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SCAI 2015 to Tackle Difficult Questions in Congenital Interventions
SCAI
 The Congenital Heart Disease Track at SCAI 2015 Scientific Sessions will allow pediatric interventional cardiologists, cath lab nurses and technologists to exercise their problem-solving skills and develop new insights into difficult cases, treatment debates and emerging research and technologies. "With this program, we're going to dig deeper into a selected array of issues and ask the difficult and important questions, a lot of which have to do with either the limitations in our understanding or technology," says SCAI 2014 CHD Program Chair Doff McElhinney, MD, FSCAI. Watch as Dr. McElhinney discusses the challenges to be explored during the CHD Track.
Acknowledgements
SCAI gratefully acknowledges the following companies for their generous support of the SCAI 2015 Scientific Sessions through educational grants while taking sole responsibility for all content developed and disseminated through this event.
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Platinum sponsors: Abbott Vascular; Medtronic
- Silver sponsors: AstraZeneca; Merck
- Bronze sponsors: Cook Medical; Cordis, a Johnson & Johnson
Company; Gilead; The Medicines Company; St. Jude Medical; Terumo Interventional Systems
ICYMI: SCAI President Discusses Recent Strides for Higher-risk Patients
SCAI
In case you missed it, last week SCAI President Charles Chambers, MD, FSCAI, commented on the combination of new approvals from the Food & Drug Administration and new data announced during ACC.15 that have expanded both the knowledge and tools that the Heart Team can now use to care for higher-risk patients with limited medical or surgical options. He also discusses the implications of these advances on SCAI's educational mission. Catch up now.
Excela Health in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, Reaccredited by ACE
Accreditation for Cardiovascular Excellence
The cardiac catheterization laboratory and PCI program at Excela Health in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, has just become the first cath lab in the Commowealth to achieve ACE reaccreditation. "This rigorous review and outstanding recognition of our cardiac catheterization services reflects to all those we serve our deep commitment to practicing medicine with quality and integrity in an environment that puts patients first," said Robert J. Rogalski, CEO of Excela Health. "We intend to maintain the standards established by ACE and adhere to identified best practices. Our patients deserve nothing less." Learn more about this accomplishment and ACE accreditation!
Latest SCAI Newsletter Offers Advocacy News, Real-world Coding and More
SCAI
Don't miss the March/April edition of SCAI News & Highlights! Features include an update from Oregon, where SCAI advocates are working to persuade officials to rethink a restrictive PCI coverage policy; SCAI's successful effort to ensure patient access to drug-coated balloons; and a Q&A with SCAI's first Cardiovascular Professional member, Janice Baker, MSN, RN, CEPS, FHRS. The newsletter is also packed with SCAI 2015 previews, making it a terrific tool to help you plan your annual meeting experience. Click here to begin reading!
P.S.: New digital features make it as simple as a click to view SCAI's latest videos. Be sure to click the play button on pages one and nine.
Image of the Week: Emergent Left Main PCI
SCAI
Kurt G. Barringhaus, MD, and Elvis Peter, MD, of the University of Massachusetts Medical School, review a case of emergent left main PCI. Dr. Barringhaus discusses the most frequent finding associated with acute left main coronary artery occlusion, as well as the thought process behind the management of this high-risk case. The literature review alone makes this a case you don't want to miss!
FDA Expands Use of CoreValve for Aortic Valve-in-Valve Replacement
Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration expanded the approved use of the CoreValve self-expanding transcatheter aortic valve replacement system to treat certain patients who have previously had a surgically implanted tissue aortic valve replacement and are in need of a second one. This is the first transcatheter heart valve approved in the United States for valve-in-valve procedures in both high-risk and extreme-risk patients who have limited options or may otherwise go untreated.
Related: SCAI TAVR Center (SCAI)
SCAI Keynotes to Emphasize Technology, Big Data and Research Needs
Cardiovascular Business
The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions' 2015 convention will kick off May 6 with a session on state-of-the-art technologies, which will include keynote lectures by Christian Assad-Kottner, MD, of El Camino Hospital in Mountain View, California, and Peter J. Fitzgerald, MD, of Stanford University in California.
Assad-Kottner will address key aspects of incorporating and implementing exponential technologies in the cath lab.
Related:
SCAI 2015 Opening Session to Highlight How Disruptive Technologies Will Change Interventional Cardiology (SCAI)
Amid Resistance, Support Growing for Safety Checklists in the Cath Lab
Cardiovascular Research Foundation
Patient safety checklists, long a mainstay in surgical operating rooms, still are inconsistently designed and unevenly applied among cardiac cath labs. Yet a paper published in the January issue of Heart asserts that checklists can and do benefit patients undergoing interventional procedures.
