TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories for February 2021

TCTMD’s top 10 stories for February 2021 hint that cardiologists are keeping an eager eye on updates to their field and perhaps growing weary of COVID-19 news. While our COVID-19 Daily Dispatch held onto its position in the top three, only two others were related to SARS-CoV-2. Three stories, however, involved US Food and Drug Administration decisions or data, and a fourth dealt with how to measure PCI performance feedback. In what might be a nod to mounting concerns over how patients are passing their days as the pandemic drags on, our far-and-away most-clicked story addressed the coronary impact of recreational drugs and drinking.

1. Smoking, Drinking, and Drugs—All Signs Point to Earlier ASCVD

Combining drugs spells trouble: people who use four or more drugs face nearly a ninefold higher risk of premature atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease.

2. FDA Approves Shockwave Intravascular Lithotripsy for Calcified Coronaries

Dean Kereiakes says simplicity, safety, and efficacy make the choice a no-brainer. The sticker price may raise eyebrows.

3. COVID-19: TCTMD’s Daily Dispatch

We’re curating a list of COVID-19 research and other useful content, and updating it daily.

4. FDA Data Raise Red Flags for Suture-Based Vascular Closure Devices

Adverse-event reports show complications can be serious, senior author Ron Waksman says. “People have to be aware of it.”

5. True Myocarditis Uncommon in COVID-19, Review Concludes

A roundup of published autopsy data and a comparison of tissue samples provide some reassurance for clinicians.

6. New FDA Indication Opens Up Use of Sacubitril/Valsartan in HFpEF

The ARNI is the first heart failure therapy with an FDA-approved indication that includes patients with preserved ejection fraction.

7. The Right Anticoagulation Dose in COVID-19? Final Answer Remains Elusive

Interim results from an international, multiplatform RCT have been released, but experts urge caution before changing practice.

8. PCI Performance Feedback Faces Disinterest, Disengagement, and Distrust

Collaborative, case-based discussions among the group would be more welcome than numbers on spreadsheets, some say.

9. Experts Update Antithrombotic Advice in AF Patients Undergoing PCI

The tweaked North American document incorporating new trial evidence reiterates its stance against prolonged triple therapy.

10. Long-term CTO Data Raise Questions Over Primary Goals of Care

Two new papers highlight the need for optimal revascularization, but debate will go on over angina relief versus harder outcomes.