Peripheral vascular diseases affect over 20% of the population and can affect up to 30% of people with cardiovascular risk factors. The most important treatment points include modification of risk factors, exercise, optimal medical treatment, and timely revascularization. Given its lower risk of peri-procedural complications (when compared to surgery), endovascular therapy is generally the first<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/08/14/different-techniques-for-the-improvement-of-outcomes-in-intermittent-claudication/" title="Read more" >...</a>
MRS vs. DES: Which one is associated with better long-term quality of life?
The SYNTAX (Synergy Between Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Taxus and Cardiac Surgery) trial, which included patients with 3-vessel or left main coronary artery lesions, showed that myocardial revascularization surgery (MRS) turned out to be superior to angioplasty with drug-eluting stents (DES), mainly due to differences in acute myocardial infarction and repeat revascularization. Up to this work, patient sensations (which can be<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/07/21/mrs-vs-des-which-one-is-associated-with-better-long-term-quality-of-life/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Glycemic control and risk of repeat revascularization
The association between glycemic control after coronary angioplasty and outcomes of the latter is controversial in many studies. We have come to think that the risk lies in suffering from diabetes, as if it was an unmodifiable factor. We have also come to believe that glycemic control can impact microvascular complications while it cannot do<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/07/12/glycemic-control-and-risk-of-repeat-revascularization/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Success in CTOs caused by restenosis lowers cardiac mortality
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Nowadays, chronic total occlusions (CTO) due to in-stent restenosis (ISR) represent 5%-25% of all coronary angioplasties. These lesions pose a new and true challenge, since CTOs are often associated with stent-related problems (fractures, lack of expansion, overlapping, deformation), extreme tortuosity, severe calcification, tandem lesions after CTO, and aorto-ostial lesions, with little<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/06/26/success-in-ctos-caused-by-restenosis-lowers-cardiac-mortality/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Successful angioplasty in elderly patients with chronic total occlusion reduces mortality
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Nowadays, the number of coronary angioplasties carried out on patients with chronic total occlusion (CTO) is increasing due to many studies showing that it improves ventricular function, reduces symptoms, and improves survival. However, most of these works do not include patients of over 75 years old due to their frailty and<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/06/19/successful-angioplasty-in-elderly-patients-with-chronic-total-occlusion-reduces-mortality/" title="Read more" >...</a>
EuroCTO: Rechanneling vs. Optimal Medical Treatment in Total Occlusions
Courtesy of the SBHCI. Chronic total occlusions represent around 18% of all coronary lesions. However, they account for just 5% of all interventions, which means that many patients only receive medical treatment. This prospective, open, multicenter study randomized patients with multivessel lesions in whom at least one of these was a chronic total occlusion. Patients<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/06/02/eurocto-rechanneling-vs-optimal-medical-treatment-in-total-occlusions/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Second-Generation DES Present Lower Mortality Rates for Vein Grafts
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. The treatment of vein graft lesions has always been difficult in relation to angioplasty, due to their characteristics. While drug-eluting stents (DES) have proven to be superior to bare-metal stents (BMS) for coronary arteries, such superiority is unclear as regards vein grafts. Several studies with first-generation DES (DES1) have even reported<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/05/24/second-generation-des-present-lower-mortality-rates-for-vein-grafts/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Peripheral artery disease associated to ischemic and bleeding events after DES implantation
Patients with peripheral artery disease (PAD) have higher rates of cardiovascular events after DES implantation, which could be explained partly by higher platelet reactivity. The present work studies the relationship between platelet reactivity and clinical events after PCI in patients with and without a history of peripheral artery disease. The ADAPT-DES study (Assessment of<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/04/25/peripheral-artery-disease-associated-to-ischemic-and-bleeding-events-after-des-implantation/" title="Read more" >...</a>
SYNERGY vs. XIENCE in Complex Real-World Patients
Courtesy of Dr. Guillermo Migliaro. Technological advancements in drug-eluting stents (DES) have shown significant improvement as regards the safety and efficacy of these devices. DES are considered to be the golden standard for the treatment of percutaneous coronary interventions. DES with permanent or durable polymers (DP) have been associated with local inflammatory reactions and<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/04/01/synergy-vs-xience-in-complex-real-world-patients/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Left Main Target Lesion Revascularization: When is it Necessary?
Courtesy of Dr. Agustín Vecchia. Incidence, predictors and impact of target lesion revascularization (TLR) on unprotected left main stenosis initially treated with second generation DES have not yet been clearly defined and this is the main goal of the present study. This is a multicenter observational retrospective study of patients with unprotected left main<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2017/03/27/left-main-target-lesion-revascularization-when-is-it-necessary/" title="Read more" >...</a>