The treatment of ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes (STEACS) is undoubtedly reperfusion therapy with primary percutaneous coronary intervention. Similarly, nobody doubts that the pretreatment with more stronger antiplatelet agents has a role in such a treatment. In certain sites, unfractionated heparin (UFH) pretreatment is also administered before the patient enters the cath lab; its aim...
The inclusion of fractional flow reserve (FFR) has changed how coronary interventions are treated. Current guidelines endorse its use in intermediate lesions with no evidence of ischemia in non-invasive studies in patients with multivessel disease. The original RIPCORD (Routine Pressure Wire Assessment Influence Management Strategy at Coronary Angiography for Diagnosis of Chest Pain) study proposed...
In coronary artery disease (CAD), lumen area and plaque burden, characteristics and physiological impact are what define prognosis. At present, coronary angiography continues to be the gold standard for CAD assessment. When considering PCI to treat intermediate lesions, FFR has been shown beneficial and safe. Not yet IVUS. 1682 patients with intermediate lesions (40 –...
While the need for repeat cinecoronary angiography after transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA) has decreased with the use of drug-eluting stents and improved medical treatment, patients still present ischemic recurrence or cardiovascular events at follow-up. Using a functional test at follow-up after TCA or myocardial revascularization (CMR) is a frequent practice in our context. This is...
Coronary artery disease in women usually develops 10 years later than in men, and some evidence suggests women have higher mortality, especially when it comes to ST elevation MI (STEMI). Registries have shown higher mortality both in hospital and at one year follow up. In part, this difference is observed because of the gap in...
On the 3erd day of the European Cardiology Congress 2022 the INVICTUS study was presented, including 4565 patients with atrial fibrillation secondary to rheumatism driven CAD. The aim of this study was to compare the use of Rivaroxaban vs vitamin K antagonists (VKA) in this populations. Mean age was 50 and most patients were women. ...
Endovascular treatment of femoropopliteal lesions has become the first-line treatment due to the development of devices that decrease the restenosis rate. Recently, the IMPERIAL study showed greater patency at 1 year and greater freedom from clinically guided revascularization at 2 years in favor of the ELUVIA stent (paclitaxel-eluting fluoropolymer, FP-DES) compared with the ZILVER PTX...
Lecture by Dr. Hector García García – LM-PCI: IVUS and FFR/IFR? Dr. Hector García delivered an excellent presentation on whether we should use intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) or fractional flow reserve (FFR)/instantaneous wave-free ratio (iFR) in the left main coronary artery (LMCA) to consider severe obstruction, since there is significant interobserver variability with angiography. Although the...
How to Choose the Best Approach in Chronic Total Occlusions, by Dr. Jean-Michel Paradis CTO are present in around 16 to 20% of patients with coronary artery disease who get a coronary angiography. CTO Percutaneous intervention has been on the rise, mainly due to equipment and technique advancement. During his presentation, Dr. Paradis mentioned the...
“New Paradigms in Angioplasty,” by Dr. Gregg Stone While most studies on angioplasty in stable coronary artery disease have shown an improvement in angina frequency and exercise capacity, there is no significant reduction in death and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Currently, one of the main factors is the definition of vulnerable plaque, because it is...