Basel Ramlawi, M.D., chairman of The Heart and Vascular Center at Valley Health System in Virginia, director of the Advanced Valve and Aortic Center, and co-principal investigator for an American College of Cardiology (ACC) 2020 Scientific Session late-breaking trial that looks at the clinical implications of TAVR in patients who have bicuspid aortic valve leaflets offers an overview of the data from ACC.20.

Patients with bicuspid, or two-leaflet, aortic valves who undergo transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures had a high rate of success and low risk of death or disabling stroke at 30 days, according to new data presented at the ACC 2020. The session was part of the virtual, online late-breaking presentations, since the live meeting was cancelled due to the spread of COVID-19. 

TAVR has become increasingly popular in recent years as a less-invasive alternative to open-heart valve replacement surgery. However, few studies have examined its safety in patients with a bicuspid valve, a genetic variation of the aortic valve in some patients, rather than the typic three-leaflet valve. The condition affecting roughly 2-5 percent of people in which two of the three flaps in the aortic valve are fused together.

A bicuspid valve is more likely to become stenosis. Valve replacement, either through TAVR or open-heart surgery, is the main treatment option available for people with severe aortic stenosis, which causes fatigue and other symptoms and raises the risk of other heart problems when left untreated. The new study is the first to prospectively examine TAVR’s safety for treating severe aortic stenosis in relatively young, healthy patients—in whom open-heart surgery would pose a low risk—who have a bicuspid valve. It also is one of the first studies involving such patients in which doctors used a newer self-expanding artificial valve.

“This clearly has clinical implications with patients with bicuspid valves who want TAVR," said Basel Ramlawi, M.D., cardiothoracic surgeon at Valley Health System in Virginia and the study’s co-principal investigator. "TAVR with a self-expanding prosthesis is a very viable and safe procedure in low-risk bicuspid patients and achieved excellent early results. Though additional follow-up is necessary to determine long-term outcomes, early results suggest this procedure can be performed successfully in low-risk individuals with a good outcome.” 

The study prospectively tracked 150 patients who underwent TAVR at 25 medical centers in the U.S. 

Read the aricle on the study

Find more ACC news and video

An interview with Ehtisham Mahmud, M.D., FSCAI, chief, Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, executive director of medicine, Cardiovascular Institute, director of  interventional cardiology and cardiac cath lab at UC San Diego Medical Center, and president of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI). He explains the how cardiology departments in the U.S. are now postponing cardiovascular procedures due to novel coronavirus (COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2) containment efforts and new guidelines from Medicare calling for delay of all elective procedures in the country. 

Mahmud explains how patients are being prioritized, with acute myocardial infarction patients or others with acute, life-threatening conditions, or at high risk for a near term hospital admission, will still receive cardiac catheterizations, cardiovascular surgery or structural heart procedures for MitraClip and transcatheter aortic replacement (TAVR) under certain circumstances. All other procedures are being postponed until further notice based in the spread and infection rates of COVID-19. He said most hospitals, including his own, are moving to telehealth visits via phone or online to continue clinic work with patients, including those with chronic conditions such as heart failure.

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) announced March 18, 2020, that all elective surgeries, and non-essential medical, surgical and dental procedures should be delayed during the coronavirus outbreak. This move is three-fold. 
   1. It is to help with containment efforts by reducing patient and family travel to hospitals, which are at the center of the COVID-19 outbreak. 
   2. Delaying procedures will help preserve and inventory of personal protective equipment (PPE), hospital beds and ventilators and other medical supplies. 
   3. With the start of social distancing and the shut down of all large gatherings, this has severely impacted blood drives and other blood donations, so the nation's blood banks have severely limited supplies.

“The reality is clear and the stakes are high — we need to preserve personal protective equipment for those on the front lines of this fight,” said CMS Administrator Seema Verma.

This will not only preserve equipment but also free up the healthcare workforce to care for the patients who are most in need. Additionally, as states and the nation as a whole work toward limiting the spread of COVID-19, healthcare providers should encourage patients to remain home, unless there is an emergency, to protect others while also limiting their exposure to the virus. 

Read Mahmud's SCAI President's letter The Evolving Pandemic of COVID-19 and Interventional Cardiology

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Additional COVID-19 Resources for Clinicians:

   ACC COVID-19 Hub page   

   Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center with inteavtive map of cases in U.S. and worldwide 

   World Health Organization (WHO) COVID-19 situation reports

   World Health Organization (WHO) coronavirus information page

   U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) COVID-19 information page

   Centers for Disease Control (CDC) COVID-19 information page

   Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) frequently asked questions and answers (FAQs) for healthcare providers regarding COVID-19 related payments
 

DAIC/ITN Editor Dave Fornell takes a tour of some of the most innovative new medical imaging technologies displayed on the expo floor at the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) 2019 meeting. 

