Search

Intravascular lithotripsy (IVL) has been well characterized as a safe and effective method for plaque modification in the treatment of de-novo, calcific coronary artery disease. In-stent restenosis (ISR) remains a major challenge in coronary revascularization, especially "multilayer" ISR. The use of IVL in ISR remains off-label and has been described in case reports and small case series. We report the single-center experience using IVL for the treatment of ISR, including multilayer ISR.This was a retrospective single-center study. All intracoronary percutaneous interventions requiring lithotripsy use, between May 2021 and December 2021, were reviewed. We selected only the cases involving IVL use for the treatment of in-stent restenosis. Baseline characteristics of patients were obtained from chart review. Procedural details and outcomes were obtained from reports and from a detailed review of procedural images.A total of 13 ISR lesions were treated with IVL, of which 5 were in cases of multilayer ISR. Procedural success was observed in 11 lesions. Three patients had recurrent angina during a mean follow-up of 133 days. None of the patients had hard outcomes of myocardial infarction or cardiac death during the follow-up period.IVL is feasible and safe for ISR treatment including multilayer ISR. IVL is associated with good immediate procedural success, and a low rate of short-term adverse outcomes.

Coronary artery perforation is a serious complication during percutaneous coronary intervention that results in significant increase in morbidity and mortality. In this article, we provide a state-of-the-art overview of the contemporary management of coronary perforation and the possible scenarios that operators may run into during percutaneous coronary interventions.Coronary perforation during percutaneous coronary intervention. Literature search was performed using PubMed and Google Scholar to identify the most recently published articles covering this topic.As part of this review, we also provide an expert commentary discussing the nuances in the recognition and management of coronary artery perforation, in addition to future directions, and improvements in technology that could make the management of coronary perforation safer and more effective.

While poor drug adherence is frequent in patients with resistant hypertension, detailed analyses of the impact of drug adherence on the success of renal denervation are scarce. We report drug adherence at baseline, changes in drug adherence, and the influence of these parameters on blood pressure changes at 6 and 12 months in patients treated with alcohol-mediated renal denervation as part of the Peregrine study. Urinary detection of antihypertensive drugs was performed using high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. Full adherence, partial adherence, and complete non-adherence were defined as 0, 1, or ≥2 drugs not detected, respectively. Renal denervation was performed in 45 patients with uncontrolled hypertension on ≥3 antihypertensive medications (62% men, age 55 ± 10 years). At baseline, the proportion of fully, partially, and non-adherent patients was 62% (n = 28), 16% (n = 7), and 22% (n = 10), respectively. At 6 months, adherence improved by 21% (n = 9), remained unchanged at 49% (n = 21), and worsened by 30% (n = 13). Mean 24-h systolic blood pressure decreased by 10 ± 13, 10 ± 4, and 14 ± 19 mmHg in fully, partially, and non-adherent patients (p = 0.77), and by 14 ± 14, 8 ± 11, and 14 ± 18 mmHg in patients who improved, maintained, or decreased adherence, respectively (p = 0.35). The results at 12 months were similar. About 40% of patients with apparently treatment-resistant hypertension were not fully adherent at baseline, and adherence decreased further in 30%. Nevertheless, mean blood pressure changes after renal denervation were similar irrespective of drug adherence. Our results suggest that such patients may benefit from alcohol-mediated renal denervation, irrespective of drug adherence. These findings are hypothesis-generating and need to be confirmed in ongoing sham-controlled trials.

Sympathetic nervous system activation in patients with heart failure is one of the main pathophysiologic mechanisms associated with the worse outcomes. Pharmacotherapies targeting neurohormonal activation have been at the center of heart failure management. Despite the advancement of therapies and the available treatments, heart failure continues to have an overall poor prognosis. Renal denervation was originally developed to lower systemic blood pressure in patients with poorly controlled hypertension, by modulating sympathetic outflow. However, more recently, multiple studies have investigated the effect of renal denervation in heart failure patients with both preserved (HFpEF) and reduced ejection fractions (HFrEF). This paper provides an overview of the potential effect of renal denervation in altering the various pathophysiologic, sympathetically mediated pathways that contribute to heart failure, and reviews the literature that supports its future use in those patients.