Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. It has been proved that in a setting of acute myocardial infarction with multivessel lesions, only the culprit vessel must be treated (if there is no hemodynamic compromise) at first, and other severe lesions are to be treated during a second session. However, proper conduct in cases with presence of chronic...
Courtesy of SBHCI. The PRISON IV trial compared the sirolimus eluting stent with ultra-thin struts and biodegradable polymer vs. the second-generation everolimus-eluting stent with thin struts and durable polymer in successfully recanalized chronic total occlusions. This is a sub-study with optical coherence tomography (OCT). The study included 330 patients, 85% angiographically followed up at...
Complex vascular anatomy could increase the risk of periprocedural stroke during carotid artery stenting (CAS). However, no randomize study has provided evidence showing this potential difficulty should inform the choice between carotid stenting and endarterectomy. This study included 184 patients with symptomatic lesions of the internal carotid randomized to CAS vs. endarterectomy in the context...
The safety of physiology-based coronary revascularisation has been supported by evidence for years now. DEFER (1998-2001) was one of the first related studies. However, major changes in device and medical treatment safety and efficacy have taken place since then. This could affect clinical results, particularly as regards acute coronary syndromes (ACS). Several studies have cast...
Newer P2Y12 blockers are the front-line treatment and dual antiplatelet therapy is indicated for 1 year after acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Both prasugrel and ticagrelor offer more ischemic benefit than clopidogrel during the initial phase; however, bleeding complications could increase in the long term. The objective of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) has proven to be effective in high-risk patients. Nowadays, when performed by trained operators, its results are similar to those of surgery. This study seeks to clarify the incidence and prognosis of plaque protrusion through the stent (as observed in both control angiography and intravascular ultrasound [IVUS])...
There have been several studies offering contradictory data on the relative effectiveness of carotid artery stenting and carotid artery endarterectomy for the prevention of stroke due to carotid artery stenosis. The authors of this study performed a meta-analysis assessing the efficacy of these techniques, given recently published clinical trial data. They selected randomized...
The ICTUS (Invasive Versus Conservative Treatment in Unstable Coronary Syndromes) trial compared early invasive strategy with a selective invasive strategy in patients with non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS), with elevated markers such as cardiac troponin T. The absence of long-term benefit of an early invasive strategy at 1 and 5 years had already been reported....
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Provitional ventricular assist devices are increasingly used in high-risk angioplasties, particularly those involving unprotected left main coronary artery (LMCA) with defective ventricular functioning. However, so far its true role has not been well-studied. This study analyzed 127 consecutive patients in the USpella registry from 2008 to 2015. These subjects underwent high-risk...
Courtesy of Dr. Javier Castro. Certain coronary lesions have been historically discouraged for endovascular treatment. Among these can be found left main coronary artery lesions, multivessel disease, and proximal anterior descending artery lesions. As a matter of fact, the latter is actually considered separately as a criterion for choosing the revascularization method. Endovascular treatment of...