The Cardiology team of the La Luz University Hospital has collaborated in the publication made in the Spanish Journal of Cardiology on the occasion of a positioning document of the ACI-SEC, Association of Interventional Cardiology and Spanish Society of Cardiology, on the modification of the plate in the treatment of calcified coronary lesions.
Coronary artery calcification is probably the main determinant of a poor outcome of Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) or angioplasty and is associated with higher rates of adverse events. Currently, there are different plate modification techniques based on dilation balloons or specific devices. Knowing the different procedures and the appropriate use of each of them is essential for the optimal management of calcified coronary lesions.
This article, in which Dr. Jorge Palazuelos, head of the Hemodynamics and Interventional Cardiology Unit of the La Luz University Hospital, has collaborated, is promoted by the Association of Interventional Cardiology and the Spanish Society of Cardiology (ACI-SEC), and describes the currently existing plaque modification techniques and proposes an algorithm for the treatment of calcified lesions.
According to Dr. Jorge Palazuelos, the main risk factors associated with coronary artery calcification are age, Caucasian race, diabetes mellitus, and chronic kidney disease. “The prevalence of coronary artery calcification varies depending on the population studied and the diagnostic method used,” he explains.
Calcification complicates percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) for several reasons that Dr. Palazuelos describes. “Resistance to the advancement of the different devices, reduced plaque compliance that will eventually require greater pressure in dilation balloons or plaque modification devices and the difficulty in advancing the stent and expanding it,” he concludes.