SNIPPETS FROM EUROPCR 2010, PARIS

There may be some of you out there, like me, who has interest in Interventional Cardiology but not the opportunity or interest to travel so far to Paris. I have given up doing that, and rely on contacts and the " Net" to hear what is happening there. The EuroPCR started in Paris over the weekend. Looks like nothing revolutionary. Many evolutionary, improvements. I thought that I will update you all on the latest from Paris, EuroPCR 2010.
Looks like Medtronic International must be very pleased when they announced the results of " Resolute All-comers " trial, showing that out to 1 year, the Endeavor Resolute stent performed as well as the Xience V stent, and was " non-inferior". Remember that the Xience V is now considered by many to the benchmark DES, second generation. Many DES would rather compare with the Taxus family ( first generation DES ).
The other important news from Paris is that the NEVO stent ( JnJ Cordis ) continue to math the Taxus Liberte ( first generation DES ) after 1 year followup. These was the results of the RES-1 study, reported by Dr Abizaid at Paris. Remeber that the NEVO stent is a re-invented version of the previous failed Conors stent ( the stent with the pit technology ). This time, they filled the pits with sirolimus and no polymer, and showed that they are just as good as the Taxus liberte DES at 1 year.
The third important finding ( my opinion ) was the release of the 1 year results of the Taxus Element stent. This is a platinum chromium alloy based paclitexal coated, ultra thin struts DES. I was a liitle disappointed with the results from the PERSEUS study ( comparing Taxus element with Taxus express ), because the Taxus express is really a crude first generation DES, and it has fared the worse in all the DES trials. Also, I hear that there were two instances of stent strut fracture in the Taxus Element group, although the author reported that there were no untoward incidences resulting from the fracture. I was concern that if this stent is so strong ( platinum chromium ), then it should not fracture especially when they are implanted by experts chosen to implant them. That is worrying, as we have seen Cypher stent fractures resulting in re-stenosis and also stent thrombosis.
Well Euro PCR is almost ending, and Roland Garros is on st this time. It may have been more exciting at Roland Garros then EuroPCR. Did not see anything revolutionary at EuroPCR but many talented youngsters at Roland Garros.