
Angiography with a co-registered view of pressure drops according iFR readings in a coronary vessel. The DEFINE PCI study showed patients had improved outcomes and less recurrent chest pain at one year using iFR physiologic measurements combined with landmarks shown on angiographic imaging to better guide therapy. Image by Philips Healthcare
Feature | FFR Technologies | October 30, 2020 | Dave Fornell, Editor
Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is considered the gold standard measure whether a coronary lesions needs a percutaneous...

Some of the device technologies discussed in the TCT 2020 late-breaking trial sessions. Top left, the Medtronic Resolute Onyx stent was the first stent to receive FDA clearance for short duration dual-antiplatelet therapy, which was a big topic and subject of several sessions. Lower left, the Keystone TriGuard 3 TAVR embolic protection device did not demonstrate superiority over TAVR without use of embolic protection. Top right, the Abbott MitraClip was the subject of two studies, including use to aid heart transplant patients. Bottom right, the Boston Scientific Acurate neo TAVR valve performed below the Sapien 3 and CoreValve Evolut.
Feature | TCT | October 29, 2020 | Dave Fornell, Editor
Here are some of the key takeaways from the late-breaking interventional cardiology and structural heart trials...

This study found cardiac MRI gadolinium-based contrast agents are safe for patient use. Overall, there were only 556 acute adverse effects in 145,855 contrast-enhanced MRIs, with only 47 being classified as severe.
October 29, 2020 — Contrast agents used to improve views of the heart on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) carry a very...
Feature | Wearables | December 15, 2020
COVID-19 has posed challenges for physicians whose cardiac patients are at-risk and reluctant to schedule an office...
News | Atrial Fibrillation | October 29, 2020
Oct. 29, 2020 — Boston Scientific initiated the CHAMPION-AF clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of the...

A sonographer at Northwestern Memorial Hospital using the Caption Health AI to optimize ultrasound imaging.
News | Ultrasound Imaging | October 28, 2020
October 28, 2020 — Northwestern Memorial Hospital is the first hospital in the United States to purchase Caption Health...
News | October 28, 2020
The September-October 2020 digital edition of Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) magazine include links to...

Chest X-ray from a patient included in the study. Posteroanterior view, of a 79-year-old man with history of a previous pacemaker, with abandoned right atrial and right ventricular pacing leads on the right side at time of new cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillator implant on the left side. Arrows indicate a nodular opacity in the right midlung concerning for mass. Find more images of patients in this study in Radiology: Cardiothoracic Imaging.
October 27, 2020 – Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) examinations can be safely performed in patients with non-MR...
Feature | ECMO Systems | October 26, 2020
October 26, 2020 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted 510(k) clearance to Abiomed for an all-in-...
News | Venous Therapies | October 26, 2020
October 26, 2020 — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared the Medtronic Abre venous self-expanding...

OTC ECG devices can help detect abnormal heart rhythms in the general population, and this technology will continue to improve.
Feature | ECG | March 11, 2020
Apple created a stir when it announced in 2018 that its Apple Watch Series 4 was the first consumer health and fitness...

Patient case example of the FlowTriever thrombectomy device from Inari Medical Inc. in removing a pulmonary embolism and reporting blood flow and clot burden removed by the system.
News | Pulmonary Embolism | October 23, 2020
October 23, 2020 — Positive results were reported on the first 230 patients enrolled in its FLASH study, a real world...

FFR assessment of a coronary lesion using the Philips Healthcare Volcano FFR system.
News | FFR Technologies | October 23, 2020
October 23, 2020 – A new observational study of deferred lesions following combined fractional flow reserve (FFR) and...
News | FFR Technologies | October 23, 2020
October 23, 2020 – Results from the randomized controlled TARGET FFR trial show that while a physiology-guided...

Several wearable, less-obtrusive ECG monitors have been cleared by the FDA for longer wear. This example is Cardiac Insight’s Cardea SOLO device.
Feature | ECG | February 19, 2020
When the patients of Michael Boler, M.D. need cardiac monitoring, the Holter monitor is no longer his first choice. “...

An example of a HeartFlow FFR-CT image showing the blood flow through what looked like a significant blockage on CT angiography alone, actually was not flow-limiting based on computational fluid dynamics. Use of the technology was supposed to reduce the number of diagnostic catheterizations in the FORECAST trial, but the costs of FFR-CT were not offset enough to show cost savings.
News | FFR Technologies | October 22, 2020 | Dave Fornell, Editor
October 22, 2020 – In the FORECAST randomized clinical trial, the use of fractional flow reserve (FFR) derived from...

Ori Ben-Yehuda, M.D., presenting the findings of the HOST-REDUCE-POLYTECH-ACS study at TCT 2020 that showed durable polymer drug-eluting stents (DES) performed better than the bioresorbable polymer DES that were supposed to replace them with the promise of being safer and lowering overall cardiac event rates.
Feature | Stents | October 22, 2020 | Dave Fornell, Editor
October 17, 2020 – In a surprise to many, a randomized clinical trial found that drug-eluting stents (DES) with durable...
News | Stents | October 22, 2020
October 22, 2020 – For patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), treatment with the nanotechnology...