Could the ORBITA trial’s enduring value be in prompting the cardiology community to rethink how it diagnoses, treats and even defines angina?

High-intensity statin therapy for peripheral artery disease (PAD) patients reduces the risk of lower-extremity amputations by one-third and the risk of mortality by 26 percent, a new study found. However, the lipid-lowering drugs remain underutilized in the PAD population despite their guideline-recommended use.

DENVER — Measuring frailty could lead to more accurate predictions of outcomes following transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) than a validated risk algorithm, according to research presented Oct. 30 at the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium.

Boston Scientific’s transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) technology, the LOTUS Valve System, shows superiority to a similar platform made by a competitor in a new clinical trial.

PET with 11C-PIB provides a noninvasive method for visualizing amyloid deposits in the heart, according to a study published in the February issue of the Journal of Nuclear Medicine. The researchers suggest that 11C-PIB eventually may be used in the clinical setting as both a diagnostic tool and a treatment follow-up method.

Medtronics Resolute zotarolimus-eluting stent was found to be as safe and effective as Abbott Vasculars Xience V everolimus-eluting stent in a predominantly off-label population, based on the results of the RESOLUTE all-comers trial, presented Tuesday by Patrick W. Serruys MD, PhD, at EuroPCR in Paris. Slides

Inducing hypothermia by a combo infusion of cold saline and use of an endovascular cooling catheter is an effective adjuctive therapy for acute MI patients, according to a study presented Thursday by researchers from Lund University Hospital in Lund, Sweden, at EuroPCR in Paris.