The Lancet: European Society of Cardiology Congress 2014 media alert

The Lancet is pleased to announce that the following papers will be published to coincide with presentation at the ESC Congress 2014, taking place in Barcelona, Spain, 30 August – 3 September 2014:

Refinements in stent design affecting strut thickness, surface polymer, and drug release have improved clinical outcomes of drug-eluting stents. This study aimed to compare the safety and efficacy of a novel, ultrathin strut cobalt-chromium stent releasing sirolimus from a biodegradable polymer with a thin strut durable polymer everolimus-eluting stent. The results show that ultrathin-strut, biodegradable polymer sirolimus-eluting stents are associated with a similar risk of target lesion failure to thin strut durable polymer everolimus-eluting stents. The finding of the meta-analysis is in accordance with the findings of the authors' trial, which contributed most of the available evidence.

Atrial fibrillation and heart failure often coexist, causing substantial cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. β blockers are indicated in patients with symptomatic heart failure with reduced ejection fraction; however, the efficacy of these drugs in patients with concomitant atrial fibrillation is uncertain. The authors therefore meta-analysed individual-patient data to assess the efficacy of β blockers in patients with heart failure and sinus rhythm compared with atrial fibrillation. In contrast to the significant beneficial effects observed for those with sinus rhythm, beta-blocker therapy had no or minimal effect on mortality and cardiovascular hospitalisation in heart failure patients with atrial fibrillation. Based on the findings of this study, β blockers should not be used preferentially over other rate-control medications and not regarded as standard therapy to improve prognosis in patients with heart failure and concomitant atrial fibrillation.