Key Technologies Highlighted as Late-Breakers at ACC.14

By Dave Fornell, DAIC editor

Data from several cutting-edge device clinical trials will be presented as late-breakers at the American College of Cardiology 63rd Annual Scientific Session & Expo (ACC.14), March 28-31.  

One of the most anticipated therapies on the interventional front is the use of renal denervation to treat drug resistant hypertension. However, its future was called into question recently when Medtronic announced it failed to meet the primary endpoints in its SYMPLICITY HTN-3 U.S. pivotal trial. The results of that trial will be presented at ACC on Saturday. Experts say this is not the end of the story, and additional data might be revealed in another late-breaker with data from the Global SYMPLICITY Registry. 

Also on the interventional front, the NEXT trial is among the first to compare a biodegradable polymer drug-eluting stent (DES) with a durable polymer DES. 

In electrophysiology, the use of cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) devices was expanded a few years ago to patients with mild heart failure. One of the late breakers will discuss long-term survival in this CRT population.

In structural heart, three key presentations are featured. The CHOICE Trial will compare self-expanding (Medtronic’s Corevalve) to balloon expandable (Edwards’ Sapien) TAVR devices. Another compares the Corevalve with surgical outcomes in patients deemed high risk for surgery. The final session will share one-year outcomes from the STS/ACC Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry.

Complete list of ACC late-breaking trials