▲ Endowed-Chair Professor Seung-Jung Park of the Division of Cardiology at Asan Medical Center is presenting at the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo (ACC.24), held in Atlanta on April 8th (local time)

Accumulation of foreign substances such as fat or inflammation within the cardiovascular system leads to a condition known as atherosclerosis, where blood vessels narrow. In severe cases, this can suddenly rupture, becoming the most common cause of myocardial infarction or sudden death.

Particularly, the fundamental treatment for vulnerable atherosclerotic coronary plaques, known as vulnerable plaques, which are at high risk of rupture, involves medical therapy such as anticoagulants and cholesterol-lowering agents. However, this treatment alone does not easily prevent the occurrence of myocardial infarction due to sudden rupture.

A large-scale clinical study conducted by Endowed-Chair Professor Seung-Jung Park, Professor Duk-Woo Park, Professor Jung-Min Ahn, and Professor Do-Yoon Kang of the Division of Cardiology at Asan Medical Center revealed that preventive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for patients with high-risk vulnerable plaques is more effective than optimal medical therapy. This research was presented at the American College of Cardiology’s 73rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo (ACC.24), the highest authority in the field of cardiology. This study is the world's first to compare the occurrence rates of major clinical events between optimal medical therapy and preventive PCI in patients with vulnerable plaques.

▲ (from left) Endowed-Chair Professor Seung-Jung Park, Professor Duk-Woo Park, Professor Jung-Min Ahn, and Professor Do-Yoon Kang of the Division of Cardiology at Asan Medical Center

The research team targeted patients diagnosed with vulnerable plaques using vascular imaging equipment from 15 institutions in Korea, Japan, Taiwan, and New Zealand from 2015 to 2021. They divided the patients into two groups: one receiving optimal medical therapy alone (803 patients) and the other receiving optimal medical therapy along with preventive PCI (803 patients) and analyzed the treatment outcomes. Typically, PCI is performed in severe coronary artery stenosis with severe blood flow disorders, but this study was conducted on patients without severe blood flow disorders. Treatment outcomes were evaluated based on major clinical event occurrence rates such as death from cardiac causes, acute myocardial infarction, revascularization, and hospitalization due to unstable angina.

As a result, the occurrence rate of major clinical events two years after treatment in the preventive PCI group was 0.4%, which was approximately 8.5 times lower than the 3.4% in the optimal medical therapy-only group. Furthermore, after observing them for an average of 4.4 years (up to 7.9 years), the occurrence rate of major clinical events in the preventive PCI group was 6.5%, which was approximately 1.4 times lower than the 9.4% in the optimal medical therapy group.

These research findings were presented at the Late-Breaking Clinical Trial session of the ACC.24, held in Atlanta on April 8th (local time), with over two thousand cardiology experts from around the world in attendance. Additionally, the same day, the results were published in 'The Lancet,' the world's leading journal in the field of medical science and technology, with the highest impact factor (IF 168.9).

▲ (from right) Endowed-Chair Professor Seung-Jung Park, Professor Duk-Woo Park, and Professor Jung-Min Ahn are performing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI)