Relationship Between Coronary Artery Calcium Score and Vulnerability of Culprit Plaque Assessed by OCT in Patients With Established Coronary Artery Disease.

Background: Coronary artery calcium score (CACS) is widely used for risk stratification. However, in patients with established coronary artery disease, its clinical implication and relationship with plaque vulnerability are unclear. We sought to correlate the CACS and plaque vulnerability assessed by optical coherence tomography.

Concordance of left ventricular volumes and function measurements between two human readers, a fully automated AI algorithm, and the 3D heart model.

Background: Echocardiography is essential in cardiovascular medicine for screening, diagnosis, and monitoring. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to improve echocardiography by reducing variability and analysis time. While 3D echocardiography is becoming more accurate, 2D imaging still dominates clinical care.

A giant left atrial appendage: a case report on the feasibility of closure with a custom-made device.

Background: Transcatheter left atrial appendage occlusion (LAAO) is a valuable therapeutic option for stroke prevention in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) at high bleeding risk. However, complex LAA anatomies sometimes preclude the adoption of commercially available LAAO devices. The design of a custom-made LAAO device is a promising strategy in these cases.

Antegrade Crossing Techniques for Hard Proximal Occlusion Caps Without the Use of Dedicated Chronic Total Occlusion Devices: A Pictorial Review.

Infra-inguinal Chronic Total Occlusions recanalisation is considered technically challenging. The conventional manipulation of standard guidewires and catheters has proven to be successful in a considerable percentage of cases but success rate could dramatically drop in presence of challenging lesions. The additional use of retrograde access and re-entry devices could increase technical success but could negatively affect procedural time and overall costs.

A systematic review of the ipsilateral retrograde approach to the treatment of femoropopliteal arterial lesions.

Objective: The endovascular treatment of femoropopliteal lesions is an integral part of managing peripheral arterial disease. The antegrade approach is the most widely used technique with good evidence for its safety and efficacy. However, crossing a lesion, particularly chronic total occlusions (CTO), can be technically challenging and so the retrograde approach is increasingly used to maximize the chances of procedural success.