The recent publication of several reports on risk of cataract, left sided brain tumors, subclinical atherosclerosis and chromosome damage among interventional cardiologists has raised increasing concerns about radiation exposure in the cath lab. Recognizing these risks has created a demand of these new forms of protection. Unfortunately, these have mainly been focused on the main operator,...
In recent years, we have seen (both as witnesses and actors) an exponential increase in the number of fluoroscopically-guided cardiovascular interventions carried out by interventional cardiologists, electrophysiologists, and vascular surgeons. Not long ago, most pathologies treated with these procedures were the exclusive domain of open surgery. Now, a large number of patients can be treated...
Courtesy of SBHCI. This new device has, on one hand, an abluminal sirolimus coating, and on the other hand, a luminal CD34 antibody coating for EPC capturing, to potentially accelerate post-PCI reendothelization. Between 2014 and 2016, the study included 1496 patients undergoing acute coronary syndrome (ACS), receiving the new COMBO stent. These patients were randomized...
Courtesy of the SBHCI. Angioplasty of true distal left main bifurcation lesions with a double-kissing (DK) crush two-stent strategy, compared with provisional stenting, results in lower rates of target lesion failure at 1 year. These findings were largely driven by lower rates of target vessel infarction and definite/probable stent thrombosis. Read also: “EXCEL-QOL Substudy: Similar Quality...
Courtesy of SBHCI. Hybrid revascularization, which combines CABG with PCI, failed to reduce myocardial ischemia and major cardiac and cerebrovascular events, compared to cardiac artery bypass graft or PCI separately. However, this small study does not provide conclusive evidence, which calls for further randomized studies with enough statistical power to answer this question. Fortunately, we won’t have...
Courtesy of the SBHCI. After treating the culprit lesion in patients with acute myocardial infarction complicated by cardiogenic shock, continuing revascularization of all other lesions worsens outcomes. This finding of the CULPRIT-SHOCK trial has changed entirely the way we treated this patient group and will surely modify guidelines. Culprit-lesion treatment with the option to perform...
Although there are 4 approved bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) in Europe, experts suggest that current drug-eluting stents (DES) are the best option for coronary angioplasty. These new guidelines jointly published by the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and the Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI) are an update on the use of BRS in clinical practice...
A recent presentation at London Valves took a closer look at the REPRISE III trial as regards two points that generated much discussion, such as need for a pacemaker and paravalvular leak. REPRISE III had previously demonstrated that the Lotus is noninferior to first-generation CoreValve and Evolut R in terms of safety. Additionally, it proved to be superior...
Myocardial revascularization surgery (CABG) is the most frequent of all cardiovascular surgeries and is still the gold standard to treat multivessel disease. Between 6 and 8% of these patients present concomitant carotid stenosis and it is associated with increased peri and post procedural stroke rates during and after surgery. To prevent carotid stenosis, either PCI or endarterectomy...
Diabetes mellitus patients generally present more diffuse coronary disease, faster lesion progression and higher risk of restenosis after PCI. The way these anatomical differences translate into in a different clinical practice, compared to non-diabetic patients, remains unclear. Prior studies comparing the frequency of angina symptoms in diabetic vs. non-diabetic patients have arrived to contradicting outcomes,...