The SCAAR registry aimed at showing the differences in mortality at very long term when using functional assessment of coronary lesions (with FFR or iFR) in patients with chronic stable angina. The study compared 3460 patients assessed with FFR/iFR against 21221 patients undergoing PCI based on angiography, between January 2005 and March 2015. As…
Hybrid Revascularization or Conventional Surgery: History Is Still Being Written
Hybrid revascularization seems to achieve results similar to those of conventional myocardial revascularization surgery at 5 years, although studies published so far do not seem to be enough for a definitive answer. This new work, soon to be published in J Am Coll Cardiol Intv, has had promising results in selected patients with multivessel disease; however,…
Peri-Procedural Infarction: More Frequent than and Not as Innocent as We Thought
Almost 30% of all patients experience some degree of myocardial injury after elective angioplasty, a statistic associated to an increase in cardiovascular events at 30 days and 1 year, according to this study recently published in Eur Heart J. The study only included consecutive patients who underwent elective angioplasty with a negative troponin level at admission. The…
Peri-Procedural Infarction: More Frequent than and Not as Innocent as We Thought
Almost 30% of all patients experience some degree of myocardial injury after elective angioplasty, a statistic associated to an increase in cardiovascular events at 30 days and 1 year, according to this study recently published in Eur Heart J. The study only included consecutive patients who underwent elective angioplasty with a negative troponin level at admission. The…
ACC 2018 | SECURE-PCI: High Dose of Statins pior PCI Could Help
Patients undergoing acute coronary syndrome (ACS) loaded with a high dose of statins prior diagnostic catheterization do not seem to benefit from this strategy. However, when looking at those undergoing PCI alone (excluding all patients who had received surgery or medical treatment), the benefit appears as a reduction of combined major events. The benefit of atorvastatin loading…
ACC 2018 | COMBO: New Stent with Thin Struts and Pro-Healing Membrane
The new COMBO stent, comprised of thin struts plus a bioengineered layer of endothelial progenitor cells, is safe and effective at 1 year, according to this registry (the largest study on this device to date). This new stent could provide a better option for patients at high risk for bleeding who may not be able to…
Surgery Seems Superior to Angioplasty in Young Patients
Long-term follow-up of patients under 50 with multivessel coronary artery disease suggests surgery outcomes are significantly better than angioplasty outcomes. This study, presented at the Society of Thoracic Surgeons’ (STS) Annual Meeting, concludes that surgery should continue as plan A when it comes to young patients with three-vessel disease. Surgeons complain that many patients never actually…
Silent Diabetes Is the New Stealthy Enemy
One in three “nondiabetic” patients who undergo angioplasty with current drug-eluting stents have an altered glucose metabolism, which is associated with a 4-fold higher risk of events, according to a study that will be published soon in JACC Intv. One in three patients is definitely one patient too many, and four times higher is definitely…
International Conference: Coronary Angioplasty in Chronic Occlusions
The Buenos Aires Cardiovascular Institute (Instituto Cardiovascular de Buenos Aires, ICBA) is pleased to invite you to the International Conference on Coronary Angioplasty in Chronic Occlusions that will be held on March 13th at the ICBA auditorium (Blanco Encalada 1525, 1st floor, Buenos Aires City). The highlight of the event is the participation of…
Incomplete Revascularization Does Not Mean the Same Thing for All Patients
Several studies show that patients with multivessel lesions who undergo angioplasty with incomplete revascularization experience more events, including higher mortality, than a cohort of patients who have undergone complete revascularization. In most cases, the analysis was dichotomic (complete vs. incomplete revascularization), but more recent studies show that there may be a gradient, a continuum, in…