Description: Background and Purpose— Recent randomized clinical trials (RCTs) have evaluated the benefit of new oral anticoagulants in reducing the risk of vascular events and bleeding complications in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF). However, abundant and strict enrollment criteria may limit the validity and applicability of results of RCTs to clinical practice. We estimated the eligibility for participation in RCTs of an unselected group of patients with AF. In addition, we compared features favoring new oral anticoagulant use between patients with versus without stroke. Randomized Evaluation of Long-Term Anticoagulation Therapy Methods— We applied enrollment criteria of 4 RCTs (RE-LY, ROCKET-AF, ARISTOTLE, and ENGAGE-AF-TIMI 48) to 695 patients with AF taking warfarin, prospectively and consecutively collected at a university medical center; 500 patients with and 195 patients without stroke. Time in therapeutic range and bleeding risk scheme (anticoagulation and risk factors in atrial fibrillation) were also measured. Results— The proportions of patients fulfilling the trial enrollment criteria varied, ranging from 39% to 72.8%, depending on the differences in indications/contraindications among studies and presence/absence of stroke. The main reasons for ineligibility for RCTs were hemorrhagic risk (anticoagulation and risk factors in atrial fibrillation [ATRIA] score) (10.8%–40.5%) and planned cardioversion (5.1%–7.7%) for nonstroke patients, and a low creatinine clearance (5.6%–9.2%) and higher risk of bleeding (15.2%–20.8%) for patients with stroke. When compared with nonstroke patients, patients with stroke showed a lower time in therapeutic range (54.4±42.8% versus 65.4±34.9%, especially with severe disability) and a high hemorrhagic risk (ATRIA score) (3.06±2.30 versus 2.18±2.16) ( P 〈0.05 in both cases). Conclusions— Patients enrolled in RCTs are partly representative of patients with AF in clinical practice. When time in therapeutic range and bleeding tendency with warfarin use were considered, the use of new oral anticoagulants was preferred in patients with stroke than in nonstroke patients, but they were more likely to be excluded in RCTs.

Description: Background and Purpose— Mismatch in lesion visibility between diffusion-weighted image and fluid-attenuated inversion recovery image (DWI–FLAIR mismatch) has been proposed as a biomarker for the estimation of ischemic lesion age. The actual onset in some patients with unclear-onset stroke (UnCOS) may be close to the first-found abnormal time. We hypothesized that patients with UnCOS within a particular time window might have a similar DWI–FLAIR mismatch profile with patients with clear-onset stroke (COS). Methods— Patients who underwent MRI within 6 hours from first-found abnormal time were recruited retrospectively. Clinical characteristics and the proportion of DWI–FLAIR and perfusion-weighted image–DWI mismatch in each time window were compared between UnCOS and COS. Results— The final analysis included 259 patients (114 with UnCOS and 145 with COS). Patients with UnCOS were older and had more severe stroke at baseline. Risk factors, stroke subtypes, and perfusion-weighted image–DWI mismatch did not differ between the 2 groups. The proportion of patients with DWI–FLAIR mismatch in UnCOS did not differ from COS within 2 hours of first-found abnormal time (50.0% versus 51.5%; P =0.92), but it was significantly lower in UnCOS than in COS at 2 to 3 hours (16.1% versus 44.4%; P =0.02), 3 to 4 hours (13.8% versus 36.4%; P =0.04), and 4 to 5 hours (5.6% versus 29.6%; P =0.05). Conclusions— The proportion of DWI–FLAIR mismatch in UnCOS within the first 2 hours from first-found abnormal time was similar with COS, but it sharply decreased beyond 2 hours. These data suggest that patients with UnCOS within 2 hours of symptom detection may be good candidates for multimodal imaging-based thrombolysis.

Description: Background and Purpose— Diagnosis of Moyamoya disease (MMD) is based on the characteristic angiographic findings. However, differentiating MMD from intracranial atherosclerotic disease (ICAD) is difficult. We compared vessel wall imaging findings on high-resolution magnetic resonance imaging between MMD and ICAD. Methods— High-resolution magnetic resonance imaging was performed on 32 patients with angiographically proven MMD and 16 patients with acute infarcts because of ICAD. Bilateral internal carotid arteries and steno-occlusive middle cerebral artery were analyzed for wall enhancement and remodeling. Results— Enhancement patterns and distribution were different. Most patients with MMD (90.6%) showed concentric enhancement on distal internal carotid arteries and middle cerebral arteries, whereas focal eccentric enhancement was observed on the symptomatic segment in ICAD. MMD was characterized by middle cerebral artery shrinkage; the remodeling index and wall area were lower in MMD than in ICAD (remodeling index, 0.19±0.11 versus 1.00±0.43; wall area, 0.32±0.22 versus 6.00±2.72; P 〈0.001). Conclusions— MMD was characterized by concentric enhancement on bilateral distal internal carotid arteries and shrinkage of middle cerebral artery, regardless of symptoms.

Description: Background— Patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) have a higher incidence of recurrent ischemic events. The aim of this study was to compare the plaque characteristics of nonculprit lesions between ACS and non-ACS patients using optical coherence tomography (OCT) imaging. Methods and Results— Patients who had 3-vessel OCT imaging were selected from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) OCT Registry. MGH registry is a multicenter registry of patients undergoing OCT. The prevalence and characteristics of nonculprit plaques were compared between ACS and non-ACS patients. A total of 248 nonculprit plaques were found in 104 patients: 45 plaques in 17 ACS patients and 203 plaques in 87 non-ACS patients. Compared with plaques of non-ACS patients, plaques of ACS patients had a wider lipid arc (147.3 ± 29.5° versus 116.2 ± 33.7°, P 〈0.001), a longer lipid length (10.7 ± 5.9 mm versus 7.0 ± 3.7 mm, P =0.002), a larger lipid volume index [averaged lipid arc x lipid length] (1605.5 ± 1013.1 versus 853.4 ± 570.8, P 〈0.001), and a thinner fibrous cap (70.2 ± 20.2 µm versus 103.3 ± 46.8 µm, P 〈0.001). Moreover, thin-cap fibroatheroma (64.7% versus 14.9%, P 〈0.001), macrophage (82.4% versus 37.9%, P =0.001), and thrombus (29.4% versus 1.1%, P 〈0.001) were more frequent in ACS patients. Although the prevalence of microchannel did not differ between the groups, the closest distance from the lumen to microchannel was shorter in ACS subjects than in non-ACS (104.6 ± 67.0 µm versus 198.3 ± 133.0 µm, P =0.027). Conclusions— Nonculprit lesions in patients with ACS have more vulnerable plaque characteristics compared with those with non-ACS. Neovascularization was more frequently located close to the lumen in patients with ACS.