Cardiology Today's Intervention top 5 stories covered at ISET

Cardiology Today’s Intervention’s coverage of the International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy (ISET) offered news, perspectives and interviews with leading researchers and clinicians on the latest in endovascular therapy.

Highlights from this year’s meeting include carotid stenting technology advances, cerebral protection devices for TAVR, medical therapy for PAD and the merits of amputation for patients with CLI.

New technologies for carotid stenting show promise

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Several new technologies are available or on the horizon to improve the outcomes of carotid artery stenting, according to a speaker at ISET.

“There has been some suppression of carotid activity in the [United States] largely based on reimbursement limitations. This has been challenging but, despite that, there has been a plethora of new technologies for carotid stenting which are meant to address some pivotal opportunities,” William A. Gray, MD, system chief of the division of cardiovascular disease at Main Line Health and president of the Lankenau Heart Institute in Wynnewood, Pennsylvania, said during a presentation.

Cerebral protection devices for TAVR may help in TEVAR

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Data indicate that cerebral protection devices may reduce risk for clinical stroke and cerebral lesions during or after transcatheter aortic valve replacement, and may also apply to thoracic endovascular aortic repair, an expert said at ISET.

“Stroke is a clinically important complication of TAVR and TEVAR procedures,” Robert Bersin, MD, MPH, a Bellevue, Washington-based interventional cardiologist and emeritus medical director of structural heart and endovascular services at Swedish Medical Center, Seattle, said during a presentation. “For cerebral embolic protection, we have a wealth of data in the TAVR world, like we usually do in cardiac research, but we have very little in TEVAR.”

Medical therapy for PAD making great strides

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — While not expected to replace endovascular interventions in the near future, medical therapies for peripheral artery disease are making significant progress, which could mean fewer procedures in the future, according to a presentation at ISET.

The pace of breakthroughs in medical therapy has prompted the question of whether medical therapy will replace peripheral interventional procedures, according to Michael R. Jaff, DO, MSVM, FSCAI, FACP, FACC, president of Newton-Wellesley Hospital, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a member of the Cardiology Today and Cardiology Today’s Intervention Editorial Boards.

Amputation not always poor outcome

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Amputation is never a preferred outcome, but sometimes it is not the worst outcome, a speaker said at ISET.

Among patients with critical limb ischemia or other conditions that produce major leg and foot wounds, “there are data that show once you have one leg amputated, there’s a high likelihood that the other extremity is going to be at risk,” Gary W. Gibbons, MD, FACS, medical director, Center for Wound Healing, South Shore Health System and professor of surgery at Boston University School of Medicine, said during a presentation. “What we found was that instead of amputations, restoring foot perfusion and having a great group of podiatric surgeons doing local resections and keeping the foot healed” led to better outcomes.

Experts ponder future of vascular, cardiac intervention

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — The field of intervention will look quite different in a decade, according to three experts at ISET.

This year’s meeting featured a townhall session on innovation and the future of aortic and peripheral vascular therapy, structural heart and coronary artery disease therapy, and vascular surgery. According to Michael D. Dake, MD, Martin B. Leon, MD, and Richard Neville, MD, the future of intervention is bright and innovation continues at a rapid pace.