I am pleased to introduce Interventional Cardiology – Volume 6, Issue 2, the contents of which are varied and address issues ranging from bifurcation stenting to overcoming the challenges of transcatheter aortic valve implantation. These procedures are a few of the challenges that still need to be overcome since the introduction of drug-eluting stents. I believe, as emphasised in the article by Delgado et al., that accurate measurement of the annulus size is critical to the success of the procedure, especially for reducing the complications of paravalvular leak when performing a transcatheter aortic valve implantation procedure.
Similarly, bifurcation lesions are tricky to treat and placement of the stent and avoiding stent malapposition can be difficult to predict. Stent designs as well as post-dilatation procedures are critical and can be better understood as shown by Mortier et al. by using virtual bench testing by finite element simulation or by the use of in vivo optical coherence tomography. Above all, as stated by Routledge, when treating bifurcation lesions the motto should be, “Keep it simple”.
There is also a nice short review on drug-eluting balloons and the results obtained in recent small human trials and how these show promise in the treatment of in-stent restenosis as well as in native coronary disease. One of the greatest success stories of interventional cardiology is the use of primary percutaneous coronary intervention for the treatment of acute myocardial infarction. Natarajan suggests that incorporating manual removal of thrombus along with intracoronary glycoprotein inhibitors takes advantage of both treatments in one and may have a legitimate role.
Readers will find this issue of great interest as a wide variety of topics are discussed and presented that are seen in the everyday practice of interventional cardiology.