TCTMD’s Top 10 Most Popular Stories for March 2024

Several decisions by the US Food and Drug Administration dominated our top 10 list this month. Not only did the first drug-coated balloon get the nod in the US, but the regulatory agency also extended semaglutide’s labelling and issued a warning about left-sided Impella pumps. Other high-impact stories addressed options for juggling the semaglutide shortage, the possible downsides to intermittent fasting, and worrying evidence of microplastics showing up in carotid plaques.

1. Injectable Semaglutide Shortage Forces Physicians to Pivot

As demand for the drug continues to rise, alternatives like the oral formulation and other injectable GLP-1s come into play.

2. Agent Coronary DCB Gets FDA Approval for In-Stent Restenosis

The approval is supported by an interim analysis of AGENT IDE, which showed less TLF at 12 months versus an uncoated balloon.

3. Intermittent Fasting Study Sparks Debate Over Increases in CV Mortality

The study, based on dietary recall data, got national attention, but experts believe it’s a highly confounded connection.

4. FDA Grants MACE Reduction Indication for Semaglutide

The expanded indication is supported by findings from the SELECT trial of patients with established CVD and overweight or obesity.

5. Plastic Debris Found in Carotid Plaque Linked to More Adverse CV Events

The study does not prove causation, but sets the stage for better understanding of plastics and human health, says Robert Brook.

6. Abiomed Recalls Labeling for Left-Sided Impella Pumps: FDA

While not a product removal, but rather a “correction,” the agency deemed the recall Class I—49 deaths have been reported.

7. Decades After WHI: Calcium, Vitamin D Linked to Different CVD, Cancer Outcomes

With over 20 years of follow-up, the new analysis speaks to the complexity of risks and benefits with supplement use.

8. Occupational Hazard? CTO Cases Drive Up Operators’ BP, Heart Rates

Interventionalists who perform complex procedures face stress that’s particularly acute, with the potential for long-term harms.

9. DCB in STEMI Match DES Through 5 Years: REVELATION

The trial, though not powered for clinical outcomes, hints at yet another setting where it may be possible to leave nothing behind.

10. Pay Now, Save Later: Intracoronary Imaging for PCI Cost-effective Over Lifetime

Findings from the Korean RENOVATE-COMPLEX-PCI trial support a change in guidelines favoring IVUS and OCT, researchers say.

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Looking for other top content on TCTMD this month? Check out the latest Off Script by Sanjay Kaul, MD (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles, CA), on the different regulatory journeys of drugs versus devices, and a feature story on the promise of pulsed-field ablation. Our newly relaunched video center has a Quick Take from the legendary Paul Grayburn, MD (Baylor Scott and White Research Institute, Plano, TX), recapping a study comparing mitral transcatheter edge-to-edge repair to surgery for primary mitral regurgitation, and on the Heart Sounds podcast, C. Michael Gibson, MD (Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA), describes his journey from art to arteries, and back again.