A retrospective study of arterial stiffness and subsequent clinical outcomes in cancer patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention.

Increasing attention is being paid to the relationship between cancer and cardiovascular diseases. In this study, we examined arterial stenosis and stiffness in patients with malignant diseases requiring percutaneous coronary intervention. This was a retrospective, single-center, observational study. Participants (n = 1003) were divided into a malignant group, with current or past malignant disease, and a nonmalignant group. The ankle-brachial index (ABI) and brachial-ankle pulse wave velocity (baPWV) were evaluated. The endpoint was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, stroke, and revascularization within 1 year. We observed significantly impaired ABI and baPWV in the malignant group. A total of 148 patients had a cardiovascular event. Kaplan-Meier analysis showed a significantly higher probability of cardiovascular events in the malignant group (P = 0.012). The combination of malignancy with ABI/baPWV identified subgroups with significantly different probabilities of cardiovascular events. Multivariate Cox hazard analysis identified malignancy as an independent predictor of cardiovascular events (hazard ratio, 1.54; 95% confidence interval, 1.06-2.26; P = 0.025) with an increased hazard ratio by adding the status of low ABI/high baPWV to malignancy (hazard ratio, 2.36; 95% confidence interval, 1.35-4.12; P = 0.003). We found significantly higher follow-up baPWV values in the malignancy group (P = 0.016). Atherosclerosis is advanced and accelerated in patients with malignancy, and these patients had significantly higher rates of adverse cardiovascular events, and their risk might be stratified by ABI and baPWV. University Hospital Medical Information Network-CTR (http://www.umin.ac.jp/ctr/). Kumamoto University Malignancy and Atherosclerosis study (UMIN000028652). Opt-out materials are available at the following website: http://www.kumadai-junnai.com/home/wp-content/uploads/akusei.pdf.