Search for: "coronary stent" - 115 articles found

Article • Photon-counting CT, strain imaging, 4D flow MRI

How new technologies shape the future of cardiovascular radiology

New approaches to cardiovascular radiology are evolving to help clinicians gain an increasingly better insight into heart conditions. Latest developments in cardiovascular radiology include myocardial strain imaging, 4D flow and photon-counting CT technology. An ECR 2024 session shone the spotlight on these areas of cardiovascular imaging with expert speakers outlining the pros and cons of each.

News • Noninvasive diagnosis in high-risk CAD patients

Photon-counting CT: “bloom” reduction improves heart disease detection

Photon-counting CT enables accurate diagnosis of coronary artery disease in high-risk patients, a potentially significant benefit for people previously ineligible for noninvasive screening.

News • 3D vascular models

'Virtual blood vessel' technology could improve heart disease care

Patients with heart disease could benefit from less extensive interventions thanks to technology that creates 3D computer models of blood flow through the heart's arteries, according to new research.

News • Subtraction technique

Deep learning optimal for coronary stent evaluation by CTA

The combination of deep-learning reconstruction and a subtraction technique yields promising diagnostic performance for the detection of in-stent restenosis by coronary CTA.

News • Cardiac care

Cardiac disease expected to worsen post corona pandemic

COVID-19 pandemic has caused “global collateral damage” by disrupting cardiac services . Across the world problems with heart health will “...continue to accrue unless mitigation strategies are speedily implemented”.

News • Cardiology research

Can't sleep? Why heart patients should take insomnia seriously

Sleep problems could hint at a heightened risk of heart disease, caution experts at the ESC Preventive Cardiology 2022 congress.

Article • Cardiology helpers

A new era for robotic cardiac interventions

Interventional cardiology is entering a new era with the wider introduction of robotic procedures which bring significant benefits to the medical team and the patient. Two experts outlined the benefits at the ESC 2021 Digital Summit.

News • Standardized heart attack protocols

Reducing heart attack deaths by 50%, getting rid of gender gaps in care

A new series of protocols for treating patients with the most severe types of hearts attacks can reduce deaths by more than 50%, and eliminate gender disparities in care and outcomes, according to a new study by Cleveland Clinic.

TAVI: from short-term effects to lifetime management

Until recently, TAVI, the minimally invasive procedure in which a replacement valve is inserted inside a diseased valve has been mostly prescribed for patients too weak to face open heart surgery – largely involving those in the 80-plus age group. Today, due to greater longevity plus advancing skills that result in risks reduction, TAVI is increasingly prescribed for patients in their 70s and…

News • Disease of smallest heart blood vessels

Microvascular angina: the global health problem you've never heard of

For the first time, a prospective, international study has shown that chest pain caused by problems with the very small vessels supplying blood to the heart is an important health problem that increases the risk of heart attacks, stroke and death due to cardiovascular reasons. The study, which is published in the European Heart Journal, recruited 686 patients from 14 institutions in seven…

News • Intervention premiere

First robotic PCI performed in Belgium

Medical robotics company Robocath announces the successful completion of first five robotic coronary angioplasties in Belgium. The Percutaneous Coronary Interventions (PCI) were performed on April 8 and 13 by Prof. Stefan Verheye, a recognized and highly experienced interventional cardiologist at ZNA Middelheim hospital in Antwerp, and his team. Robotic-assisted PCI has never been done before in…

Article • Covid-19 collaterals

Coronavirus impacts heart surgery across Europe

Cardiac surgery across Europe is being set back as a result of the ongoing coronavirus. Operations are being postponed, treatment delayed, and critical care staff have been redeployed to cope with the impact of the Covid-19 epidemic on health services. However, gaining a clear picture of the Europe-wide situation, and the long-term effects coronavirus will have on heart surgery, is a challenge…

News • Biodegradable implantables

One step closer to regenerative heart valves and stents

Non-degradable prostheses for cardiovascular tissues can be used to replace heart valves and blood vessels, but they can’t stay in the body permanently. In two recent papers, researchers at the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e) in collaboration with a number of clinical partners, the Dutch Heart Foundation, and TU/e spin-off companies Suprapolix, Xeltis, and STENTiT have shown how…

Article • A technique evolves

Cardiac CT: a diagnostic jack-of-all-trades

According to Professor Fabian Bamberg, Medical Director at the Clinic for Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at University Hospital Freiburg, Germany, ‘In recent years, cardiac CT has seen a mindboggling technological evolution.’ It is, he believes, a very robust procedure that allows the routine acquisition of high-resolution images with very few side effects.

