Clinical, Functional, and Quality-of-Life Outcomes after Computer Assisted Vacuum Thrombectomy for Pulmonary Embolism: Interim Analysis of the STRIKE-PE Study.

Purpose: To report the first interim analysis of the STRIKE-PE study, evaluating the safety and effectiveness of computer assisted vaccum thrombectomy (CAVT) for the treatment of acute pulmonary embolism (PE).

Materials And Methods: This prospective, international, multicenter study will enroll 600 adult patients with acute PE of ≤14 days and a right ventricle (RV)-to-left ventricle (LV) ratio of ≥0.9 who receive first-line endovascular treatment with CAVT using the Indigo Aspiration System (Penumbra, Alameda, California).

Worrisome trends of ST-elevation myocardial infarction during the Covid-19 pandemic: Data from Portuguese centers.

Introduction: During the Covid-19 pandemic there has been a general belief that hospital admissions for non-infectious causes, especially cardiovascular diseases, have fallen.

Objectives: To assess the impact of the pandemic on admissions for ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) during the first pandemic wave.

Methods: We performed a multicenter retrospective analysis of consecutive patients presenting with STEMI in two Portuguese hospital centers in two sequential periods - P1 (March 1 to April 30) and P2 (May 1 to June 30).

Adoption and patterns of use of invasive physiological assessment of coronary artery disease in a large cohort of 40821 real-world procedures over a 12-year period.

Introduction And Objectives: Use of invasive physiological assessment in patients with coronary artery disease varies widely and is perceived to be low. We aimed to examine adoption rates as well as patterns and determinants of use in an unselected population undergoing invasive coronary angiography over a long time frame.

Methods: We retrospectively determined the per-procedure prevalence of physiological assessment in 40821 coronary cases performed between 2007 and 2018 in two large-volume centers.

Adoption and patterns of use of invasive physiological assessment of coronary artery disease in a large cohort of 40821 real-world procedures over a 12-year period.

Introduction And Objectives: Use of invasive physiological assessment in patients with coronary artery disease varies widely and is perceived to be low. We aimed to examine adoption rates as well as patterns and determinants of use in an unselected population undergoing invasive coronary angiography over a long time frame.

Methods: We retrospectively determined the per-procedure prevalence of physiological assessment in 40821 coronary cases performed between 2007 and 2018 in two large-volume centers.

Non-pharmacological treatment of refractory angina: The coronary sinus reducer, the new kid on the block.

Refractory angina is defined as persistent angina (≥3 months) despite optimal medical and interventional therapies. It is increasing in frequency, due to the success of current medical and interventional therapies in improving the prognosis of coronary artery disease. Long-term mortality is similar to that of patients with asymptomatic stable disease, but it affects patients' quality of life, and has a significant impact on health care resources.

Non-pharmacological treatment of refractory angina: The coronary sinus reducer, the new kid on the block.

Refractory angina is defined as persistent angina (≥3 months) despite optimal medical and interventional therapies. It is increasing in frequency, due to the success of current medical and interventional therapies in improving the prognosis of coronary artery disease. Long-term mortality is similar to that of patients with asymptomatic stable disease, but it affects patients' quality of life, and has a significant impact on health care resources.

Ten-year survival of patients undergoing coronary angioplasty with first-generation sirolimus-eluting stents and bare-metal stents.

Introduction: Compared to bare-metal stents (BMS), drug-eluting stents reduce stent restenosis and improve subsequent revascularization rates. The impact on patients' survival has been the subject of debate.

Objective: To assess the long-term (10-year) survival of patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) with first-generation sirolimus-eluting stents (SES) in comparison with BMS.

Neurologic complications after transradial or transfemoral approach for diagnostic and interventional cardiac catheterization: A propensity score analysis of 16,710 cases from a single centre prospective registry.

Background And Aim: Transradial approach (TRA) is being used increasingly as the preferential vascular access site for both diagnostic and interventional procedures. However, concerns have risen about the risk of clinically meaningful neurologic complications. We aimed to assess the association between the risk of stroke/transient ischemic attack (TIA) and the transradial (vs.

Second-generation versus first-generation drug-eluting stents for the treatment of patients with acute coronary syndromes and obstructive coronary artery disease.

