TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories for December 2025

Two of the biggest stories in December, CLOSURE-AF and OCEAN, emerged from the American Heart Association 2025 Scientific Sessions held the month prior in New Orleans, LA. Other favorites included the long-awaited CREST-2 findings that bolstered support for stents in asymptomatic carotid stenosis and a US Food and Drug Administration panel vote against approval of a novel shunt for patients with heart failure. The approval of a new PCSK9 inhibitor, TAVI in patients with obstructive CAD, and the World Health Organization’s endorsement of the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists to treat obesity also drew readers.

1. AHA LAAO Doesn’t Match Medical Therapy for High-risk AF Patients: CLOSURE-AF

The noninferiority trial of patients at risk for both bleeding and stroke, in a surprise turn, found standard care to be superior.

2. Long-Awaited CREST-2 Results Bolster Stents for Asymptomatic Carotid Stenosis

Stenting, but not endarterectomy, significantly reduced stroke risk compared with intensive medical therapy alone.

3. FDA Panel Declines to Endorse Ventura Interatrial Shunt for HFrEF

Panelists considered the technology relatively safe but weren’t swayed by the “statistical gymnastics” needed to find a benefit.

4. STAR Trial Gives Insight Into Two-Stage CTO PCI in Complex Patients

Alongside a strategy of subintimal tracking and re-entry, bringing patients back for stenting—early or late—offers similar success.

5. TAVI Patients Seem to Pay No Penalty for Obstructive CAD

Survival, quality of life, and efficacy remained similar in the 3 years after TAVI for patients with versus without blockages.

6. Second Interventional Match Identifies Potential Pipeline Problem

The match didn’t cause a “mismatch of supply and demand” but did reveal an opportunity to create change, experts say.

7. FDA Approves Lerodalcibep for Adults With Hypercholesterolemia

The third-generation PCSK9 inhibitor is self-administered monthly and can be kept at room temperature.

8. Stopping DOACs After Successful AF Ablation Feasible in Low-risk Patients: OCEAN

All experts warned that the trial results don’t apply to higher-risk groups.

9. ANOCA May Not Be as Risky as Feared: Danish Data

Angina patients with no obstructive CAD had no worse outcomes over 15 years, perhaps because they got the care they needed.

10. WHO Endorses Treating Obesity in Adults With GLP-1s