"The Caveats of Drugs-Eluting Stents": a critical appraisal of the safety Concerns

Coronary heart disease has been the leading cause of death in developed countries for many years. At the same time, the developments in the field of interventional cardiology occurred at an incredible speed and it took no more than 15 years for the first balloon-mounted stent by Palmaz et al. in 198

The coronary intravascular lithotripsy system

Calcified lesions often mean percutaneous intervention results are suboptimal and increase the risk of procedural complications and future adverse events. Available plaque-modifying devices rely on tissue compression or debulking, with the intention of fracturing calcium and facilitating optimal stent deployment. In contrast, coronary intravascular lithotripsy delivers unfocused, circumferential, pulsatile mechanical energy to safely disrupt the calcium within the target lesion. The present review summarises the evidence available so far on this therapy and includes a practical description of the components and function of the Shockwave Intravascular Lithotripsy System (Shockwave Medical)

Pre-procedural planning of transcatheter mitral valve replacement in mitral stenosis with multi-detector tomography-derived 3D modeling and printing: A case report

Background: Transcatheter mitral valve replacement (TMVR) may be a valuable treatment option for mitral annular calcification and severe mitral stenosis (MS) in patients at high operative risk. Pre-procedural virtual and printed simulations may aid in procedure planning, device sizing, and mitigate complications such as valve embolization or left ventricular outflow tract (LVOT) obstruction. Case summary: We describe a case of TMVR in which multi-detector computed tomography (MDCT) derived, three-dimensional virtual planning and a 3D-printed model of the patients' left heart provided enhanced understanding of an individual patient's unique anatomy to determine feasibility, device sizing, and risk stratification. This resulted in deployment of an adequately sized valve. Post-TMVR LVOT obstruction was treated with LVOT balloon dilatation and percutaneous transluminal septal myocardial ablation. Discussion: Advanced MDCT-derived planning techniques introduce consistent 3D modeling and printing to enhance understanding of intracardiac anatomical relationships and test device implantation. Still, static measurements do not feature haemodynamic factors, tissue, or device characteristics and do not predict device host interaction. Transcatheter mitral valve replacement is feasible in MS when adequately pre-procedurally planned. Multi-detector computed tomography-derived, 3D, virtual and printed models contribute to adequate planning in terms of determining patient eligibility, procedure feasibility, and device sizing. However, static 3D modeling cannot completely eliminate the risk of peri-procedural complications

Redo renal denervation using a multi-electrode radiofrequency system in patients with persistent therapy-resistant hypertension

Objectives Renal sympathetic denervation has been studied as a potential therapeutic option for patients with therapyresistant hypertension; however, a significant proportion of patients do not show a significant reduction in blood pressure and are classified as non-responders. The objective of the present study was to assess whether a redo renal denervation procedure increases response rates. Methods We present a case series of three consecutive renal denervation non-responders treated with the multi-electrode radiofrequency St. Jude EnligHTN catheter after an average of 22 months. Patients were followed for 6 months. Results Mean age was 66 years and two patients were male. Patients were previously treated using either ReCor’s Paradise system, the Vessix V2 system or the Covidien OneShot system. Mean office blood pressure one year after the initial procedure was 187/102mmHg with a mean 24 h ambulatory blood pressure of 166/102mmHg. All patients underwent a successful redo procedure using the EnligHTN system because of persistent therapy-resistant hypertension. At 6 months a significant drop in both office and ambulatory blood pressure of -27/-6mmHg and -15/-13mmHg, respectively, was observed. No significant renal artery stenosis was observed at 6 months. Conclusions In patients with therapy-resistan

Stent underexpansion due to heavy coronary calcification resistant to rotational atherectomy: A case for coronary lithoplasty?

Stent underexpansion is frequently observed in calcified coronary lesions and increases the risk of future adverse cardiac events. Current plaquemodification techniques might not be suitable when calcium deposition is circumferential and deep inside the vessel wall. We report a case during which coronary lithoplasty was used as an adjuvant therapy to improve severe stent underexpansion after failed atherectomy and high-pressure non-compliant balloon dilatations

Effect of catheter-based renal denervation on left ventricular function, mass and (un)twist with two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography

Background: Speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) is an echocardiography modality that is able to measure left ventricular (LV) characteristics, including rotation, strain and strain rate. Strain measures myocardial fibre contraction and relaxation. This study aims to assess the effect of renal sympathetic denervation (RDN) on functional myocardial parameters, including STE, and to identify potential differences between responders and non-responders. Methods: The study population consisted of 31 consecutive patients undergoing RDN in the context of treatment for resistant hypertension. Patients were included between December 2012 and June 2014. Transthoracic echocardiography and speckle tracking analysis was performed at baseline and at 6 months follow-up. Results: The study population consisted of 31 patients with treatment-resistant hypertension treated with RDN (mean age 64 ± 10 years, 15 men). The total study population could be divided into responders (n = 19) and non-responders (n = 12) following RDN. RDN reduced office blood pressure by 18.9 ± 26.8/8.5 ± 13.5 mmHg (p < 0.001). A significant decrease was seen in LV posterior wall thickness (LVPWd) (0.47 ± 1.0 mm; p = 0.020), without a significant change in the LV mass index (LVMI). In the total cohort, only peak late diastolic filling velocity (A-wave velocity) decreased significantly by 5.3 ± 13.2 cm/s (p = 0.044) and peak untwisting velocity decreased significantly by 14.5 ± 28.9°/s (p = 0.025). Conclusion: RDN reduced blood pressure and significantly improved functional myocardial parameters such as A-wave velocity and peak untwisting velocity in patients with treatment-resistant hypertension, suggesting a potential beneficial effect of RDN on myocardial mechanics

The definition of low wall shear stress and its effect on plaque progression estimation in human coronary arteries

Wall shear stress (WSS), the frictional force of the blood on the vessel wall, plays a crucial role in atherosclerotic plaque development. Low WSS has been associated with plaque growth, however previous research used different approaches to define low WSS to investigate its effect on plaque progression. In this study, we used four methodologies to allocate low, mid and high WSS in one dataset of human coronary arteries and investigated the predictive power of low WSS for plaque progression. Coronary reconstructions were based on multimodality imaging, using intravascular ultrasound and CT-imaging. Vessel-specific flow was measured using Doppler wire and computational fluid dynamics was performed to calculate WSS. The absolute WSS range varied greatly between the coronary arteries. On the population level, the established pattern of most plaque progression at low WSS was apparent in all methodologies defining the WSS categories. However, for the individual patient, when using measured flow to determine WSS, the absolute WSS values range so widely, that the use of absolute thresholds to determine low WSS was not appropriate to identify regions at high risk for plaque progression