Related: SCAI Quality Improvement (SCAI)
FDA Acknowledges High-risk PCI Population, Gives Nod to Blood Pump System
Healio
The new FDA indication for the Impella 2.5 for the first time acknowledges that there is a population of patients out there who are in need of high-risk PCI — those who might typically get bypass surgery but who are deemed too high risk. This is not a small group of patients. They are the recurrent HF admissions and the chronically low ejection fraction patients in whom we keep titrating meds. They are the patients in whom the coronary anatomy has either not been fully defined or has not been redefined in the past few years. These patients should all pass through our hands so that high-risk PCI can be performed safely if found, and these tough patients can reap the benefits of complete or near-complete revascularization.
Rising Awareness of Radiation Safety Trickles Down to Fellows
Cardiovascular Research Foundation
Best practices for radiation safety are not difficult to follow, but most interventionalists do not prioritize them. "You're dealing with a lot of issues going on at the same time, and most important is the well-being of the patient," reported Shikhar Agarwal, MD, MPH, an interventional cardiology fellow at the Cleveland Clinic. Radiation exposure can be substantially higher for fellows, who typically stand at the head of the operating table, closest to the x-ray beam. The online modules and one-on-one trainings that incoming fellows go through annually are good but do not always provide enough specific advice, said Dr. Agarwal. To help minimize the occupational hazards even further, many of the sources contacted by TCTMD advocated for a standardized, nationwide radiation safety course, perhaps developed by the American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, Heart Rhythm Society, or SCAI, which together penned the 2004 fluoroscopy clinical competence statement.
DURABILITY II: Single Self-expanding Stent Linked to Sustained Outcomes at 3 Years
Healio
Use of a single self-expanding stent up to 20 cm in length in long femoropopliteal lesions was associated with acceptable stent patency and freedom from clinically driven target lesion revascularization and a low rate of stent fracture at three years, researchers for the DURABILITY II trial reported in Catheterization and Cardiovascular Interventions. Researchers evaluated the long-term safety and efficacy of the single self-expanding peripheral stent system in patients with atherosclerotic disease of the superficial femoral and proximal popliteal arteries.
Calcitriol May Prevent Death by Chronic Heart Failure
Cardiovascular Disease News
New research identified the ratio of calcitriol to parathyroid hormone (PTH 1-84) as a new predictor of the risk of death by chronic heart failure. The results discovered by a research team at the Department of Laboratory Medicine at Cliniques Universitaires Saint Luc in Brussels were presented at the 2015 Annual Meeting of the Endocrine Society in San Diego.
Hormone Replacement Therapy in Postmenopausal Women Does Not Protect Against Cardiovascular Disease
Cardiovascular Disease News
According to evidence provided by a Cochrane Library review, hormone replacement therapy does not safeguard postmenopausal women against cardiovascular disease. Conversely, the treatment can increase the risk of stroke.
Changing Landscape of Interventional Cardiology
Healio
Interventional cardiologists now have the option of being identified by payers as interventional cardiologists, rather than general cardiologists or internists. Effective Jan. 5, interventional cardiology has been designated as its own unique specialty by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Number of Births May Affect Atherosclerosis Risk in Women
Healio
The number of live births is associated with subclinical coronary and aortic atherosclerosis in women, according to new data from the Dallas Heart Study.
Researchers observed a U-shaped curve, in which women with four or more live births and women with one or no births had increased coronary artery calcium and aortic wall thickness compared with women with two or three live births.
Results From 3 Trials Suggest 'Significant Progress' for TAVR Technology
Healio
 In this video, Steven R. Bailey, MD, MSCAI, chief of cardiology at the University of Texas Health Sciences Center and Cardiology Today's Intervention Editorial Board member, discusses results from three late-breaking trials evaluating percutaneous valve technology presented at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Sessions. He said that the five-year results from PARTNER 1, two-year data from CoreValve High Risk and 30-day from the PARTNER II S3 trials consistently indicate the benefits of transcatheter aortic valve replacement systems.
Direct Deposit: PAD Stents and Balloons Deliver Drugs Where They Count
Cardiovascular Business
Interventional cardiologists, vascular surgeons and others in the U.S. now have a cornucopia of treatments for patients with peripheral artery disease, thanks to recent Food and Drug Administration approvals for drug-eluting stents and drug-coated balloons. But using these devices is no slam-dunk. Questions about patients and payments make some physicians hesitant to incorporate them into practice.
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The news summaries appearing in SCAI This Week are based on original information from news organizations and are produced by Multibriefs, an independent e-mail newsletter publisher. SCAI is not responsible for the content of sites external to SCAI, nor do reports in SCAI This Week constitute the official opinion of SCAI.
The SCAI This Week news roundup is provided as a timely update for SCAI members and other healthcare professionals. Links to articles are provided for readers' convenience and may be of use in discussions with patients or colleagues. Questions and comments about SCAI This Week may be directed to Multibriefs at scai@multibriefs.com.
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