Dr Carolyn Lam: Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the journal and its editors. I'm Dr Carolyn Lam, associate editor from the National Heart Center and Duke National University of Singapore. Dr Greg Hundley: And I'm Dr Greg Hundley, associate editor from the Pauley Heart Center in Richmond, Virginia, from VCU Health. Dr Carolyn Lam: You know what, Greg, I may have a hoarse voice today and I'm a little bit scratchy, but my goodness, I couldn't be more excited about this issue. It's the TCT issue. Dr Greg Hundley: Well Carolyn, I cannot wait to discuss with our listeners the feature article that compares Apixaban and a P2Y12 inhibitor without Aspirin, versus regimens with Aspirin in patients with AFib who have ACS, whether managed medically or with PCI, or also those undergoing elective PCI that experience regimens that include vitamin K antagonists, aspirin, or both, but more to come later. Carolyn, should I start with my first discussion article and we grab a cup of coffee? Dr Carolyn Lam: You bet, Greg. Dr Greg Hundley: So my first article is from Seung-Jung Park from the Asan Medical Center at the University of Ulsan College of Medicine. So Carolyn, here's our first quiz question. In terms of Ticagrelor, have studies been performed in those from Asia evaluating bleeding risk? Dr Carolyn Lam: You know, I have to admit, Greg, I'm not totally familiar with the literature, but I do know that it's a very important question for us practicing in Asia. We have a perception that the bleeding risk, especially intracranial bleeding, may be higher in Asians. Dr Greg Hundley: Absolutely. Well, in this multicenter trial, 800 Korean patients hospitalized for acute coronary syndromes with or without ST elevation, and intended for invasive management, were randomly assigned to receive in a one to one ratio, Ticagrelor with a 180 milligram loading dose, and then 90 milligrams twice daily, or Clopidogrel with a 600 milligram loading dose and 75 milligrams daily thereafter, and the primary safety outcome was clinically significant bleeding, which was a composite of major bleeding or minor bleeding according to the PLATO outcomes criteria at 12 months. Dr Carolyn Lam: Oh, so what did they find? Dr Greg Hundley: Well Carolyn, at 12 months, the incidence of clinically significant bleeding was higher in the Ticagrelor group than in the Clopidogrel group. So it was 11.7% versus 5.3, and that included major bleeding and fatal bleeding. They were also higher in the Ticagrelor group. The incidents of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction or stroke, was not significantly different between the Ticagrelor group and the Clopidogrel group, although there was a strong trend toward a higher incidence in the Ticagrelor group with a P value of 0.07. So consequently, Carolyn, these results identified safety concerns regarding bleeding complications of standard dose Ticagrelor in East Asian, Korean patients with acute coronary syndromes, and therefore large adequately powered randomized trials are needed to determine the optimal antithrombotic regimen in this patient population. Dr Carolyn Lam: Very important data for our patients, as is this next paper, which really examines the cost effectiveness of transcatheter mitral valve repair versus medical therapy in patients with heart failure and secondary mitral regurgitation. Now, these are results from the COAPT trial. As a reminder, the COAPT trial demonstrated that edge-to-edge transcatheter mitral valve repair using the MitraClip resulted in reduced mortality and heart failure hospitalizations and improved quality of life when compared with maximally tolerated guideline directed medical therapy in patients with heart failure and three to four plus secondary mitral regurgitation. In the current paper, first author Dr Baron from Lahey Hospital and Medical Center in Burlington, Massachusetts and St. Luke’s Mid America Heart Institute in Kansas City