Results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial presented at TCT 2012

Trial finds benefits to using radial versus femoral access for primary angioplasty in heart attack patients

2012-10-27

(Press-News.org) MIAMI, FL – OCTOBER 26, 2012 – A study found several benefits in using the radial artery in the arm as the entry point for angioplasty or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) compared to the femoral artery in the leg. Results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial were presented today at the 24th annual Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) scientific symposium. Sponsored by the Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF), TCT is the world's premier educational meeting specializing in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Recent data have demonstrated better clinical outcomes in patients undergoing primary PCI by the radial approach compared to the femoral approach. However, the experience of operators with the radial approach in previous trials has been variable. In the STEMI-RADIAL trial, investigators examined the net clinical benefit of using the radial versus femoral approach in patients presenting within 12 hours of symptom onset of acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). All investigators were high-volume (>200 PCI/year) operators with significant experience in the radial approach (>80% cases/year).

STEMI-RADIAL was a randomized, national, multicenter, parallel group trial conducted in 707 patients at four high-volume centers. Patients eligible for both access sites without cardiogenic shock were randomized to the radial or femoral access approach. The primary endpoint was the cumulative incidence of major bleeding and vascular access site complications (requiring intervention) at 30 days. Secondary endpoints included major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE: death, reinfarction and stroke), technical success, access site failure, procedural and fluoroscopy times, contrast volume, intensive care stay and target lesion revascularization.

The primary endpoint of major bleeding or access site complications occurred in 7.2 percent of the femoral access patients and 1.4 percent of the radial access patients (p=0.0001). The rate of MACE at 30 days was 4.2 percent in the femoral access group, and 3.5 percent in the radial access group (p=0.7). "In patients with STEMI undergoing PCI within 12 hours, the radial approach was associated with a significantly lower incidence of major bleeding and access site complications, resulting in a significantly better net clinical benefit," said lead investigator Ivo Bernat, MD, PhD. Dr Bernat is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at University Hospital Pilsen in the Czech Republic.

"Moreover, the radial approach reduced significantly ICU stays and contrast volume compared to the femoral approach. Results of this trial support the use of the radial approach in primary PCI in high volume centers as a first choice," Dr. Bernat said.

The results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial will be presented on Friday October 26, 2012 at 11:55 AM in the Main Arena (Hall D) of the Miami Beach Convention Center.

### The trial was supported by the Charles University Research Fund and project of the Ministry of Health, Czech Republic for development of University Hospital Pilsen. Dr. Bernat reported no financial conflicts of interest.

About CRF The Cardiovascular Research Foundation (CRF) is an independent, academically focused nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the survival and quality of life for people with cardiovascular disease through research and education. Since its inception in 1991, CRF has played a major role in realizing dramatic improvements in the lives of countless numbers of patients by establishing the safe use of new technologies and therapies in interventional cardiovascular medicine.

Transcatheter Cardiovascular Therapeutics (TCT) is the annual scientific symposium of the Cardiovascular Research Foundation. TCT gathers leading medical researchers and clinicians from around the world to present and discuss the latest developments in the field.

For more information, visit www.crf.org. END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Nanotechnology helps scientists keep silver shiny

2012-10-27

There are thousands of silver artifacts in museum collections around the world, and keeping them shiny is a constant challenge. So scientists are using new technology to give conservators a helping hand. A team of researchers led by Ray Phaneuf, a professor of materials science and engineering at the University of Maryland, College Park, has partnered with The Walters Art Museum in Baltimore to investigate less labor-intensive ways to protect silver artifacts from tarnishing. The new techniques, which might keep silver surfaces shiny for longer than traditional methods, ...

Scientists build 'nanobowls' to protect catalysts needed for better biofuel production

2012-10-27

It may sound like a post-season football game for very tiny players, but the "nanobowl" has nothing to do with sports and everything to do with improving the way biofuels are produced. That's the hope of a team of scientists from the Institute for Atom Efficient Chemical Transformations (IACT), an Energy Frontier Research Center led by Argonne National Laboratory (ANL), and including Northwestern University, the University of Wisconsin and Purdue University. The team is using a layering technique developed for microchip manufacturing to build nanoscale (billionth of a meter) ...

