This study recently published in JACC paves the way to identifying higher risk patients among those with no epicardial coronary artery disease (CAD) that present angina symptoms. Evidence of coronary spasm and increased microcirculation resistance in patients with angina (but with no epicardial obstructive CAD) is associated with increased risk of adverse cardiac events. AT...
SGLT2 inhibitor dapagliflozin had a consistent impact regardless of glycemic level, age, or general health status. Dapagliflozin was originally developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. However, it has had a positive impact on various types of patients with chronic heart failure and reduced ejection fraction, including those without diabetes. This information is derived from...
This study findings confirm less bleeding at no extra cost of thrombotic events when aspirin is discontinued after an acute coronary syndrome (ACS). In the same line as the original TWILIGHT, this study focused on ACS patients alone (excluding STEMI) and confirmed that aspirin discontinuation after 3-month DAPT to continue with ticagrelor alone, reduced the...
After a several year follow up, the International Study of Comparative Health Effectiveness with Medical and Invasive Approaches (ISCHEMIA) has shown that an invasive approach in addition to optimal medical treatment (OMT) does not offer benefits when it comes to preventing major cardiovascular events compared against optimal medical treatment alone in stable patients with moderate...
The aim of revascularization, whether through angioplasty or surgery, is to restore adequate flow to the myocardium; that much is obvious. However, after millions of “successful” procedures with the best technology applied to drug-eluting stents and optimal medical treatment, we still have a high ratio of patients who experience new events. Could an optimal angiographical...
Elevated markers after PCI in stable patients treated with the latest generation stents continues to happen. However, only the association between biomarker elevation with creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) should be of concern, sin it was associated with mortality at one year. Post procedural cardiac troponin (cTn) elevation was not associated to future events, according to...
1- Incidence and Prognosis of Heart Valve Embolization The incidence of peri-procedural transcatheter heart valve embolization and migration (TVEM) is as low as 1%. However, it is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. Read more HERE 2- 1000 MitraClips: Results from the World’s Most Experienced Site In September 2008, interventional physicians at the Heart and...
Coronary rechanneling is difficult by nature, and there are several techniques for it aimed at improving technical success. Some of these strategies entail the subintimal crossing of the occluded segment, while others entail intraplaque crossing, without leaving the true lumen. However, there is scarce or no information on the results of both strategies. Researchers analyzed...
In the next days, Dr. Seung Hun and colleagues will publish in J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2019 a study that answers the title question and also brings peace of mind about the decisions we make based on one of these measurements or the other. This study assessed the physiologic characteristics of discordant lesions between...
Everybody keeps wondering whether drug-coated balloons can actually increase mortality. If that is the case, there is an even harder question in need of an answer: what would be the physiopathology for such increase in mortality? As a lukewarm message, the US Food and Drug Administration recommended a special informed consent form when these devices...