Despite the benefit for most patients, a small number of patients still show poor outcomes after transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVR). This work was able to recalibrate a previously developed risk model to predict post TAVR quality of life and provide us with a potential tool to properly estimate the chances of good recovery, or...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. It has been shown that significant tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is an independent predictor of bad evolution in the presence of mitral valve disease. Its prevalence is not low, reaching up to 50% in patients undergoing surgery for mitral regurgitation (MR). This study included 61 patients with significant TR and MR. 27...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. The presence of CTO hovers around 15, 20% in coronary angiographies of patients with chronic stable angina, but only 5% receive percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). One of the obstacles to percutaneous revascularization is the lack of relevant studies justifying it, though we do have different comparative studies that improve symptoms, ventricular...
In recent years, angioplasty with drug-eluting stents (DES) has emerged as an alternative to myocardial revascularization surgery in patients with left main coronary artery disease. Both European and American guidelines offer a Class IIa recommendation for left main coronary artery (LMCA) angioplasty in selected patients. The EXCEL (Evaluation of Xience Versus Coronary Artery Bypass Surgery for...
Courtesy of SBHCI. According to a new quality of life sub-study, the “EXCEL”, both coronary artery bypass graft and left main PCI are associated with significant clinical improvement in terms of angina frequency, tolerance to exertion and treatment satisfaction. At 12 and 36 months, there were no significant differences between PCI and surgery after several quality of...
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...
Original title: Improved Quality of Life After One Year With an Invasive Versus a Non-Invasive Treatment Strategy in Claudicants: One Year Results of the IRONIC Trial. Reference: Joakim Nordanstig et al. CIRCULATIONAHA.114.009867. Published online before print August 2014. The quality of studies comparing invasive vs. non-invasive strategies in claudicants is low or very low and, most frequently, consist...
These last decades, primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) has improved STEMI patient prognosis. However, its penetration varies across to regions and countries. As part of the initiative Stent-Save a Life! (SSL), SOLACI is publishing this electronic survey to assess the use of primary PCI throughout different countries based on the assumption that there is significant...
The antiplatelet treatment strategy providing optimal balance between thrombotic and bleeding risks in patients undergoing myocardial revascularization surgery is unclear. What does seem somewhat certain is that some antiplatelet therapy is necessary to prevent early thrombosis, mainly in vein grafts, but (as opposed to what happens with angioplasty) there are other relevant factors such as...
Aortic stenosis is an increasingly common valvulopathy because people are living longer now. A present, the main treatment consists of surgical (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve replacement. (TAVR). One of the main challenges of this disease is its progression. The European guidelines recommend Doppler echocardiograms every 2 to 3 years for mild cases, mildly calcified,...