Initial therapy for intermittent claudication has been historically the gear train, however, especially in recent years; the number of peripheral angioplasties has increased, proving highly effective for this condition. The aim of this study was to compare the clinical effectiveness of endovascular revascularization plus exercise versus exercise alone in patients with intermittent claudication. The study...
The THRIVE study, (also known as HPS2-THRIVE), was a multicenter clinical trial designed to test the hypothesis that the increase in HDL, (using ER niacin/laropiprant), could prevent vascular events in a high risk population already receiving statin standard therapy. Between April 2007 and July 2010 a total of 25,673 randomized patients in China, the UK...
Original title: Evaluation of the Biodegradable Peripheral Igaki-Tamai Stent in the Treatmentof De Novo Lesions in the Superficial Femoral Artery. The GAIA Study. Reference: Martin Werner et al. J Am Coll Cardiol Intv 2014;7:305–12. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and efficacy of the biodegradable stent Igaki-Tamai (Igaki Medical Planning Company, Kyoto, Japan) in...
Original title: Comparative effectiveness of endovascular and surgical revascularization for patients with peripheral artery disease and critical limb ischemia. Reference: W. Schuyler Jones et al. American Heart Journal 2014. Epub ahead of print. Critical limb ischemia is the most severe condition affecting patients with peripheral vascular disease. Mortality, morbidity, and costs associated with this condition are...
Original title: Patient radiation exposure during percutaneous endovascular revascularization of the lower extremity. Reference: Einat Segal et al. Journal of Vascular Surgery. Article in press. Percutaneous endovascular revascularization is emerging as the first line treatment for peripheral artery disease for both intermittent claudication and chronic critical limb ischemia. Radiation doses for these interventions, usually prolonged, have not been...
Original title: Residual SYNTAX score after PCI for triple vessel coronary artery disease: quantifying the adverse effect of incomplete revascularisation. Reference: Christopher J. Malkin et al. EuroIntervention 2013;8:1286-1295. In the angioplasty branch of the SYNTAX study, complete revascularization was reached in 56.7% of the population. On the other hand, in the real world, around 40% of patients that...
Original title: Long-term outcomes following infrapopliteal angioplasty for critical limb ischemia. Reference: Ruby C. Lo et al. J Vasc Surg 2013;-:1-10. Angioplasty has established itself as an alternative for the treatment of infrainguinal peripheral disease with comparable results in terms of limb salvage for surgery. However, this data refers to the iliac or femoral territory but it is...
Patients with peripheral vascular disease often experience femoropopliteal compromise. It is estimated that approximately 50% of lesions in this area are chronic total occlusions (CTO). Even though success rate has improved for peripheral CTO treatments, long term clinical and technical outcomes have not been fully determined yet. Prior research has looked into stenting outcomes in...
Transcatheter aortic valve intervention (TAVI) has been shown beneficial over the years. However, a significant subgroup of patients with small aortic annulus, which make approximately one third of cases and have a higher incidence in women, face additional challenge, such as higher incidence of mismatch, reduced exercise capacity and shorter durability. Self-expanding and balloon expandable...
In recent years, TAVR has been increasingly used; however, when it comes to younger, lower risk patients, its use is still challenged. In this context, there is limited information and we lack randomized studies on “real world” cohorts. The DEDICATE randomized 1.414 patients over 65 with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis. 701 of these patients received...