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Grand RoundsWeekly Evidence Brief

Cardiology

Edition

30-Second Takeaway

  • Acoramidis durably reduces death and cardiovascular hospitalization in both wild-type and variant ATTR-CM, including high-risk variants.
  • Tendyne TMVR provides a realistic option for inoperable severe MAC with meaningful 1-year survival, symptom, and quality-of-life gains.
  • DCB-first PCI for de novo CAD yields more device-oriented events than up-front DES at 3 years and should remain selective.

Week ending November 8, 2025

Key updates in cardiology: ATTR-CM stabilization, complex structural and coronary interventions, ED hs-troponin pathways, and intensified cardiometabolic therapy

Acoramidis improves survival and HF hospitalizations in both wild-type and variant ATTR-CM

JAMA CARDIOLOGYNov 8, 2025

In ATTRibute-CM, 611 patients with ATTR-CM were randomized to acoramidis 712 mg twice daily or placebo for 30 months, with open-label extension to 42 months. Acoramidis reduced all-cause death or first cardiovascular hospitalization by 31% in ATTRwt-CM and 59% in ATTRv-CM at 30 months versus placebo. All-cause mortality reductions persisted through 42 months in both wild-type and variant disease, with consistent benefit in p.Val142Ile and other variants. Secondary endpoints, including biomarkers, functional capacity, and quality of life, improved similarly in wild-type and variant subgroups with acoramidis.

Tendyne TMVR offers meaningful 1-year outcomes in severe MAC with mitral dysfunction

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGYNov 6, 2025

SUMMIT-MAC treated 103 high-surgical-risk patients with severe MAC and significant mitral dysfunction using the Tendyne transcatheter mitral valve system. Technical success was 94.2%, and 30-day mortality was 6.8% in this frail, predominantly inoperable cohort. Freedom from all-cause mortality or heart failure hospitalization at 12 months was 60.4%, significantly exceeding the 43% performance goal. NYHA I/II status increased from 30.6% to 87.5% at 12 months, accompanied by an 18.7-point mean improvement in KCCQ overall summary score.

DCB-first PCI strategy remains inferior to up-front DES at 3 years for de novo CAD

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGYNov 6, 2025

REC-CAGEFREE I randomized 2,272 patients with de novo CAD to paclitaxel-coated DCB angioplasty with provisional stenting or planned sirolimus-eluting stents. Rescue DES implantation after unsatisfactory DCB result was required in 9.4% of patients in the DCB arm. At 3 years, the device-oriented composite endpoint occurred in 8.2% of DCB-treated versus 5.0% of DES-treated patients, favoring DES (P=0.002). Excess events with DCB were greatest during the first year, with smaller but persistent differences thereafter.

hs-Troponin–based risk stratification safely shortens ED stay in suspected ACS

JOURNAL OF THE AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGYNov 6, 2025

This stepped-wedge analysis included 31,492 ED patients with suspected ACS classified as low (<5 ng/L) or intermediate (5 ng/L to 99th percentile) hs-troponin risk. After implementing an early rule-out pathway, length of stay decreased by about 2 hours in low-risk and nearly 5 hours in intermediate-risk patients. Emergency department discharges increased markedly, with adjusted odds of discharge more than tripling for low-risk and doubling for intermediate-risk patients. Among discharged patients, 1-year MI or cardiac death fell after implementation in both low- and intermediate-risk strata.

References

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Additional Reads

Optional additional studies from this edition.

Edition context

Clinical signal

  • Near-complete TTR stabilization with acoramidis translates into consistent survival and hospitalization benefits across ATTR-CM phenotypes over 42 months.
  • Dedicated TMVR for severe MAC achieves high technical success and clinically relevant 1-year outcomes in patients otherwise excluded from surgery.
  • Stentless DCB-first PCI remains inferior to contemporary DES for de novo lesions despite low bailout-stent rates.