The American Society of Radiologic Technologists (ASRT) announced its support for House Resolution (HR) 3772, a measure that loosens certain radiopharmaceutical bundling practices and simplifies Medicare billing for nuclear medicine procedures.

B. Braun Interventional Systems Inc. (BIS) announced the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Device Designation for the SeQuent Please ReX drug-coated PTCA balloon catheter for the treatment of coronary in-stent restenosis (ISR).

There are always a lot of guidewires used in CTO cases, but they all look the same so it can be confusing as to which is which as they are exchanged out and are all set on the same table. John Messenger, M.D., at the University of Colorado, likes to write the name of each wire on a towl and put the towel on top to keep them straight for himself and staff in the room.
Multiple guidewires being used in a complex CTO case at Henry Ford Hospital.
Standard types of guidewires used in the cath labs at the University of Colorado.
Guidewires in the supply cabinets of the main CTO cath lab at the University of Colorado.
Bins labled for guidewires in the supply cabinets of the main CTO cath lab at the University of Colorado.

Guidewire engineering has become more advanced over the past decade as interventional cardiologists have advanced their trade to tackle much more complex lesions, including chronic total occlusions (CTO). Moving beyond simple, straightforward percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) lesions to harder-to-reach lesions located in tortuous anatomy, revascularizing completely blocked vessel segments that often require guidewires approaching the CTO both integrate and retrograde and at times using a subintimal approach. This has been the biggest growth area for new guidewires technology.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT)

In July, the biggest news item was Datascope initiating a Class I recalled of its intra-aortic balloon pumps due to potential battery failure. Most Popular Cardiology Technology Content in July 2019

Here is the list of the most popular cardiovascular news content on the Diagnostic and Interventional Cardiology (DAIC) magazine website from the month of July 2019. This is based on the website’s 261,124 pageviews for the month:

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a new draft guidance titled Testing and Labeling Medical Devices for Safety in the Magnetic Resonance (MR) Environment.

Dassault Systèmes announced the five-year extension of its collaboration with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The 3DEXPERIENCE platform will be used to develop a new digital tool to enable more efficient regulatory review of cardiovascular and medical devices. Researchers hope the process will increase industry innovation and pave the way for an efficient path for patients to access safe, effective new treatments for the world’s leading cause of death – heart disease.

Less-invasive procedures to open severely clogged leg arteries were as good at helping people survive and avoid amputation as more invasive open surgeries, according to a new study. The results were reported in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes, an American Heart Association journal.

Clinical trials are a critical tool for getting new treatments to people who need them, but research shows that difficulty finding the right volunteer subjects can undermine the effectiveness of these studies. Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center designed and tested a new computerized solution that used artificial intelligence (AI) to effectively identify eligible subjects from electronic health records (EHRs), allowing busy clinical staff to focus their limited time on evaluating the highest quality candidates.

Coronary CT angiography images of a coronary artery depicting the perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI) before and after biologic therapy at one-year follow-up. Patients had excellent response to biologic therapy, showing clear reductions in the inflammation in plaques that cause heart attacks and stokes. Image from the Oxford Academic Cardiovascular CT Core Lab and Lab of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases at NHLBI.
A comparison CT scan of a coronary artery with inflammation in before and after one year of taking psoriasis biologic drug therapy. The top image shows areas of red inflammation and the bottom shows a year later with reduced inflammation. This NIH study may pave the way for new ways to risk assess patients using CT and to treat them using existing drug therapies. Image from the Oxford Academic Cardiovascular CT Core Lab and Lab of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases at NHLBI.

July 31, 2019 — Researchers found anti-inflammatory drug therapies used to treat moderate to severe psoriasis can significantly reduce coronary inflammation in patients with the chronic skin condition. Scientists said the findings are particularly notable because of the use of a novel imaging biomarker, the perivascular fat attenuation index (FAI), that was able to measure the effect of the therapy in reducing the inflammation.
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