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Fear and loathing in a post-CREST-2 world
Medical editor Malachi Sheahan III, MD, reflects on the release of the CREST-2 results and considers what they may mean for clinical practice. As you likely know, the long-awaited CREST-2 trial results were recently released. While panic and jubilation erupt…
Smoking cessation remains a ‘ripe target’ for improved medication adherence in carotid disease
New data presented at the 2024 Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) held June 19–22 in Chicago have revealed poor overall rates of medical therapy adherence in moderate asymptomatic carotid stenosis patients—with smoking cessation representing a “ripe target” for improvement moving forward.…
Hans-Henning Eckstein: 1955–2024
Hans-Henning Eckstein, the vascular surgeon who played a leading role in the SPACE and SPACE 2 randomised controlled trials on the treatment of carotid stenosis and founder of the Munich Vascular Conference (MAC), died on 24 February at the age…
Measuring plaque inflammation via SCAIL scores may improve carotid stenosis risk stratification
The use of a relatively novel scoring system, referred to as Symptomatic carotid atheroma inflammation lumen-stenosis (SCAIL), has produced favourable predictive qualities versus the Oxford carotid stenosis tool (OCST) and Essen stroke risk score (ESRS). According to researchers, the SCAIL…
Carotid stenting demonstrates comparable short- and long-term results to endarterectomy
Pooled patient-level data from more than 2,500 asymptomatic, non-octogenarian subjects have shown that carotid artery stenting (CAS) achieved comparable short- and long-term results to carotid endarterectomy (CEA). The findings of this analysis have been published by Jon Matsumura (University of…
A new pathway for preventing dementia?
Craig Weinkauf, MD, is leading a trial looking into a connection between Alzheimer’s and carotid stenosis. ‘We want to try to quantify the brain: volumes, structural connectivity, functional connectivity and other relevant findings associated with neurodegeneration,’ he says. Society for…
Interview: Combating the problem of spin, or overinterpretation, in RCTs
The presence of spin, or overinterpretation, in scientific papers that ultimately demonstrate statistically insignificant findings had been gnawing away at Thomas Forbes, MD, for quite some time. The practice, the University of Toronto vascular chair reflects, is by no means…
Analysis shows TCAR is more cost effective than CAS for carotid stenosis
Transcarotid artery revascularization (TCAR) produces similar outcomes to the gold standard treatment for carotid stenosis—carotid endarterectomy (CEA)—but comes at a greater cost. This was among the conclusions presented by Sheila M. Coogan, MD, at the Vascular Annual Meeting (VAM) in…
Report: Safely executing CEA during COVID-19
A carotid endarterectomy (CEA) carried out on a 71-year-old stroke patient who tested positive for COVID-19 is highlighted in a recent case report as an example of the procedure’s safe execution under the strains of the pandemic. Tej M. Singh, MD,…
‘Risk prediction models can be used for targeted screening for asymptomatic carotid stenosis,’ researchers find
Most prediction models can “reliably” identify individuals at high risk of significant asymptomatic carotid stenosis (ACS), a new study shows. Michael H. F. Poorthuis, MD, of the Clinical Trial Service Unit and Epidemiological Studies Unit in the Nuffield Department of…