Skip to main content
Log in

Clinical Implications of the ISCHEMIA Trial: Invasive vs Conservative Approach in Stable Coronary Disease

  • Ischemic Heart Disease (D Mukherjee, Section Editor)
  • Published:
Current Cardiology Reports Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose of Review

To identify key strengths and weaknesses of the International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) trial and explore its clinical implications in patients with stable ischemic heart disease.

Recent Findings

Previous studies have shown inconsistent benefit of early angiography and revascularization in patients with stable ischemic heart disease. The ISCHEMIA trial showed no significant reduction in mortality or cardiovascular outcomes in patients undergoing early angiography and revascularization with guideline-directed medical therapy compared to patients on medical therapy alone in specific patient population with stable coronary artery disease.

Summary

The ISCHEMIA trial provides insights into invasive versus pharmacological treatment for patients with stable ischemic heart disease. Though it may have reduced applicability given its broad exclusion criteria, it offers useful information about the utility of non-invasive imaging modalities for selecting optimal revascularization candidates.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Similar content being viewed by others

References

Papers of particular interest, published recently, have been highlighted as: •• Of major importance

  1. World Health Organization. The top 10 causes of death. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/the-top-10-causes-of-death. 24 May 2018.

  2. Hachamovitch R, Hayes SW, Friedman JD, Cohen I, Berman DS. Comparison of the short-term survival benefit associated with revascularization compared with medical therapy in patients with no prior coronary artery disease undergoing stress myocardial perfusion single photon emission computed tomography. Circulation. 2003;107(23):2900–7.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  3. Stergiopoulos K, Boden WE, Hartigan P, Möbius-Winkler S, Hambrecht R, Hueb W, et al. Percutaneous coronary intervention outcomes in patients with stable obstructive coronary artery disease and myocardial ischemia: a collaborative meta-analysis of contemporary randomized clinical trials. JAMA Intern Med. 2014;174(2):232–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Maron DJ, Hochman JS, Reynolds HR, Bangalore S, O’Brien SM, Boden WE, et al. Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(15):1395–407.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  5. Maron DJ, Hochman JS, O’Brien SM, Reynolds HR, Boden WE, Stone GW, et al. International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) trial: Rationale and design. Am Heart J. 2018;201:124–35.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  6. Spertus JA, Jones PG, Maron DJ, O’Brien SM, Reynolds HR, Rosenberg Y, et al. Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(15):1408–19.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  7. Maron DJ, Harrington RA, Hochman JS. Planning and conducting the ISCHEMIA trial. Circulation. 2018;138(14):1384–6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. •• Spilias N, Zorach B, Denby K, Ellis S. The role of ISCHEMIA in stable ischemic heart disease. Cleve Clin J Med. 2020;87(7):401 This article provided an in-depth analysis and critique of the ISCHEMIA trial as well as providing several important clinical implications.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  9. Boden WE, O’Rourke RA, Teo KK, Hartigan PM, Maron DJ, Kostuk WJ, et al. Optimal medical therapy with or without PCI for stable coronary disease. N Engl J Med. 2007;356(15):1503–16.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Wood S. ISCHEMIA: Invasive strategy no better than mds for CV events. https://www.tctmd.com/news/ischemia-invasive-strategy-no-better-meds-cv-events. 16 Nov 2019.

  11. Al-Lamee R, Thompson D, Dehbi HM, Sen S, Tang K, Davies J, et al. Percutaneous coronary intervention in stable angina (ORBITA): a double-blind, randomised controlled trial. The Lancet. 2018;391(10115):31–40.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Smolka S, Desai MY, Achenbach S. After ISCHEMIA: is coronary CTA the new gatekeeper? Herz. 2020;45:441–5.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  13. Hochman JS. International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness With Medical And Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA): primary report of clinical outcomes. 2019. https://www.ischemiatrial.org/system/files/attachments/ISCHEMIA%20MAIN%2012.03.19%20MASTER.pdf

    Google Scholar 

  14. Mukherjee D. Coronary revascularization in the United States-patient characteristics and outcomes in 2020. JAMA Netw Open. 2020;3(2):e1921322. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2019.21322 PMID: 32058547.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  15. Gregson J, Stone GW, Ben-Yahuda O, Redfors B, Kandzari DE, Morice MC, et al. Implications of alternative definitions of peri-procedural myocardial infarction after coronary revascularization. JACC. 2020;76(14):1609–21.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  16. Hara H, Serruys PW, Takahashi K, Kawashima H, Ono M, Gao C, et al. Impact of peri-procedural myocardial infarction on outcomes after revascularization. JACC. 2020;76(14):1622–39.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Lopes RD, Alexander KP, Stevens SR, Reynolds HR, Stone GW, Pina IL, et al. Initial invasive versus conservative management of stable ischemic heart disease patients with a history of heart failure or left ventricular dysfunction: insights from the ISCHEMIA Trial. Circulation. 2020;142:1725–35. https://doi.org/10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.120.050304. Epub ahead of print.

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Saurav Chatterjee.

Ethics declarations

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest relevant to the content of this manuscript

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Additional information

Publisher’s Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This article is part of the Topical Collection on Ischemic Heart Disease

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Choudhary, J., Chiu, S., Bhugra, P. et al. Clinical Implications of the ISCHEMIA Trial: Invasive vs Conservative Approach in Stable Coronary Disease. Curr Cardiol Rep 23, 43 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-021-01470-x

Download citation

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11886-021-01470-x

Keywords

Navigation