Ultrasound-guided stent implantation improves outcomes over angiography-guided method
Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided stent implantation produced better clinical outcomes for heart patients compared to a conventional angiography-guided method, researchers said this week at the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) meeting in San Diego, California.
Study lead Junjie Zhang, MD, and colleagues recruited 1,448 all-comer drug-eluting stent (DES) patients from eight centers in China. The group was randomized 1:1 to DES implantation with either IVUS guidance or angiography guidance, according to a study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
Results revealed, one year after percutaneous coronary intervention, 4.2 percent of patients experienced target vessel failure (TVF)—the primary study endpoint—defined as cardiac death, target vessel MI and clinically driven target vessel revascularization.
“This study for the first time reports the benefit of IVUS guidance over angiography guidance from all-comers of a large population who underwent implantation of a DES,” Zhang et al. wrote. “While IVUS guidance was associated with improved clinical outcome and there was a realization of the presence of different optimal criteria for IVUS guidance, the lingering question remains: how to achieve optimal IVUS-guided PCI?”
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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.