TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular News Stories for 2015


The tragic shooting death of Michael Davidson and the pending ban on direct industry-sponsored CME in Europe were the most-read news on TCTMD this year. Close behind were stories on non-culprit PCI, routine thrombectomy, a NOAC antidote, and some “closure” in a long-running PFO/migraine trial controversy. Scroll down for our Top 10 list and—new this year—our Top 5 feature stories.  

It’s Official: Europe Bans Direct Industry Sponsorship of Physicians for CME  

Michael J. Davidson, Advocate of Surgical-Interventional Cooperation, Dies at 44  

Coronary CTA Fails to Live Up to its PROMISE in Suspected CAD   

DANAMI3-PRIMULTI: Complete Revascularization Improves Outcomes for STEMI 

First NOAC Antidote, Idarucizumab, Approved; Likely Won’t Hold Up Interventions  

RESPECT Confirms Long-term Safety, Efficacy of PFO Closure for Recurrent Stroke 

ED Protocol for Acute Chest Pain Patients Reduces Cardiac Testing, Doubles Early Discharg

Years Later, MIST Trial Investigator Suspended in Long-Running Controversy Over PFO-Closure Study Misconduct  

DAPT Score Provides ‘Personalized Medicine’ Tool for Determining Whether to Extend Therapy Beyond 1 Year  

TOTAL: Use of Routine Thrombectomy in Primary PCI Takes Another Blow  


Top 5 Feature Stories

We’ve been stepping up the number of feature stories on TCTMD in recent months. This is just a small selection of the deeper dives our journalists have been taking into some of the most important issues in the field. More can be find at TCTMD/the heart beat.

From Great to Greater: Innovation in Stent Technology Possible, Worth Pursuing   

Interventionalist vs Neurologist: RESPECTing Both Sides of the PFO Closure Debate  

Same-Day TAVR: Anomaly or Wave of the Future? 

Amid Resistance, Support Growing for Safety Checklists in the Cath Lab  


Speaking of Journalists…

This has been a year of major change for the reporters and editors at TCTMD. In December 2014, the site lost its long-time editor, Jason Kahn, who died at age 45 after a long illness. Kahn had been with TCTMD for 11 years. Then, in autumn of 2015, long-time associate editor and journalist, Kim Dalton, made the decision to move on from TCTMD. After nearly 7 years with the organization, Dalton, along with Kahn, deserve much of the credit for transforming TCTMD into the international news source it is today.

In mid-October, I took up the reins as Editorial Director at CRF and managing editor at TCTMD. It’s been a delight to find that the TCTMD senior journalists and editors: Caitlin Cox, Yael Maxwell, Laura McKeown, and Todd Neale—all of them familiar faces from press rooms at international cardiology conferences—possess the knowledge, curiosity, work ethic, and healthy skepticism that are the essential qualities in medical reporting. Finally, in December, we were joined by Michael O’Riordan, my long-time colleague at theheart.org and now senior editorial journalist at TCTMD. Looking ahead, we’ve got big plans for 2016: we hope to keep you engaged and informed in equal measure.

Happy New Year

Shelley Wood

Shelley Wood is the Editor-in-Chief of TCTMD and the Editorial Director at CRF. She did her undergraduate degree at McGill…

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