We established that FDG-PET imaging can be used to assess the severity of inflammation in carotid plaques in patients. If subsequent natural history studies link increased FDG-PET activity in carotid arteries with clinical events, this noninvasive measure could be used to identify a subset of patients with carotid atherosclerosis in need of intensified medical therapy or carotid artery intervention to prevent stroke.

Psoriasis increases the risk of cardiovascular (CV) disease. Secukinumab, a fully human monoclonal antibody against IL-17A, shows significant efficacy in psoriasis, but effects on CV markers are unknown. CARIMA (Evaluation of Cardiovascular Risk Markers in Psoriasis Patients Treated with Secukinumab) was a 52-week, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, exploratory trial in patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis without clinical CV disease. Patients were randomly assigned to receive 300 mg or 150 mg secukinumab until week 52 or to receive placebo until week 12 and then 300 mg or 150 mg secukinumab until week 52. The primary outcome was endothelial function measured by flow-mediated dilation (FMD). Baseline FMD was significantly lower in psoriasis patients than healthy volunteers (4.4 AE 3.9% vs. 6.1 AE 3.3%, P ¼ 0.01). At week 12, baseline-adjusted mean FMD was numerically higher in patients receiving secukinumab versus those receiving placebo, but this difference (300-mg group, þ1.2%; 150-mg group, þ0.76%; P ¼ 0.223 and P ¼ 0.403 by analysis of covariance) did not reach significance. At week 52, FMD increased across groups. FMD was significantly higher than baseline in patients receiving the label dose of 300 mg secukinumab for 52 weeks (þ2.1%, 95% confidence interval ¼ 0.8e3.3; P ¼ 0.0022). Other relevant CV markers were unchanged. CARIMA indicates that secukinumab might have a beneficial effect on CV risk by improving the endothelial function of patients with plaque psoriasis.

BackgroundTo support translational lung MRI research with hyperpolarized 129Xe gas, comprehensive evaluation of derived quantitative lung function measures against established measures from 3He MRI is required. Few comparative studies have been performed to date, only at 3T, and multisession repeatability of 129Xe functional metrics have not been reported.Purpose/HypothesisTo compare hyperpolarized 129Xe and 3He MRI‐derived quantitative metrics of lung ventilation and microstructure, and their repeatability, at 1.5T.Study TypeRetrospective.PopulationFourteen healthy nonsmokers (HN), five exsmokers (ES), five patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and 16 patients with nonsmall‐cell lung cancer (NSCLC).Field Strength/Sequence1.5T. NSCLC, COPD patients and selected HN subjects underwent 3D balanced steady‐state free‐precession lung ventilation MRI using both 3He and 129Xe. Selected HN, all ES, and COPD patients underwent 2D multislice spoiled gradient‐echo diffusion‐weighted lung MRI using both hyperpolarized gas nuclei.AssessmentVentilated volume percentages (VV%) and mean apparent diffusion coefficients (ADC) were derived from imaging. COPD patients performed the whole MR protocol in four separate scan sessions to assess repeatability. Same‐day pulmonary function tests were performed.Statistical TestsIntermetric correlations: Spearman's coefficient. Intergroup/internuclei differences: analysis of variance / Wilcoxon's signed rank. Repeatability: coefficient of variation (CV), intraclass correlation (ICC) coefficient.ResultsA significant positive correlation between 3He and 129Xe VV% was observed (r = 0.860, P < 0.001). VV% was larger for 3He than 129Xe (P = 0.001); average bias, 8.79%. A strong correlation between mean 3He and 129Xe ADC was obtained (r = 0.922, P < 0.001). MR parameters exhibited good correlations with pulmonary function tests. In COPD patients, mean CV of 3He and 129Xe VV% was 4.08% and 13.01%, respectively, with ICC coefficients of 0.541 (P = 0.061) and 0.458 (P = 0.095). Mean 3He and 129Xe ADC values were highly repeatable (mean CV: 2.98%, 2.77%, respectively; ICC: 0.995, P < 0.001; 0.936, P < 0.001).Data Conclusion 129Xe lung MRI provides near‐equivalent information to 3He for quantitative lung ventilation and microstructural MRI at 1.5T. Level of Evidence: 3 Technical Efficacy Stage 2J. Magn. Reson. Imaging 2018;48:632–642.

Since LV mass change correlates with cardiovascular prognosis, the greater reductions in LV mass indicate valuable advantages of sacubitril/valsartan compared to olmesartan. The finding that LV mass index decrease might be to some extent independent of SBP suggests that the effect of the dual-acting agent may go beyond those due to its BP-lowering ability.