Seung-Jung Park, M.D., Young-Hak Kim, M.D., Duk-Woo Park, M.D., Sung-Cheol Yun, Ph.D., Jung-Min Ahn, M.D., Hae Geun Song, M.D., Jong-Young Lee, M.D., Won-Jang Kim, M.D., Soo-Jin Kang, M.D., Seung-Whan Lee, M.D., Cheol Whan Lee, M.D., Seong-Wook Park, M.D., Cheol-Hyun Chung, M.D., Jae-Won Lee, M.D., Do-Sun Lim, M.D., Seung-Woon Rha, M.D., Sang-Gon Lee, M.D., Hyeon-Cheol Gwon, M.D., Hyo-Soo Kim, M.D., In-Ho Chae, M.D., Yangsoo Jang, M.D.,
Myung-Ho Jeong, M.D., Seung-Jea Tahk, M.D., and Ki Bae Seung, M.D.

Eric J. Velazquez, M.D., Kerry L. Lee, Ph.D., Marek A. Deja, M.D., Ph.D.,
Anil Jain, M.D., George Sopko, M.D., M.P.H., Andrey Marchenko, M.D., Ph.D.,
Imtiaz S. Ali, M.D., Gerald Pohost, M.D., Sinisa Gradinac, M.D., Ph.D.,
William T. Abraham, M.D., Michael Yii, M.S., F.R.C.S., F.R.A.C.S.,
Dorairaj Prabhakaran, M.D., D.M., Hanna Szwed, M.D., Paolo Ferrazzi, M.D.,
Mark C. Petrie, M.D., Christopher M. O’Connor, M.D.,
Pradit Panchavinnin, M.D., Lilin She, Ph.D., Robert O. Bonow, M.D.,
Gena Roush Rankin, M.P.H., R.D., Robert H. Jones, M.D.,
and Jean-Lucien Rouleau, M.D., for the STICH Investigators*

Perry Elliott, Bert Andersson, Eloisa Arbustini, Zofia Bilinska, Franco Cecchi,
Philippe Charron, Olivier Dubourg, Uwe Ku¨ hl, Bernhard Maisch,
William J. McKenna, Lorenzo Monserrat, Sabine Pankuweit, Claudio Rapezzi,
Petar Seferovic, Luigi Tavazzi, and Andre Keren*

John Lekakis1, Pierre Abraham2, Alberto Balbarini3,
Andrew Blann4, Chantal M Boulanger5, John Cockcroft6,
Francesco Cosentino7, John Deanfield8, Augusto Gallino9,
Ignatios Ikonomidis1, Dimitrios Kremastinos1,
Ulf Landmesser10, Athanase Protogerou11,
Christodoulos Stefanadis12, Dimitris Tousoulis12,
Giuseppe Vassalli9, Hans Vink13, Nikos Werner14,
Ian Wilkinson15 and Charalambos Vlachopoulos12
Abstract

Raphael Rosenhek1*, Bernard Iung2, Pilar Tornos3, Manuel J. Antunes4,
Bernard D. Prendergast5, Catherine M. Otto6, Arie Pieter Kappetein7,
Janina Stepinska8, Jens J. Kaden9, Christoph K. Naber10,
Esmeray Acartu¨rk11, and Christa Gohlke-Ba¨rwolf12

T. Iannitti a,*, B. Palmieri b

Marc K. Lahiri, MD, Kan Fang, MD, Lois Lamerato, PhD, Arfaat M. Khan, MD, and
Claudio D. Schuger, MD*

ARUP BHATTACHARYA1, STEVE G TUROWSKI2, IVAN DOMINGUEZ SAN MARTIN3, ASHWANI RAJPUT4,
YOUCEF M. RUSTUM5, ROBERT M. HOFFMAN5,6 and MUKUND SESHADRI2

Stamatis Kapetanakis, MBBS,* Amit Bhan, MBBS,* Francis Murgatroyd, MA,* Mark T. Kearney, MD, MBCHB,† Nicholas Gall, MSC, MD,* Qing Zhang, BM, MM,‡ Cheuk-Man Yu, MD,§ Mark J. Monaghan, PHD*
London and Leeds, United Kingdom; and Chengdu and Hong Kong, China

Sachin Gupta, MD, MSCS; Anand Rohatgi, MD; Colby R. Ayers, MS; Benjamin L. Willis, MD, MPH;
William L. Haskell, PhD; Amit Khera, MD, MSc; Mark H. Drazner, MD, MSc;
James A. de Lemos, MD; Jarett D. Berry, MD, MS