1- Long-Term Foramen Ovale Closure after Cryptogenic Stroke Patent foramen ovale closure is the standard treatment for cryptogenic stroke patients. However, there are is little information on its long-term evolution. Read more 2- Descending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms: Is There a New Plan A? The last available evidence suggests that open surgery should be the<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/05/03/the-most-read-scientific-articles-in-interventional-cardiology/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Angioplasty and myocardial revascularization surgery have competed over the left main coronary artery for a long time. There may be many points of view involved in the interpretation of trial outcomes. While surgeons consider the left main coronary artery to be suitable for surgery (except when faced with surgical contraindications), interventional cardiologists see the left<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/30/outcomes-of-main-compare-a-10-year-follow-up-for-a-historical-rivalry/" title="Read more" >...</a>
In-hospital PCI right after CABG is extremely rare, but it does increase morbidity, mortality and costs significantly. It is still unclear what predictors can be modified to prevent these very early angiography and angioplasty procedures in patients that generally leave the OR with visible EKG changes. Graft failure, distal vascular bed quality, technical error or<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/25/pci-right-after-cabg-how-bad-can-it-be/" title="Read more" >...</a>
1- What to Do with Blood Pressure Levels Between 130/80 and 139/89 mmHg The decision to be made with a treatment-free patient with systolic blood pressure over 160 mmHg or diastolic blood pressure over 100 mmHg is an easy one. All guidelines agree: treatment should be started immediately alongside lifestyle changes. Read more 2-<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/22/the-most-read-articles-of-march-in-interventional-cardiology/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Chronic kidney disease, even in moderate or severe stages before dialysis, is associated with an increased risk of aortic stenosis according to this work recently published in J Am Coll Cardiol. Both share several risk factors, something that complicates the identification of the association between these diseases due to multiple confounding variables. The study<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/16/kidney-insufficiency-and-the-risk-of-developing-aortic-stenosis-in-the-future/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Patients who undergo complex angioplasty are at higher ischemic risk, but only benefit from extended dual antiplatelet therapy if there are no factors for high bleeding risk. These data suggest that the bleeding risk must weigh more than the ischemic risk on the determination of dual antiplatelet therapy duration. Complex angioplasty is associated with higher<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/05/balancing-bleeding-risk-vs-thrombotic-risk-to-define-dual-antiplatelet-therapy-duration/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Is a chronic total occlusion worth rechanneling? This question can often be found in different studies, all of them with clinical endpoints. This study (soon to be published in J Am Coll Cardiol Intv.) analyzes another aspect: costs, not only derived from materials used for a successful procedure, but also from materials and hospital stay<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/04/02/in-hospital-costs-and-costs-of-complications-of-chronic-total-occlusions/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Carotid artery stenting (CAS) with a cerebral protection system has emerged as an alternative to surgery, particularly for patients with high surgical risk. Nowadays, there are a considerable number of cerebral protection systems, but these may sometimes fail due to anatomical issues, the diameter of embolized particles, or placement difficulties (among<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/03/27/paladin-new-carotid-protection-system-with-good-results/" title="Read more" >...</a>
Eighty years did the trick for one the countries with more experience in transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), which made it the new “standard of care” to treat elderly patients. Following in the footsteps of pioneer Alain Cribier, Germany has led the adoption of TAVR in Europe and the rest of the world. Since 2008,<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/03/26/after-100000-patients-tavr-becomes-the-new-standard-of-care/" title="Read more" >...</a>
This work (presented during the same American College of Cardiology [ACC] 2019 Scientific Session as the STOPDAPT-2 trial) enrolled 2993 patients who underwent angioplasty with current-generation stents Xience, Promus, Synergy, or Orsiro at 33 Korean sites. Patients were randomized to 12 months of dual antiplatelet therapy or dropping aspirin at 3 months. There was no difference between the short-<a href="https://solaci.org/en/2019/03/25/acc-2019-smart-choice-aspirin-increasingly-against-the-ropes/" title="Read more" >...</a>