Results of Cardiologists from Opole among SCAI Recommendations
Credit: Fotolia
The American Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions (SCAI) has recommended a paper by doctors from the University Clinical Hospital in Opole, which describes procedures performed on coronary vessels without the use of radiological contrast.
Recommendations issued on the basis of published scientific research by associations such as SCAI are treated as guidelines for the treatment of diseases by doctors around the world. The latest SCAI recommendations included two publications by Polish doctors, including the cardiologists from the University Clinical Hospital in Opole.
Dr. Jerzy Socha from the University Clinical Hospital in Opole told PAP that the Opole cardiologists were inspired by the work of American doctors from New York, published in 2016. Polish cardiologists were the second in the world to describe their experience in the application of an innovative method of diagnosis and treatment of coronary diseases without the use of contrast on a larger group of several dozen patients.
He said: “The standard with coronary angiography is 70-100 ml of contrast, which allows to watch coronary vessels. Contrast is also used when the coronary vessels are expanded without opening the patient's chest. The problems start when the patient has damaged kidneys. In that case, administration of a large amount of contrast can cause serious complications.
“Considering the fact that even every fifth patient may have kidney failure, our method of administering ultra-low, 7 to 15 ml contrast doses in coronary angiography and completely eliminating its use in vasodilatation, significantly reduces the risk of surgery and allows to carry out angioplasty in patients who were previously at risk of undesirable side effects' the expert describes.”
The doctors found that contrast can be successfully replaced with ultrasound micro probes placed in treated coronary vessels, which allow the operator to monitor the situation in the blood vessel being repaired.
The procedures were mostly successful despite the fact that in more than half of the cases patients were after myocardial infarction or unstable angina. And while the doctors admit that the level of difficulty when using their method is higher than with the traditional (contrast ) method, the benefits justify its use.
Dr. Socha said: “The risk of contrast-related kidney damage is so high in some cases that patients decide against coronary angiography or invasive treatment of coronary vessels.
“We already have a procedure that eliminates or significantly reduces this risk. We are taking on more and more difficult cases, for example patients already on dialysis, but still with partial kidney function.
“Retaining residual kidney function means that the patient must be dialyzed two, not three times a week. The cases described in our paper show that thanks to our procedure, this kidney function could be preserved in most cases.”
PAP - Science in Poland, Marek Szczepanik
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