Intravascular lithotripsy for calcific coronary and peripheral artery stenoses.

Heavily calcified lesions may be difficult to dilate adequately with conventional balloons and stents, which causes frequent periprocedural complications and higher rates of target lesion revascularisation (TLR). High-pressure non-compliant balloon angioplasty may be of insufficient force to modify calcium and, even when successful, may be limited in its ability to modify the entire calcified lesion. Scoring and cutting balloons hold theoretical value but data to support their efficacy are lacking and, because of their high lesion crossing profile, they often fail to reach the target lesion. Rotational and orbital atherectomy target superficial calcium; however, deep calcium, which may still impact on vessel expansion and luminal gain, is not affected. Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL), based on lithotripsy for renal calculi, is a new technology which uses sonic pressure waves to disrupt calcium with minimal impact to soft tissue. Energy is delivered via a balloon catheter, analogous to contemporary balloon catheters, with transmission through diluted ionic contrast in a semi-compliant balloon inflated at low pressure with sufficient diameter to achieve contact with the vessel wall. With coronary and peripheral balloons approved in Europe, peripheral balloons approved in the USA and multiple new trials beginning, we review the indications for these recently introduced devices, summarise the clinical outcomes of the available trials and describe the design of ongoing studies.

APpropriateness Assessment in Antiplatelet THerapY (APATHY) registry: Insight from current clinical practice.

BACKGROUND: In clinical practice there is a gap between guidelines recommendation and antiplatelet strategies used for acute coronary syndrome (ACS). We sought to evaluate appropriateness of antiplatelet strategies employed in a tertiary center. METHODS AND RESULTS: From January to June 2014, 430 ACS were treated with percutaneous coronary intervention by 3 groups of interventional cardiologists. Aspirin and clopidogrel (52%) were the most commonly used antiplatelet therapies, being prasugrel associated with aspirin in 110 (25.5%) and ticagrelor in 97 (22.5%) ACS. Inappropriate use of prasugrel (Tia/Ictus) was found in 2 (1.8%) patients and not recommended use (>75years, without diabetes or previous myocardial infarction) in 11 (10%). Not recommended use of ticagrelor (plus warfarin) was found in 4 (4.4%). Switching from clopidogrel to prasugrel occurred in 29% [28 showing high residual platelet reactivity (HRPR: ADP 10µmol>70%), and 4 left main stenting], while from clopidogrel to ticagrelor occurred in 13.4% (all showing HRPR, but 1). The most powerful predictor for prescription of 3rd generation P2Y12 inhibitors was the HRPR (OR 5.473, 95%CI 2.41-12.43, p<0.0001), whereas the behavior of attending cardiologist (HR 0.674, 95%CI 0.573-0.847, p=0.001) and the older age reduced the probability of receiving it (OR0.963, 95%CI 0.943-0.984, p=0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Clopidogrel remained the most common P2Y12 inhibitor employed for ACS. Third generation P2Y12 inhibitor prescription was lower than the one expected by guidelines recommendations, and the switching was largely based on clopidogrel HRPR. These findings suggest the need for a greater effort to improve adherence of cardiology community to current guidelines.

[Percutaneous treatment of coronary chronic total occlusions: state of the art]. / Il trattamento delle occlusioni coronariche croniche: stato dell'arte.

Successful percutaneous coronary intervention of chronic total occlusions (CTO) is associated with favorable clinical outcomes in selected subsets of patients. The success rate of CTO interventions greatly increased over the last decades, thanks to the development of dedicated materials and interventional strategies. Nevertheless, CTO interventions are still challenging with higher complication rates and lower success rates compared to standard percutaneous coronary interventions. Dedicated CTO operators are warranted in order to minimize the rate of complications and to achieve a success rate near to 90%. This state of the art paper is aimed to provide updated evidences on the clinical benefit of CTO recanalization and to describe specific interventional techniques for CTO recanalization.

ALN inferior vena cava filter upside down rotation with chest caval migration in an asymptomatic patient.

Percutaneous placement of an inferior vena cava (IVC) filter is indicated in patients affected by pulmonary embolism or proximal deep venous thrombosis when anticoagulation therapy is contraindicated or there is evidence of thromboembolic recurrence during anticoagulation. Several complications have been reported using IVC filters. Migration is a rare but known and potentially lethal complication of IVC filter placement. In this patient, an ALN IVC filter (ALN Implants Chirurgicaux Ghisonaccia, France) proximal migration occurred from the inferior cava vein to a zone just below the right atrium; it was associated with a complete 180 degrees rotation, and we describe here the procedure employed to successfully remove this filter.

Left ventricular remodeling in the elderly with acute anterior myocardial infarction treated with primary coronary intervention.

We compared left ventricular (LV) remodeling following a first time acute anterior ST-elevation myocardial infarction (aSTEMI) treated with primary coronary intervention (pPCI) in different age groups. A total of 116 patients, 61 aged <65 and 55 aged >or=65 years, who survived after a recent aSTEMI treated with pPCI, underwent dobutamine stress-echocardiography (DSE) and non-invasive measurement of left anterior descending coronary artery flow reserve (CFR) during intravenous adenosine infusion. Baseline LV dimensions and systolic function were similar between the two groups; wall motion score indices during all DSE stages and CFR were also similar. In both groups, the LV ejection fraction was positively affected by the presence of viability in the necrosis area and by a higher CFR, but negatively influenced by viability in a remote area, an indirect sign of an extensive infarction size. This study demonstrates that PCI in the geriatric population with aSTEMI is as equally effective as in younger subjects, in terms of LV remodeling and function.