Heart disease is the most frequent cause of heart failure and, in some observational studies, transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA) could help improve ventricular function. The only major randomized study to compare myocardial revascularization surgery (MRS) vs. medical treatment in patients with ventricular function impairment was the STICH study, which showed no difference at 5 years,...
While the need for repeat cinecoronary angiography after transluminal coronary angioplasty (TCA) has decreased with the use of drug-eluting stents and improved medical treatment, patients still present ischemic recurrence or cardiovascular events at follow-up. Using a functional test at follow-up after TCA or myocardial revascularization (CMR) is a frequent practice in our context. This is...
This study, presented by Dr. Valentin Fuster, focused on the importance of medical treatment compliance, initially showing data from the FOCUS study where the poor compliance observed in patients after an acute myocardial infarction (AMI) event was improved by creating a polypill (aspirin, simvastatin, and ramipril). Based on this, the SECURE randomized study was conducted...
The TIME study, presented by Dr. Thomas MacDonald, is a randomized study of over 21,000 patients with high blood pressure with a follow-up beyond 5 years. As is widely known, high blood pressure is the leading global cause of early death, accounting for nearly 10 million deaths in 2015, of which 4.9 million were caused by...
Recent studies on antiplatelet antiaggregation support the use of short dual antiaggregation therapy (DAPT), even in unforeseen scenarios, such as complex PCI. On the contrary, in patients with high ischemic risk, there is still evidence in favor of prolonged antiaggregation, mainly through the DAPT study, which showed lower risk of major ischemic events with DAPT...
“New Paradigms in Angioplasty,” by Dr. Gregg Stone While most studies on angioplasty in stable coronary artery disease have shown an improvement in angina frequency and exercise capacity, there is no significant reduction in death and acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Currently, one of the main factors is the definition of vulnerable plaque, because it is...
During the “Mitral Valve” session (on the first day of the SOLACI-SOCIME 2022 Congress), Dr. Ignacio Amat Santos (SPA) delivered a great talk on transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR). During his presentation, he discussed different scenarios for transcatheter replacement: mitral valve-in-vale, mitral valve-in-ring, mitral valve in MAC, and new devices for non-calcified native valves. When...
In the first session of SOLACI-SOCIME 2022 on “Complex angioplasty guided by intravascular imaging”, Dr. Alejandro Diaz (MEX) reviewed the evidence on intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) in complex angioplasties. A meta-analysis indicated its use is associated with a significant decrease in the risk of death, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and new target lesion revascularization (TLR) in...
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...
Peripheral arterial disease is a manifestation of systemic atherosclerotic disease with increasing prevalence. Moreover, this disease is associated with a high risk of mortality and cardiovascular events. Lipoprotein (a) (Lp a)—which has a proatherogenic, proinflammatory, and antifibrinolytic role—has been shown to be related to major cardiovascular events and peripheral vascular events after acute coronary syndromes...