My Toolkit in Interventional Cardiovascular Medicine

When a rota burr stalls in a calcified artery, quick thinking and the right technique are critical. Discover a proven method to recover the burr safely and avoid surgery.

Trapping wires during complex PCI is essential but dedicated trapping balloons aren’t always on hand — and costs add up fast. This My Toolkit tip shows you how to safely reuse a standard PTCA balloon by stiffening its shaft with the original stylet, making valve crossing...

Crossing the aortic valve can pose significant challenges, particularly in cases involving a horizontal aorta, bulky asymmetric calcifications, or prior prosthesis implantation in valve-in-valve procedures. While some TAVI devices feature deflectable delivery systems to enhance coaxiality, current self-expanding valves lack this capability. When standard techniques like...

Drug-coated balloon (DCB) angioplasty has become a valuable alternative to drug-eluting stents in treating coronary artery disease. To achieve optimal outcomes, proper lesion preparation and techniques to minimise drug loss are crucial.

This article highlights key steps and best practices for performing DCB angioplasty, ensuring effective drug delivery and...

The standard BVF procedure involves multiple quick maneuvers. Simplifying the setup, minimizing operator actions, and shortening rapid pacing could reduce associated risks. Find out how!

In challenging anatomies, the Prostyle may get stuck due to calcification, leading to urgent vascular surgery and increasing the operative risk for the patients. This tutorial shows a step-by-step bailout procedure to mitigate risks and ensure patient safety.

In the absence of other arterial access, this step-by-step tutorial shows how to perform anterograde angiography of the arterial axis after removal of the large sheath, making it easier to recognise and rapidly manage vascular complications such as arterial lesions and haemostasis failure.

Complex percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) procedures are dramatically increasing in daily practice. Calcified coronary artery lesions and hostile cardiac anatomy may increase the risk of device dislodgment and/or malposition. In such situations, the use of a snare catheter is pivotal to retrieve and/or reposition the device.