Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT)

The Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference is the Cardiovascular Research Foundation's (CRF) annual scientific symposium and the largest conference focused on interventional cardiovascular medicine. TCT includes seminars on all areas of intervention cardiology, structural heart, vascular in interventions, peripheral artery disease, and other procedures in the cath lab.

Mirvat Alasnag, MD, FACP, FACC, FSCAI, FSCCT, director of catheterization laboratory and research, King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah-Saudi Arabia, Ditrector of TCT Middle East, and member of Society of Cardiovascular CT (SCCT) Education Committee, explains how the society it translating its educational content into other languages to help a wider international audience of clinicians. SCCT is working to expand its international membership and this is a big part of that strategy.

SCCT expands CCTA education overseas

SCCT has made it a priority to help clinicians from all over the world learn more about CCTA as the modality continues to transform patient care. 

Sunil Rao, MD, MSCAI, director, interventional cardiology, cardiac catheterization laboratory, NYU Langone Heart, professor, Department of Medicine, the Leon H. Charney Division of Cardiology, NYU Grossman School of Medicine, explains the prevalence, trends and predictors of same day discharge after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) data for non-ST-elevation acute coronary syndrome (NSTE-ACS) in clinical practice from the NCDR-CathPCI Registry.

Same-day discharge after PCI for NSTE-ACS is on the rise

Sunil Rao, MD, told Cardiovascular Business that same-day discharge is still relatively rare for these patients, but it appears to be growing more common over time. The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have played a key role in the development of this trend.

Nirat Beohar, MD, director, cardiac catheterization laboratory, medical director of the structural heart disease program, Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Florida, and a professor at the Columbia University Division of Cardiology, explains the financial landscape of the cath lab, what is ahead, and why cardiologists need to become more business savvy. #TCT

The business of cardiology is changing—and cath labs are working to keep up

Financial literacy is no longer optional for physicians. “If you're not financially viable, you can't function,” explained Nirat Beohar, MD. “The business education is probably just as important as learning a new procedure.”

Mirvat Alasnag, MD, FACP, FACC, FSCAI, FSCCT, director of catheterization laboratory and research, King Fahd Armed Forces Hospital, Jeddah-Saudi Arabia, director of TCT Middle East, and member of Society of Cardiovascular CT (SCCT) Education Committee, outlines why coronary CT angiography (CCTA) imaging will likely be a paradigm shift in cardiology, and where the gaps remain to gather more clinical evidence.

CCTA continues to transform cardiac imaging, interventional cardiology

Mirvat Alasnag, MD, spoke to Cardiovascular Business about CCTA's growing influence in cardiology. 

Nick West, MD, chief medical officer, Shockwave Medical, Johnson and Johnson Meditech, explains how the company is innovating intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) therapy devices and building clinical evidence from trials for its use in a variety of calcified lesions. There are several companies developing IVL therapy, but West says Shockwave will remain the market leader because of its nearly decade long head start in the market, strong clinical evidence and has about a 10% market penetration. #IVKL

Why Shockwave Medical is so excited about the future of intravascular lithotripsy

Nick West, MD, Shockwave Medical's chief medical officer, detailed how the company is continuing to push IVL technologies forward. "We are leading the space ... we have no intention of giving up that position," he said.

 Advances in intravascular imaging and physiology assessment are reshaping how interventional cardiologists plan and optimize percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), but workflow challenges continue to limit adoption, according to Haroon Faraz, MD, director of interventional cardiology and cardiovascular research at Hackensack University Medical Center.

New strategies for intravascular imaging and physiological assessments in the cath lab

"If you're not using an intravascular imaging modality, the PCI is not optimal," explained Haroon Faraz, MD, from Hackensack University Medical Center. Faraz is hopeful new and improved technologies will help these modalities become more popular among interventional cardiologists.

Herbert D. Aronow, MD, MPH, FACC, FSCAI, FSVM, medical director, heart and vascular service line and the Benson Ford Chair in Cardiology at Henry Ford Health, board member of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), explains the pros and cons and economic pressures involved with shifts in how cardiologists are now employment.

Cardiology needs to evolve in the face of employment trends

Cardiology has largely shifted to hospital-employed models, driven by reimbursement compression and evolving physician priorities. This has created challenges as well as opportunities.

Herbert D. Aronow, MD, MPH, FACC, FSCAI, FSVM, medical director, heart and vascular service line and the Benson Ford Chair in Cardiology at Henry Ford Health, member of board, Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI), the explains how hospitals can set up renal denervation (RDN) programs and how the reimbursement landscape is changing with new Medicare coverage.

How to get reimbursed for renal denervation

Herbert D. Aronow, MD, reviewed the many ways the reimbursement landscape is changing thanks to new Medicare policies. “This is a really exciting time in the renal denervation space," he said.