Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement in Patients With Geographic and Socioeconomic Vulnerabilities.

Background: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) is an established treatment for patients with severe aortic stenosis (AS). It remains unclear whether disparities exist in rural or socially vulnerable populations undergoing TAVR. This study assessed whether outcomes differ based on geographic location or vulnerability of patients undergoing TAVR.

Day-to-day blood pressure variability predicts poor outcomes following percutaneous coronary intervention: A retrospective study.

Background: For patients with cardiovascular disease, blood pressure variability (BPV), distinct from hypertension, is an important determinant of adverse cardiac events. Whether pre-operative BPV adversely affects outcomes after percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is to this point unclear.

Aim: To investigate the relationship between blood pressure variability and outcomes for patients post-PCI.

Percutaneous approaches for retrieval of an embolized or malpositioned left atrial appendage closure device: A multicenter experience.

Background: Experience with retrieval of a Watchman left atrial (LA) appendage (LAA) closure device (WD) is limited. An embolized or grossly malpositioned WD warrants retrieval to minimize the risk of thromboembolic complications and vascular occlusion.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to report approaches for percutaneous retrieval of a WD from multicenter experience.

The development or worsening of hypertension after transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) improves short-term and long-term patient outcomes.

Objectives: In patients with symptomatic aortic valve disease who are at intermediate to high risk for open surgical aortic valve replacement, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) decreases overall mortality and improves quality of life. Hypertension (HTN) after TAVR has been associated with improved cardiac function and short-term survival but its effect on survival over 1 year is unclear. Our study aims to evaluate the effect of HTN following TAVR on short-term and long-term clinical and echocardiographic outcomes.

Safety and efficacy of the next generation Resolute Onyx zotarolimus-eluting stent: Primary outcome of the RESOLUTE ONYX core trial.

Objectives: To assess the safety and efficacy of the novel Resolute (R-) Onyx drug-eluting stent (DES).

Background: The R-Onyx DES consists of a composite wire with an outer shell of cobalt chromium alloy and a platinum-iridium inner core to enhance radiopacity, with thinner, swaged struts and modified stent geometry compared with the predicate Resolute DES, resulting in a slightly lower total drug load in most sizes.

Methods: This was a prospective, single-arm non-inferiority trial compared with a historical control.

Staging of multivessel percutaneous coronary interventions: an expert consensus statement from the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions.

Percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) to treat multivessel coronary artery disease (MVCAD) may involve single-vessel or multivessel interventions, performed in one or more stages. This consensus statement reviews factors that may influence choice of strategy and includes six recommendations to guide decisions regarding staging of PCI. Every patient who undergoes PCI should receive optimal therapy for coronary disease, ideally before starting the procedure.

Door-to-balloon times under 90 min can be routinely achieved for patients transferred for ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction percutaneous coronary intervention in a rural setting.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to demonstrate the feasibility of routine transfer of ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) patients to achieve percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in less than 90 min from presentation.

Background: Many PCI hospitals have achieved routine door-to-balloon times under 90 min for patients with STEMI presenting directly to the hospital. However, few patients transferred from a non-PCI center undergo PCI within 90 min of presentation.

Rapid triage and transport of patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction for percutaneous coronary intervention in a rural health system.

This study was conducted to evaluate door-to-treatment times before and after the implementation of a rapid triage and transfer system for patients with ST-elevation myocardial infarction transferred from community hospitals to a rural angioplasty center for primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The system was developed in late 2004 and implemented at a rural percutaneous coronary intervention center in early 2005. Helicopter transport was available for 97% of requests for transfer from community hospitals.

The angiographic step-up and step-down: a surrogate for optimal stent expansion by intravascular ultrasound.

Background: Standard high-pressure stent implantation frequently results in suboptimal stent expansion by intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) criteria. We aim to show that routine expansion of the stent to a diameter greater than the reference segment, leading to an angiographic step-up at the proximal stent edge and step-down at the distal stent edge, results in improved stent expansion.

Methods: We studied 25 patients undergoing coronary stent implantation.

Telephone reporting in the consultant-generalist relationship.

Rationale, Aims And Objectives: The aim of this paper is to examine the issue of telephone reporting by consultants in the medical community, which is rarely used in medicine today.

Methods: The paper reviews principal publications addressing this field that have shown that communication between consultants and primary care physicians has many shortcomings, frequently leaving the primary care physician with unanswered questions.

Discussion And Conclusions: We present the value of routine telephone reporting by consultants to their primary care counterparts and also discuss possible future implications of communication via electronic mail.