Example of an angioplasty balloon catheter being expanded inside an artery to push atherosclerotic plaque and thrombus out of the way to reopen the vessel lumen to increase or reopen bloodflow. Balloon catheters are used to revascularize patients with heart attacks and to deploy stents to prop open the expended vessel.

The first devices developed for interventional cardiology were percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA) balloon catheters to reopen coronary arteries. Forty years later, they remain a primary workhorse device in percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI). While stents have taken the limelight in terms of the primary focus in PCI, balloons are still the method used to initially revascularize the vessel and to expend the stents into position.
A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis provides evidence that the coronavirus can invade and replicate inside heart muscle cells, causing cell death and interfering with heart muscle contraction. The image of engineered heart tissue shows human heart muscle cells (red) infected with COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) (green). Image by Lina Greenberg.

March 12, 2021 — Since early in the pandemic, COVID-19 has been associated with heart problems, including reduced ability to pump blood and abnormal heart rhythms. But it has been an open question whether these problems are caused by the virus infecting the heart, or an inflammatory response to viral infection elsewhere in the body. Such details have implications for understanding how best to treat coronavirus infections that affect the heart.

March 12, 2021 — Philips Healthcare announced the final, five-year results of two major randomized controlled trials (RCTs) that show no difference in all-cause mortality between patients treated with the Stellarex drug-coated balloon (DCB) and those treated with percutaneous angioplasty (PTA), the current standard of care. Moreover, the studies showed no difference in mortality between the Stellarex DCB and PTA at every 12-month endpoint over the course of the study.

March 12, 2021 — A new review suggests that blood vessel damage and impaired oxygen delivery related to COVID-19 play a role in mood changes and cognitive difficulties that people with the disease face during illness and recovery. The review was published in Physiological Reports in February.[1] The article offers insights into the reason why some ling-hauler COVID patients have persistent symptoms months after their infections.

March 12, 2021 — Cardinal Health today announced that it is selling its Cordis cardiology and endovascular business to Hellman & Friedman (H&F) for approximately $1 billion. 

An example of intra-cardiac echo (ICE) imaging from Siemens Healthineers showing color flow Doppler with severe valve regurgitation. ICE has seen wider use in transcatheter structural heart  procedures because, unlike TEE, it can be used without deeper sedation of anesthesia.

Intra-cardiac Echocardiography (ICE) uses catheter-based cardiac ultrasound array to image anatomy and devices inside the heart to help guide procedures.
The Teleflex Manta large-bore vascular closure device can seal holes between 12 and 25 French.

While many cardiac and vascular procedures have largely moved to minimally invasive techniques, the size of these transcatheter devices has required larger arterial access introducer sheaths, leading to increases in vascular and bleeding complications. Large bore devices are generally considered anything 10 French and bigger. This growth in large bore interventions has led to a new demand for large-bore vascular closure devices.

March 8, 2021 — In a new study from Shiley Eye Institute at UC San Diego Health, researchers have identified a potential new marker that shows cardiovascular disease may be present in a patient using an optical coherence tomography (OCT) scan, a non-invasive diagnostic tool commonly used in ophthalmology and optometry clinics to create images of the retina. The finding suggests it may be possible to detect heart disease during an eye examination.

AMERICAN COLLEGE OF CARDIOLOGY (ACC) Late-breaking clinical trial study presentations at ACC.21. @ACC21 @ACC2021

The latest cardiology practice-changing scientific breakthrough, late-breaking study presentations have been announced for the 2021 American College of Cardiology (ACC) meeting. Top experts will debate and discuss the outcomes of the hottest trials at ACC.21 and explain how it all fits into current cardiology practice.

March 8, 2021 — University of Kansas Health System Cardiologist Ashley Simmons, M.D., knew there could and should be a better way to measure female heart function. She had seen countless women balk at the uncomfortable testing that requires patients to go bra-less.

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