The American College of Cardiology has a new Transcatheter Valve Certification for hospitals.
Use of the Rad Board, marketed for cutting radiation exposure to operators during radial access catheterization, actually backfired and increased exposure, perhaps because it prevented standard shielding, a study reported in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions.
Allowing patients to be enrolled in the ESCAPE trial with deferred consent meant some went in without understanding that they would be randomized to thrombectomy or standard care. Most of those enrolled with deferred consent said in a survey that they disagreed with the practice in acute stroke trials. (Stroke)
High levels of neuropeptide-Y in the coronary sinus immediately after primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) were tied to microvascular dysfunction, greater myocardial injury, and reduced ejection fraction 6 months after ST-elevation MI. (European Heart Journal)
Multidirectional wall shear stress (WSS) and time-averaged WSS together may predict plaque progression over 6 months, according to a EuroIntervention study of 20 patients with coronary artery disease.
Using intravascular ultrasound instead of angiography to guide PCI was tied to a lower risk of cardiac death and adverse cardiac events for patients with complex coronary artery lesions. “Use of IVUS should be actively considered for complex PCI,” researchers said. (JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions)
In the year after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, heart failure hospitalizations dropped but all-cause hospitalizations increased. Inpatient Medicare costs stayed lower than before, however. (Journal of the American College of Cardiology)
Source: MedicalNewsToday.com
