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Both vascular function and structure are independent predictors of cardiovascular events. The purpose of this study was to evaluate vascular function and structure of a leg artery in patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD).

The National Health Service Health Check program in England is the largest cardiovascular risk assessment and management program in the world. We assessed the effect of this program on modelled risk of cardiovascular disease, individual risk factors for cardiovascular disease, prescribing of relevant medications and diagnosis of vascular disease.

Background Peripheral artery disease is considered to be a manifestation of systemic atherosclerosis with associated adverse cardiovascular and limb events. Data from previous trials have suggested that patients receiving clopidogrel monotherapy had a lower risk of cardiovascular events than those receiving aspirin. We wanted to compare clopidogrel with ticagrelor, a potent antiplatelet agent, in patients with peripheral artery disease. Methods In this double-blind, event-driven trial, we randomly assigned 13,885 patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease to receive monotherapy with ticagrelor (90 mg twice daily) or clopidogrel (75 mg once daily). Patients were eligible if they had an ankle-brachial index (ABI) of 0.80 or less or had undergone previous revascularization of the lower limbs. The primary efficacy end point was a composite of adjudicated cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, or ischemic stroke. The primary safety end point was major bleeding. The median follow-up was 30 months. Results The median age of the patients was 66 years, and 72% were men; 43% were enrolled on the basis of the ABI and 57% on the basis of previous revascularization. The mean baseline ABI in all patients was 0.71, 76.6% of the patients had claudication, and 4.6% had critical limb ischemia. The primary efficacy end point occurred in 751 of 6930 patients (10.8%) receiving ticagrelor and in 740 of 6955 (10.6%) receiving clopidogrel (hazard ratio, 1.02; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.92 to 1.13; P=0.65). In each group, acute limb ischemia occurred in 1.7% of the patients (hazard ratio, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.79 to 1.33; P=0.85) and major bleeding in 1.6% (hazard ratio, 1.10; 95% CI, 0.84 to 1.43; P=0.49). Conclusions In patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease, ticagrelor was not shown to be superior to clopidogrel for the reduction of cardiovascular events. Major bleeding occurred at similar rates among the patients in the two trial groups. (Funded by AstraZeneca; EUCLID ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01732822 .).

Evidence from large, randomized, controlled peripheral artery disease trials reporting long-term outcomes using drug-coated balloons (DCBs) is limited. Previously, the DCB showed favorable 1-year outcomes compared with conventional percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA), yet durability of the treatment effect with DCBs remains unknown.

Although considered a cornerstone therapy, the efficacy and safety of aspirin for prevention of ischemic events in patients with peripheral vascular disease (PVD) remains uncertain. Thus, we aimed to evaluate aspirin use in both symptomatic and asymptomatic patients with PVD.

Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) are at high risk of cardiovascular events and benefit from aggressive secondary prevention; however, changes in the use of cardioprotective medications after incident diagnosis of PAD have not been well described.

The development of tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKI) has revolutionized management of patients with chronic myeloid leukemia (CML), transforming this fatal disease into a chronic disease with nearly normal life expectancy. Nilotinib is a second generation TKI targeting the oncoprotein BCR-ABL used in patients in the chronic phase of CML. Several research teams have suggested over recent years that nilotinib might be the causal agent in the development or aggravation of vascular disease, particularly in patients with cardiovascular risk factors or an established cardiovascular disease. We report here the case of a patient who developed severe peripheral arterial disease of the lower limbs that worsened despite optimal medical and surgical care, presenting recurrent re-stenoses after different revascularization techniques (bypass, angioplasty…) associated with aggravation of severe trophic disorders to the point of potentially requiring amputation. Discontinuation of nilotinib enabled a stabilization of the arterial lesions and complete healing of the trophic lesions. This case illustrates the importance of recognizing co-morbid conditions in patients with severe vascular disease and to examine the possibility of drug interactions leading to rapid aggravation of arterial disease with no other cause. Studying the pathophysiological impact of TKIs on the vascular system may open new avenues of research for the investigation of factors triggering arteriosclerosis.

Few medical therapies improve lower extremity functioning in people with lower extremity peripheral artery disease (PAD). Among people with PAD, we studied whether a group-mediated cognitive behavioral intervention promoting home-based unsupervised exercise prevented mobility loss and improved functional performance compared to control.

-Treatment for symptomatic peripheral artery disease (PAD) includes lower extremity bypass surgery (LEB) and/or peripheral endovascular interventions (PVI); however, limited comparative effectiveness data exists between the two therapies. We assessed the safety and effectiveness of LEB and PVI in patients with symptomatic claudication and critical limb ischemia (CLI).

Whether inclusion of the coronary artery calcium score improves cardiovascular risk prediction in individuals with CKD, a population with unique calcium-phosphate homeostasis, is unknown. Among 6553 participants ages 45-84 years without prior cardiovascular disease in the Multi-Ethnic Study of Atherosclerosis, coronary artery calcium score was assessed for cardiovascular risk prediction beyond the Framingham predictors in those with (n=1284) and without CKD and contrasted with carotid intima-media thickness and ankle-brachial index (two other measures of subclinical atherosclerosis). During a median follow-up of 8.4 years, 650 cardiovascular events (coronary heart disease, stroke, heart failure, and peripheral artery disease) occurred (236 events in subjects with CKD). In Cox proportional hazards models adjusted for Framingham predictors, each subclinical measure was independently associated with cardiovascular outcomes, with larger adjusted hazard ratios (HRs; per 1 SD) for coronary artery calcium score than carotid intima-media thickness or ankle-brachial index in subjects without and with CKD (HR, 1.69; 95% confidence interval [95% CI], 1.45 to 1.97 versus HR, 1.12; 95% CI, 1.00 to 1.25 and HR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.08 to 1.32, respectively). Compared with inclusion of carotid intima-media thickness or ankle-brachial index, inclusion of the coronary artery calcium score led to greater increases in C statistic for predicting cardiovascular disease and net reclassification improvement. Coronary artery calcium score performed best for the prediction of coronary heart disease and heart failure, regardless of CKD status. In conclusion, each measure improved cardiovascular risk prediction in subjects with CKD, with the greatest improvement observed with coronary artery calcium score.