Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Following Diagnostic Angiography by Noninterventional Versus Interventional Cardiologists: Insights From the CathPCI Registry

Background: There are limited contemporary, national data describing diagnostic cardiac catheterization with subsequent percutaneous coronary intervention (ad hoc percutaneous coronary intervention [PCI]) performed by an invasive-diagnostic and interventional (Dx/IC) operator team versus solo interventional operator (solo-IC). Using the CathPCI Registry, this study aimed at analyzing trends and outcomes in ad hoc PCI among Dx/IC versus solo-IC operators. Methods: Quarterly rates (January 2012 to March 2018) of ad hoc PCI cases by Dx/IC and solo-IC operators were obtained. Odds of inhospital major adverse cardiovascular events, net adverse cardiovascular events (ie, composite major adverse cardiovascular event+bleeding), and rarely appropriate PCI were estimated using multivariable regression. Results: From 1077 sites, 1 262 948 patients were included. The number of invasive-diagnostic operators and cases performed by Dx/IC teams decreased from nearly 9% to 5% during the study period. Patients treated by Dx/IC teams were more often White and had fewer comorbidities compared with patients treated by solo-IC operators. Considerable variation existed across sites, and over two-fifths of sites had 0% ad hoc PCI performed by Dx/IC. In adjusted analyses, ad hoc performed by Dx/IC had similar risks of major adverse cardiovascular event (OR, 1.04 [95% CI, 0.97–1.11]) and net adverse cardiovascular events (OR, 0.98 [95% CI, 0.94–1.03]) compared with solo-IC. Rarely appropriate PCI, although low overall (2.1% versus 1.9%) occurred more often by Dx/IC compared with solo-IC (OR, 1.20 [95% CI, 1.13–1.26]). Conclusions: Contemporary, nationwide data from the CathPCI Registry demonstrates the number of Dx/IC operator teams and cases has decreased but that case volume is stable among operators. Outcomes were independent of operator type, which supports current practice patterns. The finding of a higher risk of rarely appropriate PCI in Dx/IC teams should be further studied.

The DIAGNOSTIC CARDIAC CATHETRIZATION IN CHILDREN WITH TETRALOGY OF FALLOT: STILL RELEVANT IN DEVELOPING WORLD

Objective: To determine the frequency of various anatomical cardiac anomalies and variations in children with Tetralogy of Fallot diagnosed by cardiac catheterization. Study Design: Cross sectional study. Place and Duration of Study: Children's Hospital and Institute of Child Health Lahore, from Jan 2010 to Dec 2018. Methodology: All children with tetralogy of fallot underwent standard cine-angiograms after obtaining written consent following basic laboratory workup. Results: Out of 425 patients, 398 completed cardiac catheterization. The median age was 6 years (interquartile range 3.5-9 years). Confluent Branch pulmonary arteries were present in 395 (99%) children. Pulmonary artery abnormalities were detected in 72 (18%) patients. Two hundred and eleven (53%) children had 283 major aortopulmonary collateral arteries with 88 having 2 or more major aortopulmonary collateral arteries. Out of all, 195 (92%) had hemodynamically significant Major aortopulmonary collateral arteries (supplying ≥3 lung segments) with 54 (28%) having small (<1.33mm at origin), 105 (54%) moderate (1.33-1.67 mm at origin) and 36 (18%) large (>1.67 mm at origin) caliber. Conclusion: The frequencies of pulmonary artery abnormalities and various anatomic variations missed on echocardiography in the studied population were high. Diagnostic cardiac catheterization is still a relevant invasive diagnostic procedure in children with tetralogy of fallot. Keywords: , , , , , , .

Associations Between Industry Payments to Physicians for Antiplatelet Drugs and Utilization of Cardiac Procedures and Stents

Background A study has shown that industry payments to physicians for drugs are associated not only with higher drug prescriptions but also with higher non-drug costs due to additional utilization of healthcare services. However, the association between industry payments to cardiologists for antiplatelet drugs and the costs and number of percutaneous coronary interventions they perform has not been investigated. Objective To examine the association between industry payments to cardiologists for antiplatelet drugs and the costs and number of percutaneous coronary interventions they perform. Design Using the 2016 Open Payments Database linked to the 2017 Medicare Provider Utilization and Payment Data, we examined the association between the value of industry payments related to the antiplatelet drugs prasugrel and ticagrelor and healthcare spending and volume for cardiovascular procedures, adjusted for potential cofounders. Subjects A total of 7456 cardiologists who performed diagnostic cardiac catheterizations on Medicare beneficiaries in 2017. Main Measures Primary outcomes included (1) healthcare spending on cardiac procedures, (2) diagnostic cardiac catheterization volumes, and (3) rates of coronary stenting. Secondary outcomes were total expenditures for all drugs and for antiplatelet drugs. Key Results Industry payments for antiplatelet drugs were associated with higher healthcare spending on cardiac procedures (adjusted difference, +$50.9 for additional $100 industry payments; 95% CI, +$25.5 to +$76.2; P < 0.001), diagnostic cardiac catheterizations (+0.1 procedures per cardiologist; 95% CI, +0.03 to +0.1; P=0.001), and stent use (+0.5 per 1000 diagnostic cardiac catheterizations per cardiologist; 95% CI, +0.2 to +0.9; P=0.002). Industry payments for antiplatelet drugs were associated with higher total costs for all drugs and antiplatelet drugs. Conclusions Industry payments to cardiologists for antiplatelet drugs were associated with both prescribing of antiplatelet drugs and the use of cardiac procedures and stents. Further research is warranted to understand whether the observed associations are causal or reflect a greater propensity for higher volume proceduralists to have relationships with industry.

