Photo by Daniel Schwen
Swedish Medical Center and the Seattle Science Foundation are teaming up once again to provide training in the transradial (or wrist) approach for interventional cardiologists.
Titled “The Transradial Approach: A Case-based and Hands-on Training Course,” this two-day course runs from March 1-2, 2013. The faculty consists of cardiology chief Dr. Peter J. Casterella and the staff at Swedish Medical Center, along with Dr. Sunil V. Rao from Duke. Continue reading
Filed under Meetings & Conferences, Transradial Approach
Dr. Oz interviews Dr. Jennifer Tremmel about Transradial Angioplasty
Today, Dr. Oz featured cardiac catheterization, angioplasty, and stents from the wrist on his afternoon TV show. Billed as part of his series, “Dr. Oz’s Ultimate Insider’s Guide: The Newest Medical Breakthroughs,” Mehmet Oz interviewed Dr. Jennifer Tremmel, Director of Transradial Interventions at Stanford Medical Center, Clinical Director of Women’s Heart Health at Stanford Clinic and friend of Angioplasty.Org (you can read my interview with Dr. Tremmel in our Transradial Center). Continue reading
Filed under Media Coverage, Patients, Transradial Approach
Cleveland Clinic
A new article about transradial angioplasty (the placement of a stent using the radial artery in the wrist) appeared today in the Cleveland Clinic’s Heart & Vascular Health Blog, authored by their “Beating Edge Team.” Titled, “Unclogging Blocked Arteries Via the Wrist: Angioplasty approach may offer clinical benefits for certain patients,” the article’s purpose seems to be to familiarize patients with this new alternative approach to diagnostic angiography and angioplasty, “now being offered” at the Cleveland Clinic.
Unfortunately this short article, while supposedly an “advertisement” for wrist angioplasty, continues to promulgate several widely-held myths about the radial approach. Continue reading
Today’s report from the ACC CathPCI Registry data has some interesting statistics, among them a significant increase in the transradial approach, in which balloons and stents are directed to the heart via the radial artery in the wrist. As I’ve discussed for several years now, the radial approach is utilized much more outside of the U.S. — but it is catching on here…finally.
Dr. Sunil V. Rao
Four years ago we wrote about a study, authored by Dr. Sunil V. Rao, that also used data from the CathPCI registry for the years 2004-2007. (For more information, read my interview with Dr. Rao.) At that time Dr. Rao calculated the usage of transradial angioplasty in the U.S. at 1.32%.
Today’s report tabulates it at 6.9%: a five-fold increase!
Dr. Rao has been one of the main proponents of the transradial approach in the U.S., practicing it, teaching it, lecturing all over the country about it, and most recently co-directing a “Masters Course” in transradial at Duke. Continue reading
Filed under ACC, Heart Attack, Meetings & Conferences, Transradial Approach
The TCT will be held in Miami Beach, October 22-26, 2012
The Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics conference (TCT) is the largest U.S. meeting devoted to interventional cardiology (angioplasty, stents, and related procedures) and it starts next week. Organizers are predicting a new attendance record of over 12,000 cardiologists and associated healthcare professionals, as well as members of the device, imaging and pharmaceutical industries, venture capitalists, and press. Speaking of which, yes…I will be there and Angioplasty.Org will be reporting on late-breaking trials, new directions and innovative devices.
The annual meeting is truly international: attendees will be traveling from 70 countries; in fact, this year more than two-thirds of the registrants hail from outside the United States. Continue reading
Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij
I’ve written about this before, when Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij let me know back in April that this year was the 20th anniversary of the first angioplasty and stent placement performed via the radial artery in the wrist.
The procedure was done by Dr. Kiemeneij in The Netherlands — and it was exactly twenty years ago today when Dr. Kiemeneij taught the band to play!
And play it has. Many countries in the world now do the majority of interventional procedures via the wrist artery — and, alas, the United States is far behind the curve. Less than 10% of procedures are done this way here — but that too is changing. Continue reading
Filed under Health 2.0, Innovators, Transradial Approach
Radial Approach
We were honored to gain a new Twitter follower today: Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij, the “father of transradial intervention”, who notified us that this year is the 20th anniversary of the first transradial intervention: angioplasty done through the radial artery in the wrist. It was 1992 in Amsterdam that Dr. Kiemeneij’s group first began exploring ways to use the radial artery for interventional procedures, such as delivering balloons and stents. They were somewhat limited by the early equipment, but as catheters and stents became lower profile, thinner and easier to manipulate, the ability of physicians to use the radial artery increased. Most devices today can be delivered successfully using the radial artery. Continue reading
Filed under Innovators, Transradial Approach
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