Category Archives: Back to the Future

NORSTENT: Drug-Eluting Stents – Doing What They’re Supposed To

Coronary StentsAt this week’s annual European Society of Cardiology Congress in Rome, an important randomized clinical trial on stents was presented by Professor Kaare H. Bønaa, MD, PhD of the Clinic for Heart Disease, St. Olav’s University Hospital in Trondheim, Norway. Called NORSTENT, short for the “Norwegian Coronary Stent Trial,” this was the largest stent trial ever conducted, with 9,013 patients followed for six years. That’s serious! Continue reading

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Filed under Antiplatelet Medications, Back to the Future, Bare Metal Stents, Clinical Trials / Studies, Cost Effectiveness, Diabetes, Drug-Eluting Stents, Europe, Global Trends, Media Coverage, Meetings & Conferences, Patient Experience, Patients, Stent, Stent Thrombosis

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

Philips Buys Volcano: It’s About Money, Technology, and History

  Rumors and theories about an acquisition of Volcano Corporation (NASDAQ: VOLC) had been circulating for quite some time: months, years even. The company seemed an obvious choice: it has an advanced intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) technology that leads the market, with Boston Scientific coming in second; it has a fractional flow reserve (FFR) wire that splits the market with St. Jude Medical; and recently Volcano gained FDA approval for its Instant Wave-Free Ratio (iFR) physiologic measurement product, a faster, cheaper potential alternative to FFR. Continue reading

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Filed under ACC, Angiograms, Back to the Future, Business & Industry, Cardiac CT, Cost Effectiveness, FFR, Global Trends, History, Imaging, Intravascular Guidance, IVUS, OCT, 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

Back to the Future: Drug-Eluting Angioplasty Balloons, Dissolving Stents, FFR and More

Back to the FutureI added a new category “tag” to the stent blog today: “Back to the Future.” And I hereby declare this to be an internet meme, even if it’s only a meme on this site!

I added this category because every TCT or ACC or AHA or ISET or ESC or EuroPCR meeting that I cover, I am struck by the fact that the newest, latest, greatest innovations are all ideas that were present at the genesis of this field of interventional cardiology. Continue reading

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Filed under Back to the Future, Drug-Eluting Stents, FFR, History, Meetings & Conferences, Peripheral Artery Disease (PAD), Video