Stefano De Servi

Azienda Ospedaliera Ospedali di Legnano · Cardiovascular Diseases

Aims Women and older patients are underrepresented in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) investigating treatment strategies following acute coronary syndrome. This study aims to evaluate the benefit of invasive vs. conservative strategy of older women with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS). Methods and results This analysis from...

Neutrophils activation plays a pivotal role in the pathogenesis of atherosclerotic plaque formation, progression and rupture. An association between the leukocyte count and the risk of developing myocardial infarction has been well known for many years; however, only recently did Mendelian randomization studies show that a high neutrophil count is...

Background and Aims Older patients with non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTEACS) are less likely to receive guideline-recommended care including coronary angiography and revascularization. Evidence-based recommendations regarding interventional management strategies in this patient cohort are scarce. This meta-analysis aimed to assess the...

Background and Objectives. Recent guidelines have downgraded the routine use of the intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) in patients with cardiogenic shock (CS) due to ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). Despite this, its use in clinical practice remains high. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prognostic impact of the IABP in patients w...

Patients ≥ 75 years of age account for about one third of hospitalizations for acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Since the latest European Society of Cardiology guidelines recommend that older ACS patients use the same diagnostic and interventional strategies used by the younger ones, most elderly patients are currently treated invasively. Therefore,...

The assessment of bleeding and ischemic risk is a crucial step in establishing appropriate composition and duration of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) treated with percutaneous coronary angioplasty. Evidence from recent randomized clinical trials led to some paradigm shifts in current guidelines recom...

Aims Using the principles of clinical governance, a patient-centred approach intended to promote holistic quality improvement, we designed a prospective, multicentre study in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aimed to verify and quantify consecutive inclusion and describe relative and absolute effects of indicators of quality for diag...

The prognostic relevance of periprocedural myocardial infarction (PMI) in patients with chronic coronary syndrome undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is still matter of debate, particularly regarding the type (cardiac troponin or creatin kinase-MB) and different thresholds of biomarkers elevation, as the importance of associated anc...

Background The optima revascularization strategy for senior patients admitted with acute myocardial infarction (AMI) in the context of multivessel coronary artery disease (MVCAD) remains unclear. We aimed to compare a strategy of culprit-vessel (CV) vs. multi-vessel percutaneous coronary intervention (MV-PCI) in older adults (≥75 years) with AMI....

Hemoglobin (Hb) levels have emerged as a useful tool for risk stratification and the prediction of outcome after myocardial infarction. We aimed at evaluating the prognostic impact of this parameter patients in advanced age, where the larger prevalence of anemia and the higher rate of comorbidities could directly impact on the cardiovascular risk....

Background prior statin treatment has been shown to have favourable effects on short- and long-term prognosis in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS). There are limited data in older patients. The aim of this study was to investigate the association of previous statin therapy and presentation characteristics, infarct size and clinical outcom...

Background Thrombotic events are reduced with cangrelor, an intravenous P2Y 12 inhibitor. We sought to characterize the timing, number, and type of early events (within 2 hours of randomization) in CHAMPION PHOENIX (A Clinical Trial Comparing Cangrelor to Clopidogrel Standard of Care Therapy in Subjects Who Require Percutaneous Coronary Interventio...

Objectives CD40 ligand (CD40L), a transmembrane glycoprotein belonging to the tumor necrosis factor family and expressed by a variety of cells, is involved in the basic mechanisms of inflammation, atherosclerosis and thrombosis. Some studies suggest that the soluble form of CD40L (sCD40L) is a predictor of major cardiovascular events and mortality...

The prognostic role of procedural myocardial infarction (MI) is still controversial and matter of ongoing debate in the scientific community. A recent ESC Consensus Document confirmed the prognostic importance of type 4a MI and defined equally clinically relevant the major peri‑procedural myocardial injury, defined as the same cardiac Troponin cut-...

Older patients are underrepresented in prospective studies and randomized clinical trials of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Over the last decade, a few specific trials have been conducted in this population, allowing more evidence-based management. Older adults are a heterogeneous, complex, and high-risk group whose management requires a multidime...

Background Worse outcomes have been reported for women, compared to men, after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Whether this difference persists in elderly patients undergoing similar invasive treatment has not been studied. We investigated sex-related differences in one-year outcome of elderly acute coronary syndrome patients treated by percutane...

Background Tailoring Dual Antiplatelet Therapy (DAPT) to each patient bleeding and ischemic risk profile is a majopr challenge in everyday clinical practice. As the elderlies were underrepresented in validation cohorts of bleeding risk scores, their generalizability in this context is uncertain. Purpose We sought to assess the clinical utility of...

Background We sought to assess and compare the prediction power of the PRECISE-DAPT and PARIS risk scores with regards to bleeding events in elderly patients suffering from acute coronary syndromes (ACS) and undergoing invasive management. Methods Our external validation cohort included 1883 patients older >74 years admitted for ACS and treated wi...

Introduction Despite the availability of diverse evidence-based diagnostic and treatment options, many patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) still fail to receive effective, safe and timely diagnoses and therapies. The Association of Acute CardioVascular Care of the European Society of Cardiology has proposed and retrospectively validated a s...

We analyzed data from 4 nationwide prospective registries of consecutive patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) admitted to the Italian Intensive Cardiac Care Unit network between 2005 and 2014. Out of 26 315 patients with ACS enrolled, 13 073 (49.7%) presented a diagnosis of non-ST elevation (NSTE)-ACS and had creatinine levels available at...

Background and Aims Hyperglycemia at hospital admission is a common finding in patients with STEMI. However, whether elevated acute glycemia in these patients may have a a direct impact on worsening prognosis or is just a marker of a greater neurohormonal activation in response to the infarction is still unsettled. We sought to investigate the prog...

Aims: Dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with a P2Y12 inhibitor on top of aspirin is the cornerstone of therapy after acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Nonetheless, the safest and most efficacious P2Y12 for older patients who are both at high ischemic and bleeding risk remains uncertain. We aimed to examine the effect of available P2Y12 inhibitors on...

Background Reliable preprocedural risk scores for the prediction of Contrast‐Induced Acute Kidney Injury (CI‐AKI) following Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (pPCI) in patients with ST‐elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) are lacking. Aim of this study was to derive and validate a preprocedural Risk Score in this setting. Methods Two prospecti...

Clinical guidelines, while representing an objective reference to perform appropriate treatment choices, contain grey zones, where recommendations are not supported by solid evidence. In a conference held in Bergamo in October 2018, an attempt was made to highlight some of the main gray zones in Cardiology and, through a comparison between experts,...

Background: New randomized controlled trials (RCTs) have become available on oral P2Y 12 inhibitors in acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We aimed to evaluate current evidence comparing the efficacy and safety profile of prasugrel, ticagrelor and clopidogrel in ACS by a meta-analysis of RCTs. Methods: We performed a network meta-analysis and direct pai...

Background Chronic kidney disease is common in patients admitted with acute coronary syndrome and its prevalence dramatically increases with age. Understanding the determinants of adverse outcomes in this extremely high-risk population may be useful for the development of specific treatment strategies and planning of secondary prevention modalities...

Background: Despite recent improvements in percutaneous coronary revascularization and antithrombotic therapies for the treatment of acute coronary syndromes, the outcome is still unsatisfactory in high-risk patients, such as the elderly and patients with diabetes. The aim of the current study was to investigate the prognostic impact of diabetes o...

: The European Society of Cardiology guidelines for myocardial revascularization state that de-escalation of P2Y12 inhibitor treatment guided by platelet function testing may be considered for acute coronary syndrome (ACS) patients deemed unsuitable for 12-month potent platelet inhibition. De-escalation strategy aim is to harmonize the time-depende...

The prognostic role of prior coronary artery bypass (CABG) in elderly patients admitted to hospital for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is unclear. Therefore, the aim of this study was to compare the prognosis of patients aged ≥75 years admitted for an ACS with or without prior history of CABG. The primary outcome of the study was a composite of o...

Background: The availability of bare metal stents (BMS) followed by drug-eluting stents of first- (DES1) and second-generation (DES2) progressively increased the rate of the percutaneous revascularizations [percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)] with unknown impact on the long-term outcome of real-world patients with established coronary artery...

Background The residual burden of coronary artery disease after PCI has been associated with worse ischemic outcome. However, data are conflicting in elderly patients. The aim of our study was to verify the incremental value of the residual SYNergy between percutaneous coronary intervention with TAXus and cardiac surgery score (rSS) over clinical v...

Leptin is an adipose tissue-derived hormone primarily involved in the regulation of food intake. Leptine has been shown to have a much broader role than just regulating body weight and appetite in response to food intake: among the others, it has been associated with increased ROS production and inflammation, factors involved in the restoration of...

