular/molecular analyses are ongoing to provide mechanistic clues to better understand the link between hypercholesterolemia/PCSK9 and the early inflammatory processes leading to SVD.

Circulation, Volume 150, Issue Suppl_1, Page A4135852-A4135852, November 12, 2024. Background:Vertebrobasilar artery stenosis (VBAS) can cause posterior circulation strokes (PCS). Optimal management is controversial, with options including medical therapy (MT), endovascular stenting (ES), and surgical revascularization (SR). This study compares outcomes of these treatments and evaluates the correlation between clinical features and medical history with 30-day outcome.Methods:Patients with VBAS were identified from the 2017-2018 National Inpatient Sample (NIS). Propensity scores adjusted for baseline differences. Outcomes included mortality, neurological complications (NC), discharge destination (DD), length of stay (LOS), total charges (TC), and procedural complications (PC). Predictive ability of clinical variables was assessed using logistic regression (LR) and machine learning techniques (MLT).Results:Of 1,343 patients, 1,061 (79.0%) received NI, 234 (17.4%) underwent ES, and 24 (1.8%) had SR. Mean age was 69.45 years, with 64.1% male. Demographics: 69.8% White, 14.9% Black, 10.0% Hispanic, and 5.3% other races. Hypertension (HTN, 85.4%) and diabetes (DM, 18.9%) were prevalent. After propensity weighting, ES was associated with higher odds of mortality, surgical/medical complications (SMC), and device/graft complications (DGC) compared to NI. SR showed a non-significant trend toward higher non-home discharges (NHD). ES and SR groups had higher resource utilization with longer LOS and greater TC. Clinical variables alone were weak predictors, with AUC values ranging from 0.454 to 0.71 across different outcomes and models.Conclusion:ES of VBAS was associated with higher mortality and complication rates compared to MT alone, with inconsistent benefits for NC. SR also carried elevated risks without clear advantages over MT. These results support that current clinical independent variables from the NIS are weak predictors. This highlights the limitation of the database in relying solely on clinical and medical history, and suggests that future use of radiological and anatomical features can improve predictions of outcomes and determination of subgroups that can benefit from certain treatment. More studies should be conducted, including post hoc analyses based on radiological and anatomical features, to better inform treatment decisions and determine subgroups that can benefit from intervention or surgery. These findings suggest a need for judicious patient selection and reinforce the role of optimal MT.