BREAKING NEWS - President Bill Clinton to Deliver Keynote Address at CRT 2012!

January 13, 2012 - President Bill Clinton, Founder of the William J. Clinton Foundation and 42nd President of the United States, will deliver the keynote address at CRT 2012. CRT 2012 is honored to present An Evening with President Clinton: Embracing our Common Humanity.

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Statins Bridge the Gender Gap

A meta-analysis of 18 clinical trials, including 141,235 patients, has shown that statins are equally effective in men and women in reducing cardiovascular outcomes and all-cause mortality.

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ASCERT Provides Controversial Data

Data from the ASCERT study, presented at the STS annual meeting, has found that CABG provides better 4-year survival odds than PCI in high-risk, stable patients. Although this has broadened the smiles on many surgeons, interventional cardiologists have suggested that the study was never intended as a comparative study but a descriptive analysis of outcomes in patients undergoing PCI or CABG.

Strut Coverage & Remodelling Remain Key Players in Late Stent Thrombosis

OCT and IVUS examination of patients presenting with late stent thrombosis (LST) has identified lack of stent strut coverage and the remodelling index as independent predictors of LST.

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Novel Biomarkers of Cardiovascular Stress in Patients with Stable Angina

Three novel biomarkers, pro-atrial natriuretic peptide (MR-proANP), midregional pro-adrenomedullin (MR-proADM), and C-terminal pro-endothelin-1 (CT-proET-1), have been identified to provide prognostic information regarding mortality and the development of heart failure in patients with stable angina.

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Cangrelor – The New Kid on the Block

Cangrelor, an intravenous reversible P2Y12 receptor inhibitor, has been identified as an effective bridge therapy in patients on thienopyridines requiring CABG.

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Evidence for Transradial PCI Continues to Rise

A comparison of radial versus femoral-based PCI in patients presenting with STEMI from the Italian multicenter REAL registry has demonstrated a decreased 2-year mortality rate and a reduction in the need for vascular surgery and/or surgery with the former.

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Recommendation Made to Halt FAME II Enrollment

Based on a positive interim analysis showing a significant reduction in the need for hospital readmission and urgent revascularization when FFR-guided assessment was used to direct treatment in patients with CAD, the independent Data Safety Monitoring Board (DSMB) of the FAME II trial has recommended investigators stop patient enrollment as the DSMB considers it unethical to continue to randomize patients to optimal medical therapy alone.

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Aspirin Not Indicated in Primary Prevention

The latest meta-analysis, involving more than 100,000 patients, has revealed that in the context of primary prevention aspirin is associated with greater harm than benefit and should not be prescribed.

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TAVI in Lower Risk Patients – Is it the Right Time?

An analysis of 420 patients divided into quartiles of risk has concluded that, as compared to higher surgical risk patients, better clinical outcomes can be expected.

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SCAAR Confirms the Safety & Efficacy of New-Generation DES

The Swedish Coronary Angiography & Angioplasty Registry has demonstrated that the use of new-generation DES is associated with reductions in restenosis rates (38%), stent thrombosis (43%), and death (23%).

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Vascular Complications Dramatically Reduced with Rigorous Pt. Selection in PAVR

In patients undergoing PAVR, vascular complications have been shown to occur more frequently in those with arterial calcification, peripheral arterial disease, and when the arterial diameter is smaller than the external sheath diameter.

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EVEREST II Provides Reassuring Acute & 12-month Results

The use of the MitraClip device in patients with severe MR who are at high risk for surgery has been shown to lead to significant reductions in MR, as well as improvements in clinical outcomes and reverse left ventricular remodelling.

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Bariatric Surgery Reduces Mortality & Cardiovascular Events

The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study has shown that as compared to medical therapy, bariatric surgery in obese subjects is associated with reductions in cardiovascular death, and cardiovascular events (MI or stroke).

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