TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories for October 2020

TCTMD’s coverage of diverse coronary and structural late-breaking clinical trials from the virtual TCT Connect meeting dominated our top 10 list this month, with MitraBridge, SCOPE 2, and SOLVE-TAVI making the top five. But once again, our daily brief summing up the breaking COVID-19 research and policy news proved popular—bookmark it!—while a meta-analysis from JAMA Internal Medicine, addressing overall and cause-specific mortality in trials comparing PCI and CABG surgery, nabbed the top spot.

1. More Risk of Death—All, Cardiac, and Noncardiac—With PCI Over Surgery: Meta-analysis

All-cause mortality is the most “unbiased” primary endpoint, the authors argue. David Kandzari calls this an oversimplification

2. COVID-19: TCTMD’s Daily Dispatch

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

3. MitraBridge: Could a MitraClip Help Patients Avoid Heart Transplant?

Researchers were “surprised” that 25% of patients rallied enough to leave the transplant list. Figuring out who and how remains.

4. Acurate Neo Fails to Match Results of CoreValve Evolut: SCOPE 2

Having failed noninferiority tests against two leading devices, Acurate neo’s niche is now in question, experts said.

5.  Sapien 3 Stroke Rate Perplexes in 1-Year SOLVE-TAVI Results

Stroke rates for the balloon-expandable device far exceeded those of the Evolut R; conscious sedation was also a clear winner.

6. Prophylactic PCI of Vulnerable Plaques? PROSPECT II/ABSORB

Lipid-rich lesions pose a higher risk, but not everybody is sold yet that stenting these non-flow-limiting lesions is the way to go.

7. DISRUPT CAD III: Lithotripsy Boosts Stent Expansion in Highly Calcified Lesions

“Jaw-dropping” and “spectacular” were some of the adjectives describing the calcium-cracking in early, nonrandomized results.

8. Superiority of Ticagrelor Over Clopidogrel in ACS Questioned

More bleeding, but no ischemic benefit, was seen with ticagrelor versus clopidogrel in this observational, real-world study.

9. Under ISCHEMIA’s Long Shadow, Cardiologists Ponder Shifting Guidelines, Care

Attention is turning to symptom relief and how best to align treatment with the patient’s goals and preferences.

10. Shorter DAPT Succeeds in Xience-Treated Patients at High Bleeding Risk

Aspirin alone after 1 or 3 months was noninferior to historical controls, with significantly less major bleeding.

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For more takeaways from TCT Connect, check out a special edition of the Heart Sounds podcast, where some of the meeting’s “social media ambassadors” weigh in on what they learned. All of TCTMD’s coverage from TCT Connect can be found on our conference page. Our COVID-19 reporting—news, videos, and podcasts—can be found on our COVID-19 Hub.