Original title: Ambulatory Transradial Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: A Safe, Effective, and Cost-Saving Strategy. Reference: Philippe Le Corvoisier et al. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 81:15–23 (2013). The number of PCI procedures has increased and for many interventional cardiology centers PC interventions entail significant resource consumption. Reducing post procedure hospital stay could reduce costs and optimize hospitalization resources. The safety…
Rotational atherectomy is only an interim strategy.
Original title: High-Speed Rotational Atherectomy Before Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent Implantation in Complex Calcified Coronary Lesions. The Randomized ROTAXUS (Rotational Atherectomy Prior to Taxus Stent Treatment for Complex Native Coronary Artery Disease) Trial. Reference: Mohamed Abdel-Wahab et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2013; article in press Heavily calcified lesions are difficult and may prevent the appropriate expansion of a…
Chronic Total Occlusions, challenging but very possible
Original title: Predictors of Reocclusion After Successful Drug-Eluting Stent–Supported Percutaneous Coronary Intervention of Chronic Total Occlusion. The Florence CTO PCI Registry. Reference: Renato Valenti et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013; article in press. Previous registry data have shown a reduction in mortality rates in patients with successful recanalization of a Chronic Total Occlusion (CTO) compared to patients…
Does the systematic use of clopidogrel reduce events prior to angioplasty?
Original title: Association of Clopidogrel Pretreatment with mortality, Cardiovascular events, and Major Bleeding among patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention. A systematic review and Mata-analysis. Reference: Anne Bellemain-Appaix, MD et al. for the ACTION group. The loading of clopidogrel before coronary angioplasty is an accepted practice by most clinical and interventional cardiologists but, nevertheless, it is only based on…
Revascularization reduces mortality in patients with high risk coronary artery disease based on multi-slice CT
Original title: All-cause mortality benefit of coronary revascularization vs. medical therapy in patients without known coronary artery disease undergoing coronary computed tomographic angiography: results from CONFIRM (Coronary CT Angiography EvaluatioN For Clinical Outcomes: An InteRnational Multicenter Registry) Reference: James K Min et al. European Heart Journal (2012) 33, 3088–3097 doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehs315. Several large studies have shown revascularization reduces mortality…
Strategies for treating left coronary trunk restenosis.
Original title: Clinical and Procedural Predictors of Suboptimal Outcome After the Treatment of Drug-Eluting Stent Restenosis in the Unprotected Distal Left Main Stem The Milan and New-Tokyo (MITO) Registry. Reference: Circ Cardiovasc Interv. 2012;5: 491-498 We have very little data on the percutaneous treatment of restenosis of an unprotected LMCA. The aim of this study was to evaluate…
Future strategies to prevent restenosis and stent thrombosis
Original title: Endothelial cell repopulation after stenting determines in-stent neointima formation: effects of bare-metal vs. drug-eluting stents and genetic endothelial cell modification. Reference: Douglas G et al. European Heart Journal doi:10.1093/eurheartj/ehs240 Experimental models of vascular injury have shown that the rate of endothelial cell repopulation post-injury is a critical factor in determining subsequent neointima formation as well as…
Complex angioplasty with ventricular assist
Original title: Real-Word of the Impella 2.5 Circulatory Support System in Complex High-Risk Percutaneous Coronary Intervention: The USpella Registry Reference: Brijeshwar maini, et al. Catheterization and Cardiovscular Intervention For about a decade angioplasty has begun to be performed in increasingly complex patients (PE) such as those with left coronary trunk injury, 3-vessel injury, poor ventricular function and surgically…
High-dose atorvastatin for prevention of contrast nephropathy
Original title: Impact of a High Loading Dose of Atorvastatin on Contrast-Induced Acute Kidney Injury. Reference: Quintavalle et al. CIRCULATIONAHA.112.10331, 2012 Patients included in this study represent a subgroup with chronic renal failure (CRF) enrolled in the NAPLES II trial who were randomized to atorvastatin 80 mg 24 hours before angioplasty, (n = 202) versus the control group…
Again in the bifurcation, less is more.
It has been reported that the two stents technique is not superior to a provisional stent when treating bifurcations. However, the optimal approach to rescue a secondary branch (SB) when initially opting for provisional stenting has not been established. The aim of this study was to determine angioplasty indication using balloon or stent for…
The use of a paclitaxel eluting balloon in small vessels
Original title: A Randomized Multicenter Study Comparing a Paclitaxel Drug-Eluting Balloon With a Paclitaxel-Eluting Stent in Small Coronary Vessels. The BELLO (Balloon Elution and Late Loss Optimization) Study Reference: Referencia: Azeem Latib et al J Am Coll Cardiol 2012;()doi:10.1016/j.jacc.2012.09.020 The utility of paclitaxel-eluting balloons to treat in-stent restenosis is known but data for novo lesions is more limited. …