Original title: The Independent Value of a Direct Stenting Strategy on Early and Late Clinical Outcomes in Patients Undergoing Elective Percutaneous Coronary Intervention. Reference: Gabriel L. Sardi et al. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 81:949–956 (2013). The use of direct stenting (DS) without pre-stenting dilation has proven to be a safe strategy, especially with the...
Original title: Late Thrombosis After Double Versus Single Drug-Eluting Stent in the Treatment of Coronary Bifurcations A Meta-analysis of Randomized and Observational Studies. Reference: Marco Zimarino et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2013. Article in press. In the era of drug-eluting stents, (DES), several randomized and observational studies have been conducted trying to find the best strategy...
Original title: Deployment of Self-Expandable Stents for Complex Proximal Superficial Femoral Artery Lesions Involving the Femoral Bifurcation With Or Without Jailed Deep Femoral Artery. Reference: Masahiro Yamawaki et al. Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions 81:1031–1041 (2013). The endovascular management of chronic total occlusions of the lower extremities has seen great progress over the past years; however, specific segments require...
Original title: Emerging indications, in-hospital and long-term outcome of balloon aortic valvuloplasty in the transcatheter aortic valve implantation era. Reference: Francesco Saia et al. EuroIntervention 2013;8:1388-1397 Until a few years ago, aortic valvuloplasty had been abandoned by many centers due to its limited results and frequent complications. The current guidelines recommend aortic valvuloplasty to treat patients with symptomatic...
Original title: Sustained safety and effectiveness of paclitaxel-eluting stents for femoropopliteal lesions: two-year follow-up from the Zilver PTX randomized and single-arm clinical studies. Reference: Michael D. Dake et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013. Article in press. Studies with long-term monitoring showed mainly the limited permeability of balloon angioplasty, especially over challenging injuries such as total occlusions or...
Original title: Coronary Obstruction After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation. A Systematic Review. Reference: Henrique Barbosa Ribeiro et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2013. Article in press. In the context of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Implantation (TAVI) there can be complications such as conduction disturbances, bleeding, residual aortic insufficiency or vascular complications, all of which have been detailed with...
Original title: Diagnostic Classification of the Instantaneous Wave-Free Ratio Is Equivalent to Fractional Flow Reserve and Is Not Improved With Adenosine Administration. Results of CLARIFY (Classification Accuracy of Pressure-Only Ratios Against Indices Using Flow Study. Reference: Sayan Sen et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013;61:1409–20. When considering revascularization, measuring lesion functional compromise is known to improve clinical outcomes...
Original title: Colchicine Treatment for the Prevention of Bare-Metal Stent Restenosis in Diabetic Patients. Reference: Spyridon Deftereos et al. J Am Coll Cardiol 2013;61:1679–85. In stent restenosis is more frequent in diabetic patients, who therefore find DES particularly beneficial. However, there is a subset of these patients with contraindication to prolonged double antiaggregation, due to a programmed surgery...
Original title: 2-Year Results of Paclitaxel-Eluting Balloons for Femoropopliteal Artery Disease. Evidence From a Multicenter Registry. Reference: Antonio Micari et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2013;6:282–9. Paclitaxel-eluting balloons appear safe and effective for treating atherosclerotic lesions in the femoropopliteal region, leaving the stent only as a rescue strategy against a suboptimal outcome. However, the vast majority of...
Original title: Mechanical Recanalization with Flow Restoration in Acute Ischemic Stroke. The Mechanical Recanalization with Flow Restoration in Acute Ischemic Stroke (ReFlow) Study. Reference: Christian Roth et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2013. Article in press. The intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (tPA) has proved to reduce morbidity and mortality in patients with acute ischemic stroke. In the...