Background and aim: Elderly patients are at increased risk of hemorrhagic and thrombotic complications after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Frailty, comorbidities and low body weight have emerged as conditioning the prognostic impact of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT). The aim of the present study was to investigate the prognostic impact of bo...

Early interruption of a clinical trial is not a rare case, and it may be due to several reasons that are summarized in the present article. It is important for the clinician, the primary user of the information derived from clinical trials, to be able to assess whether the eventual interruption of the trial had been planned in the study protocol, w...

Background Elderlies are underrepresented in clinical trials and registries and a gap of evidence exists for clinical decision making in the setting of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We aimed to assess the prevalence and independent prognostic impact of valvular heart disease (VHD) diagnosed during the index hospitalization on clinical outcomes am...

Background: The Bleeding Academic Research Consortium (BARC) definition was proposed to overcome the heterogeneity among the many bleeding definitions. The aim of this study-level meta-analysis was to explore the incidence of BARC-assessed bleeding in acute coronary syndrome (ACS) studies and to ascertain the relation between these events and vari...

Background: Provisional T-stenting (PS) is generally recommended to treat patients with coronary bifurcation disease (CBD) percutaneously, but PS may not fit all complex bifurcation anatomies. Therefore, several types of up-front 2-stent techniques have been described. We aimed to identify the best percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) techniqu...

Aims: Although the benefits of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) in patients with stable chronic ischemic heart disease (SIHD) are controversial, a large number of PCIs are currently performed in SIHD patients, frequently after coronary angiography (ad-hoc procedures), without the use of fractional flow reserve (FFR) to identify patients...

The objective of this study is to evaluate completeness of coronary revascularization in patients with complex stable coronary artery disease (SCAD) who underwent percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), but a surgical revascularization indicated according to 2018 European Society of Cardiology guidelines. The optimal mode of revascularization fo...

With population ageing and rise of life expectancy, a progressively increasing proportion of patients presenting with an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) are older adults, including those at extreme chronological age. Increasing amounts of data, including randomized clinical trials, have shown that the benefits of an early revascularization are mainta...

Background Elderly patients have high ischemic and bleeding rates after acute coronary syndrome; however, the occurrence of these complications over time has never been studied. This study sought to characterize average daily ischemic rates (ADIRs) and average daily bleeding rates (ADBRs) over 1 year in patients aged >74 years with acute coronary s...

Incomplete ST resolution after primary percutaneous coronary interventions (pPCI) in STEMI patients is a well known prognostic marker, associated with the occurrence of microvascular obstruction and increased mortality. The effects of the use of glycoprotein IIbIIIa inhibitors (GPIs) in this peculiar subset of high- risk patients is still unknown....

Table S1. Baseline Clinical Characteristics Table S2. Pairwise Comparisons

Because of the aging of the population, the proportion of elderly patients admitted to the coronary care unit for an acute coronary syndrome (ACS) is increasing. Until a decade ago, treatment of elderly patients was based on poor scientific evidence, as older patients were commonly excluded from randomized controlled trials. In the last years, real...

Background and aims There is contrasting evidence regarding the optimal antithrombotic regimen after percutaneous coronary stent implantation in patients on oral anticoagulants. A systematic review and meta-analysis was performed to explore the comparative efficacy and safety of dual (an antiplatelet plus an oral anticoagulant) versus triple therap...

Background: The Minimizing Adverse Haemorrhagic Events by Transradial Access Site and Systemic Implementation of Angiox (MATRIX) programme was designed to assess the comparative safety and effectiveness of radial versus femoral access and of bivalirudin versus unfractionated heparin with optional glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors in patients with t...

Objective: Patients with non ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (NSTE-ACS) and peripheral arterial disease (PAD) present a worse prognosis compared to those without PAD. We sought to describe contemporary trends of in-hospital management and outcome of patients admitted for NSTE-ACS with associated PAD. Methods: We analyzed data from...

The appropriate use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) in elderly patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) remains a highly debated subject. In fact, achieving the correct balance between the reduction of ischemic risk and the increase in hemorrhagic events is more difficult in this population than in younger subjects, especially in the case of...

Background: Psoriasis has been associated with a higher prevalence of cardiovascular disease risk factors. However, there is inadequate quantification on the association between psoriasis and acute coronary syndrome (ACS), particularly in the elderly. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to assess the risk of ACS according to history of pso...

Aims: To assess whether bivalirudin compared with unfractionated heparin (UFH) is associated with consistent outcomes in male and female patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing invasive management. Methods and results: In the MATRIX program,7213 patients were randomized to bivalirudin or UFH.Patients in bivalirudin group were subs...

