WASHINGTON (Jul 05, 2017) - Data from the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry was the source in a decision to expand use of an artificial valve and for several published studies, including a study measuring volume of percutaneous coronary interventions performed by operators and on delays in treatment for black and female heart attack patients.

FDA Cites STS/ACC TVT Registry Data to Expand Use of Sapien 3 Artificial Heart Valve

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved expanding the use of Sapien 3 Transcatheter Heart Valve (THV) for patients with symptomatic heart disease due to failure of a previously placed bioprosthetic aortic or mitral valve whose risk of death or severe complications from repeat surgery is high or greater. As a part of this approval, this FDA evaluated data from the STS/ACC TVT Registry, a partnership of the American College of Cardiology and the Society of Thoracic Surgeons. The registry collects clinical data on the safety and effectiveness of transcatheter valve replacement procedures performed in a real-world setting. Read more.
Study Suggests It's Uncommon For Type 2 Diabetes Patients Not to Have Other Cardio-Renal-Metabolic Conditions

It is uncommon for patients to have Type 2 diabetes without other cardio-renal-metabolic (CaReMe) conditions, according to research presented during the American Diabetes Association Scientific Sessions in San Diego. As such, there is a "clinical need for novel Type 2 diabetes treatment strategies that address both glycemia and coexisting disease states in this high-risk patient group," said study authors Robert J. LoCasale, MD, et al. The cross-sectional study used data from the Diabetes Collaborative Registry between January 2013 and June 2016. A total of 530,747 patients aged 18 years or older with Type 2 diabetes were eligible for inclusion in the study. Patients with Type 1 diabetes were excluded. Results found that most patients (95.7 percent) had at least one other CaReMe condition in addition to Type 2 diabetes, with the most prevalent being hypertension, hyperlipidemia, coronary artery disease and chronic kidney disease. More than half of patients (58.6 percent) had at least three additional CaReMe conditions. Read more.

NCDR Study Finds PCI Operators Perform Low Volume of PCI Procedures Annually

Many PCI operators in the U.S. perform fewer than the recommended number of PCI procedures annually, according to a study published June 12 in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Using data from the ACC's CathPCI Registry, Alexander C. Fanaroff, MD, et al., looked at operator annual PCI volume between July 2009 and March 2015. Operators were divided into low- (less than 50 PCIs per year), intermediate- (50 to 100 PCIs per year) and high- (more than 100 PCIs per year) volume groups. Results showed that the median annual number of procedures performed per operator was 59, and 44 percent of operators performed less than 50 PCI procedures per year – the number of procedures recommended by the ACC/AHA/SCAI 2013 Update of the Clinical Competence Statement on Coronary Artery Interventional Procedures. In addition, low-volume operators more frequently performed emergency and primary PCI procedures and practiced at hospitals with lower annual PCI volumes. The adjusted risk of in-hospital mortality was higher for PCI procedures performed by low- and intermediate-volume operators compared with those performed by high-volume operators. Read more.

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