Technology examples include a robotic arm to perform remote ultrasound exams, integration of artificial intelligence (AI) to speed or automate radiology workflow, holographic medical imaging display screens, a new glassless digital radiography (DR) X-ray detector, augmented reality for transesophageal echo (TEE) training, moving DR X-ray images, 3-D printed surgical implants created from a patient's CT imaging, DR X-ray tomosynthesis datasets, radiation dose management and analytics software, and new computed tomography (CT) technologies.

Find more videos and news from RSNA 2019

James Carr, M.D., chair of the Department of Radiology, Northwestern University, and incoming 2020 President of the Society of Cardiac Magnetic Resonance (SCMR), explains why MRI is an ideal cardiac imaging modality, at the 2019 Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Heart MRI offers advantages over computed tomography (CT) and echocardiography because of its excellent soft tissue delineation and its ability to offer information beyond anatomical imaging, such as perfusion, morphology and metabolism. MRI can be technically challenging and the exams requiring a long time, but recent advances have helped cur cardiac imaging times down significantly. Automation and artificial intelligence (AI) also is making post-processing and quantification mush faster, brining it closer to the time it takes to scan and post-process CT imaging.

Northwestern is was one of the early adopters of cardiovascular MRI. Carr said heart MRI was not common in regular clinical use until the past decade at some luminary centers. In 2005, Carr was given the opportunity to develop a clinical cardiac MRI program at Northwestern.
 
He said MRI scanners have improved, and now much faster than a decade ago. They are also more optimized for cardiac imaging. While heart MRI is well known in large hospital centers, Carr said it still needs to develop and expand to community hospitals and rural hospitals outside major population centers. 

Artificial intelligence is playing a significant role in cardiac MRI automation of speeding workflow and quantification. Carr said these technologies will become mainstream in the next few years. AI also will play an increasing role in risk prediction based on new image analysis algorithms in development.

For more information on cardiac MRI, visit SCMR's website www.heartmri.org.

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This is an example of an augmented reality (AR) training system for transesophageal echo (TEE) created by the simulation company CAE. Rather than just looking at an overhead screen, this system allows the user to use a HoloLens visor to see the impact their probe manipulation has on the imaging and better shows the orientation of the ultrasound probe, the 2-D ultrasound image slice and the relation to the anatomy. It was displayed at the 2019 Radiological Society Of North America (RSNA) meeting.

Read more about this technology.

Find more technology news and video from the RSNA meeting

Rob Beanlands, M.D., FASNC, 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) president, shares a couple trends he sees in cardiac nuclear imaging. He is the Vered Chair and division head of cardiology and director of the National Cardiac PET Centre at the University of Ottawa Heart Institute, Canada.

He said overall trends he sees in nuclear cardiology include the use of better myocardial reserve quantification so it is clear whether revascularization would help patients. Beanlands also said there is increasing interest in positron emission tomography (PET) imaging because of its superior image quality and increasing access to PET radiotracers. New tracers on the horizon will also increase the image quality and flexibility of PET to accommodate exercise stress.

He spoke on artificial intelligence (AI) development for medical imaging in sessions at the 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) annual meeting. 

Robert C. Hendel, M.D., explains some of the new cardiac radiotracers in the pipeline that were discussed in sessions at the American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) 2019 meeting. Hendel is a professor of medicine and radiology and the Sidney W. And Marilyn S. Lassen Chair in Cardiovascular Medicine, Tulane University. He also serves as the chief of the section of cardiology and director of the Tulane University Heart and Vascular Institute. 

He outlined three new radiotracers that may impact cardiac imaging:

   • Flurpiridaz F-18 PET perfusion agent that offers high quality images and can be used with exercise stress;

   • MIBG imaging to help better assess heart failure classes and if patients may need an ICD;

   • New F-18 agents to image cardiac amyloidosis; and

   • Nuclear agents to enable annexin imaging, allowing direct vsualization of myocardial apoptotic cells.