Systemic inflammation measured by high-sensitivity C reactive protein (CPR) is associated with increased risk of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE). Recent clinical trials targeting CPR showed a reduction in MACE after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Inflammation could be linked to high platelet reactivity (HPR), which is an independent p...

The epidemiology and management of patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACSs) have evolved. We aimed to describe recent demographics and therapeutic changes in the Italian ACS population. We analyzed data from 2 multicenter consecutive Italian registries (the EYESHOT [EmploYEd antithrombotic therapies in patients with acute coronary Syndromes HO...

Purpose Patients admitted to cardiac intensive care unit need administration of drugs intravenously often in concomitance of therapeutic techniques such as non-invasive ventilation, continuous renal replacement therapy and intra-aortic balloon counterpulsation. Therefore, the insertion of central venous catheters provides a reliable access for deli...

Background -Elderly patients are at elevated risk of both ischemic and bleeding complications after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS), and display higher on-clopidogrel platelet reactivity as compared to younger patients. Prasugrel 5 mg provides more predictable platelet inhibition, as compared to clopidogrel, in the elderly, suggesting the possibi...

Aims: Elevated serum uric acid (eSUA) was associated with unfavorable outcome in patients with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). However, the effect of eSUA on myocardial reperfusion injury and infarct size has been poorly investigated. Our aim was to correlate eSUA with infarct size, infarct size shrinkage, myocardial reperfusio...

Background: Few data exist on temporal evolution of antithrombotic agent use in patients with acute coronary syndromes (ACS) undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in Italy. We sought to compare data from the most recent prospective, multicenter, nationwide registries conducted in Italy, namely EYESHOT and SCOPE. Methods: EYESHOT en...

Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus (DM) and acute coronary syndromes have a greater level of platelet aggregation and a poor response to oral antiplatelet drugs. Clopidogrel is still widely used in clinical practice, despite the current evidence favoring ticagrelor and prasugrel. Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate the determi...

Smokers receiving clopidogrel show a lower residual platelet reactivity than non-smokers, a phenomenon generally ascribed to smoking-induced increased production of clopidogrel active metabolite, but also associated with the high hemoglobin levels of smokers, which decreases platelet reactivity in tests that measure platelet function in whole blood...

: Since Heberden's first description, stable angina has represented a challenge for the clinicians. Even the most recent guidelines seem ineffective to correctly identify patients who should be sent to cath labs. Still too many patients who undergo coronary angiography are found not to have significant lesions; moreover, its extensive use as the fi...

Statin use is associated with enhanced pharmacodynamic response to clopidogrel in patients with stable coronary artery disease undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, the impact of statin therapy on clopidogrel response profiles in patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) undergoing PCI has not been established and represen...

Neoatherosclerosis and plaque rupture as triggers for very late stent thrombosis in a bare-metal stent ABSTRACT Very late stent thrombosis has been increasingly described in the drug eluting stent era. A 56-year-old male presented with anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction, he received a bare-metal stent in the left anterior descending artery...

Objectives To first explore in Italy appropriateness of indication, adherence to guideline recommendations and mode of selection for coronary revascularisation. Design Retrospective, pilot study. Setting 22 percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)-performing hospitals (20 patients per site), 13 (59%) with on-site cardiac surgery. Participants 44...

Several studies established a link between bleeding and mortality in patients with STEMI undergoing primary percutaneous coronary intervention (pPCI); however, it is unclear whether bleeding has a direct role in worsening the prognosis or if it is simply a marker of patient frailty. We investigated whether bleeding is an independent predictor of mo...

Aims: In the last decades, several new therapies have emerged for the treatment of acute coronary syndromes (ACS). We sought to describe real-world patterns of use of antithrombotic treatments in the catheterization laboratory for ACS patients undergoing percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Methods: EmploYEd antithrombotic therapies in pat...

Background: Implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) have a role in preventing cardiac arrest in patients at risk for life-threatening ventricular arrhythmias. Purpose: To compare ICD therapy with conventional care for the primary prevention of death of various causes in adults with ischemic or nonischemic cardiomyopathy. Data sources: M...

Background: Patients with diabetes mellitus and acute coronary syndrome (ACS) present an increased risk of adverse cardiovascular events. An Italian Consensus Document indicated 'three specific must' to obtain in this subgroup of patients: optimal oral antiplatelet therapy, early invasive approach and a tailored strategy of revascularization for u...