Courtesy of SBHCI. The COMPLETE study was carried out to assess the benefit of complete revascularization vs culprit vessel revascularization in the context of ST elevation acute myocardial infarction. This COMPLETE sub-study presented at TCT 2019 scientific sessions simultaneously published in JACC assessed the optimal timing of complete revascularization. The general study had already shown…
Revascularization in Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection Causing ST-Segment Elevation Myocardial Infarction
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection is an increasing cause of acute myocardial infarction, particularly in younger women. These infarctions are frequently treated conservatively given the risks entailed by revascularization, due to the possibility of causing an antegrade or retrograde expansion of the dissection. The uncertainty around treatment for these patients gave way to this study (recently…
Drug Coated Balloons vs. Drug Eluting Stents in Primary PCI
There might come the time when we are finally able to leave nothing behind, at least in the context of primary PCI. The REVELATION study, soon to be published in J Am Coll Cardiol Intv, has shown that paclitaxel coated balloons resulted non inferior to drug eluting stents (DES) in terms of FFR (fractional flow…
STEMI in Coronary Dissections. When Should We Do It and What Are Its Outcomes?
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Generally, coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is not very frequent in young women and presents better evolution with medical treatment. However, it is occasionally associated with ST segment elevation. In this scenario, PCI with stent implantation is quite challenging. The study looked at 4298 STEMI patients; 53 presented SCAD (1.23%). STEMI-SCAD…
Is Complete Revascularization the Right Choice in Acute Myocardial Infarction with Multivessel Disease?
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Primary coronary angioplasty has been the treatment of choice for acute myocardial infarction (MI) for many years, but such strategy is associated with nonculprit lesions in a large group of patients. While it has been proven that nonculprit-lesion revascularization offers better outcomes, the groups that would benefit from it are…
ESC 2019 | COMPLETE: Definitive Evidence for Infarction with Multivessel Disease
For patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction and multivessel disease beyond the culprit artery, complete revascularization is superior to culprit-only treatment as regards the final endpoint, a composite of cardiovascular death, infarction, and ischemia-driven revascularization over a mean follow-up of 3 years. This information derives from long-awaited randomized study COMPLETE, finally presented at the…
ESC 2019 | CONDI-2ERIC-PPCI: Final Blow Against Ischemic Pre-Conditioning in Primary Angioplasty
Remote ischemic conditioning does not offer any clinical benefit to patients with ST-segment elevation acute myocardial infarction undergoing primary angioplasty, according to this study presented on Sunday at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2019. Prior studies were limited and small, but this analysis seems to provide definitive evidence with regard to ischemic pre-conditioning. The…
ESC 2019 | ISAR-REACT 5 | Which Is Better in ACS, Prasugrel or Ticagrelor?
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. The benefit of dual antiplatelet therapy in acute coronary syndromes (ACS) has been proven long ago, and both prasugrel and ticagrelor have offered best results than clopidogrel. However, nowadays, it is unclear which of them is superior in the long term, taking into account the fact that one starts to…
DES with Bioresorbable Polymer vs. Bare Metal Stents in Primary PCI
Long after myocardial revascularization guidelines had established no medical reason justifies the use of bare metal stents (BMS), along comes this study to refresh the old trials comparing drug eluting vs bare metal stents in the context of primary PCI. The problem for many countries is that primary PCI obviously occurs in the context of…
After Much Toing and Froing, Gastrointestinal Protection Is Back to the Forefront
Several clinical guidelines differ in their recommendation regarding the prescription of proton pump inhibitors to patients being treated with dual antiplatelet therapy after infarction. In 2015, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) recommended their use in patients with high bleeding risk; however, in the 2017 update that recommendation became general after the assumption that, for…
EuroPCR 2019 | BASKET-SMALL 2: Drug-Coated Balloons vs. DES in Small Vessels
This angiographic substudy supports the safety of drug-coated balloons in small vessels. Despite better angiographic outcomes, there were eight cases of stent thrombosis among drug-eluting stent (DES) patients, while there was none with drug-coated balloons. In patients with small vessels, using a drug-coated balloon appears safe and comparable to DES, with favorable angiographic outcomes at…