MIAMI—“You can’t use IVUS [intravascular ultrasound] to determine whether a lesion is less or equal to 0.8. For that determination, you need to use FFR [fractional flow reserve],” explained Gregg W. Stone, MD, as one of the take-home messages from the VERDICT F1RST/VERDICT PILOT trials, presented Oct. 22 at 2012 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

MIAMI—Dual-antiplatelet therapy (DAPT) cessation after stent implantation within one year was associated with an increased risk for all adverse events, an association that was strongest in the first seven days and attenuated after 30 days, according to the one-year results of the PARIS registry, presented Oct. 22 at the annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference.

Edwards Lifesciences chalked up another victory for its Sapien transcatheter aortic heart valve with the FDA’s approval to use the valve in high-risk aortic stenosis patients. The valve may be delivered both transfemorally and transapically.

Facilities that have no on-site cardiac surgery capabilities still sometimes perform interventional cardiology procedures. That was among the findings in the CathPCI registry report detailing the current state of interventional cardiology practice in the U.S.

The FDA is advising physicians who administered a cardioplegic solution made by a company that is under investigation for producing contaminated injectable steroids to follow up with their patients after two heart transplant patients developed infections.

The 2012 Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) conference, scheduled Oct. 22-26 in Miami, will include a variety of presentations for interventional cardiologists, including the latest findings on pharmaceuticals, devices and imaging, according to TCT co-director Gregg W. Stone, MD, professor of medicine at Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Joseph E. Parrillo, MD, has taken the position of chairman of Hackensack University Medical Center’s Heart & Vascular Hospital in Hackensack, N.J.

The benefits of transcatheter aortic valve-in-valve implantation do not justify the risk in patients with degenerated stenotic or regurgitant bioprosthetic valves who are candidates for reoperation. But it may be an acceptable approach in carefully selected high-risk patients and in those considered “no option,” according to a study published online Oct. 10 in Circulation.