Interventional Cardiology

This cardiac subspecialty uses minimally invasive, catheter-based technologies in a cath lab to diagnose and treat coronary artery disease (CAD). The main focus in on percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) to revascularize patients with CAD that is causing blockages resulting in ischemia or myocardial infarction. PCI mainly consists of angioplasty and implanting stents. Interventional cardiology has greatly expanded in scope over recent years to include a number of transcatheter structural heart interventions.

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Use of biolimus-coated balloons during PCI not as effective as paclitaxel devices

Researchers tracked data from more than 200 patients who underwent PCI from August 2020 to July 2022, sharing their findings in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.

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Interventional heart failure: An evolving cardiology subspecialty with a bright future

IHF cardiologists can come from a variety of backgrounds, but they all share the same goal: to ensure complex heart failure patients receive the best care possible. 

Figure from the new ASE guideline for ultrasound guided vascular access, showing vessel and probe orientation on the transverse plane short axis (SAX) view perpendicular to the vessels, or in longitudinal long axis plane (LAX) coaxial to the vessels. Image courtesy of ASE

ASE shares new guidelines for ultrasound-guided vascular access

The American Society of Echocardiography included descriptions, diagrams and ultrasound images in the new document to make it as helpful as possible. 

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has shared a new warning about ongoing safety issues with atherectomy devices sold and distributed by Bard Peripheral Vascular, an Arizona-based subsidiary of Becton, Dickinson and Company (BD). The warning includes multiple models of Bard Peripheral Vascular’s Rotarex Atherectomy System, which is designed to target high-risk plaques and blood clots in the peripheral arteries by rotating at a high speed.

FDA warns that atherectomy devices are breaking during use—30 serious injuries, 4 deaths reported

More than 100 incidents have been reported so far. The FDA is still evaluating this issue, but the agency wanted to raise awareness as quickly as possible.

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TAVR patients admitted on weekend face greater risk of death, complications

The so-called "weekend effect" seen with other cardiovascular diseases appears to exist for patients with severe aortic stenosis as well. 

D. Scott Lim, MD, medical director of the Advanced Cardiac Valve Center, and co-director of the Adult Congenital Heart Disease Center at University of Virginia (UVA) Health in Charlottesville, and an associate professor at the University British Columbia, explains how intracardiac echo (ICE) is increasingly being used to help guide structural heart procedures.

Key details on the use of ICE to guide structural heart procedures

Scott Lim, MD, details his experience using intracardiac echo to help guide structural heart procedures with or without traditional TEE. One key benefit of ICE, he explained, is its ability to overcome imaging challenges posed by prior cardiac surgeries.

Cardiologists help highlight ‘severe consequences’ of peripheral artery disease

Many PAD patients do not even know they have the disease until it is too late, leading to unnecessary amputations and increasing the risk of other adverse patient outcomes. Awareness is especially limited among Black and Hispanic adults, experts warn, creating an added sense of urgency when looking to accelerate patient education efforts.

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PCI before TAVR linked to better outcomes than performing both at once

Researchers explored data from more than 50,000 TAVR patients who presented with both severe aortic stenosis and stable coronary artery disease, sharing their findings in JACC: Cardiovascular Interventions.