ACCEL Lite: Featured ACCEL Interviews on Exciting CV Research

The TRANQUILITY trial was designed to evaluate whether pacibekitug can reduce interleukin-6 (IL-6)-driven inflammation, a key inflammatory pathway increasingly linked to cardiovascular risk. Treatment with pacibekitug demonstrated favorable effects on inflammatory and cardiovascular risk biomarkers, supporting IL-6 inhibition as a potential therapeutic strategy for reducing residual inflammatory risk. These findings further strengthen the evidence implicating IL-6 as an important mediator of cardiovascular disease. 

In this episode, Dipti Itchhaporia MD, MACC and Deepak L. Bhatt, MD, MPH, MBA, FACC discuss TRANQUILITY: Efficacy of monthly and quarterly dosing of pacibekitug (IL-6 ligand mAb) targeting inflammation in CKD with high cardiovascular risk.

The CorCal Outcomes study showed that using coronary artery calcium (CAC) scoring to guide statin therapy for the primary prevention of atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease (ASCVD) was as effective as the Pooled Cohort Equations (PCE) in preventing major adverse cardiovascular (CV) events. CAC-guided treatment identified fewer patients for statin therapy while achieving comparable outcomes. These findings suggest CAC scoring may be a more efficient approach for personalizing primary ASCVD prevention strategies.   

In this episode, Allen J. Taylor, MD, FACC and Joseph Brent Muhlestein, MD, FACC discuss "CorCal: Pooled Cohort Equations versus Coronary Artery Calcium Score in ASCVD Primary Prevention".

Among patients with symptomatic nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), treatment with aficamten resulted in significantly greater improvements in exercise capacity and quality of life compared with placebo over 36 weeks. The ACACIA-HCM findings offer promising news for patients and clinicians managing this challenging condition. Importantly, the trial is the first to demonstrate clinically meaningful symptomatic and functional benefits with a therapy designed to address the root cause of the disease. 

In this episode, Matthew Martinez, MD, FACC and Ahmad Masri, MD, FACC evaluate "ACACIA-HCM: Aficamten for symptomatic nonobstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopathy".

The PRESC1SE-MI trial evaluated whether an accelerated diagnostic pathway for suspected myocardial infarction could improve Emergency Department efficiency without compromising safety. Compared with standard care, the accelerated strategy demonstrated similar safety but did not reduce Emergency Department length of stay. 

In this episode, Jeroen J. Bax PhD, MD, FACC and Jasper Boeddinghaus, MD discuss "PRESC1SE-MI: Safety and efficacy of the ESC 0/1-hour Pathway".

As TAVI expands to younger and healthier patients, valve durability has become an increasingly important consideration. However, the optimal antithrombotic strategy to support long-term valve function remains unclear. This trial compared antiplatelet monotherapy with NOAC monotherapy to help address this unmet need. 

In this episode, Deepak L. Bhatt MD, MPH, MBA, FACC and Øyvind H. Lie, MD, PhD, MSc examine the results of "ACASA-TAVI: Antithrombotic therapy after TAVI".