Interview • Abbott cardiovascular

An increasingly dynamic cardiovascular presence

In the world of laboratory diagnostics, ‘Abbott’ is a household name. Few people however are aware of the fact that the company, headquartered in Illinois, USA, is also leading in other fields. A number of innovations in cardiac and vascular diagnostics and therapy might soon put Abbott in the limelight. Dr Angela Germer, Regional Director DACH, and Volker Keller, Head of Marketing DACH,…

Article • More power for interventionists

Combining image-guided diagnosis and robot-assisted treatment

Siemens Healthineers AG took a big step last October. To incorporate treatment along an entire clinical path, the firm acquired Corindus Vascular Robotics, Inc., to combine image-guided diagnosis with robot-assisted surgery. A couple of months later, the Corindus endovascular robotic system CorPath GRX was used to implant a vascular stent into an obstructed coronary artery – the first use of…

Robotic angioplasty: The future of endovascular interventions

An exciting development from an innovative French company is poised for a major breakthrough in European markets. As is now well-known, coronary angioplasty is a procedure that widens and/or unblocks the arteries to the heart by the insertion and inflation of a balloon and/or stent into the vessel lumen. In modern practice, a stent is normally left in place to ensure the blood flow remains…

News • Monitoring bioresorbable magnesium

New insights on the corrosion of metal implants

Researchers in Zurich have recently been able to monitor the corrosion of bioresorbable magnesium alloys at the nanoscale over a time scale of a few seconds to many hours. This is an important step towards accurately predicting how fast implants are resorbed by the body to enable the development of tailored materials for temporary implant applications. Magnesium and its alloys are increasingly…

Article • ESC consensus statement

Intracoronary imaging advances

Interventional cardiologists have been aware of the value of intracoronary (IC) imaging in clinical practice for more than twenty years. However, recent developments and improvements in modalities and software have enabled huge strides in its range and scope for both diagnostic assessment and in percutaneous coronary interventions. Imaging options now include intravascular ultrasound (IVUS),…

News • Microstents vs foetal urethral strictures

The world’s smallest stent

Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a new method for producing malleable microstructures – for instance, vascular stents that are 40 times smaller than previously possible. In the future, such stents could be used to help to widen life-threatening constrictions of the urinary tract in foetuses in the womb. Approximately one in every thousand children develops a urethral stricture,…

News • Brain health after surgery

Post-operative cognitive decline: mostly a myth, says study

Patients who undergo heart surgery do not experience major memory changes—either better or worse—when compared with those who have a much less invasive, catheter-based procedure, according to a study published online in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. “It was comforting to see that the differences in cognitive decline between the two heart procedures are small, even though one involves…

Article • 3D & CHD

The changing face of imaging in cardiology

While the question is still debated as to whether MRI is the better CT, along comes a potential game changer – a new data based 3-D reconstruction method of heart anatomy and function that aims to replace diagnostic coronary angiography. In the near future not only adult patients with coronary heart disease could benefit from this new technique but also children with complex congenital heart…

News • De-fragmenting efforts

Coordinated emergency care improves heart attack survival

Coordinating the response to heart attacks among emergency responders and hospitals reduces the time to treatment and saves lives - even on a large, regional scale, according to a study led by the Duke Clinical Research Institute with support from the American Heart Association. In the largest demonstration of the coordinated approach - 132 hospitals and 946 EMS agencies in 12 U.S. regions -…

Article • Radiation protection

Robotic assistants enter remote stenting

Shielding cardiologists from harmful radiation is the goal for two systems capable of navigating the vascular highway.

Article • Cardiology

‘The future belongs to the heart team’

A formerly bitter competition between cardiology and cardiac surgery is increasingly replaced by constructive cooperation. The Austrian Society of Cardiology (ÖKG) even held its annual congress along with the Austrian Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery this year.

Article • Evolution of a field

Will software steal the heart of cardiology?

Celebrating 40 years of PCI, cardiologists fret over their future with big data, machine learning and robots.

Article • 40th anniversary

Angioplasty - the technique that revolutionised cardiology

Coronary angioplasty is arguably the most revolutionary breakthrough in the history of cardiology. While the technique is today performed on millions of patients worldwide, its origins can be traced back to Zurich, Switzerland, in the late 1970s.

Article • Stroke

Imaging in intra-arterial interventions

Stroke patients will first undergo a CT scan as they enter the hospital. Before any further imaging scan is carried out, the medical team must decide whether they need to intervene intra or extra cranially. ‘Imaging enables you to see which pathology you are dealing with and helps you select patients for either recanalisation or revascularisation or, in some cases, occlusion by embolisation,’…

Article • Predicting plaques

Exposing the secrets of the heart

Coronary interventions often rely more on art than science as the decision to treat a patient tends to be based on what clinicians can see, a subjective interpretation of cardiac imaging. Two new techniques have emerged for cardiovascular diagnostics that are enabling software to help surgeons and cardiologists measure, and thereby better manage cardiac disease.

Article • Home Monitoring

Smaller and more effective insertable cardiac monitors

Greater sensitivity and versatility of devices, as well as more patient-friendly implantation options, were issues outlined at the CardioStim 2016 EHRA Europace world congress on cardiac electrophysiology, held in Nice, France.

An outstanding system for emergency centers

The University Hospital Jena (UKJ) is the first one in Germany and one of the first in Europe to use the GE Revolution CT for faster diagnostics in an emergency center. Thanks to innovative technology, several steps of the examination can now be done in one single scan, exposing the patient to a quite low radiation dose.

News • Trinias MiX-Package

Shorter treatment times and less contrast media

In the year of its 140th anniversary, Shimadzu has released the new Trinias MiX package (Minimally invasive eXperience) to support less invasive treatments through a variety of applications. The Trinias MiX package is an exten¬sion of the Trinias angiography system, which facilitates high-level interventions through proprietary image processing technology. Shimadzu provides functional…

Correcting Tetralogy of Fallot

ECMO's role in a world's first cardiac procedure: Cardiac specialists in the UK have performed a world’s first operation on a 14-year-old boy suffering a severe heart condition. Mark Nicholls reports.

Too many coronary stent procedures

In uncomplicated stable angina cases no evidence suggests that angioplasty reduces heart attacks or death risks, Mark Nicholls reports

Renal denervation moves beyond the HTN-3 disaster

Clinicians and companies remain committed to a procedure that failed to demonstrate efficacy against a sham-control group in pivotal clinical trial

Bringing surgical quality to TAVR valves

A cardiac surgeon, Wolfgang Goetz MD once stitched together custom aortic valves in the operating room. Today he is CEO of Transcatheter Technologies in Regensburg.

From MIS to optimally invasive cardiac surgery

Since minimally invasive surgery (MIS) entered cardiac surgery in the mid-1990s it became unthinkable not to use this medical specialty. However, MIS procedures do not always result in the best outcome for patients.

European Society of Cardiology: Best of ESC Congress 2013

We must not forget that despite advances, cardiovascular disease remains the number one killer in Europe.

Cardiology drives innovation

‘Cardiology is one of the most innovative medical disciplines. Many modern technologies, such as catheterisations or imaging procedures, were triggered by cardiology,’ declared Professor Dr Gerald Maurer MD.

Article • Healing hearts 1

Bioresorbable stents

Cardiologists believe they can restore coronary arteries thanks to a new generation of stents that help the body to strengthen collapsed vessels. Elsewhere, patients’ own stem cells are being programmed to rebuild cardiac muscle in HF patients.

Minimally invasive stents show some advantages over bypass

Compared to open bypass, stenting keeps circulation flowing longer in some patients, small study concludes.

Don´t worry, be healthy

People with cheerful temperaments are significantly less likely to suffer a coronary event such as a heart attack or sudden cardiac death, new Johns Hopkins research suggests.

40 years of CT scanning

Forty years ago an article was published that would change medical practice. In the British Journal of Radiology, English electrical engineer Godfrey N Hounsfield described how he had made a patient’s brain visible non-invasively by evaluating a large number of X-ray images of the skull taken from different directions.

Article • Still a challenge

Perioperative anaesthesia for patients with heart failure

Can an anaesthetist treat a patient with heart failure (HF) without any specialist knowledge of cardiology? That was the question posed by Dr Florian Weis, from the Clinic of Anaesthesiology at the University Hospital of the Ludwig Maximilian University Munich, when lecturing on perioperative management of this patient group.

France: 61-year-old receives the first fully-biodegradable stent

A novel, entirely biodegradable device has been successfully implanted in a blocked artery patient needing a percutaneous coronary intervention

Top billing for cardiac MRI

Today, magnetic resonance imaging receives top billing in cardiology next to the co-star computed tomography while much hailed single-photon emission computed tomography (SPECT) plays but a minor role.

TAVI's unsung hero

The Danish inventor of an aortic valve for transcatheter implantation (TAVI) gains recognition for his achievement by colleagues within the European Society of Cardiology

Fame 2 rates FFR as a new gold standard

John Brosky reports on a ground-breaking trial and how CT-FFR may change the practice of invasive cardiology and cardiac surgery.

Teamwork works well in Hamburg

One heart – One Team, the motto for this year’s German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery Congress emphasises that cardiac surgeons and cardiologists must now work more in tandem for their mutual patients. This is not just a short-lived three-day slogan, but a daily reality at the University Heart Centre Hamburg, as EH correspondent Holger Zorn reports

Article • cTCA vs. cardiovascular diseases

CT coronary angiography

Cardiovascular diseases, the most common cause of death in the West, includes diseases for which early detection is an important objective in cardiac imaging – particularly for coronary artery stenosis. Diagnosis is often made in the cardiac catheter laboratory. Now, however, CT scanning advances provide a lower impact alternative to that invasive exam. PD Dr Thomas Schlosser, Consultant at the…

Diabetes and CAD

Anja Behringer reports on a neglected risk factor. With an aging population multimorbidity is increasingly a major challenge for hospital care. Diabetes is one of the medical conditions frequently encountered in multimorbid patients since cardiac and vascular diseases are often accompanied by dysfunctions of the blood sugar metabolism.

The Symetis Acurate TA Aortic Bioprosthesis and delivery system

A new transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) system for transapical treatment of severe aortic stenosis – Acurate TA and delivery system –is a second- generation TAVI device to treat elderly patients. Launched by the Swiss firm Symetis SA, the system gained CE approval last September is on sale in Europe.

New generation drug-eluting stents

A registry -which includes every patient in Sweden having percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for the treatment of acute and stable coronary artery disease- has found that PCI implantations using a new generation of drug-eluting stents is associated with lower rates of relapse (restenosis), stent thrombosis and subsequent mortality than older generation drug-eluting stents and bare-metal…

Congenital heart defects

The German Paediatric Heart Centre (DKHZ) is one of the largest of its kind in Europe. Over 25 years the centre has treated big and small patients with congenital heart defects, very now and then being faced with rare, individual cases that present very particular challenges. In any one year, consultant paediatric cardiologist Professor Martin Schneider MD encounters perhaps five such non-…

A niche with no lobby

Italy is a front runner in diabetic foot revascularisation. Among the country’s pioneers is Professor Roberto Gandini, at the Diagnostic Imaging and Interventional Radiology Department, University of Tor Vergata in Rome, who has developed and improved new technical options in peripheral vascular disease intervention, a technique that now saves about 92% of patients from major amputations due…

ESC roundup: Fixing heart conditions

Devices to treat chronic cardiac disease are winning credibility with new evidence from large-scale patient registries, John Brosky reports

The PRODIGY study

However, the PROlonging Dual antiplatelet treatment after Grading stent-induced Intimal hyperplasia studY (PRODIGY) also found a consistently greater risk of haemorrhage in the 24-month dual therapy group according to all prespecified bleeding definitions, including the recently proposed Bleeding Academic Research Consortium classification. The need for transfusion was also increased in the…

Trends in stents and balloon angioplasty

Stent fever, first diagnosed in 1997, has been spreading throughout the medical world – fuelled by new technologies, says Holger Zorn

Cardiac conundrum

France – Re-opening clogged arteries with metal stents has proved a life-saver for a majority of patients with coronary disease. Yet the high rates of complications and mortality for patients with diabetes following a percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) continue to baffle cardiologists. Report: John Brosky

Coronary heart disease

Bypass surgery figures declined again in 2010. Reason: Most coronary heart disease (CHD) patients are being treated by removal of the obstruction followed by stent implantation -- a situation criticised by Professor Jochen Cremer, first Vice President of the DGTHG (German Society for Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery).

New EU medical device legislation

The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) is calling for a single, co-ordinated European system to oversee the evaluation and approval of medical devices. The call is being made in a paper published online in the European Heart Journal reporting on a conference held by the ESC in January 2011 looking to increase the input of medical experts in developing medical device policy.

Philips and Corindus join forces in the field of interventional cardiology

Philips and Corindus Inc. today announced an alliance agreement to add Corindus’ robotic-assisted system for the minimally invasive treatment of obstructed coronary arteries (also known as percutaneous coronary interventions) to Philips’ interventional cardiology solutions.

Catheter-based valve surgery

Transcatheter valve implants (TAVI) have encouraged a new group of patients. Previously inoperable, they may now receive adequate treatment. Some centres report a success rate close to the conventional open surgical procedure. Naturally, the long-term outcome is still unclear. Holger Zorn reports.

CT is set for a vital role in cardiology

Computed tomography (CT) is emerging as an imaging modality set to play an important role in cardiac intervention or surgery. Not only can it be used to plan complex revascularisation procedures and assess the outcome for the patient, but also might help to identify the more dangerous lesions -- so-called ‘culprits’ -- in the future.

Fighting acute coronary syndrome

Today in most countries of the world almost 50 % of patients in hospital for a cardiac condition began their treatment as emergency cases: chest pain at home . . . a cardiac arrest in the street. Thus, according to Dr Peter Clemmensen, of the 22 million hospital admissions in Europe each year for acute cardiac events, more than 10 million of them would have begun as an emergency and without…

New stents for the future

Drug-eluting stents to treat narrowed coronary vessels met with sensational success, and then things became rather quiet. Now, two new developments from Cordis and Biotronik are being tested at Essen University Hospital, Germany. We asked Professor Holger Eggebrecht, head of the hospital’s cardiac catheter lab, why these new models look important.

Arteries seen in a new light

New imaging technologies are opening a new chapter in interventional cardiology by offering something this widely practiced procedure has been missing -- vivid clinical evidence to assess effectiveness. Interventional cardiology has moved rapidly from opening blocked arteries by crushing plaque with inflatable balloons to reinforcing the walls of the re-opened arteries with flexible metal stents…

EuroPCR highlights rapid advances in MIS on a beating heart

The landmark achievements in interventional cardiology that are rapidly advancing minimally invasive surgeries (MIS) on a beating heart were demonstrated during a Paris course on revascularisation (EuroPCR), the annual meeting of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI).

New twelve-month data for Nevo stent

At 12 months the NEVO Sirolimus-eluting Coronary Stent has continued to demonstrate excellent safety and efficacy outcomes compared to Taxus Liberte according to new data presented today from the NEVO RES-I clinical trial. These results were presented as a late breaking trial at EuroPCR, the leading medical conference in Europe for physicians specializing in interventional cardiovascular…

What´s hot in cardiology?

Hot topics to be covered during the EuroPCR Forum sessions are the challenging implementation of the best standard of care for STEMI patients throughout Europe (with the timely use of stents), the introduction of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) in clinical practice and the challenges related to bifurcation treatment options.

EuroPCR 2010

The cardiovascular community gathers in Paris May 25th-28th for EuroPCR. EuroPCR is the leading course in interventional cardiology. It is also the official congress of the European Association of Percutaneous Cardiovascular Interventions (EAPCI). More than 12,000 participants will learn about the latest developments in the field and engage in discussions and constructive debate about the best…

Imaging technique useful for planning cardiac procedures

For a patient with heart failure, checking whether the heart could benefit from bypass surgery or a stent is critical to ensuring survival. One imaging technique, positron emission tomography (PET) with the imaging agent fluorodeoxyglucose (FDG), may provide doctors with the information they need to make more informed treatment decisions, according to research published in the April issue of The…

Every picture tells a story

Cardiologists are looking beyond on-screen images of the heart to extract data behind these scans that describe coronary dysfunctions and can reveal hard evidence of the cause of disease reports John Brosky.

Low dose CT wins the confidence of cardiologists

He literally wrote the book on the subject, so when Jean-Louis Sablayrolles MD, states that low dose computed tomography angiography (CTa) represents a ‘great revolution in cardiac imaging,’ his words carry the weight of deep clinical experience.

3-D views in the cath lab

New technology that allows doctors to see three-dimensional images of heart arteries in the catheterization lab passed its first major testing hurdle - moving doctors closer to understanding its impact on clinical practice, researchers report in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, an American Heart Association journal.

The Syntax Study

Bypass or stent? In Germany alone, every year 370.000 patients have to decide which kind of surgery they will undergo. The Syntax study (Synergy between PCI with taxus and cardiac surgery), presented in September, looked at 1.720 patients and aims to provide help to answer this crucial question.

"Any cath lab that is not open 24/7 should be closed"

Surviving a heart attack depends upon where you live in Europe. For cardiologists that is unacceptable. A majority of European countries can deliver life-saving primary percutaneous coronary interventions (P-PCI), yet too often these centres are closed over weekends or after working hours - when 50% of all myocardial infarctions occur.

Article • Picture Archiving and Communication System

The Carestream Cardiology PACS

From this October, a newly launched, web-based cardiology PACS will change the workload of cardiologists at Groene Hart Ziekenhuis, in The Netherlands, making the 500-bed hospital one of Europe's first to benefit from this valuable system that consolidates isolated cardiac lab systems into one centralised solution.

Are clinical trials inadequate to ensure new treatments are safe?

Concerns over whether the tests a treatment undergoes before general release are enough to ensure its long-term safety have been raised in an editorial by Dr Vijay Sharma, Clinical Editor of BMJ Clinical Evidence. He suggests that treatments should be introduced gradually so that evidence can be built up and the treatment can find its proper niche.

EuroPCR 2009

EuroPCR 2009 is focused on minimally invasive cardiac surgery, but narrowing the broad field of cardiology does not make this conference any less complex.

Angioplasty gains new balloon catheter

Voyager NC, a new coronary dilation catheter with a high-pressure capability designed to optimise coronary artery treatment during angioplasty procedure, can be used for both pre-dilatation and post-dilatation procedures, the manufacturer Abbott explains, adding: "Surgeons can use it to navigate tortuous anatomy and open up lesions before a stent is delivered, or expand a stent more precisely…

The 75th DGK Congress

In April, the 75th annual congress of the German Cardiac Society (DGK) was considered a great success, drawing in some 7,900 specialists.

Hybrid approach to treat coronary artery disease

Patients with coronary artery disease -- blockages of the vessels that feed the heart -- can be treated in a number of ways. With their doctor, they decide on the best course of action: surgery, stent placement or medication. Sometimes, a combination of these is the best approach.

The summit of science

For this year's ECR president, Professor Borut Marincek, there could be no more apt motto for the event than The Summit of Science. ‘Over the last 20 years, imaging procedures, particularly radiology, have revolutionised healthcare. At the same time, radiology as a high-tech discipline is dependent on an increased natural scientific and technological knowledge. Therefore, the objective is to…

Stents: Most patients don't receive stress tests to confirm need

Investigating the appropriate use of procedures to open narrowed coronary arteries, e.g. angioplasty and stenting, researchers at UCSF (University of California, USA) found that less than 50% of Medicare patients had documented non-invasive stress testing prior to elective percutaneous coronary intervention, or PCI (clinical name for these procedures).

The power of cardiac imaging and the invasive cardiologist

Progress in cardiac imaging diagnostics has made cardiac catheterisation less common. What may sound like 'fishing in foreign territory' is in reality the chance for interventional cardiologists to concentrate on, and specialise in, more innovative invasive procedures.

New European guidelines on heart attack management put emphasis on speed of action

Timing, emergency network, reperfusion therapy are central to new recommendations for the management of heart attack which have been developed by a Task Force of the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and were issued on the 14th November.

itm Rhenium-PTA/PTCA®

'An effective, safe treatment for prophylaxis of restenosis in periphery and cardiology' — new generation of Endovascular Brachytherapy gains full CE-certification. Constricted blood vessels (stenosis and restenosis) can now sustainably be treated and kept open through the local treatment with beta radiation.

Guide to treat patients with myocardial bridging

A research team at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, the University of Texas Medical Branch and RWTH Aachen University in Germany has developed a new classification system devised to guide physicians treating patients with symptomatic myocardial bridging, published in the online edition of Cardiology.

Predicting the odds of heart attacks via ultrasound?

According to Prof Clemens von Birgelen, cardiologist on staff at the Thorax Centre of the Medisch Spectrum Twente in Enschede, who quoted from recent studies in his inaugural as a professor at the University of Twente at the beginning of June, this might be the case.

Further reports from the ACC 57th Scientific Session

A five-year study of 516 participants with coronary artery disease showed that patients who reduced their anxiety levels or kept them steady were 60% less likely to have a heart attack or die compared with those who had increased anxiety levels.

Cardiology 'must be evidence-based' says ACC

Ian Mason reports from Chicago

Diabetics and drug-eluting stents

Boston Scientific Corporation has announced results from a pooled analysis of patients from its TAXUS IV and TAXUS V randomised clinical trials to compare the safety and efficacy of the TAXUS Express Paclitaxel-Eluting Coronary Stent System in diabetic versus non-diabetic patients.

Nanocoating for stents: prevention of coronary re-stenosis

Recent studies show that drug-eluting-stents perform superior than bare metal stents in the treatment of high-risk cardiac patients. At ComPaMED 2007, the Germany based company HEMOTEQ, leading designer and manufacturer of ultra-thin coatings for medical devices, presented their solutions for customized coating of stents.

Cardiology roundup

The new £2 million remote access stereotaxis catheter laboratory at London's Heart Hospital, funded by the British Heart Foundation (BHF), is the first of its kind in the UK and one of only 40 worldwide.

Taxus produces similar outcomes in men & women

Results of a gender-specific study to assess the efficacy of the Taxus paclitaxel-eluting coronary stent in women undergoing coronary revascularisation were released at the European Society of Cardiology Congress by interventional device developer Boston Scientific.

E-SIRIUS Trial: Safety and efficacy of drug-eluting stents

Cordis Corporations' CYPHER stent is a Sirolimus-eluting coronary stent used for treatment of patients with coronary artery disease. The five-year results of the E-Sirius Trial show that in comparison to bare metal stents the CYPHER stent offers sustained clinical benefits.

For and against - Absorbable metal stents

Coronary stents provide wall wrapping of dissection, prevent elastic recoil, and reduce restenosis after percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty. In addition, drug eluting stents loaded with antiproliferative agents inhibit intimal hyperplasia and offer a further reduction of restenosis.

