How do We Manage Coronary Artery Disease in Patients with CKD and ESRD?

Chronic kidney disease (CKD) has been shown to be an independent risk factor for cardiovascular events. In addition, patients with pre-dialysis CKD appear to be more likely to die of heart disease than of kidney disease. CKD accelerates coronary artery atherosclerosis by several mechanisms, notably hypertension and dyslipidemia, both of which are known risk factors for coronary artery disease. In addition, CKD alters calcium and phosphorus homeostasis, resulting in hypercalcemia and vascular calcification, including the coronary arteries. Mortality of patients on long-term dialysis therapy is high, with age-adjusted mortality rates of about 25% annually. Because the majority of deaths are caused by cardiovascular disease, routine cardiac catheterization of new dialysis patients was proposed as a means of improving the identification and treatment of high-risk patients. However, clinicians may be uncomfortable exposing asymptomatic patients to such invasive procedures like cardiac catheterization, thus noninvasive cardiac risk stratification was investigated widely as a more palatable alternative to routine diagnostic catheterization. The effective management of coronary artery disease is of paramount importance in uremic patients. The applicability of diagnostic, preventive, and treatment modalities developed in nonuremic populations to patients with kidney failure cannot necessarily be extrapolated from clinical studies in non-kidney failure populations. Noninvasive diagnostic testing in uremic patients is less accurate than in nonuremic populations. Initial data suggest that dobutamine echocardiography may be the preferred diagnostic method. PCI with stenting is a less favorable alternative to CABG, however, it has a faster recovery time, reduced invasiveness, and no overall mortality difference in nondiabetic and non-CKD patients compared with CABG. CABG is associated with reduced repeat revascularizations, greater relief of angina, and increased long term survival. However, CABG is associated with a higher incidence of post-operative risks. The treatment chosen for each patient should be an individualized decision based upon numerous risk factors. CKD is associated with higher rates of CAD, with 44% of all-cause mortality attributable to cardiac disease and about 20% from acute MI. Optimal treatment including aggressive lifestyle modifications and concomitant medical therapy should be implemented in all patients to maximize benefits from either PCI or CABG. Future prospective randomized controlled trials with newer second or third generation DES and bioabsorbable DES are necessary to determine if PCI may be non-inferior to CABG in the future.