New intravascular ultrasound study reveals ‘clear opportunity’ to help millions
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Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) reduces major adverse limb events, such as amputations, and is associated with other positive long-term outcomes among patients undergoing arterial and peripheral vascular procedures.
The findings were presented Monday during the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting and included CMS data from more than 700,000 patients. It’s the largest real-world analysis of its kind to investigate IVUS in this patient population, according to Philips, which supported the study.
Results showed IVUS reduced adverse limb outcomes by 32% among older patients with peripheral artery disease. And those with chronic venous disease experienced a 31% reduction in repeat intervention, hospitalization or death during iliofemoral venous stenting.
“The results of this large-scale study demonstrate favorable long-term outcomes in peripheral vascular interventions when IVUS is used,” Eric Secemsky, MD, director of Vascular Intervention and interventional cardiologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, said in a statement. “This is a moment for us to further our efforts in saving lives and saving limbs,” he added.
Many prior, prospective studies have shown the immense benefits of IVUS in guiding peripheral vascular interventions. But these new findings indicate such gains extend to a broader population.
Secemsky, who presented the study findings, also pointed to the first-ever consensus guidelines for appropriately using IVUS published back in October. Those cross-specialty recommendations, combined with these study findings, point to a “clear opportunity” for IVUS to help millions of patients.
“We are committed to supporting evidence-based medical guidelines in pursuit of better patient outcomes,” added Chris Landon, senior vice president and general manager of Image Guided Therapy Devices at Philips, which helped develop the appropriate use guidelines. “We believe that the ability of IVUS to deliver procedure optimization and confidence enhances patient and staff experiences and lowers cost of care.”
The Smith Center for Outcomes and Research, part of Beth Israel, performed the study independently, with support from Philips.
Matt joined Chicago’s TriMed team in 2018 covering all areas of health imaging after two years reporting on the hospital field. He holds a bachelor’s in English from UIC, and enjoys a good cup of coffee and an interesting documentary.