Platinum chromium alloy enhances design

Boston Scientific Corporation has commenced enrolment of a targeted 1,500 patients for the Taxus Perseus clinical trials, planned to take place in 100 international centres.

Trial to raise awareness of gender and CVD

More women than men die of cardiovascular disease (CVD) every year, yet females receive only 33% of angioplasties, stents and bypass surgeries; 28% of implantable defibrillators, and 36% of open heart surgeries.

Monitoring of Coronary Stenting

Coronary stenting is the most common way of treating symptomatic ischaemic cardiopathy and stenosis of venous bypasses. Restenosis actually occurs in 30% of patients treated with non-medicated stents while "drug eluting" stents have reduced the incidence of restenosis by approximately a quarter and have proved particularly effective in diabetic patients and in the treatment of lesions…

Carotid Stenting

Arteriosclerosis is well known as a vascular disease and cardiovascular risk factor. In its generalised form it affects not only the peripheral vessels (pelvis, legs) but also the coronary vessels and the carotid arteries. Arteriosclerosis is primarily a manifestation of advancing age, hence it is often accompanied by other diseases of the lungs and the heart as well as by metabolic diseases…

Clinical Cases: LAD Stenosis and Anomaly

63-year-old male with stable angina. The coronary angiogram showed vessel disease with significant stenosis in the proximal LAD and in the middle of the LCX. PCI with stent performed the day before the CT Angio. The patient was referred to the Aquilion 64 for follow-up.

Company Round-up

Siemens Medical Solutions strengthens its diagnostics devision, J&J wins stent patent appeal over Boston Scientific and Medtronic, Leica extends its product range and GE Healthcare cooperates with Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität in Munich as a reference center and strategic partner in developing cell-based assay modes.

The digital cath lab imaging system with fully-integrated IVUS

GE Healthcare and Volcano Corporation have combined GE's Innova digital X-ray cath lab system with Volcano's new PC-based IVUS platform.

Coronary Heart Disease

With ever-improving stents, cardiologists can deal with ever more complex cases. Will bypass surgery soon be a thing of the past?

World Congress of Cardiology 2006

Professor Raimung Erbel, of the West GErman Heart Centre Esse, Duisburg University Hospital aobut the hot topics of this years´congress.

PET scanning the heart cuts costs

USA - Using positron emission tomography (PET) scanning rather than other types of imaging as the first tool to diagnose heart-vessel blockages is more accurate, less invasive and saves money, according to researchers reporting at the American College of Cardiology's Annual Scientific Session in March.

Stem Cells

By Professor Gustav Steinhoff MD, director of the Department for Cardiac Surgery, and Christof Stamm MD, co-ordinator of clinical studies, at Rostock University, Germany

Stenting: Dynamic growth continues

Paris, France - The explosive growth in demand for drug eluting stents has shaped a market worth more than six billion euros annually.

Coronary artery disease in diabetes mellitus

Recent advances in percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) may offer a new approach to treating this complex group of patients.

The RSNA 2005

Late in November and into early December, as icy air streamed over the shores of Lake Michigan - affirming the nickname `windy city´ for Chicago - radiologists continued to immigrate here en masse for their biggest annual gathering. This year the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA) held its 91st annual meeting, parallel with the scientific congress and trade fair. The exhibition alone…

Taxus

France - Four studies of three TAXUS paclitaxel-eluting stents have demonstrated their safety and efficacy, according to the maker, Boston Scientific Corporation of Natick, Maryland, USA.

50 years of open heart surgery

Fifty years ago Henry Gibbon introduced a vital tool for cardiac surgery - the heart-lung machine. While pioneering efforts were made in the first half of the 20th century, this equipment enabled reproducible operations for either congenital or acquired heart disease in many patients.

Toshiba panel of experts

Vienna - Toshiba Medical Systems Austria presented a top panel of experts at the ECR to introduce the latest developments in cardiac CT-scanning and dynamic flat-panel technology - the new benchmarks in digital angiography. A further session covered the scientific platform for new uses in ultrasound scanning.