Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear This is an RSS file. You can use it to subscribe to this data in your favourite RSS reader or to display this data on your own website or blog.

Ask George W. Bush a Question About His Stent…or Anything Else
Six months ago, former President Bush received an angioplasty and stent. The stent was recommended by Bush's doctors to open a blockage in one of his coronary arteries, found during his annual physical exam. The next week saw numerous articles in the mainstream media and professional publications questioning whether this stent was necessary. So…at this year's CRT 2014 meeting, held annually in Washington, D.C., Dr. Ron Waksman and the rest of the organizers have arranged for George W. Bush to be a featured speaker. And they have been emailing all potential attendees with the subject line, "Submit a Question for President...
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - February 1, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

50 Years Ago Today Charles Dotter Invented Angioplasty
It was 50 years ago today that Dr. Charles T. Dotter, a radiologist in Portland, Oregon, performed the first angioplasty. But it wasn't in the heart; it was in the leg. An 82-year-old woman was suffering from great pain in her left foot because of blocked circulation in her leg. Her toes had become gangrenous and there was an non-healing ulcer. Amputation was recommended by the physicians at Oregon Health Sciences University, but the woman refused. A video clip from my documentary "Explorers of the Heart" tells more. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - January 16, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Another Viewpoint on Renal Denervation and SYMPLICITY HTN-3 from Dr. Darrel Francis
Is the failure of the SYMPLICITY HTN-3 trial to meet its efficacy endpoint the "end of the road" for renal denervation? Will renal denervation now land on the heap of failed technologies? I don't think so, and Dr. Darrel Francis, the cardiologist who famously predicted that SYMPLICITY HTN-3 would not meet its endpoint, agrees. In fact Dr. Francis told Angioplasty.Org that it would be a "grave error" if the FDA withheld renal denervation from the American people, based on this news! OK. Do I have your attention? (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - January 13, 2014 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Surgery, Stents and Sports: "Let's Go to the Videotape!"
A recent New York Times article delves into a topic not often discussed: the fact that some surgeons are more skilled than others. "A Vital Measure: Your Surgeon's Skill" by Dr. Pauline W. Chen is a fascinating look at a taboo topic. Dr. Chen describes an innovative program where a group of expert surgeons judges how skilled a particular colleague is by looking at a close-up videotape of how he or she works with their hands, utilizes equipment, and so on. However, watching procedures on video is nothing new to me, or to any member of the interventional cardiology community. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - November 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Andreas Gruentzig: In His Own Words
On Tuesday morning the Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) 2013 Conference celebrated the "father of angioplasty," Dr. Andreas Roland Gruentzig, with the Career Achievement Award. Gruentzig, who died in 1985, was honored with a very moving tribute, which included a video, remembrances from his colleagues, and by the presence of his wife and two daughters, who were flown in from Zurich and Berlin by the TCT to receive the award on his behalf. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 31, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Let's Disagree to Agree: the Not-So-Great Coronary Angioplasty Debate and a Patient's Right to Speak
I read yesterday morning that I was now a party to "The Great Coronary Angioplasty Debate." (Note to self: don't look at Twitter before Sunday brunch.) This all started a week ago, when Dr. Nortin Hadler posted an op-ed piece on The Health Care Blog, titled "The End of the Era of Coronary Angioplasty." He opined that angioplasty was unnecessary in the setting of a major heart attack (a.k.a. STEMI) and might even worsen outcomes. His title and thesis was so over-the-top (intentionally so, I'm sure) that I felt obliged to pen a response to his very anti-stent article. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 22, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

For Transradial Angioplasty, "Slender and Lean" in the Netherlands
Five years ago, interventional cardiologists in Japan decided that to make the transradial approach even easier, the equipment needed to be downsized, literally — and the Slender Club Japan was started, initiated by Dr. Fuminobu Yoshimachi. Interventionalists got together for workshops and meetings throughout Japan to demonstrate new innovations and techniques, "slender" techniques with miniaturized equipment. Now Dr. Ferdinand Kiemeneij, father of the trasradial approach, is bringing the Slender Club to Europe and has announced a very special kick-off meeting for the Slender Club Europe on February 14, 2014. (Source: Bu...
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 20, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Angioplasty, Stents or Fibrinolytic Therapy for Heart Attacks?
How does a physician treat a heart attack where the blood flow to the heart muscle is suddenly cut off by a blocked artery? In the most severe cases, the ST segments on the ECG are elevated, signalling that a major part of the heart muscle is at risk. It's called a STEMI (ST-Elevated Myocardial Infarction). And, if you subscribe to the concept that the heart and circulation are like the plumbing in your house, like Dr. Charles Dotter did (he invented the concept of angioplasty and, in his offbeat humorous way, he used the graphic to the left as his logo), then you would assume there are two major ways to treat the problem:...
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 17, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

R.I.P. Angioplasty 1977-2013 – Really?
My first thought upon seeing this Op-Ed piece posted today on The Health Care Blog was that it was yet another article railing against the overuse of stents in patients with stable angina. But, as I continued to read the article, I saw that Dr. Hadler's premise is that angioplasty may not be necessary even in the severe cases of STEMI, and that clot-busting drugs could achieve the same outcomes at less expense and less risk for the patient. He spends most of his article discussing the recent STREAM study. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 14, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

No New FDA Approvals Today!
Obviously, with the Federal government in shut down mode, a situation precipitated by the House of Representatives' demand to delay the implementation of the already-implemented Affordable Care Act (a.k.a. Obamacare), no new device approvals will be forthcoming today, or any other day, until the U.S. Government gets an infusion of start-up capital (puns intended). (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - October 1, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

AIM-RADIAL International Master Class in New York
For the next three days, scores of interventional cardiologists will be gathering in New York City for the Second Annual AIM-RADIAL Master Class where they will hear talks, engage in roundtable discussions, watch live case demonstrations, and be thoroughly immersed in advanced state-of-the-art techniques, the latest data and the most current evidence-based medicine regarding all aspects of the transradial technique for diagnostic angiography and percutaneous interventions. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - September 26, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Department Store Where Dr. DeBakey Found His Surgical Graft Fabric is Demolished
I was alerted via Twitter today that the Macy's department store, formerly Foley's, in Houston, Texas was demolished yesterday. The building has significance for the world of medicine. Foley's is where Michael DeBakey purchased a bit of Dacron fabric, which he fashioned into an arterial graft to repair an aortic aneurysm, an achievement which gave birth to the wide spectrum of medical devices we have today. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - September 23, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Recycling Health News for Google Dollars, Robot Style
For years I have been getting Google News Alerts for any articles containing the keywords angioplasty, stent, etc. But recently I've been seeing more and more stories from Toronto NewsFix, and they don't add up. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - July 21, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Stents and Angioplasty via the Wrist: Not Just Evangelical Anymore
In our interview with Dr. Caputo, he discusses how the landscape of transradial has changed in the past 5 years from introductory "evangelical" didactic lectures to mentorship and adoption by hospitals for economic benefit and improved patient care, from basically a physician-centered to an institutional-centered concern. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - July 10, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs

Stent Wars, the Prequel: PROMUS Element "Beats" Xience
The whole marketing message of "our stent beats your stent" has just become so Early 21st Century. Times have changed: Cordis is no longer in the coronary stent business and Boston Scientific is trading at 15% of what it was back then. And devices have changed: they have all gotten much better. These days, most drug-eluting stents studies show outcomes that are pretty close. (Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear)
Source: Burts Stent Blog : The Voice in the Ear - July 3, 2013 Category: Health Medicine and Bioethics Commentators Source Type: blogs