Monthly Archives: April 2011

Stent By Wrist in Houston

Radial Access in Houston TexasA new twist on stents” is how Channel 13 KTRK-TV, the ABC affiliate in Houston, billed Christi Myers’ story today about the transradial approach to angioplasty and stenting. We’ve been writing about the growing adoption of radial access in the U.S. for four years now, so it’s great to see a TV report on this technique…because it means that patients in that locale (Houston, Texas) will be that much more aware that there is an option, a choice to be made, when having to get an angiogram, angioplasty or stent placed. (The piece profiles Dr. Colin Barker of the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.) Continue reading

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Filed under Media Coverage, Patient Experience, Transradial Approach

Wrist Angioplasty in Indiana

IndianapolisDr. Jack Hall, Program Director at St. Vincent’s Heart Center in Indianapolis, Indiana will be heading a faculty of transradial experts on Saturday. The “Indianapolis Transradial Summit” has been organized to train and inform cardiologists, cath lab techs and hospital administrators on the benefits for both patient outcomes and comfort, as well as potential cost-savings that are afforded by the use of the wrist as the catheter-access site of choice, when peforming angioplasty, angiography and stent placement. Continue reading

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Filed under Interviews, Meetings & Conferences, Transradial Approach

Showdown: Dr. Mark Midei and Stents

Is this stent appropriate?Maryland interventional cardiologist Dr. Mark G. Midei, who has been under investigation for “implanting unnecessary stents” in heart patients, has penned a defense of his medical practice, his first comment on the subject since the charges were made. Appearing as a Commentary in tomorrow’s Baltimore Sun, Midei’s article is titled “I acted in the patients’ best interests“.

I’ve covered this particular issue previously (“Stent Accusations: The U.S. Senate Tries to Drum Up COURAGE“). In that article, Angioplasty pioneer, Dr. William O’Neill, who was hired by Midei’s lawyer to review the cases…and found nothing glaringly wrong…posed a question to me, expressing his concern over the situation: Continue reading

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Filed under Media Coverage

Transradial Wrist Angioplasty RIVALs Femoral

Transradial procedureThe European cardiologists don’t understand all the fuss in the U.S. about wrist vs. groin, radial vs. femoral. They use the wrist artery for angioplasty, stents and catheter access at least half the time (many 80-90% of the time) and they can’t understand why, in the United States, it’s only used in 5% of cases.

That may be changing as a result of an important study presented this week at the American College of Cardiology Annual Scientific Session (the 60th! — Happy Birthday ACC — in 5 years you can qualify for Medicare, assuming it still exists!)

For a comprehensive review of the study, dubbed RIVAL (RadIal Vs. FemorAL Access for Coronary Intervention Study), read my article on Angioplasty.Org, “Angioplasty and Stenting from the Wrist Safe and Effective: The RIVAL Trial“.

There was some disappointment when the RIVAL results showed that one method was not superior to the other. You see, “radialists”, as they call themselves, are very evangelical about the advantages of the wrist as the access site for diagnostic and interventional procedures. (They call those doctors who dismiss the wrist and are “addicted” to the leg, “femoral-holics”.) So the title of this new study, RIVAL, is apt. Continue reading

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Filed under ACC, Clinical Trials / Studies, Innovators, Transradial Approach

RESOLUTE US: Interview with PI of Medtronic’s New Stent

Alan C. Yeung, MD, FACCI had a chance to talk with Alan C. Yeung, MD, FACC of Stanford about the RESOLUTE US study just presented at the 60th Annual Scientific Session of the American College of Cardiology (ACC). He was one of the principal investigators of this study, which was just sent to the FDA as the final component of Medtronic’s approval submission package. The company is hoping for U.S. approval in the first half of 2012. You can read the full interview on Angioplasty.Org.

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Filed under ACC, Interviews, Transradial Approach

Heart Attack Stopped with a Stent

AmbulanceI’m working on at least six different articles about the many studies presented at the American College of Cardiology in New Orleans yesterday and today, from new stents to transradial vs. femoral access, etc. etc. etc. and suddenly all of this is swept aside by an email that arrived in my Inbox seconds ago, posting the following to the topic of Heart Attack and Stents or Angioplasty on our Patients Forum:

 

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Filed under Heart Attack, Patients, Stent