Generalizability of Reduction of Cardiovascular Events with Icosapent Ethyl-Intervention Trial in patients with a history of coronary artery bypass graft surgery

PURPOSE OF REVIEW: Following coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), there remains persistent risk of ischemic events despite secondary prevention strategies, including low-density lipoprotein cholesterol lowering. Although REDUCE-IT recently demonstrated the benefits of icosapent ethyl (IPE) on reducing ischemic events in a broad population of primary and secondary prevention patients, its generalizability to a contemporary CABG population is not known. This article aims to ascertain the proportion of patients with a history of CABG that would be eligible for IPE treatment. RECENT FINDINGS: A review of recent literature highlights the presence of residual ischemic following CABG. Using the Québec Heart Database, a repository of contemporary Canadian cardiac patient information, was searched between 1 January 2006 and 31 December 2016, to ascertain generalizability of IPE. SUMMARY: In a large (N = 12 641), contemporary, Canadian cohort of patients with a history of CABG and currently on statin therapy, 21.9, 33.6 and 26.4% would be eligible for IPE, according to REDUCE-IT, Health Canada, and Food and Drug Administration criteria, respectively. These analyses would support IPE as an adjunct to secondary prevention therapies post-CABG.