Original title: Comparison of Outcomes of Transcathether Aortic Valve Implantation in Patients ≥90 Years Versus <90 Years. Reference: Yigal Abramowitz, et al. Am J Cardiol 2015;116:1110-1115. More and more 90 year old patients require transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVI); however, its benefits have not been studied in this particular population. This study enrolled 734 patients...
FAMOUS NSTEMI: FFR versus Angiography in non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction
The benefit of myocardial revascularization (angioplasty or surgery) guided by fractional flow reserve (FFR) in the context of acute coronary syndromes is poorly studied in the literature. The aim of this study was to compare myocardial revascularization guided by FFR versus Angiography in patients admitted suffering a non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction. 350 patients were...
CONFIRM HF: Is it safe to replace intravenous iron in patients with chronic heart failure
This study aimed to assess whether iron replacement versus placebo could improve physical activity in patients with chronic heart failure and iron deficiency. 150 patients for the Iron group and 151 patients to placebo were randomized, physical ability was assessed with the 6 minutes walking test. In the group receiving iron improvement in the 11-meter...
US CoreValve: Cost effectiveness of transcatheter replacement versus surgical replacement in high-risk patients
Previous studies have shown clinical benefits, but also an increased cost to treat patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis receiving transcatheter valve replacement (TAVR). There is little consensus regarding the cost-effectiveness for transcatheter versus surgical replacement. The present study was aimed to quantify the quality of life, adjusted survival for quality of life, resource utilization,...
SOURCE XT: Results at 2 years of SAPIEN XT valve
Multicenter prospective study included 2688 patients with a mean age of 81.4 years and 20.5 EuroScore. The all-cause mortality at 2 years was 27.7% (31.5% SOURCE study). The incidence of stroke at 2 years was 7.7% and moderate to severe aortic regurgitation 7.3% and 0.2% respectively. There was a significant improvement in functional class and...
ERASE: Endovascular treatment plus exercise versus exercise alone to treat claudication
Initial therapy for intermittent claudication has been historically the gear train, however, especially in recent years; the number of peripheral angioplasties has increased, proving highly effective for this condition. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical effectiveness of endovascular revascularization plus exercise versus exercise alone in patients with intermittent claudication. The study...
PARTNER cohort B: Clinical events at 3 years follow-up in patients with
Background: Percutaneous aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the treatment of choice for patients with severe aortic stenosis considered inoperable according to clinical outcomes at 12 months as reported in the PARTNER study, which demonstrated a reduction in mortality and an improvement in the quality of life for patients. However, the long term benefit of this...
FAME 2: Cost-effectiveness of FFR-guided angioplasty in patients with stable angina
Introduction: FAME study 2, presented at the European Congress of Cardiology 2012, is a multicenter study that randomized patients with stable angina FFR-guided angioplasty and optimal medical therapy versus optimal medical therapy alone. The study was stopped early due to a significantly higher rate of primary endpoints, (death, MI, or urgent revascularization), in the conservative...
GOPCABE: similar results for in-pump or off-pump surgery in elderly patients
Background: There is much debate about a possible benefit of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) compared with on-pump surgery. However, a randomized study could not confirm this benefit. The objective of these studies was to compare the MACCE, (death, MI, stroke, revascularization repeated and a new dialysis), of surgical revascularization with...
SOURCE XT: Results of the latest generation of the Edwards valve
The first generation of the Edwards valve was stainless steel and bovine pericardium with a profile of 22 to 24 Fr for transfemoral access and up to 33 Fr to apical access. From 2010 it became cobalt chromium bovine pericardium with a higher profile, (18-19 Fr for transfemoral and 24-26 Fr for transapical). 2,688 patients...