Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most common valvulopathy and full medical treatment at maximal tolerated doses has been shown quite effective to treat it. However, its limited in a group of patients that require valve intervention. At present, the ideal treatment is surgical valve replacement, which is in many cases is not viable because of...
Aortic stenosis is associated to significant coronary artery disease (CAD) in nearly 50% of cases. When we decide to treat aortic disease using surgery, it has been established we should also treat heart disease. However, when using transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), this is still unclear, given that in many occasions we see stable lesions...
At present, cardiogenic shock continues to present high mortality despite the new treatments and ventricular assistance devices available in some centers. In this group, the presence of severe mitral regurgitation (MR) is around 5% and, on many occasions, it cannot be treated with surgery because of hemodynamic conditions. Edge-to-edge repair has been looked at by...
Left main coronary artery (LMCA) intervention with significant lesions on both coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound (IVUS), either through angioplasty (PCI) or myocardial revascularization surgery (MRS), is directly related to a decrease in long-term adverse clinical events. However, the relationship between subclinical LMCA disease (preserved luminal diameters) and long-term mortality is still unknown. A retrospective...
Critical lower limb ischemia (CLLI) is associated with a major deterioration in quality of life and a significant increase in morbidity and mortality. Its estimated annual incidence is 220 to 3500 cases per million people, with an expected prevalence of 11% of patients with peripheral arterial disease. CLLI is the “terminal” stage of peripheral artery...
Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) is a non-traumatic nor iatrogenic event that causes a separation of the coronary artery tissue due to an intimal tear or a mural spontaneous hemorrhage. This event is most frequent in young females and usually causes an acute myocardial infarction that could be major. It accounts for 1% to 4%...
There has been an increase in the diagnosis of patients with proven ischemia who did not present obstructive coronary lesions (defined as the absence of stenosis ≥50%), called ischemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA). These patients are at a higher risk for major adverse cardiac events (MACE) compared with the rest of the population. The...
Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) by transfemoral access has shown great benefit for different risk groups, but its long-term durability is still uncertain. Available evidence comes from small analysis and a single randomized trial with 280 patients and an 8 year follow-up: the NOTION Trial, where TAVR showed less valvular degeneration than aortic valve replacement (AVR) surgery....
In 1992, Kiemeneij performed the first transradial coronary procedure, following Campeau’s description of that access in 1989. It’s been 30 years since that milestone in interventional cardiology. Over time, the number of procedures conducted with this approach has increased exponentially, and it is the main approach in most centers in different clinical scenarios. Historically, the...
Percutaneous coronary intervention of chronic total occlusions (CTO) is currently indicated for symptom improvement, as studies have inadequate randomization of data which hinders the assessment of hard outcomes. However, patient inclusion in randomized controlled trials has been challenging, especially for highly symptomatic and higher risk patients. This causes a selection bias in randomized studies on...