Korean cardiologists won the ticket to present three investigator-initiated clinical trials at the late-breaking session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC)’s World Congress of Cardiology, in Chicago, Ill, scheduled for March 28-30.

However, the hard-won opportunity has fallen through as ACC has recently canceled the meeting due to the spread of the new coronavirus in the U.S.

The late-breaking session provides a chance to present the latest, most innovative studies. It was the first time that Korean researchers had an opportunity to announce three studies at the session.

All of the three trials were investigator-initiated tests. The two came from a research team of the Severance Hospital, and one from that of Asan Medical Center.

Kim Byeong-keuk, a professor at the Division of Cardiology of the Severance Hospital, had planned to give an on-site presentation of his research, titled “Ticagrelor With Or Without Aspirin In Acute Coronary Syndrome After Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: Randomized Evaluation Of Ticagrelor Monotherapy After 3-month Dual-antiplatelet Therapy In Acute Coronary Syndrome.”

The study was part of a multicenter TICO trial to evaluate the ticagrelor monotherapy in 3,056 local patients with the acute coronary syndrome, following three-month of a sirolimus-eluting stent.

The second study was “Ten-year Outcomes After Drug-eluting Stents Versus Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting for Left Main Coronary Disease” by a research team at Asan Medical Center. Cardiology Department Professor Ahn Jung-min was scheduled to present the study in Chicago.

Ahn published the result of the 4.6-year (median) follow-up study, “Everolimus-Eluting Stents or Bypass Surgery for Coronary Disease,” in the New England Journal of Medicine in March 2015.

Professor Hong Geu-ru of the Cardiology Division of the Severance Hospital was to present “Edoxaban Versus Warfarin After Surgical Bioprosthetic Valve Implantation or Valve Repair” at the late-breaking session.

Hong’s study took place only in Severance Hospital. It was the first randomized, controlled trial that compared edoxaban with warfarin in 200 Korean patients who underwent a heart valve implantation or repair.

Although the ACC canceled the on-site event, it would publish its journal as scheduled, it said. The society was reviewing to provide critical content of presentations on a virtual platform, it added.

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