The presence of women in interventional cardiology is increasing. Year after year, talented female professionals from all over the world join our practices, contributing quality, knowledge, effort, and commitment to the improvement of people’s quality of life. However, this integration progress does include obstacles and problems related to existing gender disparity and inequalities in the...
DES with Bioresorbable Polymer vs. Bare Metal Stents in Primary PCI
Long after myocardial revascularization guidelines had established no medical reason justifies the use of bare metal stents (BMS), along comes this study to refresh the old trials comparing drug eluting vs bare metal stents in the context of primary PCI. The problem for many countries is that primary PCI obviously occurs in the context of...
EuroPCR 2019 | BASKET-SMALL 2: Drug-Coated Balloons vs. DES in Small Vessels
This angiographic substudy supports the safety of drug-coated balloons in small vessels. Despite better angiographic outcomes, there were eight cases of stent thrombosis among drug-eluting stent (DES) patients, while there was none with drug-coated balloons. In patients with small vessels, using a drug-coated balloon appears safe and comparable to DES, with favorable angiographic outcomes at...
Descending Thoracic Aortic Aneurysms: Is There a New Plan A?
The last available evidence suggests that open surgery should be the preferred treatment for intact descending thoracic aortic aneurysms. However, this study recently published in J Am Coll Cardiol, seems to have steered the wheel. In this study, open surgery was associated to increased early mortality and lower late mortality. Despite this long-term benefit, mean...
DES and DCB with Similar Results in Femoropopliteal Artery Disease
Courtesy of Dr. Carlos Fava. Nowadays, peripheral interventions are on the rise and the technological development of stents and balloons would help achieve better outcomes. Both drug-eluting stents (DES) and drug-coated balloons (DCB) have proved to be beneficial for femoropopliteal interventions, but the actual role of each of these technologies remains unclear. This prospective, randomized 1:1...
Outcomes of Contemporary DES in Patients with Diabetes: Do They Render Freedom Obsolete?
Despite our high hopes for new-generation drug-eluting stents (DES), patients with diabetes still have a different prognosis, both clinical and angiographic, compared with non-diabetic patients. Authors sought to investigate the impact of diabetes on patients who underwent drug-eluting stent implantation in the BIONICS (BioNIR Ridaforolimus Eluting Coronary Stent System in Coronary Stenosis) trial. This...
AHA 2018 | New-Generation DES Are Similar to Second-Generation DES Beyond Polymer
Sirolimus-eluting stents with biodegradable polymer did not offer better outcomes compared with instant-classic (and undoubtedly valid) everolimus-eluting stents with durable polymer such as Xience. New-generation drug-eluting stents (DES) offer better outcomes than first-generation devices after a 10-year follow-up, according to the ISAR-TEST 4 trial presented at the American Heart Association (AHA) Congress Scientific Sessions and published...
TCT 2018 | BIONYX: Durable Polymer-Coated vs. Ultrathin-Strut, Bioresorbable Polymer-Coated DES
This work, presented at TCT 2018 and published simultaneously in The Lancet, is the first randomized study comparing a zotarolimus-eluting stent with a new thin-strut structure and limited radiographic visibility (Onyx), and a bioresorbable polymer-coated sirolimus-eluting stent (Orsiro). Onyx was developed to improve visibility while reducing strut thickness. To that end, a dense platinum–iridium core and...
TCT 2018 | RESET: Everolimus DES vs. Sirolimus First Generation DES at Long Term
This study had published thrombosis and revascularization rates at one year after stenting, but today one year seems rather short, which is why this cohort was followed up for 5 to 7 years more, to be able to properly assess the differences between first and second generation DES. There were no significant differences a t...
TCT 2018 | ULTIMATE: IVUS Guided DES Implantation for All Vessels, for All Lesions
Intravascular Ultrasound (IVUS) guided drug eluting stent (DES) implantation is associated with less adverse events compared against angiography guided stenting. This is especially clear for certain populations (with left main PCI as paradigmatic) but not so clear when dealing with all comers. 1448 all comer patients requiring DES stenting were randomized 1:1 to IVUS guided...