Background It is well-established that influenza vaccination reduces adverse cardiovascular outcomes in patients with cardiovascular diseases (CVD), however, the vaccine coverage rate in most countries remains low. The concern about the local adverse effects of intramus-cular injection, particularly in CVD patients receiving antithrombotic therapy, is one of the important impediments. This study was con-ducted to assess the safety, side effects and tolerability of intradermal influenza vaccine in CVD patients. Methods This was an observa-tional study in adult CVD patients who had undergone vaccination against seasonal influenza by intradermal vaccination between May 16th and May 30th, 2012 at Maharaj Nakorn Chiang Mai Hospital. The medical history, patients’ acceptability and adverse effects were collected using a written questionnaire completed by the patient immediately following vaccination and by a telephone survey eight days later. Results Among 169 patients, 52.1%were women and the mean age was 63 ± 12 years. Coronary artery disease, valvular heart disease and dilated cardiomyopathy were present in 121 (71.6%), 40 (23.7%) and 8 (4.7%), respectively. Antithrombotics were used in 89.3%. After vaccination, the pain score was 0, 1 or 2 (out of 10) in 44.4%, 15.1%, and 27.6%of the patients, respectively. Eight days after vaccination, the common adverse reactions were itching 19 (11.9%), swelling 9 (5.7%) and fatigue (4.7%). No hematoma or bruising was reported. Conclusions The intradermal influenza vaccination is safe and well tolerates with high rates of satisfaction in CVD patients. This technique should be useful in expanding influenza vaccine coverage.

BACKGROUNDRecent studies have showed that the fine mesh stents are associated with a significant reduction in both clinical and angiographic re-stenosis of the coronary arteries. To maintain a very satisfactory radio-opacity using the stents, Guidant of the USA has designed a new type of bare metal stents (BMS)-Multi-link (ML) Vision/ML MiniVision stents. The clinical outcomes of Asian patients with coronary artery disease (CAD) after implanting the Multi-link Vision or MiniVision stent were investigated in this study.

METHODSAn observational, prospective, multi-center, non-randomized post marketing registry was conducted to demonstrate the efficacy of the BMS-ML Vision/ML MiniVision stents. The primary end point of the registry was clinical target lesion revascularization (TLR) at a 6-month follow-up. The major secondary end points included the rate of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) and serious adverse events (SAE) in hospital and at 6 months; and the rate of clinical TLR as a function of the type of angina. A total of 429 Asian people with 449 lesions from 14 centers were selected for this study. The average reference diameter of the lesions was (3.0 +/- 0.5) mm, and the mean length was (15.7 +/- 5.0) mm.

RESULTSThe successful rate of the procedure was 99.3%. Twenty-five percent of the lesions were treated by direct stenting without pre-dilation. Eighty-six percent of the lesions were implanted with ML Vision stent. After the 6-month follow-up, the rate of clinical TLR was 1.4%. The MACE, SAE and target vessel revascularization (TVR) were 6.8%, 3.5% and 1.4% respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe current registry showed the excellent 6-month clinical outcomes of ML Vision/ML MiniVision stents in Asian patients with CAD.

Aged ; Angioplasty, Balloon, Coronary ; methods ; Chromium Alloys ; Coronary Disease ; therapy ; Female ; Follow-Up Studies ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Prospective Studies ; Registries ; Stents