This statement is based on eye exams conducted during the last SCAI meeting (Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions), where 47% of evaluated operators had radiation related lesions in their crystalline. In time, these might turn into cataract. Studies on astronauts and Chernobyl survivors have shown a clear association between ionizing radiation and crystalline damage,...
Courtesy of the SBHCI. Guidelines recommend dual antiplatelet therapy for a year in patients admitted with coronary acute syndrome. However, patients at high risk for bleeding who receive coronary angioplasty have been historically excluded from studies. The new polymer-free stent BioFreedom allows for the reduction of dual antiplatelet therapy time, due to rapid drug elution...
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. The treatment of vein graft lesions has always been difficult in relation to angioplasty, due to their characteristics. While drug-eluting stents (DES) have proven to be superior to bare-metal stents (BMS) for coronary arteries, such superiority is unclear as regards vein grafts. Several studies with first-generation DES (DES1) have even reported...
Courtesy of Dr. Guillermo Migliaro. In regular clinical practice, overlapping stents are reported in up to 30% of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty, especially due to very long lesions requiring implantation of multiple stents or dissection after the implantation of a first stent. In bare metal stent era, overlapping was associated with unfavorable clinical outcomes...
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. Carlos Fava. For type A and B femoropopliteal artery lesions, percutaneous transluminal angioplasty (PTA) with balloon has proven beneficial; however, drug-eluting balloons (DEB) have shown superiority as regards restenosis. Some studies have reported favorable outcomes for DEB in type C and D lesions, but its real benefit is still unclear. This study prospectively...
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...
Courtesy of Dr. Brian Nazareth Donato. The conventional treatment for patients with pulmonary embolism (PE) has traditionally been anticoagulation plus systemic thrombolytics, or surgical embolectomy, reserved for high risk patients. Even though it has been shown systemic thrombolytics reduce mortality in PE patients at high or intermediate risk, its use has been limited given the...
Courtesy of Dr. Gustavo Leiva. Transcatheter aortic-valve replacement (TAVR) with the use of a self-expanding prosthesis is superior to medical therapy in patients with severe, symptomatic aortic stenosis in whom surgical aortic-valve replacement has been associated with prohibitive risk. Among patients considered at high risk, TAVR may be an alternative to surgery. The comparative...
Courtesy of Dr. Agustín Vecchia. Incidence, predictors and impact of target lesion revascularization (TLR) on unprotected left main stenosis initially treated with second generation DES have not yet been clearly defined and this is the main goal of the present study. This is a multicenter observational retrospective study of patients with unprotected left main...