The aim of revascularization, whether through angioplasty or surgery, is to restore adequate flow to the myocardium; that much is obvious. However, after millions of “successful” procedures with the best technology applied to drug-eluting stents and optimal medical treatment, we still have a high ratio of patients who experience new events. Could an optimal angiographical...
TCT 2019 | PCI in Stable CAD. Prior TAVR, with TAVR or Never?
Courtesy of SBHCI. This interesting study presented at TCT 2019 and simultaneously published in Am J Cardiol tells us PCI in stable coronary artery disease cannot lower risk in patients with severe aortic stenosis undergoing transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). Unless patients are symptomatic, most coronary artery lesions do not need revascularization according to researchers....
Winners of the 2019 Bolivia Sessions
The XXXVIII Regional SOLACI Sessions took place on August 23rd and 24th in Cochabamba, Bolivia. The event was a true success, bringing together over 250 attendees and some of the best Latin American specialists in hemodynamics. The Sessions featured two contests: the Contest for Young Interventional Cardiologists and the Medical Image Contest. Dr. Mariano Visconti,...
See the Presentations of the 10° ProEducar Fellow Course
Learn about the presentations exhibited during the 10th ProEducar Fellows Course, held in 2019 in the city of Sao Paulo. The course was a real success, as it was attended by more than 150 professionals and renowned international interventionists, such as Doctors Stone, Grines, Granada, Hijazi, Abizaid, Mendiz, Lemos and Leiva Pons. We thank all...
Celebrating 10 Years of ProEducar Fellow Course with Record Attendance
This year SOLACI celebrated the 10th issue of ProEducar Fellow Course during SOLACI-SBHCI 2019 in Sao Paulo. The course was a roaring success: not only did we have record attendance, with 150 attending fellows, but we also benefited from the participation of notorious international interventionists ─ among others, doctors Stone, Grines, Granada, Hijazi, Abizaid, Mendiz,...
DES with Bioresorbable Polymer vs. Bare Metal Stents in Primary PCI
Long after myocardial revascularization guidelines had established no medical reason justifies the use of bare metal stents (BMS), along comes this study to refresh the old trials comparing drug eluting vs bare metal stents in the context of primary PCI. The problem for many countries is that primary PCI obviously occurs in the context of...
Functional Assessment of Lesions: Advances with MRI
Computer tomography (CT) had taken over in the race to develop software capable of measuring FFR non-invasively. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) wouldn’t fall behind and has also tried non-inferiority vs an FFR based strategy, according to this study recently published in the prestigious NEJM, called MR-INFORM. In patients with chronic angina and CAD risk factors,...
EuroPCR 2019 | Intravascular Imaging Almost Indispensable for Planning an Angioplasty
Cost and time are the two main enemies of intravascular imaging, but lack of expertise may also play a role. A new European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) expert consensus statement released at EuroPCR 2019 argues that there is a need for more use of intracoronary imaging in settings of acute coronary syndromes and...
Angiography Guided CABG Still Adequate
Fractional Flow reserve (FFR) guided myocardial revascularization surgery (CABG) has similar graft failure rate and clinical outcomes as angiography guided CABG. When planning PCI, the value of FFR for lesion assessment pose no questions, but we know little when it comes to CABG. Since the early start, back when Dr. Mason Sones performed catheterizations and...
ACC 2019 | STOPDAPT-2: P2Y12 Monotherapy After Short-Term Dual Antiplatelet Therapy After Angioplasty
Aspirin is against the ropes: first, it was primary prevention; now, its use is being reconsidered even in relation to angioplasty. There might be paradigm changes as regards antiplatelet therapy after angioplasty. These two studies presented at the American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2019 Scientific Session can really change what we have been doing unquestioningly...