Introduction And Aims: Randomized trials and registries have shown that drug-eluting stents (DES) have an overall better performance than bare-metal stents in patients treated in the setting of both ST-segment and non-ST-segment elevation acute coronary syndromes, mainly by reducing restenosis. Whether or not the use of newer second-generation devices (vs. first-generation DES) differs in these high-risk patients remains to be determined.

Stent thrombosis with second- versus first-generation drug-eluting stents in real-world percutaneous coronary intervention: analysis of 3806 consecutive procedures from a large-volume single-center prospective registry.

Background And Aims: When compared to their first-generation (1stGEN) counterparts, second-generation (2ndGEN) drug-eluting stents (DESs) have been associated with better clinical outcomes in randomized clinical trials, namely by reducing the rates of stent thrombosis (ST). Our goal was to investigate whether or not the broad use of newer devices would translate into higher safety in a real-world population. For that purpose, we compared the occurrence of definite ST at 12 months between two patient subsets from a large-volume single-center registry, according to the type of DES used.

Coronary-subclavian steal syndrome: percutaneous approach.

Coronary subclavian steal syndrome is a rare ischemic cause in patients after myocardial revascularization surgery. Subclavian artery stenosis or compression proximal to the internal mammary artery graft is the underlying cause. The authors present a clinical case of a patient with previous history of non-ST elevation myocardial infarction, triple coronary bypass, and effort angina since the surgery, with a positive ischemic test.

[Primary PCI in ST-elevation myocardial infarction: mode of referral and time to PCI].

Introduction: According to the current guidelines for treatment of ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) should be performed within 90 min of first medical contact and total ischemic time should not exceed 120 min. The aim of this study was to analyze compliance with STEMI guidelines in a tertiary PCI center.

Methods: This was a prospective single-center registry of 223 consecutive STEMI patients referred for primary PCI between 2003 and 2007.

Evidence-based percutaneous closure of the left atrial appendage in patients with atrial fibrillation.

Atrial fibrillation is the most common cardiac arrhythmia, and its prevalence is increasing. Cardioembolic stroke, most of the times secondary to thrombus formation in the left atrial appendage, is its most feared and life threatening consequence. Oral anticoagulation with vitamin-K-antagonists is currently the most used prophylaxis for stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation; unfortunately, its benefits are limited by a narrow therapeutic window and an increased risk for bleeding, making it often undesired.

Percutaneous alcohol septal ablation for hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy: technical review and long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes.

Background: Percutaneous septal ablation by alcohol-induced septal branch occlusion was introduced as a new treatment option in symptomatic patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM). Our aim was to evaluate procedural and long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes in patients with HOCM treated by alcohol septal ablation (ASA) at our center.

Methods: This single-center retrospective study included 14 consecutive HOCM patients undergoing percutaneous ASA (66.

Percutaneous revascularization strategies in saphenous vein graft lesions: long-term results.

Aims: Although half of saphenous vein grafts (SVGs) present obstructive atherosclerotic disease 10 years after implantation, controversy remains concerning the ideal treatment. Our aim was to compare percutaneous revascularization (PCI) options in SVG lesions, according to intervention strategy and type of stent.

Methods: A retrospective single-center analysis selected 618 consecutive patients with previous bypass surgery who underwent PCI between 2003 and 2008.

[NT-proBNP for risk stratification of pulmonary embolism].

Introduction: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is an entity with high mortality and morbidity, in which risk stratification for adverse events is essential. N-terminal brain natriuretic peptide (NT-proBNP), a right ventricular dysfunction marker, may be useful in assessing the short-term prognosis of patients with PE.

Aims: To characterize a sample of patients hospitalized with PE according to NT-proBNP level at hospital admission and to assess the impact of this biomarker on short-term evolution.

Post-percutaneous coronary angioplasty atheroembolization--a feared iatrogenic complication.

Atheroembolic disease is a rarely recognized clinical entity. The growing use of antiplatelet and thrombolytic therapy and of invasive cardiovascular procedures in acute coronary syndromes has nevertheless transformed this feared iatrogenic complication into an increasingly frequent diagnosis. The authors review this entity through the case of a 71-year-old man who, fifteen days after undergoing thrombolysis for acute myocardial infarction with ST-segment elevation, followed by elective percutaneous coronary revascularization under triple antiplatelet therapy, came to the emergency department with a clinical setting of mental confusion, gastrointestinal bleeding, oliguria and cutaneous eruptions on the lower limbs; laboratory tests revealed severe azotemia and hyperkalemia.