On the one hand, chronic peripheral vascular disease is on the rise. On the other, over the past 20 years, percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has gained considerable ground thanks to various new devices, replacing surgery as an alternative in most scenarios. Both strategies have shown similar results, but PCI has fewer complications and shorter hospital stays....
Coronary sinus reduction (CSR) is a relevant area of study for the treatment of refractory angina, with hopes of improving myocardial perfusion. However, to date, there are no conclusive data. The ORBITA-COSMIC study is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial conducted at six centers in the UK. Researchers recruited patients with angina and chronic ischemia who...
Drug-coated balloons (DCB) have proven to be effective in the treatment of femoropopliteal pathology, although they entail complications such as recoil, residual stenosis, and dissection. Their outcomes could be improved through proper and enhanced vessel preparation, both before and after the procedure. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) offers the advantage of characterizing plaque and assessing vessel diameter....
Most clinical trials have shown benefits of beta blockers after acute myocardial infraction, including patients with extensive AMI, and these were carried out in the era before AMI was diagnosed with biomarkers and prior to treatment with coronary angioplasty, use of antithrombotic agents and high intensity statins, and angiotensin-aldosterone system inhibitors. The aim of this...
The use of intravascular imaging to identify vulnerable plaque (VP) has proven to be very useful, as such plaque is associated with an increase in major adverse cardiac events. Optimal medical treatment is currently considered the standard strategy to stabilize VP. However, the safety and effectiveness of preventive treatment with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in...
A study by the Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Group Consortium recently published online identified all patients with aortic valve stenosis treated with surgical or transcatheter aortic valve replacement between 2016 and 2022 in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont (USA). These patients were divided for analysis into three age groups: under 65 years old, 65...
The international guidelines recommend the use of dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) with aspirin plus a P2Y12 inhibitor during 12 months in patients receiving percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for acute coronary syndrome (ACS), to prevent events such as MI and stent thrombosis. This was a multicenter, placebo controlled, double blind study to determine whether ticagrelor alone,...
Severe persistent calcification of the coronary arteries has been associated with different factors, such as advanced age, hypertension, dyslipidemia, smoking, and kidney failure, among others, and continues to be one of the challenges to stent implantation because of it impact on device advancing, drug release and adequate positioning. Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) is a technique that...
Most randomized studies on revascularization in stable coronary artery disease exclude left main coronary artery disease (LMCAD). One example of this was the ISCHEMIA study. However, the benefits of functional lesion assessment, as demonstrated in the FAME studies, highlight the importance of this tool in guiding decisions regarding revascularization. Nevertheless, the clinical outcomes of patients...
Drug eluting stents (DES) have improved considerably over the years, reducing the initial indices of instent restenosis (ISR) by roughly 5-10% a year in USA. However, DES failure might lead to neointimal hyperplasia and neoatherosclerosis, which increases the chance of developing chronic and acute coronary syndromes. Drug coated balloons (DCB), which administer anti-proliferative agents with...