Clyde Yancy, M.D., MSc, cardiology chief and vice dean for diversity and inclusion at Northwestern University, Feinberg School of Medicine, was a keynote speaker at the 2019 American Society of Nuclear Cardiology (ASNC) annual meeting. He said the traditional biases of seeing a patient and automatically making clinical assumptions because they are a certain race or gender are obsolete. For example, he said not all black patients have hypertension. Yancy added that genetics, especially with racial intermarriage over the past several generations, no longer predisposes patients to what is typically assumed for certain ethnic or racial backgrounds.

Yancy also said new research is showing how diet plays a major role in patient health and disease progression for things previously thought to be based on genetics. This includes the people who live in "food deserts" in urban areas where there are no sources of fresh food and vegetables, so they consume large amounts of packaged and processed foods that contain high levels of salt, phosphates and preservatives. He said these chemicals and diet may be the root cause of hypertension and diabetes in black populations in low income areas, rather than genetics as previously thought.

Related Content: 

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Ashish Pershad, M.D., chief of interventional cardiology, Banner University Medical Center, Phoenix, explains the trend of using closure devices to seal larger vascular access sites from the use of TAVR, EVAR, TMVR and hemodynamic support devices at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. He was one of the moderators on a session on this topic at TCT 2019.

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Jeffrey J. Popma, M.D., director of interventional cardiology clinical services at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, explains the results of the PROTECT II and the new PROTECT III Study at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. PROTECT III is the follow up to PROTECT II RCT and the largest-ever FDA study of hemodynamically supported, high-risk PCI patients. 

He discusses the PROTECT II and PROTECT III studies, and real-life patient data from the Impella IQ Database. 

Find more news and videos from TCT 2019

Ajay J. Kirtane, M.D., associate professor of medicine at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and director of the cardiac catheterization laboratories at NewYork-Presbyterian (NYP) Hospital, shares the findings of the late-breaking EVOLVE Short DAPT study presented as a late-breaking trial at the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting. It evaluated the safety of early dual antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) discontinuation in patients with high bleeding risk treated with the a Boston Scientific Synergy bioabsorbable polymer coated drug-eluting stent (DES).

With the advancement of new DES technologies using thinner struts and new types of drug-carrier polymer techniques, the risk of late-stent thrombosis has been greatly reduced, meaning there is less need for long-term DAPT. For patients who are at high risk for bleeding, who have ulcers or other types of gastrointestinal (GI) bleeding, or those going into surgery, it would be beneficial to reduce the time period for DAPT, and several late-breaking trials examined this at TCT 2019.
 

Here are the other late-breaking DAPT studies:

• TWILIGHT: A Randomized Trial of Ticagrelor Monotherapy vs Ticagrelor Plus Aspirin Beginning at 3 Months in High-risk Patients Undergoing PCI. 
• Onyx ONE: A Randomized Trial of a Durable-Polymer Drug-Eluting Stent vs a Polymer-Free Drug-Coated Stent in Patients at High Risk of Bleeding Treated With 1-Month DAPT. 
• IDEAL-LM: A Randomized Trial of a Bioabsorbable Polymer DES With 4-Month DAPT vs a Durable Polymer DES With 12-Month DAPT in Patients With Left Main Coronary Artery Disease. 
• MODEL U-SES: A Single Arm Study of 3-Month DAPT in Patients at High Bleeding Risk Treated A Bioabsorbable Polymer-Based Sirolimus-Eluting Stent. 
• AUGUSTUS ACS: A 2 × 2 Factorial Randomized Trial of Apixaban vs Warfarin and Aspirin vs Placebo in Patients With Atrial Fibrillation and an Acute Coronary Syndrome. 
• TWILIGHT: Thrombogenicity Substudy: Impact of Ticagrelor Alone vs Ticagrelor Plus Aspirin on Ex-Vivo Blood Thrombogenicity in High-Risk Patients Undergoing PCI. 

Find more news and videos from TCT 2019

Torsten Vahl, M.D., director of experimental and translational research, Structural Heart and Valve Center and at the Center for Interventional Vascular Therapy at NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia University Medical Center, explains the current state of transcatheter arctic valve replacement (TAVR) following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) clearance of TAVR in all surgical risk patient categories. Europe also cleared the use of the Sapien 3 device for low risk patients in November 2019.

He spoke on TAVR at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2019 meeting. In August 2019, the FDA cleared the use of TAVR in all surgical risk classes of patients using the Edwards Sapien 3 and Medtronic CoreValve devices. This means the heart team made up of a cardiac surgeon, interventional cardiologist and cardiac imaging specialist can determine if surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) or TAVR should be used. It is widely expected TAVR use will rapidly rise in the next five years to take over 50 to 70 percent of the aortic valve replacement procedural volume. It is expected surgical volumes will drop to about 20 percent of patients who do not qualify for TAVR because of anatomic issues or other variables that make SAVR a safer option.

