• Interventional Techniques & Devices Clinical Trials

• Interventional Techniques & Devices
• Cardiology Clinical Trials
• Cardiology

Data collected during the first 4 months of the recently created Caribbean Cardiology Society (CCS) cardiac catheterization registry have found a low rate of reported complications, including a 2% rate of hematomas and no deaths, according to a presentation given by Victor Elliot, MBBS, DM, University Hospital of the West Indies, Mona, Jamaica. In 2014, physicians hope to receive data from all 13 cardiac catheterization labs participating from eight independent Caribbean nations that will better reflect the various peoples/nationalities represented in the Caribbean.

Dr. Elliot presented data from 265 cases performed at two centers collected during the first 4 months of the CCS Cardiac Diagnostic and Interventional Registry, which went online in January 2013.

Of those entered in the registry, 62% were male and the majority (63%) were aged 50 to 69 years; 15% were current smokers; and 61% were nonsmokers. Interestingly, 66% of the patients stated they were of South Asian descent, an observation that Dr. Elliot attributed to the population served by two centers that participated in this first collection of data. Another 23% of the patients were black, 4% were white, and 7% were of mixed racial background. Of the patient population as a whole, 22% had left-ventricular systolic dysfunction.

Of the 265 cases seen, 88% had diagnostic coronary angiograms. Of those that underwent angiography, surgical intervention was recommended in 22% of cases, while medical therapy was recommended in 36%. The remainder (42%) underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The majority of catheterizations were elective (96%) and PCI was performed in 18% of elective cases.

Femoral artery access accounted for a little more than half of procedures (58%); while radial access was also frequent (42%). Brachial arterial access was utilized infrequently (1%). Complications in this population were low, and hematomas occurred in only 2% of cases. Vascular access closure devices were used in 5% of cases. For those patients with TIMI flow <3 who underwent PCI, the treating physician succeeded in establishing normal TIMI 3 flow in all cases.

This voluntary registry was initially proposed as part of a quality-improvement initiative in 2011. Data categories were designed to be consistent with those of Version 4.4 of the Cath-PCI Registry of the American College of Cardiology's National Cardiovascular Data Registry. The registry now includes data on 75 different variables in nine categories. Data is available online at www.ccscdi.com. While 13 catheterization laboratories in the Caribbean have agreed to participate, not all laboratories are currently contributing data due to concerns over legal issues, such as confidentiality, privacy and copyright. These concerns have been addressed and will continue to be reviewed as the registry grows. Continued efforts to expand participation across the Caribbean nations will be necessary to ensure the registry becomes an important tool for continued quality improvement and clinical research.

• © 2013 MD Conference Express®