Volume 17 Issue 6, June 2020

The addition of an invasive strategy (angiography plus revascularization when feasible) to medical therapy does not reduce the risk of cardiovascular events or death but might reduce symptoms of angina among patients with stable coronary artery disease and moderate or severe ischaemia.

Findings from the VICTORIA study show that vericiguat treatment can significantly reduce cardiovascular death or first hospitalization for heart failure in patients with worsening heart failure with reduced ejection fraction.

An initial invasive strategy in addition to medical therapy does not reduce the risk of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction or relieve angina symptoms compared with an initial conservative strategy with medical therapy alone in patients with stable coronary artery disease, moderate or severe ischaemia and advanced chronic kidney disease.

The safety and durability of the LDL-cholesterol-lowering effects of inclisiran, a small interfering RNA that inhibits the synthesis of PCSK9 in the liver, have now been confirmed in three phase III clinical trials published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Findings from the VOYAGER PAD study show that adding rivaroxaban to standard aspirin therapy can reduce ischaemic risk in patients with peripheral artery disease who have undergone lower-extremity revascularization.

Apixaban therapy is as effective as low-molecular-weight heparin therapy for the prevention of recurrence of venous thromboembolism in patients with cancer, with no increase in major bleeding events, according to findings from the Caravaggio trial.

Renal denervation compared with a sham procedure can significantly reduce 24-h and office systolic blood pressure levels in patients with uncontrolled hypertension who are not receiving antihypertensive drugs.

The combination of oral anticoagulation and the antiplatelet drug clopidogrel increases the risk of bleeding after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) compared with oral anticoagulation alone, according to the results of the POPular TAVI trial cohort B.

An ‘off-the-shelf’, cell-free, artificial cardiac patch has been created that is easy to store and improves outcomes in rat and pig models of myocardial infarction.

Salt substitutes hold great potential for the control of blood pressure and prevention of chronic disease, but the evidence base remains inadequate. Data from a community-based trial in Peru add to this evidence base and support the conduct of large-scale trials to drive the global uptake of salt substitution.

In this Review, Soehnlein and colleagues discuss the role of neutrophils in cardiovascular inflammation and repair, describing the effect of cardiovascular risk factors on neutrophil production and function, appraising the contribution of neutrophils to the different stages of atherosclerosis and its clinical manifestations, and highlighting the evolving therapeutic strategies for targeting neutrophil numbers, functional status and effector mechanisms.

In this Review, Murry and colleagues describe the hallmarks of cardiomyocyte maturation and the current approaches to mature stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes, highlighting challenges and future directions to generate cardiomyocytes with an optimal maturation state for use in research and regenerative medicine.

Familial hypercholesterolaemia is a genetic disorder that impairs the hepatic clearance of LDL, leading to premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease. In this Review, Watts and colleagues summarize the latest advances that can inform the development and implementation of new models of care for familial hypercholesterolaemia.