The IN.PACT AV Access study, recently published in the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM), showed that drug-coated balloons are superior for the treatment of stenotic lesions in arteriovenous fistulas for dialysis compared with conventional balloons. Dialysis fistulas are an unknown territory for paclitaxel-eluting balloons, since the formal recommendation in the guidelines is conventional angioplasty...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. TAVR has been shown beneficial in high and moderate risk patients, but there is a group of patients that require dialysis on account of kidney deterioration. This comorbidity is due to bad cardiovascular evolution associated to diabetes, bleeding and thromboembolic events. For some time, we have been using an...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Stage III or higher renal impairment is frequent before TAVR, and the need for new dialysis after the procedure may reach up to 20%. Within that percentage, 5% may require permanent dialysis, which increases mortality up to 9 times at one year. In that sense, factors leading to that complication have not...
The prevalence of pre-procedural kidney failure in patients undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) can be as high as 50 – 60% (stage 3 kidney failure or worse); it has been strongly associated with acute kidney deterioration and, ultimately, an increase of post TAVR mortality. A recent meta-analyzis of several small studies carried out in a single...
Original title: Drug-eluting stents in patients on chronic haemodialysis: Paclitaxel-eluting stents vs. limus –eluting stents Reference: Gabriel l. Sardi, et al. Cardiovasc Revasc Med. 2014 Mar;15(2):86-91. End Stage Renal Disease (ESRD) including renal failure on hemodialysis is associated with coronary heart disease and diabetes with subsequent need for revascularization that in this special population has a high...
Original title: Impact of hemodialysis on local vessel healing and thrombus formation after drug-eluting stent implantation. Reference: Akihide Konishi, et al. Journal of Cardiology 2014;64:25-31 Even though the benefit of DES implantation to the general population is undeniable, it has been proved lower in hemodialysis patients (HD); the reason behind this phenomenon remains unclear. 121 patients received...
On the one hand, chronic peripheral vascular disease is on the rise. On the other, over the past 20 years, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has gained considerable ground thanks to various new devices, replacing surgery as an alternative in most scenarios. Both strategies have shown similar results, but PCI has fewer complications and shorter hospital stays....
Aortic stenosis (AS) is classified according to gradient into high flow and high gradient (D1), low flow-low gradient with reduced ejection fraction (D2), and paradoxical low flow-low gradient with conserved ejection fraction (D3). D3 AS is characterized by ≥50% ejection fraction, but with systolic volume index ≤35 ml/min. Post TAVR evolution of D2 and D3...
The use of transcatheter mitral valve intervention for the treatment of mitral valve regurgitation (MR) continues to evolve; at present guidelines only recommend it for inoperable or high surgical risk patients. So far, many devices have been assessed, some of which have shown promising results, but only for poor surgical candidates. Researchers looked into the...
A lesion ≥50% in the left main coronary artery (LMCA) is considered severe, according to various scientific societies, regardless of the presence of symptoms or ischemia, due to the extent of myocardium at risk. In such cases, revascularization is indicated. In many patients, lesions in this section of the coronary artery have severe calcification, which...