In
this interview, Dr. Thompson discusses
how IVUS is used at Dartmouth and why it is important
for fellows in training to learn the
full line of diagnostic modalities available
to improve patient care.
Q: Do you think
that with the coming “2.0 generation” of drug-eluting
stents you will not need to use IVUS as much
because these new stents will be easier to
deploy?
Dr. Thompson: No, I think it still has a role. In fact, the more complex disease
one is dealing with, I think the greater relative value-add IVUS gives you.
What we've seen is that drug-eluting stents, generation 1.0 if you will, was
an enabling technology for us to address and approach disease that would never
been touched prior to drug-eluting stents, ever, because of the severity of
the disease, because of the durability expectations, and so forth....
When generation 2.0 comes
along, I think that's going to be an even more
enabling technology because the stents are probably
as good, if not better, in terms of efficacy, but
the improvements in deliverability again become
something of a game-changer in the types of disease
that most interventionalists can address. So now
you're getting stents to even more complex anatomy
and more distal anatomy, and one has to really
be that much more sure that the job is done very
well.... And I have very strong bias to believe
that more complex disease state, the more value
there is to utilizing IVUS as an adjunct to intervention. (Read
entire interview...)
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