A Trend of Eight-Years Big Data Analytics of Electronic Medical Records to Review and Study Diagnosis and Treatment of Coronary Artery Disease in Different Genders

Background: Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and Coronary Artery Disease (CAD) in particular, is one of the leading causes of death, morbidity, and mortality in the United States. Notably, women continue to have worse outcomes than men. The causes of these discrepancies have yet to be fully elucidated. The main objective of this study is to detect gender discrepancies in outcome using data analytics to risk stratify ~ 32,000 patients with CAD of the total 960,129 patients treated at UCSF Medical Center during an eight years. As an implementation of clinical care, this study’s long-term goal is to improve precision diagnosis and ultimately management of CAD for both early detection and identification of patients at risk for rapid progression of the disease.Methods: We designed and implemented a multidimensional framework to trace patients from admission through treatment as a path of events. The time between events for a similar set of paths was calculated. Then the average waiting time for each step of the treatment was calculated for men and women. Finally, we applied statistical analysis to determine differences in time between diagnosis and treatment steps for men and women.Discussions: There were statistically significant gender-based differences in the common path of diagnosis and treatment of patients with CAD. The average time for women from the first visit to diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization was more than 2 months than for men (358.77 vs. 291.83 days). By contrast, the average time from diagnostic Cardiac Catheterization to treatment Cardiac Catheterization and Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) was not significant. Women with CAD requiring revascularization have a significantly longer interval between their first physician encounter indicative of CVD and their first diagnostic cardiac catheterization compared to men. Avoiding the delay in diagnosis and treatment will provide a better outcome for patients at risk.

Pulmonary Hypertension with Prolonged Patency of the Ductus Arteriosus in Preterm Infants

There continues to be a reluctance to close the patent ductus arteriosus (PDA) in premature infants. The debate on whether the short-term outcomes translate to a difference in long-term benefits remains. This article intends to review the pulmonary vasculature changes that can occur with a chronic hemodynamically significant PDA in a preterm infant. It also explains the rationale and decision-making involved in a diagnostic cardiac catheterization and transcatheter PDA closure in these preterm infants.

Safety and efficacy study of the wound care 360° SiteSeal® vascular closure device in percutaneous cardiac catheterization procedures

Objectives Vascular access site complications after percutaneous transfemoral cardiovascular procedures remain a common cause of morbidity and mortality. We evaluated the SiteSeal® VCD for achieving hemostasis following diagnostic cardiac catheterization. Methods We conducted a prospective case control single center study to assess the safety and efficacy of SiteSeal® VCD compared to standard manual compression following diagnostic cardiac catheterization. Forty patients were enrolled in study to receive either SiteSeal® device or manual compression (20 in each group). Results Patients in the SiteSeal® group achieved hemostasis in a significantly shorter time (4 ± 2.4 vs. 19 ± 2.4 min, P < 0.001), had shorter time from hemostasis to ambulation (95 ± 44 vs. 388 ± 63 min, P < 0.001) and significantly earlier device deployment to discharge time compared to the manual compression group (4.7 ± 1.1 vs. 8.9 ± 4.8 h, P = 0.001). There was one non-major bleeding event in the SiteSeal® group which occurred >24 h after discharge from the hospital and was managed conservatively. In the remaining device patients, there was no clinical or Doppler ultrasound evidence of major or minor vascular complication with good overall patient comfort at discharge, 7 days and 30 days follow-up. Conclusions In this first clinical experience, the SiteSeal® VCD achieved safe and efficient hemostasis, allowed for earlier ambulation and faster discharge compared to manual compression.

Complications

Cardiac catheterization is an invasive study that involves real risks to the patient. The risks increase with patient age and co-morbidity. Though vascular complications (particularly haematoma formation) and vasovagal reactions are more common, the risk of serious complications from diagnostic cardiac catheterization and coronary angiography remains low. This chapter covers complications that may arise, including death, myocardial infarction, pulmonary oedema, stroke, hypotension, cardiac tamponade, contrast reactions, vasovagal reactions, arrhythmias, vascular complications, limb ischaemia, coronary dissection (including left main stem dissection and iatrogenic type A aortic dissection), air embolism, coronary perforation, renal failure, contrast nephropathy, and cholesterol embolization.