This is very very far from prime time. This comes from a very motivated South Korean group and their imaging regimen has limited external validity (currently) in North America.
The hypothesis sure holds allure. To be able to predict plaque rupture would be the holy grail in cardiology.
However, insofar as this trial goes, I’m left with the feeling (like I get with every PCI trial outside of the STEMI population) that the “benefit” is simply to stent something now instead of (maybe) needing to at some near-to-intermediate future point. And by the longer term future, the metal you deploy early will have restenosed such that any “pre”-stenting benefit will get washed out by the need for “re-stenting”. So in the end, I’m not sure how far this trial deviates from the “plumbing solution for a systemic vascular disease” problem that fundamentally bedevils PCI.
This is very very far from prime time. This comes from a very motivated South Korean group and their imaging regimen has limited external validity (currently) in North America.
The hypothesis sure holds allure. To be able to predict plaque rupture would be the holy grail in cardiology.
However, insofar as this trial goes, I’m left with the feeling (like I get with every PCI trial outside of the STEMI population) that the “benefit” is simply to stent something now instead of (maybe) needing to at some near-to-intermediate future point. And by the longer term future, the metal you deploy early will have restenosed such that any “pre”-stenting benefit will get washed out by the need for “re-stenting”. So in the end, I’m not sure how far this trial deviates from the “plumbing solution for a systemic vascular disease” problem that fundamentally bedevils PCI.