Predictive value of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity for long-term clinical outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention in a Korean cohort.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to determine the associations of brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV), high-sensitivity cardiac troponin T (hs-cTnT) and N-terminal pro-B type natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP) with the development of adverse outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).

METHODS: The baPWV, hs-cTnT and NT-proBNP were analyzed in 372 patients who underwent PCI. The primary endpoint was cardiac death.

RESULTS: There were 21 events of cardiac death during a mean of 25.8 months of follow-up. When the baPWV cut-off level was set to 1672 cm/s using the receiver operating characteristic curve, the sensitivity was 85.7% and the specificity was 60.1% for differentiating between the group with cardiac death and the group without cardiac death. Kaplan-Meier analysis revealed that the higher baPWV group (≥1672 cm/s) had a significantly higher cardiac death rate than the lower baPWV group (<1672 cm/s) (11.4% vs. 1.4%, log-rank: P<0.0001). This value was more useful in patients with myocardial injury (hs-cTnT≥0.1 ng/mL) or heart failure (NT-proBNP≥450 pg/mL).

CONCLUSIONS: The results of this study show that high baPWV is a predictive marker for cardiac death after PCI.