Category Archives: Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD)

Medicare Approves Drug-Coated Balloons for Outpatient Leg Angioplasty

Lutonix and IN.PACT drug-coated balloons

Last week saw the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) approve reimbursement for the two drug-coated balloons that recently were approved by the FDA: C. R. Bard’s Lutonix and Medtronic’s IN.PACT.

C. R. Bard’s Lutonix drug-coated balloon (DCB) was approved in October 2014, while Medtronic’s IN.PACT Admiral was approved in January of this year. Both devices have shown superior results when compared to uncoated balloons (a.k.a. “plain old balloon angioplasty” or POBA). Continue reading

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Filed under Back to the Future, Endovascular, FDA, Health Insurance, History, Innovators, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

New Treatment for Peripheral Artery Disease is Approved by the FDA

Dr. Charles Dotter in LIFE Magazine (1964)

Dr. Charles Dotter in LIFE Magazine (1964)

Who is that mad scientist in the 1964 issue of LIFE magazine? Oh, just the man who invented the concept of angioplasty; in fact he’s the man who actually coined the word “angioplasty!” And he’s the doctor who performed the first angioplasties in the leg, in order to save limbs from amputation without resorting to surgery.

Like many innovators, he had a crazy idea: to open blocked arteries from the inside out. No cutting, suturing, or stitching. Less trauma, lower morbidity, quicker recovery. His name was Charles Dotter and he was a radiologist in Portland, Oregon who, 51 years ago next week, performed an angioplasty on the blocked leg artery of an 82-year-old woman. Continue reading

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Filed under Back to the Future, Endovascular, Europe, FDA, History, Innovators, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

The Beginnings of Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair (EVAR)

Dr. Frank J. Veith

Today was day one of the 41st Annual Veith Symposium in New York City. Started by Dr. Frank J. Veith, a pioneer in the field of endovascular approaches to vascular surgery, this five-day event covers the entire field of minimally invasive approaches to clinical situations that just a couple decades ago were the exclusive purview of open surgery.

The whole field of endovascular repair and intervention has grown exponentially since the  first endovascular repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm (EVAR) was performed by Dr. Juan Parodi in 1990, but it took quite some time to be accepted as a standard of care. Today the endovascular approach is the preferred procedure to repair an AAA and this is because of the advances in medical device design and manufacturing and the dedication of physicians to this less invasive non-surgical approach, physicians who will be attending this year’s Veith Symposium.
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Filed under Endovascular, History, Innovators, Meetings & Conferences, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

Vascular Surgery and the Battlefield: Honoring Our Veterans

  Today is Veterans Day in the U.S., honoring the soldiers who fought in the country’s wars. Last week was the VIVA 14 meeting, presenting the latest advances and techniques in endovascular repair and therapy of blood vessels.

These two events are actually closely aligned: the development and advances made in vascular surgery, and now endovascular therapies, were pioneered on the battlefield. Continue reading

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Filed under History, Innovators, Meetings & Conferences, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

Crazy Charlie’s Amazing Idea: Angioplasty at 50

Dr. Charles Dotter in LIFE Magazine (1964)

Crazy Charlie. An August 1964 LIFE magazine photo spread on Dr. Charles Dotter reinforced that nickname, given to Dotter by the vascular surgeons who knew him and his work at Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland — and who did not like what he was doing. Unblocking arteries in the leg without surgery? From the inside, using catheters? Crazy!

So that was 50 years ago, and to call Dotter a visionary is a vast understatement because this week, radiologists, cardiologists and surgeons have gathered in Las Vegas, not to gamble (although who’s to say…) but to present and hear the latest information, late-breaking trials and reports on vascular interventional therapies at the VIVA 14 meeting and see demonstrations of an array of devices and techniques. Continue reading

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Filed under Back to the Future, History, Innovators, Meetings & Conferences, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

The First Endovascular Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Repair (EVAR)

November 4 begins the 14th Annual VIVA meeting in Las Vegas. Yes, that’s “Viva, Las Vegas!

The whole field of endovascular repair and intervention has grown exponentially since the first VIVA meetings. For example, the first endovascular repair of an abdominal aortic aneurysm was performed by Dr. Juan Parodi in 1990, but it took quite some time to be accepted as a standard of care. Today the endovascular approach is the preferred procedure to repair an AAA and this is because of the advances in medical devices and dedication of physicians to this less invasive non-surgical approach, physicians who will be attending this year’s VIVA meeting. Continue reading

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Filed under History, Meetings & Conferences, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video

Meta-Analysis Shows Benefit of Drug-Eluting Stents vs BMS Below the Knee

Frank J. Criado, MD

Frank J. Criado, MD

Guest Post by Frank J. Criado, MD, FACS, FSVM, editor in chief of Vascular Disease Management.

(Editor’s note: this article is the first in a series of guest posts, a new collaboration between Angioplasty.Org and Vascular Disease Management.)

In the introductory remarks of “Meta-Analysis of Outcomes of Endovascular Treatment of Infrapopliteal Occlusive Disease With Drug-Eluting Stents,” lead author George A. Antoniou and his colleagues, from the Manchester Royal Infirmary in the UK, state that:

“Emerging evidence suggests that the combination of stenting and targeted delivery of drugs with antiproliferative properties, aiming to inhibit smooth muscle cell proliferation and intimal hyperplasia, improves the outcomes of endoluminal treatments of distal vessel disease. A small number of series have demonstrated satisfactory performance of drug-eluting stents, as expressed by increased patency and freedom from revascularisation to maintain good clinical results. Controversy exists, however, with regard to the superiority of drug-eluting stents over bare metal stents in terms of the clinical benefit in critical limb ischaemia patients.” Continue reading

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Filed under Bare Metal Stents, Drug-Eluting Stents, Guest Post, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Stent