Clinical Need

The clinical need for better microvascular diagnostic and therapy options

Interventional cardiology is proficient at opening severely narrowed or occluded epicardial coronary arteries using catheters, guide wires, balloons, and stents in a cardiac catheterization laboratory, a minimally invasive procedure called percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). However, a successful re-opening of a narrowed or blocked coronary artery does not always restore blood flow to the entire heart muscle.

Despite many technology advances in epicardial imaging and diagnostic tools, including those with AI claims, more than 1/3rd of patients return within on year of treatment with chest pain or rehospitalization. Recent evidence in literature suggests the root cause is of microvascular nature, which is often undetected and untreated.

ACC Spotlight Series on Microvascular, October 2022; Quesada, Henry

In acute heart attack STEMI patients, the consequence of microvascular blockages, known as MVO, can be devastating. For every 1% increase in MVO, there is an increase in 1 year risk of mortality by 14%, and for HF hospitalization by 8%. As a prognostic indicator of outcomes, MVO is found to be the single most powerful predictor of clinical outcomes.

Data from Matthijs Van Kranenburg et al., JACC Cardiovasc Imaging. 2014 Sep;7(9):930-9

Data from Giampaolo Niccoli et al., Eur Heart J. 2016 Apr 1;37(13):1024-33

Clinical Need

The clinical need for better microvascular diagnostic and therapy options

Who we are

Clinical

News

Our Office