Interventional Cardiology Resource Center Heartwire News High and Low

• Alert FDA OKs Abbott's Next-Gen Drug-Eluting Stent Xience Sierra The Xience Sierra is specifically designed to treat complex blockages, which now account for up to 70% of cases, the company said.
  FDA Approvals, May 2018
• LAA Closure Beneficial in AF Patients Undergoing Cardiac Surgery But results with surgical left atrial appendage occlusion in patients without AF were not so impressive, in a new propensity-matched cohort study.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EuroPCR 2018PCI Improves Angina, QOL in Stable CHD With 'Gray Zone' FFR For patients with stable coronary heart disease and fractional flow reserve values in the gray zone between 0.75 and 0.82, adding PCI to medical therapy improved symptoms and quality of life.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EuroPCR 2018CTA Gives Percutaneous Angiography a Run for Its Money Coronary CT angiography was on a par with conventional percutaneous angiography for answering the question of 'CABG or PCI?'
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Many Prescriptions for Newer, More Expensive Antiplatelet Agents Go Unfilled Prescriptions for the P2Y12 inhibitors prasugrel hydrochloride and ticagrelor hydrochloride after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) are outpacing those for clopidogrel, but many patients are not filling those prescriptions, researchers report.
  Reuters Health Information, May 2018
• EuroPCR 2018ORBITA: FFR/iFR Predict Ischemia but Not Symptoms After PCI New results from the controversial trial suggest invasive physiology predicts ischemia after intervention, but not angina or exercise time, indicating their relationship with PCI might be more complex, researchers say.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EuroPCR 2018FFR-Guided PCI Reduces Cardiac Death, MI in Stable Lesions Analysis of pooled data from three clinical trials showed reduction in a composite of myocardial infarction and cardiac death in patients randomly assigned to FFR-guided PCI vs optimal medical therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• HRS 2018PADIT: Aggressive Antibiotics Didn't Cut CIED Infection Risk A trial assigned 28 centers to use standard prophylaxis or a longer-acting multidrug strategy at device implantations. Infections were strikingly low either way. Would that be seen outside of a trial?
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Public Reporting of PCI Outcomes: Taking on the Status Quo Experts argue public reporting has not achieved its primary goals and that alternative strategies should be considered to strengthen care quality and avoid unintended consequences.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• HRS 2018One Botulinum Round Pacifies Postop AF for 3 Years: Pilot Study 'We don't know why it works, but it's a fascinating new approach,' a discussant said. Botulinum injections into epicardial fat pads at CABG dramatically cut atrial fibrillation burden for up to 3 years later.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EAS 2018Body Weight Fluctuation Linked to CV Events in Diabetes Large body weight fluctuations in patients with type 2 diabetes are associated with a markedly increased risk for MI, stroke, and death, alongside other cardiovascular events, a new study suggests.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EAS 2018Lipid Management Suboptimal Despite High-Intensity Therapy The latest EUROASPIRE survey of over 8000 patients shows that the vast majority across Europe have poor lipid control, despite over half receiving high-intensity lipid-lowering therapy.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• EAS 2018Lp(a) Levels May Modulate CV Benefits of Evolocumab: FOURIER Patients with higher baseline lipoprotein(a) levels have a greater reduction in cardiovascular events with the PSCK9 inhibitor evolocumab, suggesting potential pleiotropic effects, researchers say.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• SCAI 2018New PRESERVE Analysis Backs Normal Saline Hydration in PCI Normal saline was better than IV sodium bicarbonate or oral N-acetylcysteine for preserving renal function, but observers question whether the evidence should change PCI guidelines.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• Radial Artery Outlasts SVG for CABG, Cuts 5-Year Clinical Risk MIs were down at 5 years, and so were repeat revascularizations, after a radial artery graft, vs a vein graft, was added to standard internal thoracic artery bypass -- especially in specific types of patients.
  Medscape Medical News, May 2018
• SCAI 2018PROGRESS CTO: PCI Successful in Nearly 9 of 10 CTOs The results may provide important benchmarking for discussion about the risk:benefit ratio of the procedure, which has been called the last frontier of PCI and has yet to win over critics.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018
• Alert FDA Expands Indication for IN.PACT Admiral Balloon in PAD The IN.PACT Admiral DCB is now indicated to treat long superficial femoral artery lesions up to 360 mm in patients with peripheral artery disease.
  FDA Approvals, April 2018
• TLR, Even With Modern Stents, Can Raise MI, Mortality Risk Interventionalists may downplay PCI's higher target-lesion revascularization risk, but to surgeons it 'isn't as trivial as we sometimes make it sound. And they might be on to something,' says an expert.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018
• Risk for Early STEMI Death Higher in Younger Women A new registry analysis that took into account the diversity of older age revealed a complex sex-age association with STEMI mortality.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018
• Heavy US Burden of 30-Day Readmissions After PCI Almost 1 in 10 Americans undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention return with an unplanned readmission within 30 days, despite advances in the technology.
  Medscape Medical News, April 2018