SCAI Launches National Awareness Campaign Amid COVID-19

The Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) presented its Master Interventionalists of SCAI (MSCAI) designations during the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference MSCAI recognition ceremony.

A percutaneous transcatheter therapy for congenital heart disease (CHD) patients with severe pulmonary regurgitation (PR) has been slow to materialize, in comparison to transcatheter pulmonary valve (TPV) therapy for a dysfunctional surgical RV-PA conduit which was first implanted twenty years ago as the Melody TPV. Findings from the Medtronic Harmony TPV Pivotal Trial were presented today during the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference and showed favorable outcomes utilizing the device in patients with severe PR.

Patients with high lipid levels have an increased risk for ischemic events, despite statin therapy. Findings presented as late-breaking science during the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference revealed that for statin-treated patients with elevated triglycerides and increased cardiovascular risk, icosapent ethyl significantly reduced first and subsequent revascularizations compared with placebo.

Patients undergoing cardiac catheterization are traditionally instructed to follow nothing by mouth, or nil per os (NPO), as there are no current standardized fasting protocols. The single center, randomized study presented today as late-breaking science during the SCAI 2020 Scientific Sessions Virtual Conference aimed to compare safety and clinical outcomes of a non-fasting (NF) strategy as compared to current standard fasting (SF) protocol. The CHOW NOW study is the first in the United States and globally with a large number of randomized patients evaluating the safety of letting them eat prior to a non-emergent cardiac catheterization. This study was performed at Guthrie Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre, PA.