Scientists demonstrate high-efficiency quantum dot solar cells

2012-10-27

Research shows newly developed solar powered cells may soon outperform conventional photovoltaic technology. Scientists from the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) have demonstrated the first solar cell with external quantum efficiency (EQE) exceeding 100 percent for photons with energies in the solar range. (The EQE is the percentage of photons that get converted into electrons within the device.) The researchers will present their findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 — Nov. 2, in Tampa, Fla. While traditional semiconductors ...

Princess by proxy: When child beauty pageants aren't about the kids

2012-10-27

As child reality TV star Honey Boo Boo continues to capture the attention of audiences with her boisterous personality and her own show about life on the child beauty pageant circuit, a new paper published today in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry takes a critical look at the very types of pageants in which she and thousands of other children compete in America every year. The paper, authored by Martina M. Cartwright, a registered dietician and adjunct professor in the University of Arizona's department of nutritional sciences, suggests ...

Scientists use molecular layers to study nanoscale heat transfer

2012-10-27

Scientific research has provided us with a fundamental understanding of how light (via photons) and electricity (via electrons) move within and between materials at the micrometer or nanometer levels, making possible a wide variety of miniature devices such as transistors, optical sensors and microelectromechanical systems (MEMS). However, man's knowledge of micro- and nanoscale heat flow is rudimentary at best. Now, a research team at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) has developed a novel system for examining and measuring nanoscale thermal conductance ...

Next-generation antireflection coatings could improve solar photovoltaic cell efficiency

2012-10-27

Photovoltaic cell efficiency may soon get a big boost, thanks to next-generation antireflection coatings crafted from nanomaterials capable of cutting down on the amount of light reflected away from a cell's surface. Materials boasting a "tunable" refractive index have been developed within the past few years, and they show tremendous potential for photovoltaic applications. Professor E. Fred Schubert, of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Department of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering, is investigating ways to exploit this newly gained controllability and ...

Solving stem cell mysteries

2012-10-27

Baltimore, MD— The ability of embryonic stem cells to differentiate into different types of cells with different functions is regulated and maintained by a complex series of chemical interactions, which are not well understood. Learning more about this process could prove useful for stem cell-based therapies down the road. New research from a team led by Carnegie's Yixian Zheng zeroes in on the process by which stem cells maintain their proper undifferentiated state. Their results are published in Cell October 26. Embryonic stem cells go through a process called self-renewal, ...

Immune system fighters speak in patterns of proteins, prefer squishy partners

2012-10-27

When talking to the key immune system fighters known as T-cells, it helps to speak their language. Now researchers from Columbia University in New York, N.Y., and the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia have discovered two new conditions for communication that may help scientists one day harness the power of T-cells to fight diseases such as cancer. The team will present its findings at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 – Nov. 2 in Tampa, Fla. T-cells flow freely throughout the body and communicate with their partner T-cells, in ...

Near-atomically flat silicon could help pave the way to new chemical sensors

2012-10-27

Silicon is the workhorse of the electronics industry, serving as the base material for the tiny transistors that make it possible for digital clocks to tick and computers to calculate. Now scientists have succeeded in creating near-atomically flat silicon, of the orientation used by the electronics industry, in a room temperature reaction. The flat silicon might one day serve as the base for new biological and chemical sensors. The researchers will present their work at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 – Nov. 2 in Tampa, Fla. "In essence, ...

Progress in ultrasound-guided surgery may improve breast cancer treatment

2012-10-27

When surgeons operate to remove a tumor, determining exactly where to cut can be tricky. Ideally, the entire tumor should be removed while leaving a continuous layer of healthy tissue, but current techniques for locating the tumors during surgery are imprecise. Now a multidisciplinary team from the University of California, San Diego, is developing an alternate means of precisely tagging breast cancer tumors for removal or targeted destruction. They will present the results of their investigations at the AVS 59th International Symposium and Exhibition, held Oct. 28 – Nov. ...

World's first practical surface-emitting laser for optical fiber communications developed: advancing miniaturization, energy efficiency, and cost reduction of light sources

Results of the STEMI-RADIAL trial presented at TCT 2012

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: