One-Year Outcomes of Peripheral Endovascular Device Intervention in Critical Limb Ischemia Patients: Sub-Analysis of the LIBERTY 360 Study.

Background: High-risk patients with advanced peripheral artery disease (PAD), including critical limb ischemia (CLI), are often excluded from peripheral endovascular device intervention clinical trials, leading to difficulty in translating trial results into real-world practice. There is a need for prospectively assessed studies to evaluate peripheral endovascular device intervention outcomes in CLI patients.

Methods: LIBERTY 360 is a prospective, observational, multi-center study designed to evaluate the procedural and long-term clinical outcomes of peripheral endovascular device intervention in real-world patients with symptomatic lower-extremity PAD.

Orbital Atherectomy for the Treatment of Long (≥25-40 mm) Severely Calcified Coronary Lesions: ORBIT II Sub-Analysis.

Background: Orbital atherectomy (OA) is an effective method of lesion preparation of severely calcified vessels prior to stent deployment. Long calcified lesions may lead to higher risk of post-procedural complications, yet the optimal treatment strategy has not been established. In this study we sought to determine the safety and efficacy of OA in patients with long (≥25-40 mm) calcified target lesions.

Orbital Atherectomy for Treatment of Complex Severely Calcified Coronary Artery Lesions: Insights from a Veterans Affairs Cohort.

Background: Coronary artery calcification remains a significant challenge to successful percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Orbital atherectomy (OA) is an effective treatment for severely calcified coronary artery lesions during PCI, but few data are available in the Veterans Affairs (VA) system which has an increasingly complex subset of patients.

Methods: Data were obtained from retrospective analysis of patients with severe coronary artery calcification who underwent OA followed by stent implantation from February of 2015 to July of 2018 at a single VA Medical Center.

Direct Stenting in Patients Treated with Orbital Atherectomy: An ORBIT II Subanalysis.

Background: Direct stenting offers many potential advantages in appropriately selected lesions. Coronary artery calcification increases the complexity and risk of adverse events associated with percutaneous coronary intervention. This study aimed to examine the feasibility of direct stenting after treatment with orbital atherectomy (OA).

Procedural and Long-Term Ischemic Outcomes of Tight Subtotal Occlusions Treated with Orbital Atherectomy: An ORBIT II Subanalysis.

Background/purpose: Orbital atherectomy is an effective treatment strategy to modify severely calcified coronary lesions prior to stent placement. Traversing a severely calcified subtotal occlusion with the crown may be more challenging compared with a less severely stenotic lesion. The purpose of this ORBIT II subanalysis was to evaluate outcomes post-orbital atherectomy (OA) treatment of lesions with ≥95% stenosis.

Outcomes after Atherectomy Treatment of Severely Calcified Coronary Bifurcation Lesions: A Single Center Experience.

Background: Coronary bifurcation and calcified lesions account for 15-20% and 6%-20% of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI), respectively. Treatment of these lesions is associated with high periprocedural complication rates and unfavorable long-term clinical outcomes, including high rates of revascularization. This retrospective, single-center study evaluated the outcomes of atherectomy treatment for heavily calcified coronary bifurcation lesions.

Acute outcomes after coronary orbital atherectomy at a single center without on-site surgical backup: An experience in diabetics versus non-diabetics.

Background: Percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of severely calcified lesions is associated with a high risk of angiographic complication, incomplete stent expansion, and restenosis. The prevalence of calcification is increased in diabetics (DM) and the PCI outcome in this population is often suboptimal. Treatment with orbital atherectomy (OA) in severely calcified lesions has been shown to result in favorable procedural outcomes and low reintervention rates; in DM and non-DM.

Impact of diabetes mellitus on procedural and one year clinical outcomes following treatment of severely calcified coronary lesions with the orbital atherectomy system: A subanalysis of the ORBIT II study.

Objectives: The goal of the study was to investigate the safety and efficacy of the coronary orbital atherectomy system to treat severe coronary artery calcification (CAC) prior to stent placement in diabetic and non-diabetic patients.

Background: The ORBIT II study reported the safety and efficacy of orbital atherectomy treatment in 443 patients with severe CAC. Percutaneous coronary intervention in diabetic patients is associated with an increased risk of major adverse cardiac events (MACE) compared with non-diabetics.

Atherectomy Devices for the Treatment of Calcified Coronary Lesions.

The presence of moderate and severe coronary artery calcification (CAC) is associated with higher rates of angiographic complications during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), as well as higher major adverse cardiac events compared with noncalcified lesions. Diabetes mellitus, a risk factor for CAC, is increasing in the United States. Vessel preparation before PCI with atherectomy can facilitate successful stent delivery and expansion that may otherwise not be possible.

Sox7 is regulated by ETV2 during cardiovascular development.

Vasculogenesis/angiogenesis is one of the earliest processes that occurs during embryogenesis. ETV2 and SOX7 were previously shown to play a role in endothelial development; however, their mechanistic interaction has not been defined. In the present study, concomitant expression of Etv2 and Sox7 in endothelial progenitor cells was verified.

Nkx2-5 mediates differential cardiac differentiation through interaction with Hoxa10.

The regulation of cardiac differentiation is complex and incompletely understood. Recent studies have documented that Nkx2-5-positive cells are not limited to the cardiac lineage, but can give rise to endothelial and smooth muscle lineages. Other work has elucidated that, in addition to promoting cardiac development, Nkx2-5 plays a larger role in mesodermal patterning although the transcriptional networks that govern this developmental patterning are undefined.

Nkx2-5 Regulates Tdgf1 (Cripto) Early During Cardiac Development.

Congenital Heart Disease (CHD) is the most frequent and deadly birth defect. Patients with CHD that survive the neonatal period often progress to develop advanced heart failure requiring specialized treatment including cardiac transplantation. A full understanding of the transcriptional networks that direct cardiac progenitors during heart development will enhance our understanding of both normal cardiac function and pathological states.