Ultrasound- Versus Fluoroscopy-Guided Femoral Access for Percutaneous Coronary Intervention of Chronic Total Occlusions: Insights From FOUND BLOOD CTO Registry.

Objective: To compare vascular complications in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) of chronic total occlusions (CTO) using ultrasound guidance (USG) versus fluoroscopy guidance (FSG) for femoral access.

Background: In patients undergoing PCI, using the arterial femoral access increases the risk of vascular complications compared using the radial access. USG reduces time to access, number of attempts, and vascular complications compared with FSG, but the efficacy of USG has never been tested in the setting of CTO-PCI.

Coronary Cannulation After Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement: The RE-ACCESS Study.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to investigate the feasibility of coronary ostia cannulation after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) and to assess potential predictors of coronary access impairment.

Background: Certain data concerning the feasibility and reproducibility of coronary cannulation after TAVR are lacking.

Methods: RE-ACCESS (Reobtain Coronary Ostia Cannulation Beyond Transcatheter Aortic Valve Stent) was an investigator-driven, single-center, prospective, registry-based study that enrolled consecutive patients undergoing TAVR using all commercially available devices.

Clinical Outcomes Following Intravascular Imaging-Guided Versus Coronary Angiography-Guided Percutaneous Coronary Intervention With Stent Implantation: A Systematic Review and Bayesian Network Meta-Analysis of 31 Studies and 17,882 Patients.

Objectives: The authors sought to explore the comparative clinical efficacy of different imaging modalities for guiding percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI).

Background: Coronary angiography (CA) is the standard imaging modality for intraprocedural guidance of PCI. Intracoronary imaging techniques, including intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) and optical coherence tomography (OCT), can overcome some limitations of CA.

Feasibility and predictors of early discharge after percutaneous edge-to-edge mitral valve repair.

Background: Percutaneous edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (PMVR) recently emerged as an effective treatment modality for patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR). Length of postprocedural hospital stay may represent a modifiable cost associated with percutaneous treatment. We looked at feasibility, predictors and safety of early discharge (ED), defined as hospital discharge within 72 hours, in patients undergoing PMVR.

Risk stratification after ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction.

Risk stratification according to the timing of assessment, treatment modality and outcome of interest is highly advisable in patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) to identify optimal treatment strategies, proper length of hospital stay and correct timing of follow-up. Areas covered: This review is an overview summarizing the characteristics and performance of available risk-scoring systems for STEMI. In particular, we sought to highlight the characteristics of STEMI cohorts used for derivation and validation of the available algorithms and appraise their discrimination ability, calibration and global accuracy.

Bioresorbable vascular scaffold in patients with complex coronary artery disease.

The advent of fully bioresorbable stent technology is heralded as breakthrough technology in the current era of percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). Bioresorbable scaffolds (BRS) have the potential to introduce a paradigm shift in interventional cardiology, representing an anatomical and functional "vascular restoration" therapy instead of an artificial stiff tube encased by persistent metallic foreign body. Among BRS, the everolimus-eluting scaffold (ABSORB, Abbott Vascular, Santa Clara, CA, USA) has been the most extensively investigated in clinical studies.

How true delivery profile diminution reduces vascular access challenges and complications.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is the treatment of choice among patients with symptomatic severe aortic stenosis (AS) deemed inoperable and a valuable alternative to surgical aortic valve replacement for high-risk surgical patients. Over the years, this procedure proved to be relatively safe, but despite this complications may occur. When performing TAVI, the most frequent complications are represented by peripheral vascular complications and bleeding involving the access site.