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Chandan Devireddy, M.D., offers insights about what he saw as the top take aways from the 2019 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) annual meeting. He is cath lab director at Emory University Hospital Midtown, associate professor of medicine of interventional cardiology at Emory University, and chairperson for the Society of Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) Communications Committee. 

Devireddy said his key take aways from TCT 2019 were:

   • The poor results of the Boston Scientific Acurate Neo self-explaining TAVR system compared to the current devices on the U.S. market;

   • Results of the Abbott Portico TAVR system;

   • Levant Trial shows no increased mortality due to use of a paclitaxel-coated balloon; and

   • CT study of TAVR valve leaflet thrombosis.

Find more TCT late-breaking news and video

A discussion with William O'Neill, M.D., director of the structural heart program, Henry Ford Hospital, and Michele Voeltz, M.D., fellowship program director, interventional cardiology, explaining their process for selecting various levels of hemodynamic support.

Henry Ford Hospital also helped spearhead the Detroit Cardiogenic Shock Initiative that morphed into the National Cardiogenic Shock Initiative using these same protocols. Watch an interview with O'Neill explaining the national initiative.

Additional articles and videos on Henry Ford Hospital 

(Editor's note - this video was originally published in September 2018 and was revised September 2019)

This is a quick video example of a cardiac computed tomography (CT) exam showing a Medtronic CoreValve transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) device implanted. The image was reconstructed using Canon Medical’s Global Illumination photo-realistic rendering advanced visualization post-processing software. Vendors who offer this realistic type of CT image rendering say it is not used for diagnostics. However, the technology can be helpful when explaining things to the patient and their family, educating physicians and staff, and for surgeons, since it offers a realistic view of the anatomy that is easier for most people to understand who are not familiar with cardiac anatomy as it appears in traditional CT multiplanar reconstruction (MPR) images. 

This example of software was demonstrated on the expo floor at the 2019 Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) meeting. 

This is an example of in-stent restenosis shown using spectral CT imaging. This example was demonstrated by Philips Healthcare at the 2019 meeting of the Society Of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT). It can sometimes be difficult to determine if showing inside a stent of CT is artifact or real. Spectral CT can definitely help make a diagnosis. This example shows Philips’ Effective Z visualization, where the image is created based on the atomic number of the elements present in the image. After removal of iodine from the image, it shows the shadow in the stent has the same atomic composition as the vessel intima.  

This example is from a Philips IQon dual-energy CT scanner. This system has spectral imaging always on without any need to change protocols. This allows the spectral to be used when needed for additional information without need to rescan a patient.

Read more on this CT system.

VIDEO: Applications of Spectral CT — Interview with Suhny Abbara, M.D.

Mark Ibrahim, M.D., FACC, assistant professor of medicine and radiology, associate program director, advanced cardiac imaging fellowship, University of Utah, explains what radiologists and cardiologists need to know what is needed from CT imaging prior to ablation procedures for atrial fibrillation (AF) and ventricular fibrillation (VF). He spoke at a joint session of the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) at the 2019 SCCT meeting. 

Find more SCCT news and videos

Pierre Qian, MBBS, cardiac electrophysiologist fellow, Brigham and Women's Hospital, explains how his facility is working with radiation oncology to use radio therapy to noninvasively ablate ventricular tachycardia (VT). He spoke on this topics during a joint electrophysiology session by the Heart Rhythm Society (HRS) and the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) at the SCCT 2019 meeting.

Here is a link to another radiotherapy EP project Qian recently had published - A Novel Microwave Catheter Can Perform Noncontact Circumferential Endocardial Ablation in a Model of Pulmonary Vein Isolation. 

Find more SCCT news and videos

Arthur Agatston, M.D., clinical professor of medicine, Florida International University, Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine, is the name-sake of the Agatston score used in CT calcium scoring. He explains the history of the scoring system from the early 1990s and the evolution of CT technology for cardiac imaging. The latest American Heart Association (AHA) 2018 cholesterol guidelines now include the use of CT calcium scoring, which was a big topic at the Society of Cardiovascular Computed Tomography (SCCT) 2019 meeting.

Read the article How the Agatston Calcium Score Was Created and its Impact on Heart Attack Prevention.

See a quick example of a CT calcium scoring exam in the VIDEO: Example of an Automated CT Cardiac Calcium Scoring Exam.

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Find more SCCT news and videos